• Emma O’Halloran & Mark O’Halloran
  • August - October 2024
  • Kilkenny Arts Festival & Nationwide Tour

Trade / Mary Motorhead

Two searing one-act operas. 

Irish composer Emma O’Halloran has turned two of her uncle Mark O’Halloran’s plays into a critically acclaimed double bill.

Mary Motorhead
Mary Motorhead has been locked in a prison cell after stabbing her husband in the head with a 12-inch carving knife. While he lies in intensive care, Mary reflects on the events that have brought this turbulent rural marriage to such a crisis.

Trade
In a guesthouse in Dublin’s north inner city, a vulnerable and confused young rent boy sits with a middle-aged client. The older man has blood on his shirt. A lot has happened since the two last met.  

Running time is 2 hours including one interval.

Sung in English.

Join the conversation online with #TradeMaryMotorhead.

Contains themes of an adult nature.

A co-production with Beth Morrison Projects.

European premiere co-presented by Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Content Warning: Please note that this production contains: Strobe lighting effects and theatrical fog/haze.


“vivid … daring … the intensity never flags” - The New York Times
“Rarely, if ever, does every element — score, text, singers, instrumentalists, conductor, director, sets, costumes, lighting, sound design — all come together. This is that rarity” - LA Times
“It’s 21st-century verismo, using psychological revelations instead of physical violence as dramatic catalysts” - The Wall Street Journal on Trade

Discover More

Trade / Mary Motorhead | Trailer

Trade | Musical Insights

Trade | In rehearsals

Mary Motorhead | Trailer

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