Moving drama pays tribute to a forgotten rural breed

Two of Ireland’s most loved and respected actors, Des Keogh and Derry Power will be onstage at The Village Theatre, Carrabane on Friday, March 18.

The pair will perform Malachy McKenna’s award-winning play The Quiet Land, which celebrates the humour, resilience and innocence of an exiled generation as it struggles to survive in a modern rural Ireland.

The Quiet Land features two elderly neighbours, Eamon and Nashee, who meet at a gate on a remote hillside. These farmers are old friends and old rivals. Their conversation is a throwback to another time, when silence was as telling as speech, and meaning was often found between the lines.

They are men of heart, of humour, of hardness but, in facing the bitter reality of their remote defiance, Eamon and Nashee have grown fearful and desperate. They are forced to confront each other with some heart-breaking truths that test their friendship to its limit.

The role of Nashee is taken on by Des Keogh, who has been at the heart of Irish theatre for more than 50 years. His career has taken him from the Cork Opera House where he performed and produced an English farce called Charley’s Aunt in 1965, to New York’s Carnegie Hall where he shared the stage with tenor, Frank Patterson, telling Irish stories in a seanchaí style. His most recent performance was a US tour with the Gate Theatre’s production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame.

Des has also had a successful career in film and TV with roles in Ryan’s Daughter, Father Ted and The Clinic.

Derry Power, who plays Eamon, is now best known for his role in the BBC TV series Ballykissangel but has had a long and successful career in theatre and film. He appeared in the very first production of Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow at Dublin’s Pike Theatre in 1954. Derry has also had major roles in My Left Foot, Intermission and Far & Away.

The Quiet Land is Malachy McKenna’s tribute to a rare breed of forgotten men who live a long way in off the road.

This widely acclaimed drama debuted in Bewley’s Theatre, Dublin, last August and is now on a national tour, with the 80-seater Village Theatre being the Galway venue.

The Village Theatre is in the village of Carrabane, just five minutes from Junction 16 (Loughrea) on the M6 motorway.

Tickets for The Quiet Land are €15 and are available from the box office at 087 6997357 or on The Village Theatre’s Facebook page.