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The Leitrim Trilogy
by John McDwyer
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 1st September, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-906018-18-4
Price: €15
The Leitrim Trilogy is a trio of plays set in the North West of Ireland. Although their location is specific, their themes are universal and they speak to all of us, in an identifiable manner, of love and loss. The Leitrim Trilogy challenges our attachment to home and our self-indulgent assumptions of ownership rights over people, places and things.
Callaghan’s Place
Paul and Mary Dolan struggle to come to terms with the upcoming departure of their only child to study at university. A mysterious Englishman arrives in their midst and his blossoming friendship with the daughter creates the backdrop to tragedy as neighbours Pat Kelly and Annie Jackson, themselves custodians of great regret and sorrow, fail to stem the tide of Paul’s suspicion and anger. For all the seriousness of the underlying themes, Callaghan’s Place is peppered with scenes of outrageous humour.
Unforgiven
A real circus of a play, Unforgiven is a laugh a minute exposition of Irish rural life, where nothing is ever as it seems to be. PJ awaits the death of his father so that he can marry his neighbour, Mary, and live happily ever after. His brother, Seamie, holds a watching brief while Mary seems unaware of PJ’s plans for her. When the father dies, another brother arrives home from America and a colony of cats land amongst the pigeons in this uproarious comedy.
Lovely Leitrim
Armed with the certainty of motherhood, Mary Gallagher is convinced she knows what is best for her family in the event of her death. Her insistence on being granted her dying wish ultimately fragments her family and results in a cataclysmic evening in a London pub where her eldest son finally makes peace with himself and with the world. The unbridled wit of the dialogue sugars the sadness of a passing way of life. Lovely Leitrim was John McDwyer’s first stage play.
About the author
John McDwyer is artistic director of Beezneez Theatre Company and an award-winning playwright and author. His radio play Month’s Mind won the RTE Radio Drama Award and he won the Guardian Short Story Award for Fair Day. He lives in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. All plays in the trilogy have been produced to national acclaim by Beezneez Theatre Company.
