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theatre · Saturday 27 June 2026 · TBC 
National Theatre Live: Playboy of The Western World
At Mermaid Arts Centre · Main Street, Bray, Co. Wicklow
At Mermaid Arts Centre · Main Street, Bray, Co. Wicklow
J.M. Synge’s Playboy of the Western World is one of the great works of Irish drama - a darkly comic play that caused riots on its opening night at the Abbey Theatre in 1907 and has lost none of its edge since. This screening at Mermaid Arts Centre brings the National Theatre’s acclaimed 2026 production to Bray, filmed live on stage at London’s Lyttelton Theatre and broadcast to cinemas and arts centres across the world. If you have ever wanted to see a serious, well-resourced staging of Synge without the trip to London or Dublin city centre, this is a rare and straightforward chance to do exactly that.
The story follows Christy Mahon, a young man who arrives at a remote Mayo pub run by Pegeen Flaherty, claiming to have murdered his father. Rather than being turned away, he finds himself treated as a hero - a man of daring and romance in a community starved of both. The play turns on what happens when the truth, or something like it, catches up with him.
Director Caitríona McLaughlin - Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre - leads a cast that includes Nicola Coughlan (best known for Bridgerton) as Pegeen, Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment) as Christy Mahon, and Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls) in support. The production runs 2 hours 45 minutes including an interval, and carries content notes for depictions of violence, references to murder, and adult themes.
The Mermaid Arts Centre is a well-run 230-seat venue with a proper cinema screen and good sight lines throughout. For an NT Live screening, it delivers a genuinely theatrical atmosphere - far removed from a multiplex.
Bray is at the southern end of the DART line, roughly 45 minutes from Pearse or Connolly stations in Dublin city centre. From Bray DART station it is about a 10-minute walk west along the town to Mermaid Arts Centre on Main Street. By car, Bray is a straightforward drive from Dublin via the N11/M11; free underground parking is available at the arts centre for evening and weekend shows - follow signs from Main Street around behind the Civic Offices building. Several bus routes including 45A and 131 also serve Bray Main Street.
Bray’s seafront promenade is an easy stroll from the arts centre, and the town has a good choice of restaurants and bars for a meal before the show. There is more to see in Bray and across Co. Wicklow.
Heading to Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray? Wicklow has plenty more to see. Read the Bray area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.