OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Ger FitzGibbon 

• Setting

  Set in the interior of an old wooden lighthouse, on an offshore rocky island outcrop, off Co.Clare in 1866 - a period of considerable political unrest.

• Synopsis

  Peter - reclusive, thoughtful and apolitical - is staffing the lighthouse on his own when his ebullient and extrovert brother Eddy arrives unexpectedly. Eddy is ostensibly concerned about the sudden and inexplicably disappearance of the second lighthouse keeper, Harty, having gone missing mysteriously days earlier. Gradually, in the cooped up confinement of the lighthouse, political differences and old family feuds break out between the two brothers. Eddy's interest in Harty turns out to be more than casual. At the climax of the play, having discovered a plan to land arms, Eddy attempts to use an experimental lighthouse lamp to signal the gunrunners. He dies in this attempt. Peter, cleaning and preparing the body of his brother, breaks down, wrecking the lighthouse interior, only to reveal the depth of Harty's betrayal of him.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  2

• Total

  2

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  21 October 1992

• Production Notes

  Produced by Soho Theatre Company, London.

• Venue Notes

  First presented at the Cockpit Theatre, London.

• Irish Premiere Notes

  The Irish premiere was presented at the Granary Theatre, Cork by Meridian Theatre Company on October 12th, 1995.

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the published script.