Powerful Mayo production of The Plough and the Stars

Drama lovers will be delighted to hear that Ballina’s Riverside Theatre Group are making an eagerly anticipated return to the Ballina Arts Centre stage this week – this time with a powerful production of Sean O’Casey’s classic, The Plough and the Stars.

Set amid the tumult of the Easter Rising, the play tells the story of the ordinary lives of the residents of a Dublin tenement as they shelter from the violence that sweeps through the city’s streets. A revolution that will shape the county’s future rages around them.

The Plough and the Stars was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1926. The audience rioted. Now regarded as a masterpiece, this provocative play is an essential part of our understanding of 1916.

Running for four nights – Thursday to Sunday, February 16 to 19 – this powerful production is directed by Ballina’s own Ray Collins.

Ray is very well known in drama circles in the west of Ireland and has previously directed acclaimed and sell-out performances of Many Young Men of Twenty and, most recently, The Importance of Being Earnest.

For more information or to book tickets, call the box office on (096) 73593 or log on to www.ballinaartscentre.com. Curtain up is at 8 p.m. nightly.