Coburn was nominated for the prize by the Abbey Theatre for their play BÁN, which was commissioned by the National Theatre of Ireland, with a forthcoming production to be announced. The winner will be announced in New York City on Monday, 10th March.
BÁN explores family violence, sisterhood and the ways our parents’ pain shapes us, even if we don’t understand it, even if we don’t know it’s there. Forced to live within their mother’s tight grip as they mourn their father’s death, five sisters long for freedom and the local eligible bachelor – in that order. The question isn’t who can have which, it’s can any of them have either? Transposing the action of The House of Bernarda Alba to 1980’s Cork, Coburn takes us from one rural world on the verge of crumbling to another, radically reframing Lorca’s original in a singular and searing adaptation of this European classic.
Coburn’s writing has been celebrated for its rare blend of poetry, politics and playfulness. Their recent work at the Abbey includes the Verity Bargate Award-winning Citysong in 2019, directed by Co-Director of the Abbey Theatre, Artistic Director, Caitríona McLaughlin, which was met with huge critical and popular acclaim in the UK and Ireland for its cross-generational portrayal of family and Dublin. In 2022, their ambitious and impactful work Absent the Wrong, conceived partly as a response to the publication of the Mother and Baby Homes Report, premiered at the national theatre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, winning Best Production at the Fringe Awards 2022.
Commenting, playwright Carys D. Coburn said: “It’s an honour and a pleasure to be a finalist, and particularly with this project. BÁN‘s title is not the only forbiddingly Irish thing about it – it’s all about the long shadow of our 20th century, how we’re still living with the effects of oralism and Catholicism, forced sterilisations and adoptions, no free healthcare for mothers or children for fear they’ll get contraception. It was urgent for me to write it, coming from the family I come from, but it’s really heartening to find out it resonates with readers internationally too.”
Literary and New Work Director at the Abbey Theatre, Ruth McGowan added: “It’s wonderful to see BÁN recognised for its excellence today as a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. This is a richly deserved acknowledgment of Carys’s expansive and insightful work as a playwright. We have found this bold, unflinching play compelling at every stage of its development here at the Abbey Theatre, so it’s a pleasure to hear that conversation grow internationally now that others are as excited about the play as we are.”
Founded in 1978, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious awards in playwrighting. It honours women+ writers across the world who have written English-language plays. The last Abbey nominee who went on to the win the prize was Marina Carr in 1997 for her play, Portia Coughlan.
