Corktown ’39 is a new play that feels like a classic, the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking drama that you can imagine a playwright like Aaron Sorkin or Henrik Ibsen might have written. Read more…
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move
Not since reading or seeing on stage, works by Eugene O’Neil, have I experienced – to the marrow of my bones – such an honest reckoning of Irish culture and character. CORKTOWN ’39 is pure lightening. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Read more…
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw
John Fazakerley’s fact-based Corktown ’39 — a sequel to his earlier play Corktown ’57, staged at the Odyssey a few years back — is part family drama, part political thriller, and a wholly engrossing, well-researched window into a little-known event in recent Irish history: the Irish Republican Army’s 1939 plot to assassinate England’s king, George VI, during a visit to America. Read more…
Terry Morgan – ArtsBeatLA
This may be surprising to some, but I am not an expert on Irish WW2 history. I was aware that Ireland had a policy of neutrality during the war, but according to playwright John Fazakerly, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) were in talks to receive support from Germany. More than that, they had plenty of support in the United States, and the machinations of that fundraising effort provides the drama of his new play, Corktown ’39, which is currently receiving a compelling and first-rate production at Rogue Machine. Read more…
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA
Rogue Machine’s mounting of John Fazakerley’s epic period drama is the latest production to add yet another feather in the cap in what has become a nearly unstoppably worldclass theatre company, providing a quintessential example of what can be accomplished with a little grit and a whole lot of imagination. Read more…
