The Everyman Produces Brian Friel’s MAKING HISTORY 

The Everyman Cork will produce Making History by Brian Friel, opening on April 14th with previews on Friday 11th, Saturday 12th and Monday 14th. Brian Friel wrote Making History to explore the life and legacy of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, during a pivotal period in Irish history.

The play delves into themes of Irish nationalism, the Nine Year’s War, and historiography, focusing on O'Neill's leadership in the Irish-Spanish alliance against the English. Friel aimed to present a nuanced portrayal of historical events, highlighting O'Neill's unexpected marriage to Mabel Bagenal, an Anglo-Irish Protestant, which added a personal dimension to the historical drama.

Kennedy, in his first season as Artistic Director at The Everyman, is directing this new staging. He says “I’m so excited to be directing this fascinating, and rarely revived, Friel masterpiece as my first production as Artistic Director of The Everyman. I had been looking for plays and stories that had relevance to Cork, then realised that one of the most significant moments in Irish history - the Battle of Kinsale - happened in 20 miles down the road from and remembered that one of our greatest Irish playwrights had written a play about it.  

The play was first produced by Field Day, and Friel was writing as much about the Troubles in the 1980s as he was about 1601, so our production is a bold, contemporary take on the story of Gaelic Chieftain High O’Neill that feels as relevant to 2025 as 1601. Our Hugh O’Neill is modern Zelensky type figure fighting to save his country from a neighbouring oppressor. During rehearsals we have been doing a lot of exploration around Ukraine, Gaza, and colonialism. The play says that history isn’t a fixed fact or point in time. We are living through history.  

Our EVERYMAN MADE season features a series of plays that ask big questions. I think the success of things like Say Nothing, Kneecap and Derry Girls show there is an appetite to unpack our country’s complicated and painful history through art, to examine who we want to be moving forward. I think this production of this ground-breaking Friel play will be another contribution to this very alive conversation.” 

Set before and after 1601, the Battle of Kinsale is the key turning point in Making History, as it was the closest Ireland came to ever decolonising itself. For the first time on stage, Hugh O Neill, will be played by two actors, Aaron McCusker, fresh off his run as Quinn Carney in The Ferryman in The Gaiety will star as Hugh O Neill, Ireland, and legendary Cork actor Denis Conway plays Hugh O Neill, Rome.  

Creative Team: 

Director Des Kennedy 
Set Design Niall NcKeever 
Costume Design Catherine Fay 
Lighting Design Sinéad McKenna 
Sound Design and Music Composition Mel Mercier 
Movement Emily Terndrup 
Voice and Dialect Daniele Lyndon 

Performance details: 

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