The Early Bird by Leo Butler

Leo Butler

Leo Butler is a British playwright. He graduated from the Royal Court's young writers' scheme. He is active since 2000, when he was described as one of the "Great British Hopes". His plays have been staged, among others, by the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National...

 was first produced at the Queen's Theatre

Queen's Theatre

The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...

 in the Belfast Festival

Belfast Festival at Queen's

The Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's is an annual arts festival held in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The 49th Festival will take place from 14 to 31 October 2011.-History:...

 in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 in 2006 and was directed by Rachel O'Riordan.

The play is deliberately left without a setting or much stage directions to reflect the mindset of the two characters Debbie and Jack whose daughter disappears. The dialogue moves between surreal hyper-reality and plain naturalism jumping between time.

The title comes from the saying the early bird catches the worm which Debbie repeatedly told their daughter in the mornings before she went to school which was the last time either parent saw her last.

Reviews

The Belfast Telegraph said that the

stage is filled with unspoken terror in this haunting, hypnotic drama. When the curtain falls you want to look away quickly, and head back into the light Belfast Telegraph