Poison

Lot Vekemans (born 1965) studied social geography at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and trained at the Schrijversvakschool ’t Colofon in Amsterdam, graduating in 1993. Since 1995 she has written numerous plays. In 2005 she received the prestigious Van der Vies Prijs for Truckstop and Zus van. Her play Gif (Poison) was awarded the 2010 Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs for the best Dutch play staged that year. In 2012 her first novel Een bruidsjurk uit Warschau (A Bridal Gown from Warsaw) was published and nominated for the 2012 Anton Wachterprijs for the best Dutch/Flemish debut. The novel has been translated into Norwegian and German. In 2016 she received Germany’s Ludwig Müllheims Theaterpreis, the first time the prize has gone to a foreign playwright. Her work has been translated into twenty-two languages and have been staged successfully in more than thirty-five countries around the world.

Rina Vergano is a leading translator of Dutch and Flemish plays, as well as poetry, libretti and films, and specialises in work for younger audiences and musical theatre. She has translated around seventy plays by leading Dutch and Flemish playwrights (many award-winning in their country of origin) for performance and publication. She is also a theatre journalist and playwright.

Lianne O’Shea has worked as a Staff Director at the National Theatre, London (The Playboy of the Western World), is the current recipient of Druid’s Marie Mullen Bursary where she is assistant director on Macbeth, and was a Resident Director at the Abbey Theatr in 2024. Her directing credits include: Othello (Crooked House/KYT), PLAY (Darn Skippy), Foreign Bodies and Delta Phase (Polish Theatre Ireland), Skullduggery (Bewley’s Café Theatre), Romeo + Juliet and The Merchant of Venice (The Complex). She holds an MA in Directing for Theatre from UCD. 

Naoise trained at The Lir Academy in Dublin.

Theatre credits include: The Playboy of the Western World (National Theatre, London); A Misanthrope (Once Off Productions); Lovesong (The Gate Theatre); The Playboy of the Western World, The Whispering Chair, The Whispering Chair Tour (Livin’ Dred); Outrage, Outrage National Tour, Duck Duck Goose (Fishamble); Tartuffe, 14 Voices from the Bloodied Field, The Great Hunger (The Abbey Theatre); The Cavalcaders, The Pendulum Moon (Druid Theatre Company); Tempesta (Cork Midsummer Festival and Sugarglass); Of A Midnight Meeting (Bewleys Café Theatre); Staging The Treaty (ANU Productions); The Last Stand, Teddy, Forgive Me Father, Pigs 3 Wolf 1, The Unkillable Irishman (Wexford Arts Centre).

Film and television credits include: Walk the Blue Fields (Netflix), Lakelands (Fís Éireann and Harp Media), Baths (Princep Productions).

From Dublin, Rachel was in the first graduating class of the Bachelor in Acting program at The Lir Academy (2014).  

Rachel was most recently seen in Druid’s 50th anniversary production of Macbeth & Riders to the Sea (The Mick Lally Theatre & The Gaiety Theatre) and in Druid’s The House (Town Hall Theatre, Galway & The Gaiety Theatre). 

Rachel’s other theatre credits include Gold in The Water (Project Arts/Mermaid), Blackwater Lightship (Gaiety Theatre), The Long Christmas Dinner (Peacock Theatre), The Dead (Gaiety Theatre), The Alternative (Fishamble), The Mai (Decadent Theatre Company), At The Ford (Rise Productions), The Great Gatsby, A Christmas Carol and The Constant Wife (The Gate Theatre, Dublin). She was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award for her performance in These Stupid Things (Smock Alley) by Hugh Travers in 2019. 

On screen Rachel can be seen in Mammal, a feature by Rebecca Daly and in Redemption (C5/Virgin Media One). 

Sarah Bacon – Set & Costume Design

Sarah is a set and costume designer for the stage working in theatre, opera and dance. She trained at Motley in London, and studied architecture and design in Dublin and Brighton. She is a frequent collaborator and designer with companies such as Junk Ensemble, Rough Magic, The Abbey Theatre, THiSISPOPBABY, and Irish National Opera.

Suzie Cummins – Lighting Design

Suzie is a Dublin-based lighting designer for theatre, dance and events. Suzie has worked as a designer in Ireland for almost a decade. Theatre credits include Lovesong (Gate Theatre); Static, Every Brilliant Thing (Abbey Theatre); YFEL (Pan Pan); The Leap, Breaking (Fishamble); The Playboy of the Western World, Super Bogger, Danty Dan, Tarry Flynn, Trad (Livin’ Dred Theatre Company); Lost Lear, The Wrens (Dan Colley & Riverbank); The Last Moth, The Making of Mollie, The Race (The Ark); Afterwards, Absent the Wrong (Once Off Productions); Minseach (Sibéal Davitt); Before You Say Anything (Malaprop); Minefield, Charlie’s a Clepto (Clare Monnelly). 

Aoife Kavanagh – Sound Design

Aoife Kavanagh is an Irish composer, sound designer and pianist, active across a variety of music disciplines, including theatre, dance, film, and concert music. Collaboration is at the heart of her practice. Aoife has worked with some of Ireland’s leading theatre and dance companies, including the Abbey Theatre. Landmark Productions, Ballet Ireland, Fishamble, Rough Magic and Roisin Whelan Dance.

Morgan Steele – Company Manager

Morgan Steele is a theatre administrator and producer originally from Los Angeles, California. She has worked internationally on both nonprofit and commercial productions within Europe and North America. Notable work in North America includes the pre-Broadway tour of Ain’t Too Proud (2018) and serving as the Company Manager on multiple shows at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Ireland and UK projects include Once (Landmark Productions, 2017), Medicine by Enda Walsh (Landmark Productions, 2021), We Who Live Under Heaven by Roger Doyle (The Performance Corporation, 2025), and Love at the End of Time by Roderick Ford (Once Off and Asylum Productions, 2025). Morgan has also worked in the television industry as an Associate Producer for Disney Channel Media Relations. She holds a B.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and a M.Sc. in Business Management from Trinity College Dublin.

Miles Harrigan – Producer

Miles is a creative producer – based between Cape Clear Island / Oileán Chléire in County Cork and Dublin – working in English- and Irish-language theatre, dance, and multidisciplinary performance. Apart from his independent producing practice, Miles has worked with some of Ireland’s leading theatre and dance companies, including Luke Murphy’s Attic Projects, Once Off Productions, THISISPOPBABY, and Landmark Productions. Miles was part of the 2025 Next Stage programme, presented by Dublin Theatre Festival in partnership with Performing Arts Forum, and recently earned an MA in Drama and Performance Studies from University College Dublin.

Written by Lot Vekemans

Translated by Rina Vergano

Directed by Lianne O’Shea

Cast: Naoise Dunbar & Rachel O’Byrne

Set & Costume Design: Sarah Bacon

Lighting Design: Suzie Cummins

Sound Design: Aoife Kavanagh

Stage Manager: Síle Mahon

Assistant Stage Manager / Wardrobe Assistant: Amélie Bates

Production Manager: Olivia Drennan

Company Manager: Morgan Steele

Producers: Miles Harrigan, Once Off Productions

Photo by Marcin Lewandowski

Graphic Design by Martha Hegarty

Poison is funded by the Arts Council, with support from the Abbey Theatre, Kildare County Council, and Riverbank Arts Centre.