Ambush drama returns to Miltown Malbay

DERMOTT Petty’s hugely popular play about the Rineen Ambush and its aftermath returns, by popular demand, to Miltown Malbay next Saturday night, November 26.

After a sell-out performance in Miltown in October, Dermott and The Ballycartoon Players have been invited back to West Clare with Two Days in September. 

Doolin-based playwright Dermott weaves the story, of the events of September 22 and 23, 1920, in film and theatre form. The drama and traces the ambushing of a British Army convoy by the Mid-Clare Brigade of the IRA. It follows the aftermath of revenge and the sacking, looting and burning of the villages of Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay by the Black and Tans. 

“West Clare in 1920 was recovering from a land war, famines, World War 1 and Spanish influenza,” said Dermott.

“While a beautiful part of the world it had a troubled past, a proud people and a yearning for change. While Ireland had many revolutions, the War of Independence was different. This was not led by Anglo-Irish, or chieftains or the Bishops. This was led by the people. They were small farmers, nurses, labourers, factory workers. It was by the people for the people and the people paid a heavy price.

“This play will examine that story and tell it in a tense fashion. Those two days were filed with bloodshed. The result led to the formation of this Republic. The reaction internationally to the brutal repression and burning of the three villages in response to the Rineen Ambush was what led to Truce in the War of Independence.”

“The play will be staged and directed by Joan O’Hanrahan,” Dermott added. “The music and soundscape will be by composer Barry Dillon, along with contributions by actors, friends and technicians of Ballycartoon Players, our theatre group.”

Dermott, who holds an MA in Creative Media Studies, is the author of several plays and a founder of Ballycartoon Productions. The organisation was set up in 2017 in Doolin, “to create, produce and tell stories that are inspired by the people and area of North Clare”. 

“We aim to tell stories that may be overlooked or forgotten yet need to be told,” Dermott said. “Jiving Lessons for the Broken-Hearted was our first full production where it premiered in the Royal Spa Hotel in Lisdoonvarna to two sold out performances.”

That play took the internationally famous matchmaking festival as its theme and is described as “a tale of love, dancing, madness, hope, despair, heartbreak, and the need to learn to jive amid the craziness of the Matchmaking festival in a small village in the West of Ireland in September”.

Two Days in September secured prestigious funding support from Clare County Council through the Decade of Centenaries Arts Project Awards. The drama, which has great local interest, premiered in North Clare this summer.

Tickets for the Miltown show, which takes place the Community Centre, on November 26 are limited to 100 and the curtain rises at 8pm.