After a sold-out premiere in Limerick, Jilly Morgan’s Birthday Party, a darkly funny and emotionally charged new play, toured to leading venues across Ireland.

Written by Liam McCarthy and directed by Joan Sheehy, Jilly Morgan’s Birthday Party follows Jack, whose brief, passionate kiss with Jilly Morgan at her birthday party in 1983 becomes a lifelong obsession. This fleeting but transformative moment shadows him through four decades of love, fantasy, and regret. Set against the backdrop of a changing Ireland, the play is a hauntingly humorous exploration of memory, desire, and the myths we build around ourselves.

Inspired by Anton Chekhov’s short story The Kiss, the production reimagines the original into a sharp, time-bending work that blends emotional honesty with inventive theatricality.

Premiering to ★★★★ reviews in The Irish Times and Feeling Good, audiences and critics praised the play’s raw truth, poignancy, and wit:

“Pivoting from laughs to darkness and back again. Extraordinary performances and beautiful writing.”

“Brilliant, powerful, moving and funny.”

Creative Team: 
Writer – Liam McCarthy
Director – Joan Sheehy
Set & Lighting Design – Paul Keogan
Sound Design – Tom Lane
Costume Design – Gemma Morris
Dramaturg – Darren Murphy
Movement Consultant – Myles Breen

National Tour Venues:

Lime Tree Theatre Limerick, Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire, Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo, Backstage Theatre Longford, Galway Town Hall Theatre, The Everyman Cork, glór Ennis, Siamsa Tíre Tralee, Dunamaise Arts Centre Portlaoise, Theatre Royal Waterford

Jilly Morgan’s Birthday Party was presented by Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable with support from the The Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon