Druid Theatre returns to Tom Murphy’s canon for its next production, being staged in Autum.

The House, by the late Tuam playwright, will premiere this September at Galway’s Town Hall Theatre and then transfer to the Gaiety Theatre for the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Written in 2000 and set in the 1950s, The House is a drama of desire, belonging and possession.

Mrs de Burca’s health is failing and, with her daughters making their own way in the world she decides it’s time to sell the family home.

Down the town, a generation of young men are home from the building sites of England, haunting the streets for a few weeks. They include Christy Cavanagh, a man flush with cash who has fond memories of a childhood spent with the de Burcas and plans to buy their house.

The large ensemble cast for this production includes company regulars Marie Mullen as Mrs de Burca and Marty Rea as Christy Cavanagh. Also featuring are Jessica Dunne Perkins, Darragh Feehely, Liam Heslin, Colm Lennon, Andrew Macklin, Amy Molloy, Rachel O’Byrne, Donncha O’Dea and Cathal Ryan.

Six of the 11 actors are making their Druid stage debut in The House, which is directed by the company’s Artistic Director, Garry Hynes.

Tom Murphy was writer-in-association with Druid in the 1980s when the company presented the world premieres of Conversations on a Homecoming, Bailegangaire and Brigit.

In 2012, under the moniker DruidMurphy the company staged three of his plays together–  Conversations, Whistle in the Dark and Famine.

That production was a critical success in Ireland, as well as in London and New York where it also played.

Describing Tom Murphy’s contribution to Druid and to Irish theatre as “inestimable”, Garry Hynes expressed her excitement about this new production, which Wilie White of the Dublin Theatre Festival predicted “will be a highlight” of this year’s event.

It will run in the Town Hall from September 14-21, with tickets now available. It will be in Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre from September 26 to October 6.

Visit www.druid.ie for more information and to book tickets.

Pictured: Marie Mullen, who plays Mrs de Burca in The House. PHOTO: JULIA DUNIN.