Things you need to know about The Brightening Air

The Brightening Air

is a new play by playwright Conor McPherson. McPherson wrote and directed Girl from the North Country at The Old Vic in 2017. The Olivier and Tony Award-winning show, which featured the music of Bob Dylan, went on to wow audiences in the West End, on Broadway and across the UK, USA, Australia and Canada.

‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’

by W.B. Yeats is the inspiration behind the title of the play. The poem explores the theme of unrequited love, and a life spent searching for something unattainable.

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

A brother and sister

live together in their crumbling family home in the play. Their lonely world is turned upside down when family members come to visit, staking their claims, seeking redemption, or just desperate for a miracle.

The supernatural

in Gaelic folklore is also an inspiration for this family drama set in rural Ireland. The ‘Sidhe’ (pronounced ‘Shee’ as in ‘banshee’) is the Irish name for supernatural beings, or deities from a religion that predates Christianity, commonly known as fairies. For centuries Irish people believed in appeasing the Sidhe by offering up food and drink to
them and by avoiding any damage to areas they may dwell. According to popular culture both W.B. Yeats and Samuel Beckett believed in the Sidhe.

Conor McPherson

is an Irish playwright and director. His plays have been widely translated throughout the world and he has been described by The New York Times as ‘Perhaps the finest English-language playwright of his generation.’ Besides Girl from the North Country, his plays include The Weir (Royal Court, West End and Broadway) which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play, The Seafarer (National Theatre and Broadway), Shining City (Royal Court and Broadway), The Night Alive (Donmar and Atlantic Theatre New York), which won the New York Critics Circle Award for Best Play. In 2020, his version of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (West End and BBC TV) won the South Bank Sky Arts Theatre Award.

The Brightening Air is on stage at The Old Vic from 10 Apr–14 Jun 2025, and tickets are now on sale. Tickets are selling fast, so we recommend booking early to get the best choice of seats and ticket prices.

Cast
Derbhle Crotty
Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty
Brian Gleeson
Aisling Kearns
Seán McGinley
Hannah Morrish
Chris O’Dowd
Rosie Sheehy