In Skagway: NHB Modern Plays

A compelling and lyrical tale of the desires and loyalties of women in an American wilderness.

Fame fades. The gold in the hills runs out. For years, Francis Harmon has traded off her reputation as a star actress in the prospering American cities. Now, at the end of the nineteenth century, she and her companion May have washed up in a cabin on the Alaskan frontier, while May’s daughter prospects for gold. But the gold rush is almost exhausted, and when Francis is struck down by illness, they all must choose between facing up to a bleak future or giving in to the lure of the past.

Winner of the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild Best New Play Award, In Skagway received its UK premiere at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2014.

"Evocative... [a] tale of survival with poetic intensity." - Time Out (London)

Karen Ardiff is a Dublin-based actress who has performed on every major stage in Ireland. In Skagway, her first play, was produced by Guna Nua Theatre Company and the Civic Theatre Dublin under the title The Goddess of Liberty. It won the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild Best New Play Award, the Stewart Parker/BBC Northern Ireland Award and was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Karen is also the author of an acclaimed novel, The Secret of my Face.