cromwell's Tour of Ireland - a play with music - Tom O'Brien - Bog

Oliver Cromwell landed at Ringsend, Dublin, on the 15th August 1649, with orders to put down the Catholic rebellion. He had the might of the English Parliament and his New Model army behind him, and he was fresh from his success in the English Civil War, where one of his last acts was to oversee the beheading of King Charles. And he believed he had God on his side. He stayed in Ireland a mere nine months, but by then he had already decided there was only one place for the troublesome Papists - Hell or Connaught! We see his journey through Ireland through his own eyes, those of his Puritan soldiers, and of two girls, Emir and Eithne, who, having been captured at the battle of Drogheda, are now being forced to work in the kitchens before being shipped off as slaves to the West Indies. Emir is hiding a big secret; she is a spy for Owen Roe O'Neill's Ulster army, the one great hope of defeating Cromwell. She plans to poison him, little knowing that Cromwell's own agents have a similar plan for O'Neill. When Eithne is raped by one of the Puritan soldiers, both plan to escape and join the defenders at Limerick, where O'Neill's Ulster army is making a last desperate stand.