Interview: Oisín Kearney - GOOD WITH FACES
Oisín Kearney is an Irish writer and director of Good With Faces, which is playing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. A gripping two-person thriller, it tells the intense story of a worried mother and a concerned social worker. Be ready to immerse yourself in a thrilling hour of theatre where there is nowhere to hide.
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/good-with-faces
Venue: TechCube 0 at Summerhall
When: 6 - 31 August (not performing on 18th & 24th)
Could you tell us a bit more about yourselves and what the show is all about?
My name is Oisín Kearney, and I am a multi-award-winning writer and director represented by Curtis Brown. My directing credits include My Left Nut (Summerhall Lustrum Award Winner 2018, now a BBC series), Lie Low by Ciara Elizabeth Smith (Edinburgh Fringe Traverse 2023), The Tragedy of Richard III (Stage Award Winner 2025), My Right Foot (Dublin Theatre Festival 2025).
I am making my solo writing and directing Edinburgh debut with a taut psychological thriller, ‘Good With Faces’. The show is a two-hander about the confrontation between a worried mother and a concerned social worker. I hope that it offers a thrilling hour of theatre that is a complex interrogation of parenting, power and what it means to care.
What was the original spark or idea behind this story? What drove you to write about this, and what made you want to bring the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
I have always been interested in the child protection aspect of social work. My father worked as a social worker, and I often wondered about the toll complex cases would take on him. I have become an uncle in recent years and observed the difficulties of raising children, specifically in a world where ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are becoming more murky. I wanted to write something about people trying to be good and putting on faces to show this, a performance to the world to hide their true selves. I wanted to bring this show to Edinburgh as I hope there will be an appetite for it as a straight play - 60 minutes of two people in a room, with nowhere to hide.
This production won the Solas Nua New Voices Award 2025. How has the process of developing this new piece of writing changed as you moved it from the page to the stage?
Once you put a piece of writing onstage, it inevitably changes. The characters aren’t complete until actors embody them, and my understanding of the play develops right until we put it in front of an audience. I have tweaked the script throughout rehearsals in an organic process of discovery, and I am excited to see it come to life for Edinburgh audiences.
Putting on an intense thriller every day must take a lot of energy. How do you find that balance and protect your own energy so you aren't giving too much of yourselves away each night?
We have spoken about the actors pacing themselves throughout the festival, and looking after themselves with warm-ups and cool-downs, ensuring they get enough sleep and exercise. Edinburgh can be a marathon, and actors give so much, it’s important that they do what they need to do to protect themselves.
What is your favourite line or moment in the play that you look forward to performing every day?
I personally enjoy watching the actors perform the very beginning of the play and the very end of the play. I can’t say what happens - you’ll need to come see it!
If you had to describe the show in only three words to make people absolutely eager to see it, what would they be?
Twisty. Tense. Exhilarating.
