Castel Gandolfo wows Waterford Waterford stars of stage took their hometown by storm with a sellout production of Castel Gandolfo, the new play by local writer Jim Nolan (Moonshine, The Salvage Shop). The Four Rivers production, directed by Ben Barnes, finishes at Garter Lane Arts Centre this weekend. Castel Gandolfo revolves around the cataclysmic exposure of a Waterford family’s deepest and most secret wounds and features Carrie Crowley, Michael Power, Garrett Lombard, Sarah Madigan and Elishka Lane. Thrilled to be returning to the stage again in her native Waterford, Carrie received recent universal acclaim as Eibhlín Cinnin in the film 'An Cailín Ciúin', shortlisted in the 2022 foreign film category of the Oscars, for which she was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the IFTAs. Waterford’s Michael Power’s theatre credits include The Good Thief (Theatre Royal Waterford), Dreamland, (Garter Lane Art Centre), 1916 Musical, (No Place Like Home), Othello, (Theatre Royal Waterford), Macbeth, (Theatre Royal Waterford), King Richard 2, (Peacock/Abbey), The Country Girls, (Red Kettle Theatre Co.) and Dreamland, (National Tour.) Set over two days in the backyard of the eponymous Castel Gandolfo, a decaying terraced house in Waterford's inner city, Stephen Callaghan is dying and the frail threads that bind his scattered and scarred family are fast unravelling. His daughter, Rose, is about to lose her job; his son, Tony, is losing the race to restore his father’s vintage car and his granddaughter, Stella, is about to swap a law degree for a start in the local chipper. As if that wasn’t enough, Stephen’s ex-wife, the formidable Dolly, is back in town. The simultaneous return of another exile, Charley, threatens to reveal the truth behind a thirty-year-old façade.

Jim Nolan was the founding Artistic Director of Red Kettle Theatre Company for whom he directed more than twenty productions. He is a former Writer in Association at the Abbey Theatre and Theatre Artist in Residence at Garter Lane Arts Centre. His plays, including Moonshine, The Salvage Shop, Blackwater Angel, Sky Road, Brighton, Dreamland and Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, have been presented throughout Ireland, in the UK, the US and Canada.