By the Bog of Cats March 29, 2009

Set in rural Ireland, 'By the Bog of Cats' is an uncompromising tale of abandonment and shocking self-sacrifice. Hester Swane (Virginia Burke) is a woman born of gypsies and tied to the bleak landscape where she has lived her whole life. Her lover, Carthage Kilbride (John Catron), with whom she has a young daughter, is about to be married to another woman who will bring him land, wealth and respect. Discarded and ignored, Hester sets out with a reckless fervor to reclaim the life that she had. In this loose retelling of Euripides' 'Medea,' Marina Carr blends the mythic with the modern, populating the Bogs of Cats with misfits, witches, and ghosts