December 6th, 192: The Irish delegation on the day that the treaty forming the Irish Free State and partioning the country was signed, (from left) Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan, Erskine Childers, Michael Collins, George Gavan Duffy, Robert Barton and John Chartres. Photograph: Hulton Archive

Fishamble: The New Play Company Presents
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The Treaty

By Colin Murphy
 
In October 1921, a delegation of the Dáil left by boat and train for London, where they were to negotiate with the British government for peace, unity and a republic. They came back with just one of those; and that peace didn’t last long, as war with Britain was replaced by war with their own. Were the Irish outclassed or outgunned? Were they lied to? Did they lie to their own colleagues back in Dublin? Or did they achieve the best that could be achieved, an incremental step on the way to fuller sovereignty?
 
The Treaty tells the story of what happened inside those negotiations, as Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and colleagues faced off against one of the most formidable negotiating teams ever assembled, headed by David Lloyd George and with Winston Churchill often at his side. 

Fishamble will produce a large-scale production with a substantial cast of actors playing the key roles, to bring audiences inside the room where the debates happened, up close to the action, to fully experience the tensions, arguments, and passions of the people involved, and the countries they represented. ​

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Creative Team

Written by Colin Murphy

Upcoming Performances

Winter 2021

TBA

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Meet the Team

Colin Murphy
​​Writer

Colin Murphy has written for stage, television, film and radio, and has been nominated for an Irish Theatre Award, an Irish Film and Television Academy award and a Celtic Media Award; his radio documentaries have received a Prix Marulic silver award and a New York Festivals bronze award. Two of his plays are published by Bloomsbury. With Fishamble Theatre Company, he has written a series of political documentary dramas, two of which, Guaranteed! and Haughey/Gregory, are published by Bloomsbury. Guaranteed! was acclaimed as “a national event” by the Irish Times; it and its sequel, Bailed Out!, “injected a new and vital ingredient into the Irish theatre landscape”, wrote the Irish Independent. His Easter Rising play, Inside the GPO, was described as “deeply moving and utterly memorable… deserves to be remembered as pivotal” by the Sunday Independent. He writes a weekly column for the Sunday Business Post.