Ireland's forgotten genius Teresa Deevy gets her London premiere this summer

Ireland's most unjustly forgotten playwright is finally coming to London this summer

Teresa Deevy lost her hearing as a teenager, had six plays staged at the Abbey, then had Wife to James Whelan rejected by a conservative backlash in the 1940s. Jermyn Street Theatre is putting that right from 25 June.

Teresa Deevy wrote six plays for Dublin's Abbey Theatre between 1930 and 1936. Then the Abbey turned its back on her. Wife to James Whelan, the play that was supposed to consolidate her reputation, was rejected amid the growing Catholic conservatism of the 1940s. Undeterred, she began writing for radio instead, a remarkable choice given that she had lost her hearing as a teenager, years before radio broadcasts even existed in Ireland. She died in 1963, largely forgotten.

Jermyn Street Theatre and New York's Mint Theater Company are co-producing the London premiere of Wife to James Whelan from 25 June to 25 July 2026. Press night is Wednesday 1 July. It is the most significant staging of Deevy's work in Britain in decades, directed by Jonathan Bank, whose Mint Theater has been championing Deevy since 2010 in what the company calls the Teresa Deevy Project.

The play is set in a small Irish town in 1937. Nan Bowers and her friends are waiting to hear which local man has won a life-changing job in Dublin. James Whelan arrives triumphant, expecting to celebrate with Nan, only to discover she has plans of her own. Seven years later he comes home flush with success and his return reshapes the whole town. The play asks a question that has no clean answer: how much of yourself are you willing to surrender for the joys and comforts of partnership?

The full cast is an ensemble of Irish actors assembled by casting director Sarah Jones. Darragh Feehely plays Bill McGafferty. Clíona Flynn, a recent graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with a Mean Girls credit to her name, plays Nan Bowers. Fiach Kunz plays James Whelan, with Eavan Gaffney, Molly Hanly, Patrick McBrearty, David Rawle and Benjamin Reilly completing the cast. Set design is by Neil Irish, costumes by Anett Black, lighting by Chris McDonnell and sound and composition by Jane Shaw.

Jermyn Street Theatre runs until 25 July 2026.

Tickets from £18 at jermynstreettheatre.co.uk.