Terminus (play)

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Terminus

Terminus by Mark O'Rowe Abbey Theatre Playscript.jpg

Written by Mark O'Rowe
Characters
  • A (female)
  • B (female)
  • C (male)
Date premiered 9 June 2007
Place premiered Abbey Theatre
Dublin, Ireland
Original language English
Setting Dublin

Terminus is a monologue play by Mark O'Rowe. Written entirely in rhyme, [1] the play follows three characters over the course of a single night in Dublin: a former schoolteacher (A), her lonely, estranged daughter (B), and a serial killer who has sold his soul to the Devil (C). [2]

Monologue speech presented by a single character

In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their mental thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media, as well as in non-dramatic media such as poetry. Monologues share much in common with several other literary devices including soliloquies, apostrophes, and asides. There are, however, distinctions between each of these devices.

Mark O'Rowe is an Irish playwright and screenwriter.

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in the final stressed syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of "perfect" rhyming is consciously used for effect in the final positions of lines of poems and songs. Less strictly speaking, a rhyme may also variously refer to other types of similar sounds near the ends of two or more words. Furthermore, the word rhyme has come to be sometimes used as a shorthand term for any brief poem, such as a rhyming couplet or nursery rhyme.

Contents

Terminus premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin [3] on 9 June 2007, [4] before transferring to the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won a Fringe First Award in 2008. [5] It was revived by the Abbey in 2009 and again in 2011 with an international tour.

Abbey Theatre National Theatre of Ireland, Dublin, origins tied to the Irish Literary Revival

The Abbey Theatre, also known as the National Theatre of Ireland, in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day. The Abbey was the first state-subsidized theatre in the English-speaking world; from 1925 onwards it received an annual subsidy from the Irish Free State. Since July 1966, the Abbey has been located at 26 Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1.

Traverse Theatre theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland

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Original cast

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2011 Revival Cast

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References

  1. Zinoman, Jason (13 January 2008). "For Him, the Devil Is in the Rhymes". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  2. Hurwitt, Robert (1 June 2013). "'Terminus' review: ABCs of gritty Dublin". SFGate. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  3. Logan, Brian. "Terminus – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  4. Singleton, Brian. "Terminus by Mark O'Rowe". Irish Theatre Magazine. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  5. "Terminus | Abbey Theatre". Abbey Theatre. Retrieved 18 November 2013.