John Kane sits on a hospital trolley. Very shortly, a giant lobster, two women called Mary, a very old man and a jazz percussionist arrive. Then everything starts.

Enda Walsh's Medicine is a dark and frequently absurdist play. Devastatingly funny and profoundly moving, it examines how, for decades, we have treated those we call 'mentally ill'.

It was first produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival as part of the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival, prior to performances in Galway and New York. It was directed by Enda Walsh, with a cast including Clare Barrett, Aoife Duffin and Domhnall Gleeson, with drummer Sean Carpio.

This edition also includes Walsh's play The Same, about two women who meet in a psychiatric institution. Published here for the first time, it was produced by Corcadorca in 2017, and won The Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best Play.

'One of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre today' New York Times

About the Author

Enda Walsh's other plays include Disco Pigs, The Walworth Farce, The New Electric Ballroom, Penelope, Misterman, Ballyturk and Arlington. He wrote the book for the musicals Once, Sing Street, and Lazarus with David Bowie, the operas The Last Hotel and The Second Violinist, and the screenplay for Hunger, which won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Reviews

'Flamboyant, funny and surreal'

* Guardian (on Medicine) *

'Taut and energetic, frequently bleak, but shot through with touches of absurdist humour... burns with searing honesty... It's chilling, powerful, and unforgettable'

* Whatsonstage (on Medicine) *

'A heartbreaking yet hugely energising and thrilling journey through one man's troubled psyche'

* Scotsman (on Medicine) *

'Takes the stage by storm... It's bizarre, quite extraordinary and mind-boggling'

* Broadway Baby (on Medicine) *

'Devilishly satirical... cuts disturbingly close to the bone'

* Sunday Times (on Medicine) *



Book Information
ISBN 9781839040238
Author Enda Walsh
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books