Award-winning Inishowen director Caitríona McLaughlin has landed two major productions as part of her National Theatre debut.
McLaughlin, who is originally from Carndonagh, will direct A-list casts in two 20th-century plays coming to the renowned London theatre.
Stars include Paul Mescal from Gladiator II and Normal People as well as Derry Girls stars Nicola Coughlan and Siobhán McSweeney.
Mescal will star in Tom Murphy’s A Whistle in the Dark in his debut at the National Theatre in London. Following its premiere there, it will transfer to the Abbey Theatre in 2027.
McLaughlin will also direct JM Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World for the National Theatre in London. Starring Declan Conlon, Nicola Coughlan, Lorcan Cranitch, Megan Cusack, Éanna Hardwicke, Siobhán McSweeney and Marty Rea, it will honour the rich heritage and influence of Irish drama on British theatre. Running from Thursday, 4th December 2025 – Saturday, 28th February 2026, it will also see Coughlan and Hardwicke make their National Theatre debuts.
Also debuting at the National Theatre are members of the creative team, Irish artists, set and costume designer Katie Davenport and composer Anna Mullarkey.
McLaughlin, who is the Co-Director of the Abbey Theatre (Artistic Director) in Dublin, said: “It is very meaningful for us at the Abbey Theatre to have such fulsome engagement in this next chapter of the National Theatre of Great Britain. It will be an honour to bring The Playboy of the Western World and A Whistle in the Dark before audiences in London. Every generation deserves to see these two seminal works of the Irish canon.”
Separated by five decades, these works of Murphy and Synge pushed the boundaries of Irish theatre, challenging audiences with disturbing images of Irish life, forcing them to reflect on emigrant and peasant lives respectively.
It is the first time that Tom Murphy’s work will be staged by the National Theatre in London.
McLaughlin added: “I am thrilled to take on these two great Irish plays. The Playboy of the Western World (1907) holds a special place in my heart because it is synonymous with the origins of our theatre and has such significance to the history of our artform. A Whistle in the Dark (1961) is a taut, explosive, pressure cooker of a play and remains Murphy’s best-known and most performed play.
“Both plays hold in common the opportunity to reinvent yourself, the desire to realise one’s own potential, and what happens when that opportunity is squandered or lost.”
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