 And that was Jerry Fish and True Friends and in the studio with me I have some friends, old and new friends that are going to be talking about the forthcoming production of Drum Bull, a play written by local playwright and historian Kieran Kelly. The premier essay right now let me get my tongue around premiering, oh got it that time, in the baller on Thursday night. And joining Kieran is Charlie Bonner and actors Stephen Brun Dunbar and Dennis Grindle. You are all very welcome. Thank you. How's it going? Not so bad, I'll tell you after I chat to the four of you. So Kieran, you're no stranger to Highland. You've written several plays including Jimmy's One in Matches, Echoes of Time, Beneath an Irish Sky, Drama Tours and you've written books, Letter Kenny, Where the Winding Slowly Flows and then again The Past and Present of Letter Kenny Time and One for the Road, A History of the Pubs in Hotels and Letter Kenny has come out in 2024. A busy man, so you're obvious from all your past works, you have a great love for local history and creative writing. Yeah, yeah, very much so. It's kind of just a part of something I love so much of a big graph for the local history. But what's interesting about the play, this is kind of, this is Balbuffet history as opposed to I would kind of be more into Letter Kenny history with the books and everything, but this is a story that I was always kind of aware of, of course, we may be all growing up hearing about the drum ball martyrs, but it didn't know specifics about it and it was fascinating to do the research on us and I hope for the people at Balbuffet and St. Order, I hope that it's London Justice, that they're happy with it. And the drum ball martyrs, the actual drum ball martyrs, just in case there's someone out there that doesn't know about them, just can you give a wee synopsis of that? Yeah, essentially four men were executed in March 1923, so a hundred years ago this year. And basically they were at the time was the Civil War and so they were being held prisoner in Drum Ball Castle, which is no longer standing, but a place in Drum Ball Woods just on the other side of the river to Balbuffet. And basically there was events around the country and it was part of a policy of the Free State government at the time to to deter more or to put an end to the Civil War, to execute prisoners, kind of there's revenge killings as they were called. And it was a very, very bloody and bitter period in our history where Irishman killing Irishman former comrades. And I mean between November 1922 and March sorry May 1923 there were 81 executions of these prisoners throughout the country all over. And in our story this is a story of four of the prisoners, well the story primarily of one of the prisoners Charlie Daly who was executed and I said this is a story that could resonate around the whole country, but we're telling this story and it's very it's it basically it comes down to the Civil War, the treaty between the Ireland and England and opposition to it and the arguments for and against that that's kind of what split the country at the time unfortunately. And I suppose there's one thing fighting an enemy like you know like Ukrainians, Russians or English Irish or whatever Nazis and the Allies but when you actually have to shoot someone that was your brother, your friend it must have been a terrible and an execution as well where you actually see the person it's not even in the battle it must have been horrendous for them. Well that's it this comes from the true story of what happened and what the hook that got me when I started the research on it was the fact that Joseph Sweeney the general in Jumbo Castle who would have been given the order to execute. Charlie Daly was a former comrade of his they were former students together in UCD and they would have known each other and would have been you know like brothers so to speak and that was kind of my what piqued my interest how it was a story of brothers so this isn't a political drama this is a human story as best as I could do I wanted to tell from a human point of view the the story of how brothers could be torn apart and there's there's references to Kaye and Abel and to Frank and Jesse James and so on throughout the so it is a tale of brothers and as I said that that's a common theme for many civil war stories sadly. And it's based on true events but have you used poetic license just to embellish it a little bit for for an audience? Definitely you have to tell the story it's not a history lecture it's not a history book it's not you're not giving it every single fact that happened you have to tell and talk to here in story the character that Dennis plays is a fictional character rather Stephen McDevitt and he had to be fictional for what I wanted his character development to go through there's a scene between Joe Sweeney and Charlie Daly that that didn't happen but I felt that in the context of the story you're denying the audience opportunity for the two main people to meet so things that got okay there's poetic license there but the facts still remain that the four men were shot in March 1923 there was events around the country in Bali CD and in Churchill and in Crecelia and all these have been Newton Newton Newton Cunningham nearly said Newton Stewart Newton Cunningham and John Keane all these events that are referenced took place so it is it is based on facts but to tell a coherent story for the audience to be engaged in the story not be just bored and bored with facts and figures and so on you have to kind of have a little bit of artistic and poetic license to tell the coherent story and I suppose it's very relevant now with the 100 years since the end of the civil war was that's why you chose the topic well yeah I've been it's not so much the chose I was actually approached originally by by councillor Jerry McMonagle and I have to give him full credit for that I would not have had the idea for this at all and he said the centenaries next year is something he'd like to look into so I looked into that as I said when I got that fascinating story between Joe Sweeney and Charlie Daly I thought that's actually very very good the story here so with that in mind I went to to Conner in the baller and I kind of said to him you know is there something we can do here with us and we went then to Judith McCarthy of the County Museum in Tralock so we got managed to get funding through that through the the department of I don't know what the department is but the commemoration the centenary of the decade of centenaries and so we got the funding for that so it was a kind of slow and gradual process but it came the idea came from just a quick conversation with with councillor McMonagle and that's where they and then the fact that it's centenary just makes it all the more poignant and special that it's it's part of now a decade ago or a centenary ago sorry a hundred years ago fantastic and Charlie again you are the director and you have performed in many theatres over the last 30 years in Ireland and the Abbey and the Peacock and the Gayety the Gate and the Lyric and the Everyman and Cork and you've directed a few shows as well in the old baller April Bright by Dermond Bulger with the Fadda Theatre Company and Conner Malone's State of the Nation back in 2017 so a conflict actor and you've directed do you have a preference for the acting or the directing oh no I'm not really I mean it's more the material that you get whatever that gets excited that gets you excited and you just want to contribute in whatever way it is like what what we do in the professional world is we serve the work and whatever role you're given to serve that work whether it's an actor or as a director or as a writer we all bring something to the party so um I mean I don't know I've directed I'd say maybe eight or nine shows over the past 30 years just between acting jobs and every single time I come to the last three days and I go I am never and then you always return back to it so yeah I mean I'd heard about this last year um there was whispers of it and you know Keo and myself were kind of anyway there was like little whispers down the the wind about it and uh I just got really excited about it just the idea of it being such a local part of our history and literally down the road from where Dennis is living you know and it's somewhere I used to visit an awful lot as a kid but I have to be um honest I was uh I'm ashamed to say that I only found out about three years ago that I grew up imagining it was a war of independence monument and I didn't realize it was a civil war monument or recently and then that was even more fascinating but that goes back to an awful lot but he even feel it here still of of there is a reticence about talking about all of this and this is one great thing about what we're doing now is it's we're giving it articulation which is great and it's incredibly balanced what Keo and his done is absolutely amazing you know there's no good guys or bad guys and there's no winners or losers it's it's an incredible story told with a lot of passion and a lot of feeling and a lot of empathy for everyone as well yeah so it was really exciting when I first read the script I just went yeah this is class and then we started going on little little local lectures around the county listening to people talking about you know and you just get more and more excited as it goes along and and the ideas are just and Keo's so accessible as well and so approachable but ideas as well contributing you know adding stuff to it as well and ah it's been wonderful so do wonderful and so then just from what you've been saying I can gather that you've learned a lot more about the drum all martyrs from researching the play or working with Kieran oh good god yes I mean I mean growing up in Donegal I remember when we at least a Sunday commemoration is beyond every year and I remember going to follow on it as a kid's even just you know out of curiosity but and stuff on but no one ever talked about it it was like I can't remember what it was a fathered head or some show and they're talking about like a school teacher they're going so then we had this 1916 rising and then we had the war of independence and and then we joined the EU in 1972 it was just like 50 years just disappeared you know so there's an awful lot of that happened as well so it's I think it's been incredible that the awareness of all of the terrible terrible dark time that it was has been brought into uh relief now at the moment into focus as well um because we have to learn from these things you know and it's a professional production with a stellar cast so yeah how good is it to work with with people like uh Stefan and Dennis and Sean who's wonderful absolutely amazing and their application and their enthusiasm and their willingness to you know their courage to try things and you know and to adapt what they're to what they're doing as well and just as back to saying back to serving the play and trying to keep saying we have to keep polishing this apple and keep making it better and better as much as we can and just what everybody brings to the party it's just wonderful it really is it's been fantastic brilliant and uh Dennis I can bring you in here now this is your first home production of 15 years it's good to be back I suppose oh yeah lovely loves to get back back to family back to the baller uh I grew up performing there as a kid um so uh I've been in the industry now for 10 years professionally so uh it's definitely a nice point to come back and show the town what I can do I guess well yeah you've been a very successful actor from your youth as you say in the baller even in west end productions uh Jimmy Rabbit and the commitments and the musical the choir of man and you've toured the US and Australia did those early days in the baller ignite your love for the stage oh yeah absolutely um I was never like the sports person of the time my brother and brothers are all big into hurling and the golf so one night I anyone would meet me it'd be is this the young hurler grindle and like no this is the one who's into the music and the drama um so whenever I started with the baller it was definitely like finding my people and a wee home away from home um so to get to come back now is it's it's emotional nearly um getting to come back as an adult uh and and show them what I've been up to and as Charlie said you were brought up as I say a stone throw away from the drum ball woods and the story was it well known to you back in your youth or have you learned a lot more since you uh started to do the play oh definitely learned a lot more it's been a the best history lesson I've had in years but um no similar to Charlie it's it's it's terrible to say I would have known of it now I was new but I didn't know it was a Civil War monument but um you know our home family home is just the last before you get to the woods um so tourists would stop and and ask where where the is the commemoration site um so it was always in the conversation but never really knew fully what it was so it's amazing now to you know about Civil War and the history of Ireland but to be able to place our hometown and where that all where where we fit in in the in the narrative is is pretty special and you you play the character of Father Stephen McDevitt so how do you like that character or can you tell us a bit about it yeah well uh uh as Kieran says it is a fictional character but definitely important to the role like the balance between um General Joe Sweeney who's in charge of Drumble Castle and then Charlie Dolly um the prisoner um the beauty of Kieran's work is you know they are historical figures um political figures some heroes to some people my characters are you know religious man um but Kieran has really just focused on the heart of the characters and the humanity and the the as we said it is a story about brothers so me and the boys nearly are getting emotional doing the scenes because we can draw upon our own experiences with our fathers and our and our own brothers and family members it's really that has come into the forefront and I'm going to ask you now to do a bit of musical chairs we can do that as well and uh Stephen uh Stephen Dunbar you're very welcome as well and uh there's a there's a history of acting in your family so you've said the apple doesn't fall from the from the tree as such no not at all uh my my uncle's an actor he's Adrian Dunbar he's in line of duty so I kind of a lot of people say I followed in the footsteps but the first time actually that I started acting I was in the stations of the cross so it might have been my calling um but um yeah I absolutely love acting I love being with the lads here it was um I got the opportunity a couple of weeks ago uh because another one of my friends Patrick McBrady uh he was supposed to play the role and fortunately for me he couldn't do it so I got to join him with the rest of the guys and I'm on top of this project and it's been an absolute privilege and you play the part of Charlie Daly Strug Dolly Charlie Dolly yes let's get it right now um yeah something uh Charlie uh Charlie is from uh county Kerry he was in the IRA he was 26 years of age and he believed in a cause and he believed in fighting for the six counties and it as I said it's an absolute privilege to play with him and to be directed by Charlie to have uh Karen's writing it's fantastic and also Dennis of course I vote on like a Karen and Charlie and Dennis you didn't grow up near drumbo or did you ever hear of this episode no I've never heard of it so it's been a real eye opener for me you know just to um to delve into the character I mean it's it's heartbreaking stuff and it's it's it's stuff that we as Charlie says we also people need to know this do you know what I mean and we've been kind of hidden behind it for a long time I mean I I never really learned much about my history in school it's been all through my father he's taught me a lot and a lot of people in my family so it's just been an absolute joy to do it you know and to be part of the team I'm so looking forward to it uh starting on Thursday night hearing a stellar cast and a professional production how happy are you with how it's all developed oh I couldn't put into words actually I was lucky enough to see it just a run through there on Friday it was the first time I'd seen the whole thing from beginning to to end um and I actually had tears I mean it was just I mean I put the words down in a sheet of paper but they're putting the hearts into these characters they're making them real they're the real people now and the performances are going to blow people away um I just think it's to see something that you've sat in front of a computer typing up to see it now the effort that the work that Charlie's put into it and and the three that's Sean as well who's not here tonight the three of them are just amazing and they've brought it's life that I had nothing I could have imagined so having seen that now this was just a run-through without as I called it the bells and whistles of the lights and sounds and everything just to see it like that at its essence at its core its story is just beautiful and I think the audience that are going to be in for a real treat when they get to see it so it starts on Thursday now did it did you tell me before we went near it Thursday night sold out Thursday night sold out um so contact the baller they're possibly could be returns but if you're interested get on the earth Thursday night sold out there's not that many tickets left for Friday night and Saturday night as well there's I think there's a total of the the whole run there's only 70 seats left I think but we're on again in Ghidor in the hour clan on Sunday night and so if I would get the tickets fast I think it's as the week goes on that it will sell and uh as I said you're in for a real treat and any bigger plans for the future taking it on tour or anything like that uh no official that we know of uh but we we all hope that this is not the end this is a story that should be told and should be seen as I said this is a story that is this is yes it's a balba fae and snorder story but it is as applicable or as residents or as anywhere in the country and you don't have to know anything about the civil war this is not a history lessons this is a human story so if anybody's thinking out you're going oh I don't know exactly what he's talking about that's the point is that the almost the less you know the better uh to really enjoy the stuff in there for people who know who historically they'll get it but if you don't you don't have to have any it's a story of uh that people can relate to of brothers of family and of of the tragedy of of this event well as I'm so looking forward to seeing it and Charlie and Dennis id are asking for Adrian's death and thank you so much for taking time out to talk to me tonight thank you thank you thank you shortcut your way to delicious