A handful of stars - Billy Roche

A gripping but warm-spirited snapshot of life in a small southern Irish town.

In the sleepy Irish town of Wexford, where shotgun weddings are outnumbered only by random acts of violence, the pool hall is Jimmy's sanctuary. But will such a place embrace his bright ambition, or bring it down, burning, to the ground?

Originally part of Billy Roche's The Wexford Trilogy, A Handful of Stars was first performed in 1988 at the Bush Theatre, where it won the John Whiting Award and the Plays and Players Award for Best New Play. This edition was published alongside the play's first professional stand-alone revival at Theatre503, London in 2014.

'simultaneously mean and warm, stifling and nourishing, comic and sad' - The Times

'funny, rueful and tender... has the potency of truth' - Telegraph

'carefully observed... almost unbearably honest' - Time Out

'a nice balance of comedy and tension... [has] a great deal of warmth' - A Younger Theatre