Masterclass lampoons the great white whale(s) of American theatre, in the form of the hyper-masculine playwright, scripting their own absurd takes on obsequious, hyper-adulatory profile pieces of the genius at work, & examples of the genius’s own rugged oeuvre. The show is a two-hander that takes collaboration to its limits, as Adrienne Truscott and Feidlim Cannon dig into the naked truths of power, access and responsibility in the arts.

Learn more about Adrienne Truscott and Brokentalkers.

Office Hours: Coming Soon

Get Into It

Get Thee to the LIbrary

Recommended readings to get you in gear for the show.

Sara Ahmed. The Feminist Killjoy Handbook (2023). 

Marisa Crawford, editor. The Weird Sister Collection: Writing at the Intersections of Feminism, Literature, and Pop Culture (2024).

Joan Fitzpatrick Dean and José Lanters, editors. Beyond Realism: Experimental and Unconventional Irish Drama Since the Revival (2015).

Young Jean Lee. Straight White Men (2016).

Fintan Walsh, editor. “That Was Us”: Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance (2013).

Read All About It

The Stage | Aug 19, 2022

Masterclass Review

In the play’s final moments, the conversation shifts to the question of space: who gets to occupy it and for how long?

RTE | May 30, 2024

On Masterclass, and gender & power in the arts world

“A masterclass is so often an exercise in ego massage and hero worship, frequently mediated by a sycophantic ding-dong.”

The Guardian | August 22, 2022

Masterclass review: The "Great male artist" put through the shredder

There’s no pretence to realism as Cannon hymns Truscott’s genius.

The Irish Times | September 13, 2021

Masterclass: A magnificent send-up of the anxieties of the age

This magnificent send-up of James Lipton’s Inside the Actors Studio is the latest play to feel like a direct response to #MeToo.

From the Archives

Take a look back at Adrienne Truscott’s last trip to the Skirball stage – with “Wild Bore” in 2019.

Prep School: Wild Bore

Readings, videos, interviews and more.