“Brendan at the Chelsea”

Belfast’s Lyric Theatre is bringing its acclaimed production of Janet Behan’s “Brendan at the Chelsea” to New York for the play’s U.S. premiere, now through October 6.  Starring the noted Northern Irish actor Adrian Dunbar, who is recognizable to US audiences for his film work (“My Left Foot,” “The Crying Game,” and “The General”), “Brendan at the Chelsea” dramatizes the controversial (and chronically alcoholic) Irish playwright Brendan Behan’s extended stay at The Chelsea Hotel in New York from 1961 to 1963.  In love with New York, he was the toast of the town, a magnet for publicity, penniless, and desperately trying to finish his latest work, now long-overdue.