Late-night taxis, teen discos, home nurses, Jewish launderettes, vigilantes, babies, immigrants, seagulls. Citysong is a play, a poem and a chorus of voices showing three generations of a Dublin family on one day.
Intimate and sweeping, joyous and ridiculous, it’s modern-day Dublin’s Under Milk Wood via Metamorphoses (not the book about the cockroach). It’s different things at different times, which makes sense seeing as it’s about change.
Dylan Coburn Gray’s play Citysong was winner of the 2017 Verity Bargate Award, and premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in May 2019, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London.
Dylan Coburn Gray was named Most Promising New Playwright at the 2020 Off-West End Theatre Awards for Citysong.
This edition also contains the plays Boys and Girls, which won the Fishamble Best New Writing Award at the Dublin Fringe and was nominated for the Stewart Parker Trust Award, and Drawing Crosses on a Dusty Windowpane.
‘Stunning… If you want brave new writing, here is your salvation’
— Irish Times on Boys and Girls
‘Dublin shimmers in poetic celebration of the cycle of life… linguistically playful and fresh, the play’s poetic origin gives it energy and rhythm, creating an impressionistic sweep rather than in-depth characterisations’
— Guardian on Citysong
‘Entrancing… sumptuous and sinuous writing’
— Irish Times on Citysong
‘A poetic masterpiece… Citysong weaves a rich human tapestry through times and spaces… its poetry proves to be nothing short of sublime’
— The Arts Review on Citysong
‘In 90 minutes [Coburn Gray] captures our imagination with dozens of joyous, tender and intimate family interludes… Citysong resembles a symphony, with every element resonating with the living, breathing, buzzing city of Dublin’
— Broadway World on Citysong
Most Promising New Playwright, Off-West End Theatre Awards
Verity Bargate Award
