Slice of the Big Apple comes to The Braid

APPENDAGE, a black comedy drama by New-York based Dublin-born playwright Derek Murphy, is to be staged at The Braid Arts Centre on Thursday (June 21) just days after making its world premiere in Northern Ireland.

The play, which is being produced by local theatre company c21, is set on one night in an affluent New York suburb and is a dark, comic, psychological thriller that tells a tale of love, death, betrayal, booze and a rather comfy sofa.

The two-hander is starring New York actor Nick Hardin who lives in Ballymoney and has recently been seen on the silver screen alongside Guy Pearce in Lockout.

His co-star is c21’s co-founder Stephen Kelly, who is originally from Ballymena and now lives in north Belfast. After Ballymena, the play’s tour will continue on to Downpatrick and Newry before moving to Belfast’s MAC for a five night run from Tuesday, June 26.

Appendage centres on Jack and Peter, two very different men who are brought together one night as a result of a road traffic accident. Peter invites Jack into his house to recuperate and as the evening unfolds we realize the men have more in common than initially thought. As men share their most intimate and profound secrets a strange, tenuous bond develops between them and their ties to a woman sees them both fighting for their lives.

The play is suitable for 16yrs + and contains strong language and adult themes.

c21 was set up in 2005 with the aim of bringing the work of unknown international playwrights to Irish audiences. Their production of the edgy comedy drama Not A Game For Boys by Simon Block, which centred around three Belfast cabbies-come-table tennis players, was brilliantly received by audiences and critics alike when it toured Northern Ireland last year.

Appendage is one of three plays to be selected out of a submitted 100 to be read in front of a number of high profile American theatre producers. The aim of the reading is for the play to be picked up by a producer and financed for full production and touring in America.

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