Howie the Rookie

Overview

Toby Schmitz — actor, playwright, director, darling of Australian theatre scene — is taking a break from his life in South Africa playing pirates to take the helm (ha ha) of the Sydney Independent Theatre Company and Red Line Productions' production of Irish play Howie the Rookie by Mark O'Rowe (writer of Terminus).

The play is a sometimes hilarious, often grotesque tale of the bizarre feud of honour between two friends/enemies, set in a Dublin of nightmares. The Howie Lee and The Rookie Lee get themselves into some absurdly amusing situations — from the scabies-infested mattress that starts it all off to the murder of a prominent and terrifying gangland figure's pet fish.

And, to transport you all but literally and physically to the streets of the Irish capital, The Old Fitzroy Theatre will be serving Irish beer and Irish whiskey and playing host to a string of bands who all hail from the land of leprechauns, stodgy food — and did we mention whiskey?