The Laughing Boy
By Jack Harte
The New Theatre
The Laughing Boy by Jack Harte
Dublin 1963 and Brendan Behan’s song The Laughing Boy has become the inspirational anthem of the political Left in Greece. Alexandra, a student and political activist, has travelled here to seek out the writer of the song and invite him to Greece to boost the struggle for Socialism.
Her search comes to an end in a Dublin pub but what she finds there is totally unexpected. This is not the Brendan Behan she had imagined. But perhaps she can offer him a lifeline, a chance to escape the caricature he has become.
About The Author
Jack Harte’s fiction – novels and short stories - have been published in 13 languages. As a playwright, he made his debut in 2015 with Language of the Mute in the New Theatre. It toured the following year to many of the major theatres around Ireland.This was followed by The Mysterious History of Things (Viking Theatre, 2016) and Lugh and Balor - performed in Greek translation at the Ancient Theatre of Maroneia and the Theatre of Komotini in Greece, also in 2016. Killing Grandad, premiered in the New Theatre in March 2020. The Pleasureometer, a short play, was streamed online as part of the New Theatre’s Fight Back Festival in 2020, and another, Outside the Club of Culture, was presented at the theatre’s Push Forward Festival in July, 2021.
www.jackharte.com
