THE PARTING GLASS is set on the infamous night when Thierry Henry caused Ireland’s exit from this year’s World Cup. Henry’s sleight of hand is used by Bolger as a metaphor for the speedy deception experienced by people in Ireland in these post boom years. After emigrating to Germany to find work during the 80’s, Eoin made a new life for himself with the help of his wife Frieda and son Dieter. He returned to Ireland at the height of the boom, and just in time for the bust. 'Where Dorset Street has become so posh that all the women have turned blonde … and the girls buying John Player Blue at Hardwick Street flats have a different pair of pyjamas to wear to the shops every day'.
Whilst ‘In High Germany’ captured the pre-Celtic Tiger mood of a generation forced to emigrate out of economic necessity, twenty years on, in THE PARTING GLASS, Dermot Bolger holds up a mirror to highlight a recurrent pattern of emigration emerging amongst Ireland’s present generation - a cycle we thought we had banished forever.
Dermot Bolger infuses THE PARTING GLASS with humour and mischievous Dublin wit. Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, Bolger sweeps his audience along with a poignant and moving monologue, delivered with great fun and tenderness by actor Ray Yeates. A powerful, passionate and funny meditation on the state of Eoin mid-life and Ireland mid-bust, THE PARTING GLASS leaves no target untouched in a searing interrogation of friendship, family and Anglo Irish Bank shares.
