OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Donagh MacDonagh 

• Synopsis

  Based on the tale of Deirdre from the Ulster Cycle without the lyricism of Synge or Yeats Deirdre plays. In this version Deirdre has now become the Lady Spider, the creature that consumes her mates, a Deirdre who, when Naoise is treacherously slain, is prepared to live so that she can suck the marrow from Conor's brittle bones. The action takes place in a forest in Ulster, near Armagh on an early spring morning, near the Court of King Conor MacNessa, among sandhills on the coast of Scotland on an Autumn afternoon and at Conor MacNessa's hunting lodge, near Dundalk.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  12

• Female

  4

• Total

  16

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  15 September 1959

• Producer

  Produced by Orion Productions In association with Dublin Theatre Festival

• Venue Notes

  First presented at The Gas Company Theatre, Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme and contemporary press cuttings.