A Two Act Drama
By John B. Keane     Directed By Kristen Dakewicz

The Play

The Field is possibly John B. Keane’s best known play, and the character “Bull” McCabe the most admired by any afficionado of Mr Keane’s literary works. This powerful play explores the fascination and the dedication the Irish had for the land and deals with the problems of a local farmer (the “Bull”) who has been renting a field from a widow woman Maggie Butler for over five years and now Maggie is selling The Field at public auction. After all his hard work the “Bull” has turned The Field into a green pasture where his cattle graze and thru which he has access to water. He feels he has a sweat equity in The Field and hatches a plot to buy it for a fair price as determined by him and his son Tadhg.

Another interested party arrives to buy The Field and build a concrete block factory on it. The “Bull” will not allow this to happen “to his field” and so he hatches a plan to prevent it, however, when the plan goes awfully wrong with tragic consequences, watch how the local peasants collude in a conspiracy of silence against the church and the law. The local police and the clergy try to resolve the situation, but to no avail. The Bishop preaches a sermon on Sunday at mass and the sergeant and the priest question the local people, but, the silence is deafening. As we watch the play unfold it brings home to many of us how hardships and decisions of the past affect the future and the resulting consequences not only for the “Bull” and his family , but for the entire village.

The Cast