Blistering words and beats collide for break-neck physical theatre.

​

“They’re both a shambles, but their eyes’re black an’ smokin’. They’re still goin’, still tradin’ damage back an’ forth, a percussion of skin on skin sounds…”

Howie the Rookie is a white-knuckle ride through the mean streets of Dublin, fuelled by a molotov cocktail of vivid characters, pitch-black humour and comic-book violence that makes Tarantino look tame. The story begins with the ready foot-soldier of random vendettas, The Howie Lee, roped into a manhunt over a scabies-infested mattress. His prey and namesake, The Rookie Lee, then picks up the tale: as one aggrieved psychopath after another circles around him, he has to rely on his teflon charm and the help of an unexpected brother-in-arms to keep his kneecaps intact.

“The master of the solo performance” Christopher Samuel Carroll makes another expectation-defying swerve with his latest one-man show, playing both roles in an acting masterclass that returns to his Irish roots.

The ricocheting lyricism of Mark O’Rowe’s award-winning modern classic (Best New Play, Irish Times Theatre Awards 1999) is driven by live accompaniment from drummer Steve Fitzgerald (Brass Knuckle Brass Band, Bella Groove, Victor Rufus Reverberation), in a pulsating piece of theatre with all the brutal beauty of a bare-knuckle brawl.​

​

By Arrangement with the Licensor, Mark O'Rowe, c/- Curtis Brown (Aust) Pty Ltd