Free screening of Druid’s lockdown online show Once Upon a Bridge

DRUID’S production of  Once Upon a Bridge, written by Sonya Kelly, which premiered online in February 2021, during Covid restrictions, will once again be available to view online from Wednesday to Friday, March 16-18. The revival, which will be free to view, is part of SEODA, Culture Ireland’s global online arts festival.

Once Upon a Bridge, which is set in London, was inspired by real events as it tells how,  early one morning on Putney Bridge, three strangers’ lives collided for one fleeting second.

The play weaves a tale about human triumph and frailty, about the power of destiny and chance, and why sometimes we choose to hate, and other times we choose to dance.

The world premiere of Once Upon a Bridge was livestreamed from Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre in February of last year when it reached a global audience – there were four livestreamed performances of the three-hander, followed by four days of on-demand viewing. Audiences tuned in from across 35 countries.

Directed by  Sara Joyce, with Siobhán Cullen playing A Woman, Aaron Monaghan as A Man and Adetomiwa Edun as The Bus Driver, Once Upon a Bridge got deservedly excellent reviews: The Guardian called it ‘compelling’ and ‘delicately uplifting’; The Irish Times said that ‘Sonya Kelly’s fascinating new drama is an insightful exploration of unchecked aggression and its regretful aftermath’; while the Sunday Independent praised the show’s ‘effortlessly flowing prose’ and ‘spot-on human insights’.

Alongside the public screening of the play, Druid has developed a series of educational resources for secondary school students as part of the company’s Community and Education programme. These resources, including a teachers’ pack and a video interviews with playwright Sonya Kelly, will help students to explore the art of playwriting and examine the social issues at the heart of the play.

This special screening of Once Upon a Bridge will premiere on Culture Ireland’s YouTube channel on Wednesday next, March 16, at 7.30pm. The play will be free to view online for 36 hours until 7.30am on Friday, March 18. See www.druid.ie for more information and a link to the screening.