OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Gerard McLarnon 

• Notes

  The cast and character lists for this entry are drawn from reviews of the premiere production. As such, cast size details should be taken as approximate.

• Synopsis

  A play set on the eve of the Twelfth of July, when a bonfire is being prepared in part to celebrate the release from prison of Willie McNulty, a Protestant, who has served time for blinding Catholic neighbour John Hanna. The blinding incident, it slowly emerges, was prompted not by religious motivations, but because of a menage-a-trois between McNulty, his fiancee Vanessa Lindsay and John Hanna, with whom she has been having an affair. Meanwhile, rumour spreads that Hanna has been faking his blindness to obtain McNulty's conviction. An angry mob gathers as the bonefire is lit to obtain justice from Hanna, even as he and Vanessa are making a pact to deliberately end their lives, and the play ends in tragedy.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  8

• Female

  4

• Total

  12

• Cast Notes

  12

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  18 August 1958

• Producer

  Produced by Ulster Group Theatre

• Original Venue

  Grand Opera House
  

Source Of Information

Information for this entry was taken from press cuttings, and from the Theatre and Performing Arts Archive of the Linen Hall Library, Belfast.