THEATRE

Catalpa
Mill Theatre, Dundrum. Jan 25-26 8pm €15/€13
milltheatre.ie

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Donal O'Kelly's internationally feted solo show, an historic adventure story that has journeyed to London, Paris, New York, Melbourne and soon to Birr. It tells of the daring rescue of six Fenian prisoners from an Australian penal colony in 1875, using the disguised whaling ship Catalpa. But, as ever with O'Kelly, it's the way that he tells it. Playing a failed screenwriter, he rehearses the movie pitch in his bedroom, acting out every scene and character. Ten years ago, Australia commemorated the event with a sculpture of six wild geese taking flight, a mingle of references that could have provided O'Kelly's character with a stirring subtitle: A Wild Geese Chase.