THEATRE
Going up to Monto was never as dramatic as World’s End Lane the sell-out show at the Absolut Fringe Theatre festival based in the notorious red-light district. The small drama had a budget of just €1,000 and took place in the exact locations where some of the brothels operated in the 19th and 20th century.
The Audiences were brought in to dimly lit rooms to interact with the “prostitutes” and their “Madam”. The Monto was once the most notorious red-light district in Europe but was closed down by the Catholic Church after the founding of the Free State. The actors and production team in this innovative drama all worked for free.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times reports that Scott Rudin, the Oscar-winning producer of No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood is to stage Colm Toibín’s play Ephesus on Broadway next year.
The one-woman play is set in the town in Turkey where the virgin Mary supposedly lived out her final year and where she died.
Rudin says he became a huge fan of Toibín after he read his novel The Master and asked him for a meeting.
“I wrote to him and said I would love to meet,” he said. “He came in for a meeting in my office. He showed me Ephesus and I was hooked.”
The play will also be staged at next year’s Dublin Theatre Festival, directed by Garry Hynes with Marie Mullen as the virgin Mary. However, Rudin has signed a Broadway star for the American run.