Four Rivers Theatre returns to the stage with a nationwide tour of Eoin Colfer’s blackly comic and deeply affecting play My Real Life, coming to the Belltable on Wednesday June 24 at 8pm.
Written by the Wexford-born author best known for the Artemis Fowl series, My Real Life follows Noel, a man diagnosed with MS who records his thoughts for a friend — ostensibly to provide, in his own words, “a bit of a speech for the afters”. It soon becomes clear that the afters in question is his own funeral. What follows is an hour in which Noel relives the highs and lows of the past forty years with wit, warmth and unflinching honesty.
The role of Noel will be played by Garrett Lombard, one of Ireland’s most respected stage and screen actors. A regular performer at the Abbey and Druid theatres, Lombard’s television and film credits include Pure Mule, Quirke alongside Gabriel Byrne, and Oliver Stone’s Alexander.
He last appeared for Four Rivers in Jim Nolan’s Castel Gandolfo in 2024, which sold out in record time.
Directing the production is Heather Hadrill, whose recent credits include Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Wexford Festival Opera, following her sell-out success with Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment for the same company in 2023. Hadrill was Artist in Residence at Wexford Arts Centre in 2021 and staged Thomas Moore at Bannow at Bannow House in August 2024.
The production has drawn strong notices from critics. The Irish Examiner described it as “a surprisingly enthralling evening laden with as much humour as pathos”, while British Theatre called it “filled with joy and laughter”. The Arts Review said simply that it “packs one hell of a punch”.
My Real Life is shot through with Eoin’s trademark humour and compassion. It promises to be a night at the theatre that will stay with you for a long time. Tickets are available through the Belltable box office.