Séamus Scanlon
The McGowan Trilogy: Three Inter-Related One Act Plays
ISBN: 9781851321117
Available from
Praise for The McGowan Trilogy
Many have written about the situation in the North of Ireland – few with such gusto and attention to detailed violence as Scanlon. There are shades of Joe Orton and Martin McDonagh in these plays but Scanlon ploughs his own bloody, uproarious furrow.
– Larry Kirwan (Hard Times), black47.com
The McGowan Trilogy is a superb achievement. Addictive in its telling, the 3 sections come together to plot points on a map that is part a man’s soul and part a hell of his own creation. Wonderfully done by Scanlon, The McGowan Trilogy opens a pandora’s box of ambition and regret, and leaves the viewer haunted.
– Urban Waite (Sometimes the Wolf), urbanwaite.com
The McGowan Trilogy tells the story of psychopath, street–wise philosopher and executioner, Victor McGowan, and those unfortunates who come within his orbit. O’Casey meets Behan, both on LSD with a little bit of Guests of the Nation thrown-in. Incisive wit, gallows humor and intelligent one-liners. Powerful and original, right to the last.
– Sam Millar (On the Brinks), millarcrime.com
What a delight for fans of Scanlon’s terrific noir fiction to see him put his verbal virtuosity and storytelling flair to theatrical use! With its crackling dialogue and bravura blend of black comedy and unnerving violence, The McGowan Trilogy shares some dramatic DNA with the work of both Martin McDonagh and Quentin Tarantino. It possesses, however, an emotional, often poetic, power all its own.
– Harold Schechter (The Mad Sculptor), haroldschechter.com
Séamus Scanlon’s The McGowan Trilogy, set on both sides of the porous Irish border during the ‘troubles’ of the 1980s, is internecine both in the modern sense (relating to internal struggles) as well as the word’s original meaning (fought all the way to the death). Scanlon’s literate theatricality is devastating but irresistible.
– James L. de Jongh (Vicious Modernism)
Victor McGowan in The McGowan Trilogy is a charming psycho, the bastard child of Samuel Beckett and Quentin Tarantino.
– Al Guthrie (The Abandoned), www.allanguthrie.co.uk
The McGowan Trilogy is filled with music and murder, melancholy and regret. Victor McGowan, Scanlon’s protagonist, demonstrates the chilling way that – in John Cale’s immortal words – ‘the waster and the wasted get to look like one another in the end’. Strong stuff, dark and bitter as the past.
– Joseph Goodrich (The Red Box), playscripts.com/playwrights
The McGowan Trilogy is heart-stoppingly dark and gloriously poetic.
– SJ Rozan (Ghost Hero), sjrozan.net
Scanlon is a bloody fine storyteller and a truly imposing writer. Dancing at Lunacy’s fierce and unflinching combination of tragedy, absurdity and wit set him apart.
– Peter A. Quinn (Dry Bones), newyorkpaddy.com
Dancing at Lunacy is a sharp, super-charged punk-rock driven IRA drama that is dark, chaotic, button-pushing and resonant. Scanlon’s dialogue combines nasty wit, poetry and blasphemy.
– Jonathan Santlofer (The Death Artist), jonathansantlofer.com
A trio of plays that begins with comedy and irreverence and ends with pathos and loss, Séamus Scanlon’s The McGowan Trilogy is surprising, original and hugely enjoyable.
– Christian O’Reilly (Chapatti), theagency.co.uk
Dancing at Lunacy is psychotic vaudeville from the pen of a punk rock Pinter, a gory, hilarious fairground ride to the dark side
– Paul Duane (Barbaric Genius), www.screenworks.ie