Making History

Making History is a play written by Irish playwright Brian Friel in 1988, premiered at the Guildhall, Derry on 20 September 1988. It focuses on the life of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who led a combined Irish-Spanish alliance against the English during the Nine Years' War. The play is set before and after the Battle of Kinsale. The battle does not directly feature in the play, although it is central to the plot. The play's other main theme is O'Neill's unexpected third marriage to the much younger, English-born Mabel Bagenal, daughter and sister of two of his most implacable enemies, which the play presents as a genuine though ill-fated love marriage. Characters Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell Harry Hoveden, private secretary to O'Neill Peter Lombard, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Mabel Bagenal, third wife of the O'Neill and daughter of Nicholas Bagenal Mary Bagenal (later Mary Barnewall), her sister References