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The play has already led to a Tony award for Irish actor, Jim Norton and now a new Abbey production of The Seafarer is set to continue to enthral audiences in Cork and Donegal in the coming days. Norton scooped the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his role in the Broadway production of Conor McPherson's THE SEAFARER, at a star-studded award ceremony hosted by Whoopi Goldberg in New York last Sunday night. The Irish actor starred as blind, alcoholic brother, Richard, in McPherson's dark but hilarious play about a group of old drinking buddies who pass Christmas Eve getting drunk and playing cards with the devil. Last year Norton also picked up a Laurence Olivier Award for the same role. The play was nominated for three other Tony's including - Best Play and Best Director for McPherson and a second nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actor for Conleth Hill. A new Abbey production of THE SEAFARER directed by Jimmy Fay and starring Liam Carney, George Costigan, Phelim Drew, Maelíosa Stafford and Don Wycherley is currently on a tour of the four provinces. Already having played Dublin and Galway, THE SEAFARER opened in the Cork Opera House on Tuesday 17 June for a weeklong run before completing the tour in An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, Donegal, from 24 to 28 June. The staging of the play in the Southern Province marks something of a homecoming for former Bachelors Walk star Don Wycherley who's been talking about the experience.

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