Druid Theatre’s production of Sean O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman, which was first staged at this year’s Galway International Arts Festival in July, will return to the city’s Town Hall Theatre from March 12-16 next year. It’s as part of an 11-venue national tour.

The Shadow of a Gunman was the centrepiece of O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy, an epic production from Druid which also included The Plough and the Stars and Juno and the Paycock.

The trilogy sold out received five-star reviews when it premiered at the Arts Festival.

The Shadow of a Gunman, which had its first ever performance in 1923, at the Abbey Theatre, takes place against the backdrop of the War of Independence. Set in a Dublin tenement, the action moves between comedy and tragedy as it deals with issues of identity, ideology and cowardice, while a young woman dreams of a better life with a poet who may or may not be a revolutionary.

Directed by the company’s Artistic Director Garry Hynes, The Shadow of a Gunman features Druid regulars Rory Nolan and Marty Rea, alongside Gabriel Adewusi, Clare Barrett, Caitríona Ennis, Bosco Hogan, Sean Kearns, Robbie O’Connor and Catherine Walsh.

After its Galway run, Druid’s O’Casey Trilogy toured to Belfast and Dublin before a two-venue visit to North America, including New York.  Some 28,000 people saw the plays during that Irish and US run.

The New Yorker called the trilogy, ‘the season’s most exciting international visit’, The Wall Street Journal described it as ‘astonishing’ and The New York Stage Review gave it five stars.

In July, The Irish Times, Sunday Independent and Irish Examiner all described it as ‘magnificent’ and there were five-star review from The Observer, Financial Times, The Stage and Irish Mail on Sunday.

Garry Hynes won Best Director Award at the UK Theatre Awards,, following its run in Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.

Next Spring’s Irish tour will also include Roscommon Arts Centre, Cork’s Everyman, Limerick’s Lime Tree Theatre, Siamsa Tíre in Tralee, the National Opera House in Wexford, Glór in Ennis, Backstage Theatre in Longford, Sligo’s Hawk’s Well Theatre, the Town Hall Theatre in Claremorris and Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre.

■ Tickets for its Galway run from March 12-16 can be booked at www.tht.ie, 091 569777 or at the Town Hall Theatre box office. They cost from €26.

Pictured: Marty Rea and Caitríona Ennis in The Shadow of a Gunman. Photo: Ros Kavanagh.