New play recounts one of Limerick’s worst tragedies

A NEW PLAY inspired by one of the most tragic events to occur in Limerick will be making its world premiere in Charleville.

The Bell Ringer written by Charlie McCarthy is a new play inspired by the death of 48 people who died in a fire in a makeshift cinema in Dromcollogher on September 26, 1926.

Mr McCarthy is a grand-nephew of one of the victims of the disaster and his version of the events both commemorates and re-imagines what happened.

“[The Bell Ringer] was a pandemic project,” Mr McCarthy said.

“Like most of the country I was in deepest lockdown, television production was in paralysis and I needed a writing project.

“Once I found a way of telling the story in theatrical form, I felt liberated,” Mr McCarthy added.

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The Bell Ringer is set in a fictional village and tells the story from the perspective of a lonely outsider who is also the bell ringer for the local church.

In the play, this heart-breaking character falls in love with an unattainable young woman and organises the showing of a film to impress her.

Tragically, this leads to a fire that kills both her and many others in the village.

Mr McCarthy, who is an award-winning writer and director, says he too has been haunted by the event ever since hearing about his grand-aunt’s death growing up in Charleville.

“I don’t remember my father ever talking about it.

“I think there was shame around the unusual circumstances of how she died in the fire... It seems that she was trapped in a window and this may have blocked other people from getting out,” Mr McCarthy said.

Actors Susannah de Wrixon and Patrick Ryan, who both originate from Limerick, take on the role of a wide range of characters in The Bell Ringer.

“The characters in the play have no idea this horrific event is going to happen, so we first see them, in all their glory, as funny, odd, surprising, sad or happy human beings,” Mr McCarthy mentioned.

The Bell Ringer opens in the Schoolyard Theatre in Charleville on January 31 and runs until February 26 - tickets can be purchased from www.eventbrite.ie.