Tony Award winners, West End legends and Broadway hits are jetting into Ireland for the Dublin Theatre Festival just as the Ryder Cup stars pack their bags.
Renowned actor Aidan Quinn, who starred in the acclaimed Song For A Raggy Boyand Michael Collins, has agreed to be a guest cast member in The Exoneratedduring its run at Liberty Hall Theatre.
Other stars of stage, including Tony Award winning director Garry Hynes will be in the city as Druid Theatre Company's new play Empress of Indiatakes to the stage at the Abbey Theatre.
From September 28th until October 14th Dublin will play host to plays from Broadway and West End award-winning theatre companies as the festival gets underway. There will be over 180 performances from 21 national and international productions and 18 special events during the 17 days of the festival.
"They are all pedigree shows but I don't choose them for awards, I choose them as they speak to me directly," festival director Don Shipley said. "The first rule of thumb for me is I think it is a damn good production."
Mr Shipley said there was a rich experience on offer from the festival as the productions represent the best works from festivals around the world.
Productions will be travelling from far-flung destinations including Siberia, Belgium, Germany, US, France, UK, Canada and Hungary.
The festival will feature a major international focus on contemporary German culture with two award-winning productions including Emilia Galotti and Hedda Gabler.
The Exonerated
A spokeswoman for the festival said: "If you total up all the award nominations by all the actors who have taken part in The Exonerated to date around the world, it adds up to 29 Academy Award nominations, 87 Golden Globe Award nominations and 112 Emmy nominations.
"This is a once off chance to see such amazing award winning actors in the one play."
The company, Shared Experience, which brought smash-hit Jane Eyreto the West End will perform Orestesin the Olympia. Another hit, The Syringa Tree, broke all box office records off Broadway and won New York's OBIE award for best play of 2001. The spokeswoman said tickets were already been snapped up ahead of the opening on September 28th.
PA
, which shares the true stories of six innocent survivors of death row, has already been a hit in New York, Edinburgh and London. The powerful production has also attracted numerous guest performers including Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Mia Farrow, Alanis Morissette, Gabriel Byrne and Vanessa Redgrave.