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Making History (play)

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Making History
Script cover
Written byBrian Friel
CharactersHugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Mabel Bagenal
Harry Hoveden
Hugh Roe O'Donnell
Mary Bagenal
Peter Lombard
Date premieredSeptember 20, 1988 (1988-9-20)
Place premieredGuildhall, Derry
Original languageEnglish
SubjectIrish nationalism, Nine Years' War, historiography
GenreHistory play
SettingDungannon, Sperrin Mountains and Rome, 1590s

Making History is a 1988 play written by Irish playwright Brian Friel, which premiered at the Guildhall, Derry on 20 September 1988.[1] It focuses on the life and legacy of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who led a combined Irish-Spanish alliance against the English during the Nine Years' War. The play is set before and after the Battle of Kinsale. The battle does not directly feature in the play, although it is central to the plot.

The play's other main theme is O'Neill's unexpected third marriage to the much younger Anglo-Irish Protestant Mabel Bagenal, daughter and sister of two of his most implacable enemies, which the play presents as a genuine though ill-fated love marriage.[2]

Characters

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Character Original production Ref.
Hugh O'Neill Stephen Rea [3][4][5]
Harry Hovenden Niall O'Brien [4][5]
Hugh O'Donnell Peter Gowen [4][5]
Archbishop Lombard Niall Tóibín [3][4][5]
Mabel Bagenal Clare Holman [3][4][5]
Mary Bagenal Emma Dewhurst [3][4][5]

References

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  1. ^ "PROGRAMME: Making History, by Brian Friel (1988)". Field Day. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  2. ^ Peacock, Alan J. (1993). The Achievement of Brian Friel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-86140-349-3.
  3. ^ a b c d Morgan, Hiram (2007). "Playing the Earl: Brian Friel's "Making History"". History Ireland. 15 (4): 62–63. ISSN 0791-8224. JSTOR 27725661.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Production of Making History". Theatricalia. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Making History". Playography Ireland. Irish Theatre Institute. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2025.

Further reading

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