The New Theatre wish to celebrate and mark the centenary of when Michael Collins was taken from this earth.
Kitty Kiernan and Michael Collins kept up lengthy letter writing correspondence from 1919 – 1922.
When Collins was in London during the Treaty negotiations, he wrote to Kitty every day.
Kitty’s worst fears were realized when Collins was killed at the age of 31 near Béal na Bláth, County Cork, on 22 August 1922.
22 years ago, some of the 300 letters sent by Kiernan and Collins to each other went on permanent display at the Cork Public Museum. These letters give a great insight into Kitty’s attitude to life and into the political events of this time.
On August 22nd, The New Theatre will perform live carefully selected public available letters.
Selected letters will be performed by Amy O’Dwyer (Kitty Kiernan) and Ethan Dillon (Michael Collins). The actors will be accompanied by cellist Frieda Freytag.
Former Fine Gael minister Peter Barry donated his collection of historic letters to the Lord Mayor of Cork on behalf of the municipal museum. The collection, purchased from the Cronin family in 1995, was conserved at the Delmas bindery at Marsh’s Library in Dublin: the letters were also catalogued and then returned to the Cork Public Museum.
The bulk of the letters between Collins and Kiernan were written between 1919 and 1922, and through their almost daily contact emerges a picture of the dreams and aspirations of the man often called Ireland’s “lost leader” and the woman with whom he wanted to share a “normal” life.
Their correspondence represents a unique and revealing portrait of an ordinary man and an ordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances,
For one night only on August 22nd, 7:30pm, The New Theatre will perform live carefully selected public available letters.
