Fishamble´s Mustard by Eva O’Connor

When E meets the man of her dreams, a professional cyclist, love hits her in the pubic bone like a train. But when it ends she plummets into a black hole of heartbreak at the speed of a doped up team on the Tour de France.

​A one-woman show about heartbreak, madness and how condiments are the ultimate coping mechanism, by award-winning playwright & performer Eva O’Connor.

WINNER – Scotsman Fringe First Award 2019
WINNER – Lustrum Award, Edinburgh 2019
​NOMINATED – Scottish Mental Health Awards 2019
WINNER – Critic’s Circle Award, Adelaide Fringe Festival 2023

“Part Fleabag, part Marina Abramovic, it straddles the line between theatre and performance art. Eva O’Connor delivers a fiery performance that never wavers in its intensity… Her writing, too, is strong. The script is densely packed with jokes and rich metaphors and she explores the issue of mental health with sensitivity and aplomb.”
★★★★ Irish Times

“So scarring and funny, so laden with jealousy and hate and wickedness…The stagecraft is starkly simple, the set could be a work of conceptual art, but delicious and shocking to watch, if not to eat…What a privilege to see this …if you want to see a bit of real theatre, go see Mustard.”
★★★★ Scotsman

Eva O’Connor is a writer and performer from Ogonnelloe, County Clare. She studied English and German at Edinburgh University before completing an MA in theater ensemble from Rose Bruford drama school in London. Her plays include My Best Friend Drowned in a Swimming Pool, Kiss Me and You Will See How Important I Am, My Name is Saoirse, Overshadowed, The Friday Night Effect (co-written with Hildegard Ryan), Maz and Bricks and Mustard.
Eva’s runs her own company Sunday’s Child, with Hildegard Ryan. Eva has won various awards for her work including Best Emerging Artist Award, 2012 (Edinburgh Fringe), First Fortnight Award, 2014 (Dublin Fringe), Argus Angel Award, 2015 (Brighton Fringe), Fishamble Award for Best New Writing, 2015, Best Theatre Award, 2017 (Adelaide Fringe), Scotsman Fringe First Award in 2019 (Edinburgh Fringe) and Lustrum Award 2019 (Edinburgh Fringe).
Her play Overshadowed was recently adapted for television by BBC Three and Rollem productions, directed by Hildegard Ryan. It won Best Drama at the Mind Media Award 2019.
Eva has also written for radio. Her play My Name is Saoirse was adapted for radio by RTÉ Radio 1 and Eva’s short story The Midnight Sandwich was recently aired on BBC radio 4.
Photo: Jassy Earl
Play

Written and Performed by Eva O’Connor

Directed by Hildegard Ryan | Lighting Design by Marianne Nightingale | Relighter: Suzie Cummins | Produced by Eva Scanlan for Fishamble, Dublin

Duration: 60 mins.

Mustard originally premiered in 2019 at Summerhall, Edinburgh.

Mustard is part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, an initiative by Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany.