Climbing Liberty’s Ladder to New York

A group from Newmarket are about to bring a play to the Big Apple.
The play was written by Shannon woman, Kelly O’Keeffe. “I wrote it before Christmas and it’s called Liberty’s Ladder, a memorial to Irish immigrants and to the fire staff of Irish descent in 9/11. It’s told through the spirit of JFK and the spirit of a firefighter and the voice of Ireland, who is played by John Higgins, Michael D’s brother. We have two guys, Chris Ryan and Tom McNamara, who do traditional folk singing and we have Caitriona Fawl playing the harp, so it’s kind of a cross between a musical and a play.”
Most of those involved are young people from Newmarket, who have been out of work and were associated with Obair.
“I wrote the play in January and Siobhán O’Driscoll, who went to college with me in Limerick and who is now a community development worker in Obair, rang me and asked me was I still looking for a singer for the play. One of them, Chris Ryan sang down the phone and the next day I went down and it snowballed from there. Thomas McNamara was there and he was a brilliant singer and then Mark McNulty heard about it and went away and wrote a poem that I included in it,” says Kelly.
The play is about Ireland’s diaspora and the September 11 attacks. “JFK is woken by the saddest day ever in heaven, which is 9/11. It’s pretty sad at the start but the message at the end is that we share a history and heritage. It goes on a bit about emigration and there are images in the background of Ellis Island and things like that. The songs include Isle of Hope, Caledonia and songs like that. The firefighters’ message is for the people who are left behind not to worry too much and then the Voice of Ireland’s message is kind of welcoming home the heroes, who are free to roam in Ireland.”
The first show will be in Newmarket on Sunday, while the group will be in New York from March 13 to 21.