Playwright & Producer
Eamonn Dolan is a Waterford based playwright specializing in the friction between the absurd and the unsettling.
Crafting intense psychological dramas and sharp black comedies, designed to thoroughly entertain you, his character driven scripts are built on lethal dialogue and heavy atmospheric tension.
His play Burning Bridges was crowned "Best New Play 2024" by Liam Murphy (The Munster Express). From the competitive grit of the Camden Fringe to London's Golden Goose Theatre, Eamonn’s work is designed to challenge the status quo, deliver an entertaining night of dark humour, and keep audiences balancing on a knife edge.
🎭 Plays & Production
🎭 Recent Productions
"Siren Song" (2023)
Debuted at Little Angel Theatre, London (August 2023)
Featured in Camden Fringe Festival, London
Transferred to Etcetera Theatre, Camden, London (October 2023)
Watch on Youtube
"A stylish and memorable play" - Papatango Theatre London
“A very good black comedy. The humour is lugubriously sharp and the characters well observed”
Emer O’Kelly, Listowel Writers Week.
A black comedy following three artists caught in a power struggle of jealousy and revenge.
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"Siren Song" is a black comedy that follows the darkly humorous power struggle between three artists in contemporary Ireland. When failed poet Finn attempts suicide, his successful partner Mia responds with casual indifference, while his ambitious mistress Tilly schemes to eliminate her rival. Set in a seaside artist's studio, this 80-minute play blends absurdist humor with psychological tension as artistic jealousy, toxic relationships, and revenge plots spiral to a haunting conclusion.es here
Burning Bridges (2024)
Right Column:
Premiered at Wexford Arts Centre (June 2024)
Transferred to Presentation Arts Centre, Enniscorthy (June 2024)
“Best New Play, 2024” — Liam Murphy, Munster Express
“A delicious mix of menace and mayhem. A playwright to be reckoned with.” — Liam Murphy
Synopsis: In an isolated coastal home, siblings Maggie and Jack take in two shipwrecked strangers, triggering shifting alliances, a tragic death, and a new family bond.
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"Burning Bridges": A synopsis
In an isolated coastal hovel in contemporary Ireland, siblings Maggie (60s) and Jack (60s) live as recluses. Their routine is disrupted when a young couple, Kitty and Luke, seek shelter after their boat crashes during a storm. Luke, an arrogant rugby player, attempts to scale the treacherous cliff to seek help, despite warnings about its dangers. Before his attempt, we learn through Jack that he and Maggie were banished to this place in their childhood after Jack was caught playing "nurse" and kissing his friend Tommy - an incident that led to their father and a priest casting them out to sea.
While Luke makes his ill-fated climb, Maggie and Kitty bond over whiskey and stories, revealing Kitty's manipulative nature in stealing Luke from his previous partner. Luke eventually falls to his death attempting to scale "No-No Ridge." Rather than being devastated, Kitty becomes integrated into the siblings' isolated world. Maggie sees an opportunity to gain an heir for Jack, and despite initial resistance, Kitty eventually attempts to escape but is injured in the process.
Months later, Kitty has fully embraced her new life with Maggie and Jack, having given birth to a baby boy. When new shipwreck survivors come knocking, instead of helping them as she was once helped, Kitty rejects them - symbolizing her complete transformation and acceptance of her new family and their way of life.
The play is a dark comedy that explores themes of social isolation, sexuality, family bonds, and the transformative power of acceptance, however unc
“Best New Play, 2024” Liam Murphy, Munster Express.
“ A delicious mix of menace and mayhem. A Playwright to be reckoned with” Liam Murphy, Munster Express.
Finn and Tilly
What's up Tom Productions, Kilkenny
2016
Finn and Tilly
Carabosse Theatre Stratford. UK
Finn and Tilly
New Venture Theatre. Brighton. UK
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"Finn and Tilly" is a meta-theatrical comedy that opens with a couple watching an avant-garde play. Finn, a pretentious theatre enthusiast, is thoroughly impressed by the performance, while his partner Tilly finds it boring and incomprehensible. Their post-show debate reveals their contrasting personalities – Finn's intellectual posturing versus Tilly's down-to-earth pragmatism.
The play takes a surreal turn when Tilly notices they have an actual audience watching them, breaking the fourth wall. As they struggle with this reality-bending revelation, they're visited by an eccentric Tramp in distinctive clothing who is searching for two "gentlemen" from another play. In a delightful twist of theatrical absurdity, it becomes clear that the Tramp has wandered into the wrong production entirely. The piece ends with Tilly making a clever announcement to the audience that inverts the premise of the classic play they had just watched.
The work functions both as a comedy about theatrical pretension and a meta-commentary on the nature of theatre itself. It playfully explores themes of reality versus performance, intellectual posturing, and the boundaries between audience and performers.
Deaf Heaven by Eamonn Dolan
“A great title, a little nod to Shakespeare. The concept is clever both as a play the feelings within which people would recognize, and an in joke for theatre people. The characters are very believable as is the good dialogue as Tilly debunks the pretentiousness of the ‘know-it-all’ Finn. The appearance of the tramp is a wellwritten moment and creates an atmosphere of mystery and ‘drama’. The ongoing uncertainty about whether or not he really exists works very well. A great setting with well-handled shifts in the power dynamic as the dialogue progresses. The exploration of the central question gives the audience plenty to think about. The humour is good and there is a strong ending. An enjoyable read. A very good play”.
Walker Ewart. Drama Legue of Ireland.
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The play is a black comedy that follows a couple, Myles and Lily, who are attending a theater performance. Myles is pretentious and deeply invested in the intellectual aspects of theater, while Lily is practical and finds the play they're watching to be incomprehensible. After the performance ends, they argue about the merits of the play, with Myles defending it as "Theatre of the Absurd" and Lily mocking his reliance on critics to form his opinions.
Their argument is interrupted when a mysterious Tramp appears on stage. At first, Myles doesn't notice him, but when Lily points him out, both characters realize something strange is happening—they've somehow become characters in a play themselves. The Tramp quotes philosophical passages about the meaninglessness of existence and explains he's waiting for two gentlemen (likely a reference to "Waiting for Godot").
The experience causes Myles to have a breakdown as his notions about "suspending reality" are confronted with an actual suspension of reality. Meanwhile, Lily adapts and even seems to enjoy the surreal situation. The play ends with the Tramp addressing the audience directly after Myles and Lily leave, suggesting that perhaps the waiting and questioning themselves are more important than finding meaning or answers.
The play explores themes of reality, meaning, existence, and the nature of theater itself through a meta-theatrical approach.
Upcoming Productions
Selected Stage Productions
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Selected Stage Productions *
2024
Burning Bridges
Wexford Arts Centre & Presentation Arts Centre
2023
Siren Song
Little Angel Theatre, Camden Fringe Festival
2019
SWAY
Carabosse Theatre, Little Stratford
2018
Mylo M
Winner. Carabosse Theatre, Little Stratford
2017
Finn and Tilly
What's up Tom Productions, Kilkenny
2016
Grotty Grogan
Claremorris Fringe and Drama Festival
2015
Finn and Tilly
Winner New Venture Theatre, Brighton
2015
SWAY
Winner. Origins Theatre, Isle of Wight
Television and Radio Writing Credits
Sketch Writer:
"Karen Dunbar Show" - BBC TV One (three episodes)
"The Two Rons" and "Little and Large" - BBC 1 TV
"The Now Show" - BBC Radio 4