Dixon and Daughters
a new play by Deborah Bruce
a co-production with Clean Break
Booking and details
This production played in the Dorfman Theatre from 15 April – 10 June 2023.
If this house could speak
Mary has just been released from prison. She wants to come home and forget all about it but Briana has other ideas.
Over a tumultuous two days a family is forced to confront not just their past but themselves. Because even if you refuse to hear the truth, the truth doesn’t go away.
Róisín McBrinn (Artistic Director, Gate Theatre, Dublin) returns to Clean Break (Favour) to direct this powerful story of family and forgiveness by Deborah Bruce (The House They Grew Up In).
The cast includes Brid Brennan (The Ferryman), Liz White (Anatomy of a Scandal) and Andrea Lowe (Sherwood).
Performed 15 April — 10 June 2023 in the Dorfman Theatre.
‘Deeply affecting.’
The Stage
‘A powerful piece of drama.’
The i
‘As moving as it is mighty.’
Daily Mail
‘Offers a powerful perspective.’
Broadway World
Suitability
Please note this production contains: References to violence against women and girls including child sexual abuse and domestic violence. Depictions of alcohol addiction and loud noises.
For further information, self care practices and synopsis, please download our Self Care Guide (PDF 487KB)
Gallery
Production images
Video
Supporters
With thanks to the Arete Foundation, who support the National Theatre to make work that is ambitious and socially relevant.
Cast
Bríd Brennan
Mary
Bríd Brennan
For the National: The Veil, Pillars of the Community, Rutherford and Son, Dancing at Lughnasa (also at the Abbey, Dublin, in the West End and on Broadway; Tony Award) and Machine Wreckers at the National Theatre;
Alison Fitzjohn
Briana
Alison Fitzjohn
For the National: Dixon and Daughters
Yazmin Kayani
Ella
Yazmin Kayani
For the National: Dixon and Daughters
Andrea Lowe
Julie
Andrea Lowe
For the National: Dixon and Daughters
Posy Sterling
Leigh
Posy Sterling
For the National: Dixon and Daughters
Liz White
Bernie
Liz White
For the National: Dixon and Daughters, Port, A Woman Killed with Kindness, Spring Storm and Beyond the Horizon
Production team
Writer
Deborah Bruce
Deborah Bruce
Deborah Bruce is a theatre director and playwright. She was Clean Break’s Writer in Residence between 2016–18.
Director
Róisin McBrinn
Róisin McBrinn
Róisín McBrinn is Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, Dublin.
Set and Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Paule Constable
Paule Constable
Recent National Theatre includes: Nye (also Wales Millennium Centre), Till the Stars Come Down, The Confessions, Dixon and Daughters, The Normal Heart, The Visit, or The Old Lady Comes to Call and The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Sound Designer
Movement Director
Sarita Piotrowski
Sarita Piotrowski
Sarita Piotrowski is a movement director and choreographer working across theatre, opera, TV and film.
Fight Director
Bethan Clark
Bethan Clark
For the National Theatre: as intimacy and fight director, The Hot Wing King and The Odyssey: Episode 5 – The Underworld; as fight director, Dixon and Daughters; and as fight consultant, Hex
Casting
Alastair Coomer CDG
Alastair Coomer CDG
For the National Theatre: over 50 productions including The Grapes of Wrath, Mnemonic (2024), Nye (also Wales Millennium Centre), Till the Stars Come Down, The House of Bernarda Alba, Othello, The Crucible (also West End), Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Corn is Green, The Normal Heart, The Welkin, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Mosquitoes, This House, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, One Man, Two Guvnors and War Horse
Casting
Bryony Jarvis-Taylor
Bryony Jarvis-Taylor
Dialect Coach
Michaela Kennen
Michaela Kennen
For the National: Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Oslo (also in the West End), The Beaux’ Stratagem, Market Boy, Caroline, or Change, Thérèse Raquin, The Alchemist, The Rose Tattoo, Playing with Fire and The History Boys (also in the West End)
Company Voice Work
Shereen Ibrahim
Shereen Ibrahim
For the National Theatre: company voice work includes The Grapes of Wrath, Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, Dear Octopus, Dear England, Dixon and Daughters, The Odyssey, Hamlet, The Crucible, Jack Absolute Flies Again and The Father and the Assassin (also dialect work); dialect work for Standing at the Sky’s Edge, All of Us and Our Generation; and acting work in The Black Album and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other
Wellbeing Practitioner
Samantha Llewellyn
Samantha Llewellyn
Samantha Llewellyn is an integrative psychotherapist/counsellor with extensive experience of designing and facilitating specialist groups.
Associate Lighting Designer
Staff Director
From the bookshop
Dixon And Daughters Playtext
£10.99
Dixon And Daughters Programme
£5.00
Rebel Voices
£14.99
Photography (Alison Fitzjohn, Andrea Lowe, Liz White) by Joné Reed