The Sanctuary Lamp

The Súgán Theatre Company makes its debut in the new Roberts Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts with a play by Ireland’s greatest living playwright, Tom Murphy. In The Sanctuary Lamp, three lost souls occupy a city church for a night — Harry, an English-born Jew and an ex-circus strongman; Francisco, an Irishman and Harry’s best friend; and the waif-like Maudie. Betrayed by his best friend and wife and grieving over the death of his daughter, Harry talks to the sanctuary lamp to assuage his pain, his guilt and his murderous intentions… The Sanctuary Lamp was first staged by the Abbey Theatre in 1975, where it provoked the most vocal disturbances in the Abbey since The Plough and the Stars in 1926. Artistic Director Carmel O’Reilly directs.