Liverpool-based Irish theatre-maker Anna Ní Dhuill is set to bring their new show ‘This is Not My Beautiful House’ to the Shakespeare North Playhouse Studio this May. Building off its success at the Galway Theatre Festival in 2024, where audiences called it “incredible” with a “richness of imagination and language”, Ní Dhúill and company Cult Collective are so excited to bring their work to a Scouse audience.
A story of myth, legend and identity, ‘This is Not My Beautiful House’ is a one-person play in the Irish language. With English surtitles, the show revolves around an unnamed artist as they wait in their studio for their partner to come home so that they can reveal their secret and finally come out as non-binary. As they wait, they begin to delve into their recent obsession with the old Irish legend of the Táin Bó Cúailnge – a bull that caused an all-island war many centuries before. When the bull comes alive, a battle of monologues begins, as they fiercely debate whether it is better to live as your true self and potentially be alone for it, or to exist only in other people’s expectations and remain a legend.
Performed by Mayo native Seoirsín Bashford, the show is suitable for anyone interested in queer identity, Irish history, or theatre generally, and you needn’t have any Irish or know anything about the myth before joining.
The show plays on the 8th and 9th of May in the Shakespeare North Playhouse Studio as part of their Queer Adaptations season.
Tickets range from £5-12 (excluding booking fee) and can be purchased online at https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/this-is-not-my-beautiful-house/ or by calling their box office on 0151 433 7156.
This show has kindly been supported by the Galway Theatre Festival, Culture Ireland and Kilkenny Arts Office.