[1] Her parents met in the National College of Art and Design,[1] however her mother Marie, left to pursue a career in musical theatre; becoming a much admired drama teacher later in life.
Her father Robert (Bob) Fannin previously head of studio at McConnells, turned to cartooning in order to spend more time sailing[1] and his drawings have appeared in publications such as the Irish Field, Business and Finance, and the Evening Herald.
[7] She was a founding member of Wet Paint Theatre (1984 – 1991), a Dublin-based company that worked closely with Comhairle le Leas Óige (Dublin Youth Services Council) and whose ambition was ‘the development of young people’s access to and participation in the arts.'
And then eventually I started writing myself.’[10] Motifs from her childhood are frequently revisited and reconfigured in her work, but as a writer Fannin is primarily interested in ‘her generation of Irish women ... those who tried to push beyond the limitations of patriarchy but who get caught up anyway in the aspic of domesticity, childbirth and financial dependency.’[11] Her plays are full of ideas but a recurring criticism is that her characters seem to function as vehicles for sharply written, often cutting commentary at the expense of dramatic cohesion – in a review of Famished Castle, Peter Crawley remarks that her protagonists have a tendency to be ‘depthless ciphers, delivering interchangeably lofty remarks.’[12] Mackerel Sky (Bush Theatre, 1997).
Youngest daughter Stephanie is in thrall to the nuns; while older sister Madeleine has managed to secure a six-month supply of the contraceptive pill in exchange for a fiver and a pair of turquoise hot pants; and only brother Jack is at sea both literally and metaphorically.
Unlike Schnitzler, who sought to dissect society by examining a series of sexual encounters as they happen across the social classes, Sleeping Around is much more concerned with ‘the deeply human need to connect with others.’[15] Reviews in the British press fixated on the fragmented nature of the piece, however Rude Guerrilla's 2002 production in California was met with almost universal acclaim, with the LA Times claiming, ‘Like David Hare’s 1998 counterpart The Blue Room, Sleeping Around charts a coital round robin with each new partner carrying forward to the next coupling, coming full circle by the finale.
Unlike Blue Room, however Sleeping probes the emotional recesses of its characters, harvesting more humour and sexual voltage than Hare’s socioeconomic emphasis achieved.’[16] Doldrum Bay (Peacock Theatre, 2003).
[22] Phaedra has only married Theseus, a bullying tycoon, for money and influence; and stepson Hippolytus, the true object of her affection, is as much a victim for his lack of material interest as he is of the vindictiveness of those around him.
The play opened at the Project Arts Centre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival and the production was met with widespread acclaim: ‘The line-by-line writing in Hilary Fannin’s script is wonderful: irreverent, deliciously bawdy and bang up to date';[23] ‘The storyline is ancient Greek, but the dialogue sizzles with crude but funny one-liners.’[24] Hoping it would be picked up by a British company, Michael Billington described it as an ‘utterly compelling piece about today’s Ireland.
Taking place after the economic crash, key moments from their relationship are revisited in a series of tableau – including an outlandish centrepiece in a seafood restaurant with Nat's warring parents, in which old traumas are served up alongside the main course.
Ridiculed for their lack of chemistry, one critic described the two leads as, ‘The most boring couple to have ever ripped each other’s clothes off at the theatre.’[26] More damningly though was that the play was considered underdeveloped and incoherent: ‘It is abysmally constructed, its plotline and motivation are indiscernible, and its characters are plastic cut-outs';[27] ‘The writing is often sharp and the plot never less than interesting.