Medicine & The Same: two plays

John Kane sits on a hospital trolley. Very shortly, a giant lobster, two women called Mary, a very old man and a jazz percussionist arrive. Then everything starts.

Enda Walsh's Medicine is a dark and frequently absurdist play. Devastatingly funny and profoundly moving, it examines how, for decades, we have treated those we call 'mentally ill'.

It was first produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival as part of the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival, prior to performances in Galway and New York. It was directed by Enda Walsh, with a cast including Clare Barrett, Aoife Duffin and Domhnall Gleeson, with drummer Seán Carpio.

This edition also includes Walsh's play The Same, about two women who meet in a psychiatric institution. Published here for the first time, it was produced by Corcadorca in 2017, and won The Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best Play.

'One of the most fiercely individual voices in the theatre today' New York Times

'Flamboyant, funny and surreal'

'Taut and energetic, frequently bleak, but shot through with touches of absurdist humour... burns with searing honesty... It's chilling, powerful, and unforgettable'

'A heartbreaking yet hugely energising and thrilling journey through one man's troubled psyche'

'Takes the stage by storm... It's bizarre, quite extraordinary and mind-boggling'

'Devilishly satirical... cuts disturbingly close to the bone'

Enda Walsh is a multi-award-winning Irish playwright. He lives in London. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and has been performed internationally since 1998.His recent plays include: Medicine at the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival and Galway International Arts Festival; Arlington at the 2016 Galway International Festival; an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Twits for the Royal Court (2015); Ballyturk and Room 303 at the 2014 Galway International Arts Festival; Misterman, presented by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland, London and New York (2011–2012); and several plays for Druid Theatre Company, including Penelope, which has been presented in Ireland, America and London, from 2010–2011, The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, New York and LA from 2008–2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh, London and New York, as well as an American and Australian tour, from 2007–2010.He collaborated with David Bowie on the musical Lazarus (New York Theatre Workshop, 2015, and West End, 2016), and won a Tony Award in 2012 for writing the book for the musical Once, seen on Broadway, in the West End and on a US tour.His other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican), which played Dublin and a British tour in 2008; Chatroom (National Theatre), which played at the National Theatre and on tour in Britain and Asia (2006–2007); and The Small Things (Paines Plough), which played London and Ireland (2005).His early plays include Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Disco Pigs (Corcadorca).His film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4), winner of the Camera d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

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