Estelle Parsons and Mary Beth Peil to Star in The Dead, 1904

Irish Repertory Theatre has announced that stage legends Estelle Parsons and Mary Beth Peil will star in this year’s production of The Dead, 1904, the company’s immersive adaptation of the James Joyce novella, which invites audiences to Epiphany dinner with the Morkan family in the stately Fifth Avenue townhouse occupied by the American Irish Historical Society. Preview performances begin November 20, with an official opening night November 25. The final performance is January 5 — one day before the Feast of the Epiphany.

Parsons Peil will play Kate and Julia Morkan, two elderly sisters hosting the holiday shindig. Audiences eat along with the cast as stories are told, grudges are rehashed, and politics are discussed in the grand Irish tradition.

The show is adapted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon (Joy in Service on Rue Tagore) and novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Plot, The Latecomer, HBO’s “The Undoing”), and directed by Irish Rep co-founder Ciarán O’Reilly (Philadelphia, Here I Come!). It has regularly played the American Irish Historical Society during the holidays since 2016. Read our review of the debut mounting here.

The menu for The Dead, 1904, prepared on-site daily for each show by Great Performances, features roast turkey breast stuffed with sprigs of parsley & herbs, beef tenderloin with fig & cocoa glaze, mashed “floury” potatoes, cranberry & pineapple relish, dried figs, artisanal raisins served on the vine & smoked almonds, and bread & butter pudding with vanilla custard. This traditional Irish fare may be washed down with an array of wine, stout, and spirits, which will be offered to the guests.

The full cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.