THE WIND COMING OVER THE SEA [2025}. My first musical, based on the 1840s letters of Henry and Jane Johnson and filled with traditional songs of Ireland and Britain, was commissioned by Blyth Festival.
Cast: three men, three women (and an optional small child).
(c) Lyon Smith 2025
PRODUCTIONS
The world premiere of The Wind Coming Over the Sea was directed by Gil Garratt and ran June-August 2025 on the Margaret Stephens Stage at Blyth Festival, Ontario.
EXTRAS
Study guide to the play https://blythfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Study-Guide-The-Wind-Coming-Over-the-Sea_FINAL-21.pdf
REVIEWS
'The best original offering at the Blyth Festival since 2017… heartbreakingly sad and tragic in one minute and uproariously funny in the next… A masterpiece.' - Huron Citizen
‘A beautifully tender, unflinching look at the promise and peril of emigration, stitched together like a warm quilt... Overflowing with emotionally engaging traditional ballads and live Irish folk music, a new work of clarity and compassion.’ - Frontmezzjunkies.com
‘The heartbreaking, elegiac play by best-selling Canadian author Emma Donoghue (“Room”) marks yet another triumph for the Blyth Festival… She turns their untutored eloquence into monologues of piercing intimacy and longing. Donoghue also makes liberal use of Irish music (she has described The Wind Coming Over the Sea as a “folk musical”) recognizing that music was one of the few things cash-strapped and desperate immigrants could bring with them from home… The device works brilliantly.' - OntarioStage.com