Dubbed “Fleabag for the classical music world” by its producers, Sheena Lambert’s new one-woman show COSIMA, about the life and times of Cosima Wagner premieres from the 16th-20th July at the Smock Alley Theatre 1662 in Dublin.
Directed by Rex Ryan and starring Mary Murray as Cosima, the play finally gives Cosima Wagner, the chance to tell her story. Heretofore only ever depicted as the wife of Richard Wagner and daughter of Franz Liszt, Cosima Wagner was in fact a highly accomplished pianist in her own right, and the brains behind the über-successful Bayreuth Music Festival that is still held each year.
Sheena Lambert was interviewed by RTÉ Arena about the play and said “I first came across her studying music myself in the college of music back in the late 80s when she was very much referred to as ‘daughter of/wife of’…but it always struck me that there was more there to be told. So the more I looked into her and researched her there certainly was more there to tell.”
About Sheena
Sheena Lambert is a playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. Her play FOCUS was staged in the Players Theatre in 2015. Her original feature film THE BLUE GIRL is in development with Martina Niland of Port Pictures, with Gurinder Chadha of Bend It Films set to direct. Her Comedy Drama feature WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Is in pre-production with Grand Pictures. Both projects were recipients of Screen Ireland funding. She is also attached as a writer and Executive Producer on Greenlit Productions (Finland) and Ninth Street Productions (NYC)’s TV series, REMARKABLE WOMEN’S STORIES.
Sheena was a recipient of Screen Ireland’s Mentorship in Screenwriting in 2021 and 2023 and was also part of Peter McKenna’s Writer as Executive Producer programme run by Screen Ireland/WGI and MediaXchange’s Series Accelerator programme with John Yorke and Jeff Melvoinas in 2023. She recently took part in a Screen Ireland-funded placement on the MediaXchange showrunner programme in LA.