Ballyturk

by Enda Walsh

“The relationship between words and movement in Enda Walsh’s new play, in which two weirdly innocent men are trapped in an endless knockabout farce, is more seamless than any Irish dramatist since Beckett.” — Irish Times

“Mr. Walsh’s words in this case are there to feed the adrenaline rush of the event as a whole... you don’t so much as see Ballyturk as you surrender to it.”
— New York Times

“Delirious and captivating…this is thrilling theatre, visceral and cerebral, hilarious and sad.” — Irish Examiner

I thought we knew everything there was to know . . .

The lives of two men unravel over the course of ninety minutes. Where are they? Who are they? What room is this, and what might be beyond the walls?

Gut-wrenchingly funny and achingly sad, and featuring jaw-dropping moments of physical comedy, Ballyturk is an ambitious, profound and tender work from one of Ireland’s leading playwrights.

One of our most innovative and beguiling writers, Enda Walsh is the author of five Edinburgh Fringe First Award–winning plays, including The Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom . His other plays include Penelope , misterman and the book for the Tony and Olivier Award–winning musical Once . He also wrote the screenplay for Hunger , which won the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Genres: Plays, Ireland, Irish Literature, Classics, Drama

72 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2014

About the author

Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright born in Dublin and currently living in London. Walsh attended the same secondary school where both Roddy Doyle and Paul Mercier taught. Having written for the Dublin Youth Theatre, he moved to Cork where he wrote Fishy Tales for the Graffiti Theatre Company, followed by Ginger Ale Boy for Corcadorca Theatre Company. His main breakthrough came with the production of his play Disco Pigs in collaboration with director Pat Kiernan of Corcadorca. Since then he moved to London, where he has been particularly prolific over the past five years, bringing his productions to thirteen stage plays, two radio plays and two screenplays.

Winner of the 1997 Stewart Parker and the George Devine Awards, he won the Abbey Theatre Writer in Association Award for 2006. Productions of his plays at the Edinburgh Festival have won four Fringe First Awards, two Critic's Awards and a Herald Archangel Award (2008). His plays, notably Disco Pigs[1], Bedbound, Small Things, Chatroom, New Electric Ballroom[2] and The Walworth Farce, have been translated into more than 20 languages and have had productions throughout Europe and in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. He has written two radio plays, with Four Big Days in the Life of Dessie Banks for RTÉ winning the I PA Radio Drama Award and The Monotonous Life of Little Miss P for the BBC commended at the Gran Prix Berlin. His commissioned work includes plays for Paines Plough in London, the Druid Theatre in Galway, the Kammerspiele in Munich and the Royal National's Connections Project in London. He wrote the screenplay of the film Disco Pigs and co-wrote the screenplay of Hunger which was directed by Steve McQueen and stars Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger striker who starved himself to death in protest over British rule. Hunger won numerous awards (see below) including the Caméra d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Film Award from the Evening Standard British Film Awards 2009 and a nomination for Best British Film at the British Academy Film Awards. He wrote an adaptation of his play Chatroom for a film directed by Hideo Nakata which was selected for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. He is currently under commission for two films, an adaptation of the children's story Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson and a biography of Dusty Springfield.

Reviews

[Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I didn't get it.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reluctant to read this as I thought it wouldn’t live up to the actual performance I saw back in 2014. I was so obsessed with it I had to go back and see it again for closing night. Nine years later, it’s still a play that has always stayed with me, and so I picked it up this evening and thought the time was right.
I thought I didn’t remember too much about the plot just parts of it but as soon as I started reading it all came flooding back, and I could remember phrases and the way they were delivered in the performance I saw. It’s safe to say I wasn’t disappointed at finally getting to read this, and now I know this I’ll read it again and again.

[MaeReadABook (Mae Walker) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for Stagecraft. Fucking incredible.

[Joe Clegg Prada · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this style of writing is a bit much for me. Difficult to comprehend, especially with just the words. Some touching and vivid monologues here and there, but overall there’s some purpose missing for me. Or maybe my problem lies in just reading it. Walsh will have been able to visualise his story as it’s his. But I, an audience member, only have a slice of the story in reading it.

[Flora Van Canneyt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful play, poetic, abstract, playful. Seems like a lot of fun, despite it's heavy philosophical nature. Walsh seems very good at tying emotionality to the absurd, without being sentimental, at being both dramatic and over-the-top without being sensational.

[Aaron Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't like abstract theatre, especially reading it. It just seemed pretentious and tried to be funny when it wasn't. I finished it, but got very bored. Made me feel really unintelligent, like I was missing something? Was I?

[Rebz · Rating 5 out of 5]

not a great play to simply read, you have to SEE it, it’s incredible.

[rudo ʚɞ]

me 🤝 enda walsh

obsessed with cillian murphy <3

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abstract theater. Good for the soul. Even if only read.

[Henrietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feels really different reading it to seeing it I’m sure, but still presents such an interesting conversation about life and death, society and nature. Really short, so definitely worth the read!

[Grace Wissink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my lord good lord please let me see this masterpiece one day

[Sina Develioglu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok play, Beckettian, doing a monologue of 3.

[Bleu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need an explanation and someone to point out the symbolism

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absurdist life and death, baby

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Douglas Yannaghas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess

[Pria · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have a sick and evil disease where

[Francesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One walks and one stays talking but either way it's the same death."

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no doubt the manic energy and magnificent set play well on a stage, but on the page this is just a knock-off of some mid-century rubbish. Some choice bits of monologuing seem out of place in the endless dialogue. But there is a pyramid of biscuits, so.