By the Bog of Cats

I was born on the Bog of Cats and on the Bog of Cats I’ll end me days. I’ve as much right to this place as any of yees, more, for it holds me to it in ways it has never held yees.

As Hester Swane embarks on a terrible journey of vengeance through the mysterious, mythic landscape of the bogs of rural Ireland, the dark secrets of her tangled history are slowly revealed.

By the Bog of Cats . . . premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1998.

‘Swane’s irrepressible personality is the play’s driving force, a firestorm of contradictory emotions breaking across the stage in waves of love and fear. Her fierce attachment to her home, to her family and to her way of life comes up hard against the desires and prejudices of her community. As dark as the play is, it is also tender and funny in its attempts to represent a spectrum of human experience much broader than its characters’ accents.’ Irish Times

‘Carr has an extraordinary ability to move between the mythic and the real.’ Guardian

‘A great play . . . a great work of poetry.’ Independent