A play about the colourful life and times of the West Cork-born Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa is to be performed in both Skibbereen and Rossmore this month as part of the events commemorating the centenary of his death.
Directed by Denis O’Mahony, the joint production between Kilmeen Drama Group and Skibbereen Theatre Society, which is called Rossa, also involves members of other West Cork drama groups and is written by Maria Young, inspired by Roger McHugh’s award-winning play.
It will premiere at Skibbereen Town Hall on Sunday and Monday, July 19th and 20th, and will feature at St Mary’s Theatre in Rossmore on Saturday and Sunday, 25th and 26th, nightly at 8pm in both venues.
Dublin-born Roger McHugh (1908-1987) remembered his grandfather describing the silence of the countryside after the Famine, where the birds did not sing. He grew up with an interest in history and it was in that subject that he first lectured at UCD before going on to become a Professor of English.
Roger became a Senator also and wrote several plays, most of them based on historical subjects, and the best-known of these was Rossa, which won the Abbey Theatre Award for best historical play and was performed there in 1945.
Tickets for the 2015 production of Rossa may be booked for Skibbereen through Thornhill Electrical (028-22557) and for Rossmore through the theatre box office (086-4481086).
