With the Royal Court in exile, we missed the original “Upstairs” version of this at the Ambassadors. With all the stuff we had been dealing with in 1998, this one almost passed us by completely when it transferred “downstairs” to The Duke of York’s. So when the Duke of York’s production returned to that Royal Court “home in exile”, at the start of 1999, to kick off a major tour, we booked early and were there at the outset.
Excellent play and production
I wrote.
That was to say the least. It was truly memorable and awe-inspiring drama. No wonder many critics had fawned over it when it first came out in 1997.
Here’s John Gross in The Sunday Telegraph:
Weir Gross Sunday Telegraph 13 Jul 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Nicholas de Jongh thought that the Royal Court overdid Irish drama, but still liked this one:
Weir de Jongh Standard 11 Jul 1997, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Charles Spencer thought it superb:
Weir Telegraph Spencer 14 Jul 1997, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
We saw a great cast and crew – most if not all the originals – Kieran Ahern, Brendan Coyle, Dermot Crowley, Michelle Fairley and Jim Norton acting, Ian Rickson directing. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for the production we saw. It was a privilege to have seen that production.