The Friends of Eddie Coyle, stage adaptation of classic Boston crime novel, opens Dec. 8 at Oberon

Cambridge, Mass. — Tickets are on sale now for George V. Higgins’ The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Stickball Productions’ world premiere stage adaptation of the quintessential Boston crime novel. The production runs Dec. 8–Jan. 15 at Oberon in Harvard Square, for tickets, visit www.thefriendsofeddiecoyle.com

It is the winter of ‘69 in Boston and Eddie Coyle is a bottom of the barrel hood attempting to stay alive and out of jail among his “friends” – cops, bartenders, radical hippies, bank robbers, hit men and informants. Weeks away from a prison sentence for trucking stolen booze, Eddie’s making a few bucks supplying the guns for a rash of brazen bank heists, while looking to tip someone in for a kind word to the judge.

George V. Higgins’ classic novel has been called the “best crime novel ever written” by Elmore Leonard, and literary scholars have compared his unforgiving and realistic depiction of Boston’s underworld with the works of Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Balzac. Through dialogue quintessentially Bostonian, and the most poignant homage to Bobby Orr and the ’69-’70 Boston Bruins in literature, The Friends of Eddie Coyle has set the bar for Boston crime stories for nearly 40 years.

Now adapted for stage by Bill Doncaster, directed by Maria Silvaggi, Stickball Productions brings Higgins’ iconic dialogue to life through a live experience. The Friends of Eddie Coyle features Paulo Branco as Eddie Coyle, Rick Park as Dillon, Tom Berry as federal cop Dave Foley, Peter Darrigo as gangster Jimmy Scalise, Jeremy Lee as Jackie Brown, Jen Alison Lewis as Wanda, and an ensemble cast.

Where: Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138

When: Thursday, Dec. 8; Friday, Dec. 9; Thursday, Dec. 15; Friday, Dec. 16; Sunday,

Dec. 18; Thursday, Jan. 5; Friday, Jan. 6; Sunday, Jan. 8; Thursday, Jan. 12; Friday, Jan. 13; Sunday, Jan. 15.

All show times 7:30 p.m., doors (and bar) open at 6:45

Tickets: $20–$35, through www.thefriendsofeddiecoyle.com