When The Beacon premiered in Galway, in 2019, the Irish Times culture writer Peter Crawley called it, “absorbing, intelligent, and grimly funny.” Written by Nancy Harris, the play tells the story of Beiv, an artist who has moved from Dublin to her holiday cottage on a small island off the coast of West Cork. She’s been a widow for 10 years, her husband having mysteriously disappeared at sea. When Beiv’s son and his new wife visit the cottage, looking for answers about the death, difficult truths begin to emerge. “Though the drama hinges on long hidden secrets finally dredged,” writes Crawley, “its deeper mystery is about ways of seeing and expressing; about what people conceal or reveal, to themselves and others.” The play now makes its North American debut, directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull and starring the much-loved Kate Mulgrew, who’s been fabulous ever since we first saw her back in 1975, as beautiful Mary Ryan in the soap opera Ryan’s Hope. —Jeanne Malle