Intemperance at the New Vic

The New Vic Theatre gets set to stage Intemperance – a moving drama of hope, dreams and close-knit communities amid endemic 19th Century societal inequality.

Directed by New Vic Associate Director Zoë Waterman (Table, Playhouse Creatures, New Vic Theatre; The Rubenstein Kiss, After Miss Julie, Nottingham Playhouse), Intemperance is set in 1854 Liverpool. A time of rapid change, booming trade and rife social inequality, it was a defining period of the city’s history – when St George’s Hall opened to huge celebration while the poorest of society struggled to survive in backstreet cellar slums in the midst of a devastating cholera epidemic.

A poignant story of self-betterment – Intemperance is set to the backdrop of evocative Irish music, capturing the camaraderie of living in a close-knit community, where love, laughter and hope blossoms against the harshest conditions.

A cast of five will take centre-stage at the theatre-in-the-round to bring Lizzie Nunnery’s (The Sum, Liverpool Everyman; The People Are Singing, Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester; The Snow Dragons, National Theatre) critically-acclaimed play to life, with Krissi Bohn (Aladdin, Lawrence Batley Theatre; Table, New Vic Theatre; Coronation Street, ITV) as Millie Sildnes; Niamh Finlay (Gutted, The Edinburgh Fringe; Yokes Night, Theatre Royal Stratford East) as Niamh McLoughlin; Thomas Grant (The Cereal Café, The Other Palace; The Dreamers, Abbey Road Studios; The Pillowman, Royal Academy of Music) as Ruairi McLoughlin; Øystein Kanestrøm (The Innocents, Netflix; ) as Brynjar Sildnes; and John O’Mahony (A Christmas Carol, Glasgow Citizens Theatre; Oresteia: The Restless House, Glasgow Citizens Theatre/Edinburgh Lyceum; Dracula, New Vic Theatre) as Fergal Monahan.

Award-winning playwright and singer-songwriter Lizzie Nunnery has enjoyed great critical acclaim for her work, including being shortlisted for esteemed literary prize the Meyer-Whitworth award (awarded to new British playwrights) for Intemperance which premiered in 2007. Her play Narvik won Best New Play in the UK Theatre Awards 2017, she has written extensively for BBC radio and is currently developing her first feature film.

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