Paths To Freedom, the Pegasus history roadshow, continues its 2016 tour this Spring – drawing large crowds to Athlone in April.
Close to a hundred people turned up for the Old Athlone Society’s Paths To Freedom event in Athlone town, on Saturday, April 2 – when RTE presenters Myles Dungan and Turtle Bunbury were joined by local historians Ian Kenneally, John Burke and Gearoid O Brien, plus author Liz Gillis, for a day of lectures and presentations to remember the 1916 Rising, 100 years on, in the Sheraton Hotel.
Myles Dungan Turtle Bunbury Liz Gillis
The roadshow will also visit Kilkenny and Roscommon in April and May.
The Paths To Freedom programme brings together a team of authors and key academics with important things to say about the legacy of 1916, plus a cast of international performers, for a special two-part commemoration, comprising
- A day-long programme of talks and presentations on 1916 and its legacy
- An evening performance of the songs and music of the era, showcasing the songs of John, Count McCormack.
The roadshow opened with three sold-out events in Sligo and Dublin in February, and now moves on to Athlone, Kilkenny, Boyle, Cavan and Leitrim. Further events will be announced soon.
APRIL/MAY EVENTS
ATHLONE
Saturday, April 2, Sheraton Hotel, Athlone
Talks Schedule:
9.30 Registration
10.15 Introduction by Dr John Keane
10.20 John Burke: The Midland Volunteers Force, Athlone
11.05 Tea Break
11.15 Liz Gillis: What Did The Women Do Anyway Women and the Rising
12.00 Ian Kenneally: We Kill All Our Own: Media, Propaganda, and the Rising
Lunch Break
2.00 Dr. Myles Dungan Sentenced To Death – The Rebel Courts Martial
2.45 Turtle Bunbury: Easter Dawn: Personalities of the Rising
3.30 Tea Break
3.40 Gearoid O Brien: The 1916 Rising; Some Westmeath Connections
4.30 Conclusion
Ian Kenneally
KILKENNY
May 5, WATERGATE THEATRE
Musical Show – The Count, The Countess & The Tommy
ROSCOMMON
May 13, King House, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
Musical Show – The Count, The Countess & The Tommy
May 20, King House, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
Talks Schedule:
10am Introduction
10.15 Dr. Myles Dungan Sentenced To Death – The Rebel Courts Martial
11am Catriona Crowe Ireland Before The Rising
11.45 Break
12pm John O Keeffe The Psychology of The 1916 Leaders
12.45 Lunch
2pm Dr. Jonathan Creasy Writing Ireland: Poetry, Prose and Songs of 1916
2.45 Damian Shiels The Conflict Landscape of Ireland
3.30 Ian Kenneally – Propaganda During 1916
4.15 Open Forum
SUMMER/AUTUMN EVENTS
CAVAN
AUGUST 4
TALKS, Johnston Central Library
MUSCIAL SHOW – Town Hall
LEITRIM
MUSICAL SHOW – SEPTEMBER 30
TALKS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 – Leitrim County Library H.Q., Main St., Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
EVENING SHOW
In 2016, Pegasus will also tour a complementary musical show The Count, The Countess & The Tommy featuring songs and stories from the era of the Rising, centering on the music of the celebrated Irish tenor Count John McCormack.
This show is written by RTE s Myles Dungan and will feature headline acts, including…
Lisa Lambe: Lisa, an Irish singer and actress, has been described by The Irish Times critic Fintan O’Toole as “the finest singer and actress of her generation”. Lisa is best known for her work in Irish theatre and is internationally renowned as a singer.
Simon Morgan: A world-renowned performer, Simon has performed many operatic, and concert roles in venues across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. The country’s most adaptable baritone and internationally loved.
Brendan MacQuaile: Brendan is a classically trained baritone who performs widely in Ireland and internationally, and features regularly on TV and radio.
Pianist Ronan Murray.
The show is scheduled for the Civic Theatre, Tallaght in Autumn, 2016, and will also visit The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny and King House, Boyle, in May, Cavan Town Hall in August and The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, in September.
“The ‘long decade’ of 1912-1923 encompassed massive political change in Ireland, Britain and the wider world. These years saw the militarisation of the Irish question, culminating in the violence of 1916 and of 1919-1923, and also the Great War in which many thousands of Irishmen lost their lives. These developments had profound effects, not only on active participants in military and political affairs in Ireland and internationally, but on the people of Ireland as a whole.”
– Decade of Commemoration, Trinity College Dublin
The Paths To Freedom programme is produced byPegasus Consulting, the company behind the hugely successful history projects The Fighting Irish (2010) and The Great War Roadshow (2014-15).