An adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s The Birds, by Conor McPherson is playing as part of Origin’s First Irish Theatre Festival; those familiar with the plot will find it refreshed by Stefan Dzeparoski’s claustrophobic, minimalistic direction which makes it more relevant than ever. We spoke to the director about bringing this classic to the stage.

Many people know The Birds just through the Hitchcock film, so when you get a script adapted by the iconic Conor McPherson, how do you deal with people’s expectations and remove anything they might know to deliver your own version of this property?

That is my general intention, to remove myself from expectations of others. Usually those expectations are based on preconceived knowledge, so in removing myself from these expectations I give myself more freedom to contextualize the material.

How did you decode The Birds to set it like you do?

For me it was the question of why is this happening at this moment? In this play I wanted to show the fear of the other, especially at the moment we’re in right now globally, I wanted to show how these characters trapped in this house face what is happening in America.

From the moment we walk into the theater we are reminded of the 2016 election, and you were able to show the fear of the other we see in Republicans, but you also show the apathy of Democrats. Were you interested in showing how someone who isn’t American perceives the election?

I’m always concerned with the human condition, what are the circumstances that make us human. In a play when we have a situation like the one we see where society has collapsed, then I want to show what keeps these people human. That’s always my main concern, every art is political.

Your recent work in New York has relied a lot on projections, you often show a conversation between the projections, which can have an Orwellian, scary quality, but there’s also something metaphysical about them, they can be the eye of god or also government surveillance, or something evil lurking. How do you achieve a balance that lets people see something good or something scary?

It’s a dialogue between every element in the production, I tend to see each production as a breathing entity with many elements, and all those elements need to talk to each other.I don’t feel that everything needs to have an answer, there is an active question that needs to remain in the audience. In this production we wanted to achieve a sense of the contemporary and what would happen if our society collapsed, we wanted to make that visible through our projections.

What is your very own The Birds? What terrifies you the most?

I’ve never thought about that, but maybe a situation where I couldn’t do anything. I would probably still try to find a way to change, I think what makes us human is trying to move forward. I would rather learn to talk to those mad birds than to lock myself in.

The Birds is running at 59E59 through 10/01. For more information click here.