Making History (play)

Making History
Script cover
Written by	Brian Friel
Characters	Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone Mabel Bagenal Harry Hoveden Hugh Roe O'Donnell Mary Bagenal Peter Lombard
Date premiered	September 20, 1988 (1988-09-20)
Place premiered	Guildhall, Derry
Original language	English
Subject	Irish nationalism, Nine Years' War, historiography
Genre	History play
Setting	Dungannon, Sperrin Mountains and Rome, 1590s

Making History is a play written by Irish playwright Brian Friel in 1988, premiered at the Guildhall, Derry on 20 September 1988.[1] It focuses on the life of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who led a combined Irish-Spanish alliance against the English during the Nine Years' War. The play is set before and after the Battle of Kinsale. The battle does not directly feature in the play, although it is central to the plot.

The play's other main theme is O'Neill's unexpected third marriage to the much younger Anglo-Irish Protestant Mabel Bagenal, daughter and sister of two of his most implacable enemies, which the play presents as a genuine though ill-fated love marriage.[2]

Characters

• Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
• Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell
• Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell
• Harry Hovenden, private secretary to O'Neill
• Peter Lombard, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh
• Mabel Bagenal, third wife of the O'Neill and daughter of Nicholas Bagenal
• Mary Bagenal (later Mary Barnewall), her sister

In its original production, O'Neill was portrayed by Stephen Rea, and Lombard by Niall Tóibín. Clare Holman and Emma Dewhurst respectively played Mabel Bagenal and her sister Mary.[3]

References

1. "PROGRAMME: Making History, by Brian Friel (1988) - Field Day". Field Day. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
2. Peacock, Alan J. The Achievement of Brian Friel Rowman and Littlefield 1993
3. Morgan, Hiram (August 2007). "Theatre Eye: Playing the earl: Brian Friel's Making History". History Ireland. 15 (4).

Further reading

• Campbell, Patrick J. (1989). "Brian Friel's 'Making History'". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 13 (2): 291–293. ISSN 0488-0196. JSTOR 29742391.
• Costero, Maria Gaviña (2016). "When Heroes Become Heroines: Brian Friel Re-Makes History". Nordic Irish Studies. 15 (1): 41–57. ISSN 1602-124X. JSTOR 44363743.
• McNally, Frank (27 May 2016). "All chieftains great and small – An Irishman's Diary about Hugh O'Neill (and some of his followers)". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 27 August 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2024.