When the interval arrived, I was eager to find out more about the play’s history, so I leapt on to Wikipedia and I was surprised to discover it was written 150 years ago. The ‘Quiet Man’ style Oirish brogue seemed so over the top, that I thought it a brilliant modern parody of the era. Instead, I discover that this exciting, fast paced and very funny melodrama was written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault in 1860. The Colleen Bawn, directed by Jimmy Fay, centres on Hardress Cregan’s (played by Ian Lloyd Anderson) secret marriage to Eily ‘The Colleen Bawn’ O’Connor (Liz Fitzgibbon), a woman considered to be below his station, and the fact that he is due to wed the wealthy Anne Chute (Charlie Murphy), which would solve his family’s financial woes. Anne is also being courted by the lovely but lost Kyrle Daly (Will Irvine) and the Colleen Bawn … There’s more →