Making History

Powerful historical forces determine the destinies of Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, and his ally, Red Hugh O’Donnell, before and after the siege of Kinsale, the ultimate battle in England’s conquest of Gaelic Ireland. O’Neill’s personal life is complicated by his loving but ill-fated marriage to an English wife, Mabel Bagenal, the daughter of his enemy. O’Neill forges an Irish and Spanish alliance to drive the English out of Ireland while Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh, raises questions as he writes a history of O’Neill’s life. What is truth, and what is merely a history of the winners? Find out in this compelling production of Brian Friel’s rarely produced masterpiece. Even though the play takes place in the early 1600s in Gaelic Ireland, the political and social machinations are relevant today, as history continues to be written and interpreted by the winners and those who twist the facts to suit their own needs.