Coolatully: NHB Modern Plays

Lyrical and urgent, Fiona Doyle's play Coolatully is a compassionate insight into the links between the economy, masculinity and society in the modern world.

Kilian was once Coolatully's pride and joy, its champion on the hurling field. Now the village can't muster a team, the country's shutting down, and Eilish wants to leave for a new life across the ocean. As Irish history repeats itself, Kilian must confront the demons of the past and decide whether to stay or go forever.

Coolatully was the winner of the 2014 Papatango New Writing Prize in association with the Finborough Theatre, London, where it premiered in 2014.

'invokes Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson or Marina Carr... sad as it is, Doyle’s play is also extremely funny... an expressive and memorable play' - Exeunt Magazine

'echoes of Brian Friel… Doyle's play tells us, very touchingly, what it is like to be young in rural Ireland today and pins down vividly the tendency to romanticise the past and future to make up for the disquieting present' - Guardian

'Doyle's dialogue is instinctive, her characters, distinctive, and her motifs, ripe with meaning' - Time Out