The Civic is delighted to be hosting a reading of Jimmy Murphy’s new play The Chief at this week.
“When I was asked to write a play on Michael Collins there were a number of things about the last 9 months of his life that intrigued me; Why did he decide to attack the Four Courts when he could have simply encircled the IRA for a few weeks and starve them out? When he said the Treaty was a stepping stone towards complete independence, was that stepping stone to be an invasion of the 6 counties once he had built up an fully armed and trained defence force? And was that fatefull trip to Cork to meet with De Valera and other IRA commanders to try and end the civil war which had left him a broken man?
Broadly speaking I would say yes to all 3 questions, the 3rd very broadly, for within those answers are many contradictions and complexities. Writing “The Chief” used both these qualities to piece together an account of Michael Collins’s last few months that’s left me less intrigued and more astonished. And that’s just the first draft…” – Jimmy Murphy
Cast:
Michael Collins: Denis Conway
Kitty (Kiernan): Lorna Quinn
Joe (O’Reilly): Stephen O’Leary
Dick (General Richard Mulchay): Peter Gaynor
Emmet (Major General Dalton): Mark Fitzgerald
Play commissioned by Verdant Productions
Playwright Jimmy Murphy has written a number of stage plays including Brothers of the Brush which was awarded best new Irish play; A Picture of Paradise; The Muesli Belt; Aceldama; The Kings of the Kilburn High Road; The Castlecomer Jukebox and What’s Left of The Flag, nominated for and Irish Times Best New Play Award and The Hen Night Epiphany.
