Gabriel Byrne on stage. In his own words.
By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Walking with Ghosts is a delightful portrait of the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies. A Landmark production, it comes to Broadway direct from wildly successful runs in London’s West End; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Dublin, Ireland.
As a young boy growing up on the outskirts of Dublin, the stage and screen legend sought refuge in a world of imagination among the fields and hills near his home, at the edge of a rapidly encroaching city. Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and commentary on stardom, the actor-writer returns to Broadway to reflect on a life’s journey.
Adapted from his best-selling memoir of the same name and directed by Emmy Award® winner Lonny Price, Walking with Ghosts is written and performed by Gabriel Byrne (Hereditary, HBO’s In Treatment).
As a writer, Byrne is no Brendan Behan, but the sincerity of his voice is a fine cover for whatever artlessness it disguises. And there are moments when he really hits his mark, as with the image of himself as a child, saying his prayers and trying to catch a glimpse of his guardian angel, 'standing by the bed to protect me from all the dangers of the night.' In such moments he sounds like his own guardian angel, protecting his boyish self from the darkness to come as a grown man.
Lonny Price directs Byrne's memoir, and too often the staging is overly glitzy, especially with its many dramatic blackouts that signal we're supposed to be awed by what just took place on stage. Byrne's writing is writerly. He's very conscious of wowing us with his poetic description of a nun's waxy hands or a priest's sour breath or the disappearing coastline of Ireland as he travels to a seminary in Great Britain.
2022 | Broadway |
Broadway Production Broadway |
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