A dark fable of the emotionally stultifying effects of small-town life, from the author of Disco Pigs and The Walworth Farce.
Three sisters in a remote fishing village, trapped in the years that have passed since their halcyon days at The New Electric Ballroom, are still obsessed by darker memories of something resembling romance.
Enda Walsh's play The New Electric Ballroom was first staged by Druid Theatre Company at the Galway Arts Festival in July 2008 and later at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The production won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award and was revived on tour in 2009.
'A beautiful and devastating play of broken hearts and maimed lives... Walsh confirms himself as one of the most dazzling wordsmiths of contemporary theatre, and one who has a direct conduit to our wanting hearts'
— Guardian
'Shatteringly fine theatre'
— Scotsman
'A total work of art, in short: it may make you uncomfortable, and you may even wonder what the hell's going on at moments, but that's what great theatre ought to do'
— Arts Desk
Edinburgh Fringe First Award
Author Biography:
Enda Walsh is a multi-award-winning Irish playwright. He lives in London. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and has been performed internationally since 1998.
His recent plays include: Medicine at the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival and Galway International Arts Festival; Arlington at the 2016 Galway International Festival; an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Twits for the Royal Court (2015); Ballyturk and Room 303 at the 2014 Galway International Arts Festival; Misterman, presented by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland, London and New York (2011–2012); and several plays for Druid Theatre Company, including Penelope, which has been presented in Ireland, America and London, from 2010–2011, The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, New York and LA from 2008–2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh, London and New York, as well as an American and Australian tour, from 2007–2010.
He collaborated with David Bowie on the musical Lazarus (New York Theatre Workshop, 2015, and West End, 2016), and won a Tony Award in 2012 for writing the book for the musical Once, seen on Broadway, in the West End and on a US tour.
His other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican), which played Dublin and a British tour in 2008; Chatroom (National Theatre), which played at the National Theatre and on tour in Britain and Asia (2006–2007); and The Small Things (Paines Plough), which played London and Ireland (2005).
His early plays include Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Disco Pigs (Corcadorca).
His film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4), winner of the Camera d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.