Mike Finn’s newest play, The Rising of the Women, was a huge success when it was read in St. Mary’s National School, Bishop St. on July 4th, 2024. You can now listen to an audio recording of this play if you scan the QR code above or on our Soundcloud platform here.

In 1956, legendary film director John Ford came to Limerick to film scenes for his film The Rising Of The Moon. This being his first film since the success of The Quiet Man, the new film was eagerly anticipated and the great man’s arrival in the Treaty City was the cause of great excitement. Amid the glamour and the clamour, two hundred women were recruited from the Labour Exchange to be extras. Their job was to portray worried citizens, anxiously reciting the rosary outside King John’s Castle while inside, a condemned rebel awaited execution at the hands of the Black and Tans. Midway through the first day’s shooting, the extras discovered that the buns provided for lunch were stale and that their pay was to be six shillings and eight pence rather than the promised ten bob. There was nothing for it but to strike! While they were at it, they also demanded porter to wash down thebuns! Having fearlessly confronted the great John Ford and the film’s producer Lord Killanin, the women demanded their issues were being seriously considered. The GAFF has brought together a truly seasoned cast of Limerick performers for the reading including Gene Rooney, Aidan Crowe, Georgina Miller, Padhraic Hastings, James Corr, Carrie Barrett, Carmel Duggan, Sheila Fitzpatrick, Megan O’Halloran and Mary O’Sullivan, with direction by Joan Sheehy, this production is truly Limerick story with a 100% Limerick cast.