Joanne Ryan is ‘pinching herself’ that deeply personal play gets Edinburgh Fringe debut

PLAYWRIGHT Joanne Ryan is bringing her latest play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next month.

Produced by the Fishamble Theatre Company, In Two Minds explores the dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship.

For Ryan it has been a “deeply personal tale” to tell, which is inspired by her own relationship with her mother and with mental health.

In it she finds insight in the darkness, humour in the pain and tenderness in difficult family dynamics.

Pom Boyd, of The Dry and Bodkin, and Karen McCartney, of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, perform the play, which is directed by Sarah Jane Scaife and runs at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre from August 1 to August 26.

Pom Boyd and Karen McCartney star in In Two Minds production shot

This week the playwright took some time out to talk to the Irish Post…

What are you up to right now?

I’m sitting at my kitchen table writing this, already on my third coffee of the day.

I think there’s more caffeine than blood in my veins at times – while my five-year-old watches Irish language cartoons.

We try to speak as much Irish as possible at home so he knows he can always convince me to let him watch a few extra if they’re in Irish.

Summer is here, what do you have planned for the season?

The big highlight of my summer will be going to Edinburgh to see Fishamble’s production of my play In Two Minds in August.

I’m still pinching myself that it’s going to be in the amazing Traverse Theatre.

I’m hoping to be able to see some other work in the festival as well, especially the other shows in Traverse which all look brilliant. Seeing shows at the festival is like my Christmas every year! Apart from that I’ll be having some adventures around Ireland with my family in our little campervan.

What are your goals for 2024?

One big goal was to learn how to drive the campervan on my own.

I only got my license last year and I was absolutely terrified of driving the van but last week I finally went away for a weekend with my son on our own and we survived so I’m officially adventure ready and absolutely thrilled about it.

Playwright Joanne Ryan

Who are your heroes?

I don’t think I have any heroes. Is there a hero that’s really good at being tidy and on time? I’d love to be bitten by a spider or something and wake up with those superpowers someday.

What is your favourite play?

I love so many but the first one that always comes to mind when I’m asked this is The Habit of Art by Alan Bennett.

It’s a brilliantly clever play set in a rehearsal room.

The writer is in the room to see a run-through, so we get to see ‘the play’ itself performed in segments but the cast also break out of character throughout to discuss the characters and script and challenge the writer.

The first time I read it I thought it was such a funny and ingenious way for the writer to give context and explain decisions he made in the writing - by making himself a character.

What is your favourite place in Ireland?

I’ve had some really special times on Achill Island. It’s such a beautiful, peaceful place to rest, restore and explore.

What makes you angry?

That the brutal genocide in Gaza is somehow being allowed to continue in front of our eyes.

Where do your Irish roots lie?

My mother and father met in Limerick (I was actually conceived in The Limerick Inn hotel - there should probably be a blue plaque on the site commemorating that) but my mum’s father was from Tipperary and my father was from Tralee.

His father was Johnny ‘Machine Gun’ O’Connor, a celebrated hero in the War of Independence and then TD for Clann na Poblachta.

I was born in London and lived there for my first five years so technically I suppose I’m English - but don’t tell anyone in my father’s family that for the love of God.

Where do you live and what are the best and worst things about that place?

I live in what was my father’s house before he died in the heart of Limerick City and I absolutely love it.

The best things are the stunning river walks, the great pubs, the huge renaissance in the arts that is happening here at the moment which make it an exciting place to be as an artist and so much more.

The worst things are things that are true of city centre living anywhere. It’s busy, there’s traffic and noise.

But the convenience of being a short stroll to everything far outweighs any of that, for us at least.

On what occasion is it OK to lie?

Aren’t we all sort of lying in ways all the time?

To be polite, to protect people’s feelings, to just get things done?

I tell my son the TV and phones in our house are broken quite a lot when they aren’t.

But then he also tells me that fairies and mice break the things he’s broken and make his messes.

I guess you could say we have an understanding.

What do you consider the greatest work of art?

In Two Minds by Joanne Ryan, produced by the mighty Fishamble and running at The Traverse in August!

All jokes aside, the director Sarah Jane Scaife and the amazing creative team have created something very special and I’m very excited to share it with audiences in Edinburgh.