Sonya Kelly’s new play, The Last Return, which premiered at Druid Theatre last week and is among the highlights of the 2022 Arts Festival, will run at the Gate Theatre for this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival. It will be at the Gate from October 13 to November 5, after featuring in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.

The Last Return is a thrilling, black comedy about conflict, peace and the pursuit of territory at any cost. One final night. One last chance. Five people queue for a ticket to the hottest show in town. All they must do is wait in line. But it’s not that simple.

This production, which has been praised by critics and audiences alike, follows the success of Kelly’ s previous Druid premieres, Furniture in 2018 and Once Upon a Bridge (2021).

The Last Return has already earned Sonya Kelly a nomination for The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, while Once Upon a Bridge was nominated for Best New Play at the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards in 2021, and Furniture won the Stewart Parker Trust Award in 2019.

It’s directed by Sara Joyce (Once Upon a Bridge) and the cast includes Anna Healy, Bosco Hogan, Fionn Ó Loingsigh and Naima Swaleh. The creative team features Druid’s long-term collaborator Francis O’Connor (set and costume design), Amy Mae (lighting design) and Michael John McCarthy (sound design and composition).

The Last Return runs until this Saturday, July 23, at Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre, return tickets only. It will be at the Gate Theatre from October 13 to November 5 as part of Dublin Theatre Festival.  Tickets from www.druid.ie