Green Shield Stamps, a million of them, and Ger Lawless has won them all. It's Ballymun, it's 1974, and she has fifteen friends round for a stamp-sticking party.

Over one fateful night, fifteen determined women bring you into their lives in this funny and furious new version of Michel Tremblay's feted Quebecoise comedy, Les Belles-Soeurs.

Deirdre Kinahan's The Unmanageable Sisters premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in March 2018.

Deirdre Kinahan's other plays include Wild Sky, Spinning, Halcyon Days, BOGBOY and Moment.

About the Author
Michel Tremblay is a French Canadian novelist and playwright, born in Montreal, Quebec. His first professionally produced play, Les Belles-Soeurs, was written in 1965 and premiered at the Theatre du Rideau Vert on August 28, 1968. It stirred up controversy by portraying the lives of working-class women and attacking the straight-laced, deeply religious society of mid-20th century Quebec. A version of the play in Scots English, The Guid Sisters, translated by Bill Findlay and Martin Bowman, was premiered at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, in 1989; and a version set in Ireland, The Unmanageable Sisters by Deirdre Kinahan, premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 2018. His other notable works include: A toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou (1970); La grosse femme d'a cote est enceinte (1978); Albertine, en cinq temps (Albertine in Five Times) (1984); Le Vrai Monde? (1987); and Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d'ete (Solemn Mass for a Full Moon in Summer) (1996). Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright and a member of Aosdana, Ireland's elected body of outstanding artists. Her plays include: An Old Song, Half Forgotten (Abbey Theatre, 2023); Outrage (Fishamble, 2022); The Visit (Draiocht, Dublin Theatre Festival 2021); The Saviour (Landmark Productions, 2021); In the Middle of the Fields (Solas Nua DC, 2021); Embargo (Fishamble 2020); Dear Ireland (Abbey Theatre, 2020); The Bloodied Field (Abbey Theatre 2020); Rathmines Road (Fishamble and Abbey Theatre, 2018); Crossings (Pentabus Theatre, 2018); The Unmanageable Sisters, an adaptation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2018); Wild Sky (Dublin, 2016); Spinning (Fishamble, 2014); Halcyon Days (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, and Dublin Theatre Festival, 2012); and Moment (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, 2009; Bush Theatre, London, 2011). In 2024, she and actor Bryan Murray were jointly awarded the inaugural Pratchett Prize for challenging the stigma of Alzheimer's Disease, for Kinahan's play An Old Song, Half Forgotten.

Reviews

'Lays bare a heartlessness at the heart of the so called salt of the earth... extremely enjoyable'

* The Arts Review *

'Exploding the myth that tight-knit, working-class communities are female sanctuaries, this play does for Dublin Corporation flats of the 1970s what John B Keane did for 1950s rural Ireland: exposing a greedy, judgmental cruelty at odds with misty-eyed nostalgia'

* The Times *

'A rollicking free-for-all... One million Green Shield stamps. Fifteen delightful characters. 130 minutes of rib-tickling comedy... an absolute joy'

* Broadway World *



Book Information
ISBN 9781848427440
Author Deirdre Kinahan
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books