Playography is currently undergoing an essential rebuild, technical update and maintenance. All updates are on hold until the rebuild is complete. We are continuing to work hard in the background and are still accepting submissions which will be complete in Autumn 2023. For more information visit ITI's website.

Plays

Printer Friendly

The Crossing

A Play in One Act

OVERVIEW

  • Playwright

    Con O'Leary 

  • Setting

    A lodging house.

  • Synopsis

    Forced out of her home as a result of her son's heinous crime, Mary the Roads seeks refuge in a local lodging house. Here she finds Matthew, a balladeer, rehearsing the song he is to sing at her son's execution. Fenton, the innkeeper wishes to turn them out as he does not want his brother to find them there; indeed, when his brother does eventually appear he accuses Fenton of disgracing the house. The chapel bell tolls and Mary, believing her son to have been executed, dies of a broken heart.

  • Play Type

    Plays General

    Number Of Acts

    One Act

  • Cast Size Male

    3

  • Cast Size Female

    1

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION

Original Cast  
Thomas Fenton Fred O'Donovan (1)
William Fenton Arthur Sinclair
Matthew J M Kerrigan
Mary Nora Desmond
Production Team  
Produced by Andrew Patrick Wilson

UNPUBLISHED SCRIPTS

  • Contact

    National Library of Ireland (Manuscripts Department)

  • Address

    Kildare Street
    Dublin 2
    Republic of Ireland

  • Phone

    +353 1 6030200

  • Email

    info@nli.ie

  • Website

    www.nli.ie

RIGHTS INFORMATION

  • Not Found

SOURCE OF INFORMATION

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme and Ireland's Abbey Theatre: A History 1899-1951 by Lennox Robinson, with additional information from press cuttings of the time.