Announcing Emmet Kirwan and Eoin French’s transformative 2022 hit show Accents – The Ambassador Theatre, Dublin January 2025
With poetry from Emmet and music from Eoin, who passed earlier this year, this will be a loving Testament to our late friend’s beautiful soul and towering talent, who was also the driving-force behind the band Talos.
presented by Emmet Kirwan in association with COBA: Cian O’Brien Arts + Caoimhe Whelan
“Moments of astonishing beauty … a visual pulsing heartbeat that compliments Eoin French’s haunting music” – The Irish Times
“It is one of the finest testaments to being alive out there and it is irresistible. And no, I’m not talking about Ulysses. I’m talking about Accents … a soul searing, tour de force.” – The Arts Review
“Emmet Kirwan’s excellent Accents ( ) a confessional scored by Eoin French with key contrapuntal conversation between Kirwan and the onstage electronic instruments”. – The Irish Times
The sound of your voice is the sound of your family, your community and where you’re from, it can lift you and lay you down:
Following two sold-out runs in 2022, Emmet Kirwan’s ACCENTS returns to the stage this January for a much-anticipated tour of Ireland. Nominated for Best Soundscape at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2023. Accents will run at The Ambassador Theatre, Dublin on January 16,17,18 2025. Tickets priced from €34.90 to €54.90, service charges may apply, are on sale from Friday 29th November from Ticketmaster.
Written by Emmet Kirwan (Dublin Oldschool), and music composed by Eoin French (Talos) and directed by Claire O’Reilly (Malaprop Theatre), ACCENTS presents a powerful, poetic journey through a gentrified city.
This 2025 tour of the show is dedicated to the memory of the late musician Eoin French who sadly passed away earlier this year. The show tours to 6 venues, opening at the new Ambassador Theatre in January, touring to Wicklow, Limerick, Cork and Galway.
ACCENTS is a transformative show about the arrival of new life, the families we try to create, the families we may never have, and the post-crash boom generation living a life delayed. Prompted by the birth of Kirwan’s first son, the actor-writer explores the sounds of our voices and how they define us, how we’re perceived and how they can give us power.
The play takes the form of eight poems delivered against French’s incredible soundtrack. The show has its own unique universe with its own gravitational pull, with an expanding and contracting celestial rhythm driven by playwright and spoken word artist Emmet Kirwan, under the compelling and energetic direction of one of Ireland’s most exciting directors, Claire O’Reilly. It is Kirwan’s Big Bang stage presence, his pulsating life-affirming energies through words and movement that make this show a must for your new year outings.
Accompanied by the amazing musical talents of Ben Bix and Brian (The Line) Dillon, two classically trained musicians and members of the experimental electronic super group Melty Brains. Through their multi-instrumental talents they bring Eoin’s exquisite score to life.
Speaking about Accents, Emmet Kirwan said:
“I am thrilled to bring Accents back to Irish stage and to a larger audience. I set out to write a contemporary piece about life in modern Ireland five years ago alongside Eoin. Life has changed for everyone since then including myself and becoming a father and that changed the narrative of not only my own story but the narrative of this play, and the loss of Eoin has profoundly affected all of us and changed how we see the world and his work, we hope to bring Eoin French’s incredible score and body of work back to the stage so it can be heard by new audiences and make sure that it still pulsates and lives on in peoples’ memories. I know he was incredibly proud of what he made and we want people to hear that. This show is laugh out loud funny, energetic, entertaining, and also extremely life affirming..”
PERFORMED by: Emmet Kirwan
MUSIC by Ben Bix and Brian Dillon
CREATIVE TEAM:
Directed by Claire O’Reilly
Written by Emmet Kirwan
Composed by Eoin French
Lighting Design by Zia Bergin-Holly
Running Time: 65 mins approx.
Ambassador Theatre, Dublin
Opens: Thursday 16 + Friday 17 + Saturday 18 January @ 7.30pm
Tickets: €34.90 to €54.90, service charge may apply
Ambassador Box Office – https://www.ticketmaster.ie/