Famous Blue Raincoat

Putting Flann O'Brien (aka Myles na Gopaleen, novelist, satirist, linguist and newspaper columnist) on stage? It might seem impossible, but it has been done before to quite brilliant effect, when Alex Johnston and Jimmy Fay staged At Swim-Two-Birds at the Peacock back in 1998. Now it's the turn of Sligo's Blue Raincoat, who bring their acclaimed adaptation of The Third Policeman to Project from 16 to 28 Feb. Blue Raincoat's ensemble excels in strongly visual and movement-oriented theatre, and their surreal interpretations are the perfect match for Flann O'Brien's fantastically surreal vision of Irish life. Adapted by Jocelyn Clarke, who also adapted Alice in Wonderland for the company, its typically bizarre characters include a nameless man whose soul is called Joe, three village policemen with a machine for storing light, a murderous rake called Finnucane, a one-legged gallows maker and, behind it all, the eccentric philosopher De Selby with his theories of molecule exchange and dark air.