DUBLIN, Ohio — Starting on April 4, the Abbey Theater of Dublin will take the stage with "Van Gogh's in the Attic," a co-production with Original Theatre Productions.
"Set in the 1980s in Ireland, set in a lovely, lovely Irish mansion, we meet the matron of the family who, at first glance, appears to be suffering from early-onset dementia," explained Joe Bishara, theater supervisor for the Abbey and director of the production. "But little do we know that the matron of the family is trying to pull the rug over the eyes of her not-so-nice son-in-law and the local priest who are running guns through her mansion."
Complicating the situation even more, the family has taken in a man who believes himself to be Vincent van Gogh.
Bishara summed up the remainder of the plot with, "Hilarity ensues."
A world premiere production, the play was written by Irish playwright Sean Cooney.
Though this is the third play written by Cooney that Bishara has staged in the past couple of year, it was the first play they discussed putting on together.
After two earlier offerings - "A Yankee Goes Home" and "Moby Dick's Gone Missing" - that Bishara believed would be of a wider interest to American audiences, he decided the time was right to bring Cooney's Irish tale to the stage of Dublin, OH.
"This is based off of Sean's life," explained Bishara.
He said that the playwright drew from his own experiences with his mother as well as a family member who was moving paintings both legally and illegally through their home when he was younger.
"He'll tell you 70% of it is based in truth and then 30% of it kind of just goes to the races," Bishara said.
Bishara expects audiences will connect with the story through the physical comedy as well as through the rom-com-esque love story at the heart of the piece.
"By the end of the night, you're going to have spent two hours here," said Bishara, "You're going to have laughed, you're going to sigh and hopefully you're going to walk away going, 'Wow, what a fun experience.'"
Abbey Theater of Dublin's production of "Van Gogh's in the Attic" runs April 4-14.
For showtimes and ticket information, visit: https://dublinohiousa.gov/abbey-theater/.