Cillian Murphy to star in Grief is the Thing with Feathers stage adaptation

(Photo: Tim Walker, Poster: Alexander Innes

A new theatre production based on Max Porter's novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers has landed Cillian Murphy as its lead actor.

Enda Walsh will direct the production, set to tour in 2019, having previously worked with the Peaky Blinders actor on Disco Pigs, Ballyturk and Misterman.

The novel centres on a widower and his young sons, was drawn from author Porter's own experience of loss and grief, and was inspired by the work of Ted Hughes.

Our reviewer had this to say about it when it was published in 2015:

'Grief is, of course, an evergreen theme for literature, though it seems particularly popular, if that's the term, over the past few years. But the point about grief as a subject is that it forces a writer to be good, to find new ways of saying the same old thing, for you would not want to dishonour the dead, or offend the bereaved, with something substandard or derivative, would you? This book is neither of those things. It's a blast and a breeze and, strangely, a delight.'

Grief is the Things with Feathers won the International Dylan Thomas Prize among other book awards.

"I couldn't be any more excited about the prospect of making this piece of work," Murphy commented.

"Grief is the Thing with Feathers truly broke my heart when I first read it and it will be a privilege to bring it to life on stage in Ireland," he said. "Complicité’s work on stage has inspired me for many years, and it is always a joy to get in a room with my most trusted collaborator and friend Enda Walsh."

Read our recent interview with Cillian Murphy here.

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