The Boy

Your woman ranting, who said this, who said that, who said the other, all boils down to the usual rigmarole. The Oracle says don't. The clodhopper says I will if I want. The Oracle flattens him, the clodhopper cuts out his eyes or the other clodhoppers cut them out for him, the clodhopper repents, the Oracle relents, everyone dies and they all live happily ever after until the whole malarkey begins again.





Marina Carr brings a contemporary lens to the pain and beauty of Sophocles' Theban trilogy, in two new plays published together here. This epic, darkly funny retelling of the story of Oedipus and his family continues Carr's vivid conversation with the foundations of modern drama.



The Boy and The God and His Daughter opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in September 2025.



The Boy was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in September 2025.



Marina Carr was brought up in County Offaly. A graduate of University College Dublin, she has written extensively for the theatre. She has taught at Villanova, Princeton, and currently teaches in the School of English, Dublin City University. Awards include the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Macaulay Fellowship, the E. M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Windham Campbell Prize. She lives in Dublin with her husband and four children.