ABSENT THE WRONG

by Carys D. Coburn

Peacock Theatre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2022

produced by Once Off Productions

A woman looking for her child is lied to. An artist pitches a memorial that’s never built. A landlord raises rents. A parrot disappears. (Or does it?) Thousands of children disappear. (No question this time.) There’s family reunions, collective actions, inexplicable Mormons.

Both intimate and sweeping, raw and heady, Absent the Wrong is about 70 years of adoptees looking for answers. It’s about being the only person in the family photo who isn’t white and not daring to ask why, about having multiple heritages but knowing nothing about any of them. (So are they really heritages? Can you inherit loss?)

It’s about Ireland, Irishness, about a century of destroying families in the name of The Family. It’s about wondering, searching, loving, losing, fighting, losing some more, and sometimes finally winning when all seems lost.

Funded by the Arts Council.

Creative Team

Written by Carys D. Coburn
Directed by Veronica Coburn
Set Design by Molly O'Cathain
Costume Design by Pai Rathaya
Lighting Design by Suzie Cummins
Sound Design by Jenny O'Malley
Directing Associate Claire O'Reilly
Movement by Olwyn Lyons
Dramaturgy by Kirsty Housely
Hair Leonard Daly

Cast Jolly Abraham, Curtis-Lee Ashqar, Sheik Bah, Noelle Brown, Caoimhe Coburn Gray, Kwaku Fortune, Colleen Keogh, Sophie Lenglinger, Leah Minto, Emmanuel Okoye, and Peanut the cockatiel

Line Producer Cally Shine

Producers Maura O'Keeffe and Sara Cregan

Dates

10-24th September 2022: Dublin Fringe Festival, Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre.

Photos by Ste Murray

“Monumental in it’s ambition and reach” - The Sunday Independent

“A fresh and necessary take on the Mother And Baby Homes scandal” - The Business Post

“A terrific cast… directed with aplomb” - The Arts Review

Winner of Best Production at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2022.

“Absent the Wrong, my new play about racialised people in the adoption system, is not exactly my family story. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t come from a personal place.”

- Carys D. Coburn on Absent The Wrong for GCN