Body & Blood

BODY & BLOOD

Sparky new play about arranged marriages in Ireland to open Festival 47.

A witty new play about an unheard-of subject – arranged marriages in Ireland – has been chosen to open the King’s Head Theatre festival of new writing, Festival 47, this July.

Inspired by the writer’s grandmother who had an arranged marriage, Body & Blood, by Lorraine Mullaney, is a dark comedy that tackles a tough subject with humour and live music.

Body & Blood tells the story of an Irish girl who arrives in London in 1956 looking for her sister, who has run away from Ireland to escape an arranged marriage with a man “with a face like the Turin shroud”. But, instead of finding her sister, Aileen meets Jimmy, Uncle Colm’s young drinking and betting partner. Jimmy shows her a new side of life, full of freedom and possibilities. Will Aileen choose this new life or return to Ireland and make the sacrifices required to stay true to her roots?

The drama explores the conflicts and culture clash that result from migration and the pull of traditional Irish values. As Ireland is on the brink of electing its first openly gay prime minister, the play highlights how far Ireland has come since the 1950s.

Second-generation Irish writer, Lorraine Mullaney says:

“When my mother got engaged to my father in 1960, my grandmother told her she’d come to her marriage with my grandfather with a dowry and cows but my mother had come to hers with nothing. The story always fascinated me.”

Review for previous production 'Unclouded Moon';

“Lorraine Mullaney’s laugh a minute, ballsy script tackles family life and ‘old Ireland’ Catholicism head on.”
Brighton Argus