Cultural Presentations

The Pension

This year's theatrical presentation for the Tara stage will be “The Pension”, a dramatization of a meeting between Granuaile (or Grania, Grace) O’Malley and Queen Elizabeth I.

Based on historical fact, Granuaile O’Malley was a clan chieftain, pirate, and sometime Irish patriot, with two husbands and at least one lover, three children, she captained a fleet of ships which and plundered cargoes of many nations during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Toward the end of her career, the Governor of Connaught, Sir Richard Bingham, an appointee of Queen Elizabeth seized her ships, castles, and land, in addition to murdering her eldest son, Owen and imprisoning her youngest, Tibbet ne Long.

The play opens with her docking on the Thames, and subsequent audience with Elizabeth. Grania, destitute and alone, must request a pension, her property, and release of her son from Queen Elizabeth. Two of history’s most fascinating women engage in what must have been riveting conversation, since each in her own right was a ruler of kingdoms, but with entirely different paths to their greatness.

The play is written in homage to two of the greatest women of an age, in their finest personal and political hour by Judy Lanahan-Monroe. Starring as Grania is Sandi Hebley, with newcomer Jenetta Dawson as Elizabeth. Returning to the Cultural Stage as Seamus O’Flaherty, Grania’s First Mate will be Gary Fulton. Veteran actor, but newcomer to our ranks Alisdair Seth pllaying Sir Henry Bingham.

With an accomplished cast, promises to be a fascinating look at a moment in the lives of two of the most powerful women of an era.