Once Before I Go (Paperback)

Told against the backdrop of Dublin's burgeoning gay rights movement of the 1980s and 1990s and the contemporary LGBTQ+ community of today, Once Before I Go explores the bonds of Irish queer lives across three decades in Dublin, London and Paris.

This Student Edition includes commentary and notes by Fintan Walsh, Birkbeck, University of London, UK, which look at the play's themes of sexuality, emigration, time and relationships, as well as its style as a realistic three-part drama that draws on queer performance aesthetics, such as drag, camp, music, idioms and queer culture references.

It also considers the cultural context of the world of the play for the gay community compared to today's world in which queer rights and representation have become the relative norm.

The edition includes an original interview with the playwright.

Phillip McMahon is a playwright and theatre director based in Dublin. His most recent play COME ON HOME, directed by Olivier Award Winner Rachel O'Riordan, played a sold out season at the Abbey Theatre Dublin in 2018. The Times (UK) said: "McMahon's dark-humoured, powerful play says more about Ireland than reams of opinion columns." COME ON HOME was nominated for Best New Play for the 2019 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards. Phillip's play, TOWN IS DEAD, also for the Abbey Theatre, was nominated for five Irish Theatre Awards in 2017. Over ten years, he has produced a number of plays, performances, a book and a film with drag superstar and activist Panti Bliss. Phillip was director, deviser and dramaturg on Panti's live shows IN THESE SHOES?, ALL DOLLED UP, A WOMAN IN PROGRESS, ROOTING FOR AUSTRALIA and HIGH HEELS IN LOW PLACES. Phillip is one half of pop culture outfit and theatre renegades THISISPOPBABY, based in Dublin.
Phillip is an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.