As part of The New Theatre’s New Writing Week 2027, we are delighted to welcome Aisling Flynn to present a reading of The Bad One.
The Bad One is a black supernatural comedy-drama which unfolds over an increasingly unhinged dinner party.
Adrian anxiously awaits a call confirming his promotion to school principal, but the constantly ringing phone only delivers unsettling interruptions, strange voices, relics from the past. His estranged sister, Chloe, who he believes to have supernatural powers, arrives to a cold welcome. Bonnie, his kooky wife, and Trevor, their overly friendly neighbour, try to diffuse the tension, but their efforts only deepen the unease.
Comedy twists into dread as memories distort and Adrian’s violent past emerges. It becomes evident that something supernatural is at play. Adrian can only blame Chloe. But she has come to prove that he had his own part to play in all his bad luck. By night’s end, Adrian’s control collapses, and Chloe, exercising her control, draws the couple to come away with her, live together as a “perfect family”.
AISLING FLYNN
Aisling Flynn’s work has been broadcast by RTÉ and published by The Dublin Review, Harper’s Bazaar and Banshee, among others. In 2026 she was longlisted for the Women’s Prize Discoveries and for the Deborah Rogers Writers Foundation Award in 2020. She was awarded Literature Bursaries from the Arts Council in 2024 and 2025. She appeared as actor in numerous plays in Dublin, including It Folds at the Peacock Theatre and Girls Like That at The New Theatre. Her short plays, The List of Reasons Why I Don’t Like Mr Creedy and Rats & Rabbits were performed at Smock Alley Theatre.
Date: Mon 2 Nov – Sat 7 Nov
Location: Bewley's Cafe Theatre, Dublin 2
Date: Fri 13 Nov & Sat 21 Nov
Location: Project Arts Centre, Dublin City Centre
Date: Tue 17 Nov – Fri 20 Nov
Location: The New Theatre, Dublin City Centre
Date: Fri 20 Nov – Sun 31 Jan 2027
Location: MoLI - Museum of Literature Ireland
Date: Thu 28 Jan 2027
Location: The New Theatre, Dublin City Centre
Date: Wed 3 Feb 2027
Location: The New Theatre, Dublin City Centre
Date: Thu 4 Feb 2027
Location: The New Theatre, Dublin City Centre
Date: Fri 5 Feb 2027
Location: The New Theatre, Dublin City Centre
Date: Mon 8 Mar 2027
Location: 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin
Date: Tue 3 Nov – Thu 5 Nov
Location: The Moat Theatre, Naas
Date: Wed 4 Nov
Location: Smock Alley Theatre, 1662, Dublin
Date: Wed 4 Nov
Location: Civic Theatre, Dublin
Date: Wed 4 Nov
Location: Civic Theatre, Dublin
Date: Thu 5 Nov
Location: Civic Theatre, Dublin
