The Seedbed

by Bryan Delaney

Recipient of the 2014 Theater Masters/Aspen Institute Visionary Playwright Award, nominated for the L. Arnold Weissberger Award and a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award.

A contemporary drama set in Ireland with lashings of dark comedy. The Seedbed dramatises how the seed of a single thought passes from a mother to her daughter, privately grows into an obsession in the daughter's mind and is then transferred...

Recipient of the 2014 Theater Masters/Aspen Institute Visionary Playwright Award, nominated for the L. Arnold Weissberger Award and a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award.

A contemporary drama set in Ireland with lashings of dark comedy. The Seedbed dramatises how the seed of a single thought passes from a mother to her daughter, privately grows into an obsession in the daughter's mind and is then transferred to her father where it takes on a baroque life of its own in his imagination. As the thought travels from one family member to the next in a dangerous game of psychological Chinese whispers, they each go off on their own private psychological bender that ends up having disastrous consequences for everyone in the family. The play traces the endgame of this situation as the daughter Maggie arrives home from Holland, her new boyfriend in tow, to split from her parents.

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The Seedbed

Recommended by

  • Cheryl Bear: The Seedbed

    Fantastic psychological drama, powerful and well executed. We are taken on an explosive and suspenseful ride. Outstanding!

    Fantastic psychological drama, powerful and well executed. We are taken on an explosive and suspenseful ride. Outstanding!

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Sarah Benson of Soho Rep, New York, Year 2014
  • Type Workshop, Organization Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Year 2012

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Redtwist Theatre, Chicago, Year 2016
  • Type Professional, Organization New Jersey Repertory Company, Year 2015

Awards

  • Nominated for L. Arnold Weissberger Award
    Williamstown Theatre Festival
    2013
  • Nominated for James Tait Black Prize for Drama
    University of Edinburgh
    2016
  • Verity Bargate Award
    Soho Theatre, London
    Finalist
    2013
  • Woodward/Newman Drama Award
    Bloomington Playwrights project
    Finalist
    2016
  • Theater Masters Visionary Playwright Award
    Theater Masters in partnership with the Aspen institute
    Winner
    2014