Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. A community living on a knife-edge. Lost and lonely people huddle together in the local guesthouse. The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind, and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no one will account for. So, when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback turn up in the middle of the night, things spiral beyond the point of no return... In Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into a show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by Conor McPherson, and later transferred to the West End, Broadway, Australia, Ireland and toured the UK.

This volume of Conor McPherson's collected plays, covering a decade of writing, celebrates a fascination with the uncanny which has led him to be described as 'quite possibly the finest playwright of his generation' (New York Times). In Shining City, a man seeks help from a counsellor, claiming to have seen the ghost of his dead wife. The play, premiered at the Royal Court, London, is 'up there with The Weir, moving, compassionate, ingenious and absolutely gripping' (Daily Telegraph). The Seafarer, premiered at the National Theatre before going on to become a Tony Award-winning Broadway hit, tells the story of an extended Christmas Eve card game, but one played for the highest stakes possible. 'McPherson proves yet again he is both a born yarn-spinner and an acute analyst of the melancholy Irish manhood' (Guardian) Set in 'the big house' in 1820s rural Ireland, The Veil is McPherson's first period play. Seventeen-year-old Hannah is to be married off in order to settle the debts of the crumbling estate. But when Reverend Berkeley arrives, determined to orchestrate a seance, chaos is unleased. 'A cracking fireside tale of haunting and decay' (The Times) The Birds, hauntingly adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier, is 'deliciously chilling, claustrophobic, questioning, frightening; and with a twist' (Irish Independent). It is published here for the first time, as is The Dance of Death, a new version of Strindberg's classic, which premiered at the Trafalgar Studios in London. 'A spectacularly bleak yet curiously bracing drama that often makes you laugh out loud' (Daily Telegraph). Completing the volume is a Foreword by the author.

In the heat of summer, Sonya and her Uncle Vanya while away their days on a crumbling estate deep in the countryside, visited occasionally by the only local doctor Astrov. However, when Sonya's father, Professor Serebryakov, suddenly returns with his restless, alluring, new wife, declaring his intention to sell the house, the polite facades crumble and long-repressed feelings start to emerge with devastating consequences. Olivier Award-winner Conor McPherson's stunning adaptation of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece, Uncle Vanya, is a portrayal of life at the turn of the twentieth century, full of tumultuous frustration, dark humour and hidden passions. It premiered at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in January 2020, directed by Ian Rickson. A film of the production, made by Sonia Friedman Productions/Angelica Films and shot on the stage of the Harold Pinter Theatre after the West End run was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was screened on BBC Four and went on to win the Theatre Award in the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2021.

An inimitably warm and stylish play that deftly mines the humanity to be found in the most unlikely of situations. Tommy's not a bad man, he's getting by. Renting a run-down room in his uncle Maurice's house, just about keeping his ex-wife and kids at arm's length and rolling from one get-rich-quick scheme to the other with his pal Doc. Then one day he comes to the aid of Aimee, who's not had it easy herself, struggling through life the only way she knows how. Their past won't let go easily. But together there's a glimmer of hope they could make something more of their lives. Something extraordinary. Perhaps. The Night Alive premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in June 2013, before transferring to the Atlantic Theater in New York. It was named Best New Play at the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards 2014.

Set around a haunted house hemmed in by a restive, starving populace, The Veil weaves Ireland's troubled colonial history into a transfixing story about the search for love, the transcendental and the circularity of time. May 1822, rural Ireland. The defrocked Reverend Berkeley arrives at the crumbling former glory of Mount Prospect House to accompany seventeen year-old Hannah to England. She is to be married off to a marquis in order to resolve the debts of her mother's estate. However, compelled by the strange voices that haunt his beautiful young charge and a fascination with the psychic current that pervades the house, Berkeley proposes a seance, the consequences of which are catastrophic. Conor McPherson's play The Veil was first performed in the Lyttelton auditorium of the National Theatre, London, in September 2011.

The second collection of plays from the multi-award winning author. Included in this volume is Conor McPherson's The Weir, one of the most successful plays of recent years. In a bar in a remote part of Ireland, the local lads are swapping spooky stories to impress a young woman from Dublin newly moved into the area... 'A spellbinder that transfixes you... No praise in fact is too high' Guardian Dublin Carol is set on Christmas Eve, when a Dublin undertaker is visited by his estranged daughter urging him to face up to the past. 'McPherson writes like a dream.... The play works an ingenious spell' Daily Mail Port Authority tells of three interwoven lives: a boy leaves home for the first time; a man starts a job for which he is unqualified; a pensioner is sent a mysterious package... 'Overwhelmingly poignant... desolate, searing eloquence' Evening Standard And in Come on Over, published here for the first time, a Jesuit priest, sent to investigate a 'miracle' in his home town, re-encounters the woman who loved him thirty years before. 'Piercingly evocative, powerfully exploring the tension between human and divine love' Daily Telegraph The volume also contains an Afterword by the author.

The spellbinding, beautifully observed hit from the master of suspenseful realism. A bar in a remote part of Ireland. The local lads are swapping spooky stories to impress a young woman recently moved to the area from Dublin. As the drink flows and the stories become increasingly frightening, it's clear that Valerie has something on her mind. She has a tale to tell that'll stop them all dead in their tracks. Conor McPherson's play The Weir combines superbly chilling tales of the supernatural with the hilarious banter of a small community in the heart of rural Ireland. The Weir was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs at the Ambassadors Theatre on West Street, London, in July 1997. It transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in February 1998, where it played for two years. The play went on to win the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 1999. McPherson also won the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Most Promising Playwright. The Weir has since been performed very widely, including on Broadway in 1999. It received a major West End revival at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013, and transferred to the West End once again. It was voted one of the hundred most significant plays of the twentieth century in a poll conducted by the National Theatre in 2000. 'The play of the decade... a modern masterpiece' - Express 'I am convinced that this is the best new play I've seen in years' - Sunday Telegraph 'There is a depth in the characterisation... that puts one in mind of an Irish Chekhov. I have rarely been so convinced that I have just seen a modern classic' - Daily Telegraph 'A beautifully crafted and compassionate piece, dealing with love, loss and loneliness. It works because one believes so intensely in the characters that one shares the experiences they talk of, because it contains at its heart a shattering event and because it demonstrates the healing potential of storytelling... a fine piece of writing' - Financial Times Best New Play, Olivier Awards

Conor McPherson, who turned] 35 in August, is one of the genuine treasures of the English-language theatre. It is absolutely intoxicating to ponder what he will give us in the future.-Irish Echo The unique and extraordinary aspect of McPherson's writing is the way in which his characters reveal themselves in tiny details which almost imperceptibly build up an extensive picture of the past, present and future, not just of themselves but of Ireland.-The Sunday Mail (London) Conor McPherson returns to his native Dublin for the setting of his new play, which he will direct in a much-anticipated production at London's National Theatre in fall 2006. It is Christmas Eve, and James Sharky Harkin, erstwhile fisherman/van driver/chauffeur, gathers with friends at the dingy flat he shares with his blind brother to drink booze and play cards. As Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day, the familiar-looking stranger Mr. Lockhart reminds Sharky of the bargain he made when they last met in prison-and Sharky suddenly finds himself playing a game with the stakes set at his soul. With this magnificently atmospheric new play, McPherson is once again set to entrance his audience, this time with a new take on the Faustian theme. Conor McPherson was born in Dublin, where he still lives. His plays include This Lime Tree Bower, St. Nicholas, The Weir, Port Authority, Dublin Carol, and Shining City, which premiered on Broadway in spring 2006. One of Ireland's leading playwrights, his work has been produced throughout the United Kingdom and the United States.

At age 26, Conor McPherson is one of the most compelling new writers to emerge from Ireland this decade. The first US publication of this Dublin based author collects all his dramatic work to date. The lead title, The Weir, has been an unqualified success in London, Dublin, and Toronto, and will premiere on Broadway in February 1999. Set in a pub in a Western Ireland county, The Weir creates a drama of interwoven stories as told by the locals and how they comfort and distract one another in the midst of desolation and grief. "Spellbinder that transfixes you ... no praise is too high ... The Weir offers the most exciting evening in theatrical London." -- The Guardian "The writing is rich, vivid, often wonderfully funny ... a distinctive talent to cherish." -- The Telegraph.

Also included in this volume are three tour-de-force one character plays -- Rum and Vodka, The Good Thief, and St. Nicholas, a recent hit Off-Broadway in New York and the three character play, This Lime Tree Bower, where three men tell their overlapping tale of a fateful night in a small seaside town. ... "it's an old-fashioned, hard-boiled yarn, another nail-biter from this award-winning young playwright." -- Sunday Times.

Taken together, these works provide an extraordinary offering from one of the most original writers of his generation.

Parents-to-be Kurt and Martha just want the best for their baby. They're not afraid of hard work - the latest buggy doesn't come cheap. But when Kurt's boss offers him a chance to make some easy money with a mysterious side job, his rashness catches up with him. A fable about the moral and environmental cost of our materialistic nesting instincts, Conor McPherson's powerful new version of Franz Xaver Kroetz's Das Nest premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in 2016 and the Young Vic, London, directed by Ian Rickson.

James 'Sharky' Harkin, erstwhile fisherman/van driver/chauffeur, is an unassuming sort of fellow well into his fifties. He lives with his cantankerous blind brother in a pretty squalid flat to the north of Dublin. He ekes out a living. He has his hopes and fears...It's Christmas Eve. Friends turn up to play cards and get drunk on Sharky's booze. One of them, Mr. Lockhart, is a man he thinks he recognises. As the night wears on and Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day, Mr. Lockhart reminds Sharky that they last met in jail, where Sharky was doing time for killing a man in a fight. Lockhart appears to have arranged for Sharky's miraculous early release - but only against Sharky's undertaking that the next time they play cards, and he loses, Sharky must surrender his soul...

A brilliant, haunting play from the multi-award winning author of The Weir. Ian has left the priesthood to become a therapist. John is one of his first clients. John's wife has been killed in a car accident, and he keeps receiving visits from her ghost. John, with Ian's help, starts to recover. But what begins as an unusual encounter becomes a desperate struggle between the living and the dead - a struggle which will shape and define both of them for the rest of their lives. Conor McPherson's play Shining City was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2004.

Four early plays from the author of The Weir, with a foreword by the author. The plays in this volume - three monologues and a three-hander - were all written while Conor McPherson was in his twenties. In This Lime Tree Bower (Crypt Arts Centre, Dublin, 1995; Bush Theatre, London, 1996), three young men from a small seaside town near Dublin tell us in overlapping monologues of their inextricably linked lives and the eventful week which was to change things for good. St Nicholas (Bush Theatre, London, 1997) is an eccentric, teasing yarn in which a cynical and jaded drama critic falls for a beautiful young actress. In pursuing her, he meets a group of modern-day vampires who offer him eternal life - his part of the bargain is to feed their bloodlust. Rum and Vodka (University College Dublin, 1992; City Arts Centre, Dublin, 1994) is a short monologue play in which a young Irishman with a drink problem tells of three momentous days in his life when his drab nine-to-five existence is obliterated in an escapist binge which threatens to engulf him. The Good Thief (City Arts Centre, Dublin, 1994) is a monologue play about a petty criminal who is punished by his conscience when he becomes involved in a bungled kidnap.

A magical, compelling play from the author of The Weir. Present day Dublin. Christmas Eve. Undertaker John Plunkett is sharing memories of funerals over the years and dispensing advice to his young assistant. But the arrival of his daughter Mary - estranged, grown-up - shows him the time has come to face up to his own disastrous past. Otherwise, he will never be able to create some kind of truce with his fear of the future. Conor McPherson's play Dublin Carol was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, London, in January 2000.

On "The Night Alive"

"A beautiful new play. . . . There's not another dramatist living who could pull off what McPherson] exercises so exquisitely here. . . . Kindles a glow, both warming and chilling, you rarely experience at the theater."--"The New York Times"

On "The Birds"

"Deliciously chilling . . . spring-loaded with tension."--"Irish Independent"

On "The Veil"

"Bold and intriguing . . . McPherson keeps you guessing to the last."--"Financial Times"

Tommy's not a bad man, he's just getting by--renting a decrepit room in his Uncle Maurice's house and hopping from one get-rich-quick scheme to the other. Then one day he comes to the aid of the also-struggling Aimee, and together, they just might make something--extraordinary--of their lives. With inimitable warmth, style, and craft, "The Night Alive" deftly mines the humanity to be found in the most unlikely of situations. Also included in the volume is "The Birds," a suspenseful, atmospheric adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's enthralling short story, and "The Veil," set around a haunted house hemmed in by a restive, starving populace, which weaves Ireland's troubled colonial past into a riveting tale about the pursuit of love, the transcendental, and the circular nature of time.

Conor McPherson is an award-winning Irish playwright educated at University College Dublin. His best-known works include "The Weir" (1999 Olivier Award for Best New Play), "Dublin Carol," "The Seafarer" (Tony nomination for Best Play), "Shining City" (Tony nomination for Best Play), and "Port Authority."