In the twelfth century AD a monk in the monastery of Cloncmacnoise was given the job of writing down an epic poem that had survived only through oral tradition.

It was the Castle Raid of Cooley, and is one of the great poems of Europe, describing as it does the primitive life of the early Celts, adoring weapons and war, cattle raiding and magical feats of strength and endurance.

In a lunatic tale of gargantuan frenzy, a southern army led by Queen Maeve invades Ulster and is met by the hero Cuchulain.

An ambitious epic inspired by the rich legends of ancient Ireland.

Set in 1348 and focuses on a group of Italians who flee from the plague in Florence, retire in a garden and pass the time telling stories. They pass the time and distract themselves by telling story after story about love in all its guises – tragic, romantic, comic and bawdy. Each story is introduced by one person and then acted out by the whole company. (Based on the book of the same name).

This play was part of a double bill with DAYS HERE SO DARK.

DAYS HERE SO DARK chronicles the last days of a small Hebridean community.

Nineteen sturdy souls isolated on a barren and windswept island, without any viable economic future but with strong allegiances to each other, forged through intermarriage and incest, and a sense of embattled independence.

A prologue takes us back a thousand years when Viking invaders brought bloody murder to the island; it is the stories of the past, embellished into myths, that strengthens the habitants resolve to stay despite Government pressure to leave.

Set in a Lakeland town, and ex-army colonel, who is the north-west contact in an organisation recruiting mercenaries for Africa, prepares to light one of the chain of bonfires for the Jubilee celebrations. In the town, and ex-Rhodesian is trying to open a high-class wine bar – the last failure in a long line. The two have common cause: money from the contact man can finance the wine-bar, which will become the rendez-vous point for departure. The plans for both are violently disturbed by the arrival of an ex-mercenary demanding his money due for his time in Africa.

Weaving in and out of the action are two women. Charity, a singer and the niece of the bar owner, suffers beneath a tough exterior, the anger of exposing her feelings for money. Sal, a punk girl, works in the bar and is willing to sell herself to the colonel for money to get away.

A play expressing cynicism, idealism, and fear of post-imperial Britain.

“I saw him. Leading the hunger march.

‘Let there be no confusion’ he said

‘There is one enemy, and one enemy only

but like a hydra it has many heads

and one by one, we will cut them all off’

That’s how he finished.

They carried him on their shoulders mun.

All the way

to the unemployment benefit office.”

RISE OF THE OLD CLOUD is set in a Welsh mining community during the 1930s and has the humour and humanity born of the Welsh valleys.

A radical young miner’s defence of his workmates in a time of crisis; should he challenge management or choose to be absorbed by it, to resist or to compromise?

A middle-aged Russian woman who died in 1921 has returned from the dead 16 years later to talk about her family and why she abandoned them. 

Four survivors of a Spanish anarchist commune must hold a road against the Fascist army; just for a few hours, that is, as a futile gesture towards the dying Republic. They are joined by two mysterious gypsies and by an Englishman on a bicycle; the latter is on his way to the front where he intends to spend three months fighting Franco. He and his motives are the central concern of the play: his commitment is self-fulfilling; he seeks the war as his countrymen now seek the sun, a tourist on the battlefield. The play begins as a piece of politico-historical realism and develops into disorientating fantasy. 

Writer’s note: Civil wars are the worst. Families are split, friendships destroyed, and afterwards there is no real peace. The war dies out as the generation dies. How did the Spanish war attract people? Inside it there were people who wanted to get out; outside there were people who wanted to get to Spain and fight; and finally, there were those who moved around just that moment ahead of destruction, non-combatants whose only weapon was the road.