Synopsis
Making History
$12.99 Published by Faber & Faber
The central character of this play is Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who led an Irish and Spanish alliance against the armies of Elizabeth I in an attempt to drive the English out of Ireland
The action takes place before and after the Battle of Kinsale, at which the alliance was defeated - with O'Neill at home in Dungannon, as a fugitive in the mountains, and finally exiled in Rome
In his handling of this momentous episode Brian Friel has avoided the conventions of 'historical drama' to produce a play about history, the continuing process