Search and Rescue is a contemporary retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian epic poem that tells of a cruel and reckless young king’s quest to rescue his friend from death. As Gilgamesh comes to accept mortality, he rediscovers his humanity, finding solace and redemption among his people. In present-day Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, trawler captain Gillen refuses to accept the loss at sea of his first mate.

Search and Rescue won the Eamon Keane Full Length Play Award 2022 at Listowel Writers’ Week in Ireland.

Inspired by Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative

Search and Rescue takes its inspiration from Herbert Mason‘s best-selling Gilgamesh, first published in English in 1971 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. A devastatingly beautiful verse retelling of the ancient text, Gilgamesh transcends boundaries of age, language, religion and time and was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Herbert Mason was an eminent scholar, translator, writer and poet, as well as a beloved professor at Boston University, where he was Emeritus University Professor and William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of History and Religious Thought.

Authors

Anne Manter James is a publisher, artist and writer of Portuguese and American nationality. She has edited and solicited work for Ploughshares and St. Petersburg Review and in 2012 she founded Zymbol, an internationally-distributed magazine of contemporary literature, photography and painting. She served as Treasurer of New England Poetry Club at Harvard University from 2012-2016. She holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from Boston University (2009), a master’s in visual and material culture from the University of Edinburgh (2011) and a master’s from the Art and Research Collaboration (ARC) programme at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT).

Daniel Wade is a poet and playwright from Dublin, Ireland. In January 2017, his play The Collector opened the 20th anniversary season of the New Theatre, Dublin. In January 2020 his radio drama Crossing the Red Line was broadcast on RTE Radio 1 Extra, and later won a silver award at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for Best Digital Drama. Daniel was the Hennessy New Irish Writing winner for April 2015 in The Irish Times, and his poetry and short fiction have appeared in more than two dozen publications since 2012, including Cassandra Voices, The Missouri Review, and Zymbol. His first collection, Rapids, was published in 2021 by Finishing Line Press.