Deirdre the Queer Queen

by Ai Ebashi

*Deirdre, best-known by the epithet “Deirdre of the Sorrows,” is the foremost tragic heroine in Irish mythology. (She ends up committing suicide in order to escape a forced marriage with the old King Conchobar.)

Ai’s play Deirdre begins where the existing story ends: The now-dead Deidre arrives in the Underworld where she meets other female mythological figures, who have also been victims of misogynistic...

*Deirdre, best-known by the epithet “Deirdre of the Sorrows,” is the foremost tragic heroine in Irish mythology. (She ends up committing suicide in order to escape a forced marriage with the old King Conchobar.)

Ai’s play Deirdre begins where the existing story ends: The now-dead Deidre arrives in the Underworld where she meets other female mythological figures, who have also been victims of misogynistic ideology: Izanami, the Goddess of Death (in Japanese mythology,) Eurydice, an oak nymph and Orpheus’ wife (in Greek mythology,) and Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld and Hades’ wife (in Greek mythology,) are there, all having been abandoned and confined by their husbands. It’s a story about friendship among the women/goddesses from different cultures and traditions (who however share similar experiences) and their struggles to rise above the pain, rage and humiliation and to resist and fight their ill-starred destinies.

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Deirdre the Queer Queen

Recommended by

  • Playwrights Foundation: Deirdre the Queer Queen by Ai Ebashi
    “

    Playwrights Foundation enthusiastically recommends this play, DEIRDRE THE QUEER QUEEN, as a Semi-Finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2020. We were moved by the quality of the writing and the relevant and compelling themes that spoke to the mission of our festival. It excelled in a competitive process of 735 plays submitted this year and rose to the top after a six month long process discussing its merits with both national and local Bay Area readers, and we hope it moves swiftly towards production.

    Playwrights Foundation enthusiastically recommends this play, DEIRDRE THE QUEER QUEEN, as a Semi-Finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2020. We were moved by the quality of the writing and the relevant and compelling themes that spoke to the mission of our festival. It excelled in a competitive process of 735 plays submitted this year and rose to the top after a six month long process discussing its merits with both national and local Bay Area readers, and we hope it moves swiftly towards production.

    ”
1 Non-Binary, 6 Females, 2 Males

DEIRDRE [NB]: Queen of Ulster and wife of Conchobar (in Irish mythology,) 25, gender-queer/non-binary

YOUNG DEIRDRE [NB]: 12-year-old Deirdre (Double as DEIRDRE)

IZA (ee-zah)[F]: short for Izanami, Japanese Goddess of Death, alcoholic (Double as LEBHARCHAM)

LEBHARCHAM [F]: a wise old woman who raised Deirdre in seclusion, 75 (Double as IZA)

PERSEPHONE [F]: Greek Goddess of Spring, Queen of the Underworld and Hades’ wife (Double as DEMETER*)

DEMETER [F]: Greek Goddess of Harvest, Zeus’ consort and Persephone’s mother (Double as PERSEPHONE*)

EURY [F]:short for Eurydice, Grrek oak nymph, Orpheus’ wife

HADES [M]: Greek God/King of the Underworld and Persephone’s husband (Double as CONCHOBAR)

CONCHOBAR [M]: King of Ulster and Deirdre’s husband in Irish mythology, 70 (Double as HADES)

CHORUS GIRL A [F]: a chorus girl, 20s

CHORUS GIRL B [F]: a chorus girl, 20s

CHORUS GIRL C [F]: a chorus girl, 20s

WAITER [M]: a handsome gay waiter who works in the Underworld Tavern, 30s, plays a drum and sings (Double as NAOISE)

NAOISE [M]: Deirdre’s best friend and the nephew of King Conchobar, 25 (Double as WAITER)

Development History

  • Workshop, Holy Fools, 2021
  • Reading, Aurora Theater, 2020
  • Reading, San Francisco Olympians Festival, 2019

Production History

  • University, Laney College , 2023
  • University, Fusion Project , 2022

Awards