'I Knock at the Door' & 'Pictures in the Hallway' play in repertory at Theatre Three

The New Globe Theatre presents I Knock at the Door and Pictures in the Hallway, two plays by Paul Shyre, adapted from Sean O�Casey�s autobiographies, playing in repertoire at Theatre Three from 24 Nov - 23 Dec 2007.

Six actors, on six stools, in a fully-rehearsed staged concert presentation of Sean O�Casey�s acclaimed autobiographies, bring the Dublin of the great wordsmith�s youth alive � a vivid gallery of rogues, patriots, saints, and hypocrites. With perspective and wit, we meet a young O�Casey who surmounts poverty, and illness, fighting with spunky humour to swim upstream in a society divided by nationality, class, religion, and ignorance.

I Knock at the Door brings Johnny Cassidy into the world � the world of 19th Century Dublin, with its horse-drawn trams and outdoor toilets, its pubs and parades, its Catholics versus its Protestants. Where did the boy with the diseased eyes find the pluck, guts, and humour to shoulder his way into productive life? We get to know the mother who stood guard over him, the scholar father who died so young but left his books, the doctors who helped the boy, and those who greatly hindered him.

Pictures in the Hallway brings us the lively tale of an adolescent Johnny initiated into the rough and tumble of Dublin�s adult world by a series of life-changing events. First job -- in his early teens, because it�s a fatherless home where every penny counts; first politics -- in a society where even the singing of certain songs was a punishable offense; first sex � a reaching out for freedom in a world still gripped by repressive morals and sexual fear.

Directed by Stuart Vaughan, both plays feature Salome Jens, Gil Rogers, John FitzGibbon, Grant Kretchik, Nancy McNulty and Craig Rising.

Set design and costumes for both productions are by Bart Healy.