Moliere's exuberant seventeenth-century classic is brought back to life in an audacious contemporary Irish version by Frank McGuinness. Tartuffe premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in March 2023.
Frank McGuinness Book order
Frank McGuinness is a world-renowned playwright and Professor of Creative Writing at University College Dublin. His dramas delve into the complexities of human relationships and historical trauma, characterized by powerful dialogue and psychological depth. McGuinness demonstrates a masterful command of language, revealing the vulnerability and resilience within his characters. His work is celebrated for its emotional resonance and profound insights into the human condition.






- 2023
- 2022
I am honoured to meet you. You are, as they say, a man after my own heart. And you have lifted mine. My heart, that is. I owe you for this kindness - that gift. Thank you. You are crying into your soup, sir. Two men, together, on the edge of heaven.
- 2021
The Visiting Hour
- 48 pages
- 2 hours of reading
They sing and argue, they broach dangerous ground, their profound love apparent despite themselves, until the visiting hour is up. Written during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, Frank McGuinness's The Visiting Hour premiered in April 2021 at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in the first online Gate At Home production.
- 2018
A collection of compelling short stories: hypnotic, spell-binding prose which explores the falseness of boundaries and the madness of love in mythic, urban contemporary settings. Brave both in its subject matter and linguistic choices, this anthology showcases the work of a master storyteller.
- 2017
The Woodcutter and his Family
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
The World War intensifies in Europe. In Zurich a writer breathes his last imagining his life till now from his childhood in Dublin. The voices of his family circling him - wife, son, daughter. And James Joyce has saved for them one last story to delight and defy them: The Woodcutter And His Children ...
- 2015
Arimathea
- 304 pages
- 11 hours of reading
It is 1950. Donegal. A land apart. Derry city is only fourteen miles away but too far, mentally, for people to travel there in comfort. Into this community comes Gianni, a painter from Italy. A book of close observation, sharp wit, linguistic dexterity - and of deep sympathy for everyday humanity.
- 2013
The Hanging Gardens
- 96 pages
- 4 hours of reading
Now we have a family, a rivalry, a purpose. A writer and his wife sit together in their garden. They are surrounded by a lifetime's work; their home, their gardens and their children. Rachel wants to be congratulated on her pregnancy, Maurice is struggling for his father's acceptance and Charlie needs his sacrifices to be acknowledged. A crisis has drawn this family together but their honesty may pull them apart. The Hanging Gardens by Frank McGuinness premiered at the Abbey Theatre in October 2013 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.
- 2012
The Dead
- 112 pages
- 4 hours of reading
Gretta and Gabriel Conroy attend the Morkan Sisters annual dinner on the Feast of the Epiphany and the last day of Christmas. An evening of laughter, music and dance ends in an epiphany for Gabriel.Recognised as a masterpiece, The Dead, the short story from James Joyce's Dubliners, is dramatised by Frank McGuinness.
- 2012
Obsessed with his own salvation, the hermit Paulo dedicates himself to ten years of prayerful penance. When his faith wavers, the ever-watchful Devil seizes the moment to convince him that he shares the fate of one Enrico, a notorious Neapolitan gangster destined for damnation.
- 2007
There Came a Gypsy Riding
- 78 pages
- 3 hours of reading
The McKenna family convenes at their remote West Ireland holiday home to mark the 21st birthday of their late son Gene.