Ballinrobe Tickets Now on Sale –
Click Here to secure your seat now!
for
Truman Town Theatre’s latest play
Written and Performed
by Mick Donnellan
IN
*In conjunction with Ballinrobe Festival*
Day: Wednesday
Date: 22nd of July
Time: 8pm
Doors open 7.30pm.
*Early Booking Advised*
Following acclaimed performances in Athlone and Castlebar, where audiences were captivated by its raw honesty, dark humour, and powerful central performance, The Crucified Silence now comes to Ballinrobe, the very town in which the story is set. Returning to its home turf, Mick Donnellan’s compelling one-man play brings Joe’s story full circle, offering local audiences a chance to experience a deeply Irish tale rooted in the heart of Mayo.
The play follows Joe, a small-town local guard with An Garda Síochána, who has finally crossed a line he cannot easily step back from after a volatile altercation with his superintendent. We join him as he drinks around the town and evokes nostalgic and vivid imagery of familiar local landmarks and meeting places such as The Bowers walk, Art O’Neill’s Bar and Geoff’s pub, grounding the story firmly in the locality that shaped him.
Unmistakably Irish, Joe’s voice is rich with storytelling, deflection, and an undercurrent of vulnerability that slowly rises to the surface. Through moments that are both comedic and dark, the play explores themes of loneliness, alcoholism, loss, heartbreak, and parenthood, hinting at a life once filled with connection and meaning but derailed by tragedy, with traces of lost young love woven through his recollections.
Written and performed by Mick Donnellan, The Crucified Silence balances theatrical intensity with intimate confession. Its stripped-back style allows the audience to sit closely with Joe’s inner world, where silence speaks as loudly as words, revealing a man struggling to reconcile who he was with who he has become as he lyrically draws us toward the drama’s devastating climax.
About Mick Donnellan and Truman Town
Mick Donnellan works as a successful Playwright, Novelist and Screenwriter. Film credits include Tiger Raid adapted from Mick’s Play Radio Luxembourg. Optioned by London Film Company Dixon/Baxi/Evans, the script was developed in London and shot in Jordan. Starring Brian Gleeson, Damian Molony and Sofia Boutella, it was accepted into the Tribeca film festival (New York) and was also seen at Cannes and Edinburgh.
The Irish Premiere was screened at the Galway Film Fleadh and you can watch the Tiger Raid trailer here.
Mick is the author of six novels:
Recent Work:
Mick Donnellan has had two major theatre productions hit the stage in 2025.
Outlaw Pete premiered at the Town Hall Studio, Galway in April 2025, starring Laura Hutchinson, Brian Cahill, and Carl Jones. Following its debut, the production toured to the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar in May, before returning to Galway for the Galway Fringe Festival in July, where it sold out Kennedy’s Bar on Eyre Square.
Donnellan’s second new play of 2025, Class of ’57, was produced by Athlone Little Theatre and directed by Caroline Coyle, featuring standout performances from Ellen Ryan, Brian Toolan, and Nino Magilocco.
In December 2024, his most recent book Galway Blues was published to great acclaim. He received the Mayo Theatre Bursary through Mayo Arts Office in April the same year.
Prior to that, he was awarded the Agility Award through the Arts Council of Ireland and his play Nally was supported by Westmeath Arts Office.
In other theatre work, The Crucified Silence (as a short play) was chosen as part of the Scripts Ireland Play festival. After a week of intensive workshops with Playwright Eugene O’Brien, the monologue was directed by Jim Culleton (Fishamble) and performed by Aaron Monaghan. Following this, Mick took part in the Galway Theatre Development Programme, run by Andrew Flynn in conjunction with Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, which resulted in a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.
His other plays include Sunday Morning Coming Down, Shortcut to Hallelujah, Gun Metal Grey, and Velvet Revolution.
He is listed on the Irish theatre institute here: http://irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=47564
About Truman Town:
Truman Town Theatre exploded on to the theatrical circuit with their Play – Sunday Morning Coming Down. Written and directed by the company’s Artistic Director Mick Donnellan, it immediately sold out the Galway Town Hall Studio for five nights on the first run. Following that, the crew went on tour to Mayo, selling out Lisloughrey Lodge, Cong,The Valkenburg Niteclub, Ballinrobe and the Linenhall in Castlebar. It also enjoyed large audiences on the Main Stage on Galway’s Town Hall and went on a National Tour covering – Glor Ennis, St. John’s Listowel, Cork Arts Theatre and it sold out five nights at The New Theatre, Dublin. It was also performed by DRUID as a public reading during the Galway Arts Festival.
Truman Town followed this phenomenal success with a second Play – Shortcut to Hallelujah. Again, written and directed by Mick Donnellan, it deals with the curse on the Mayo football team. It sold out the Town Hall Studio, went on tour to Ballinrobe and the Linenhall in Castlebar and then down to St. John’s Theatre, Listowel Co. Kerry where it was requested back to headline Friday night of Listowel Writer’s week.
Between this, a third drama was produced as part of the Galway Theatre Festival. It was titled Gun Metal Grey.
Shortcut to Hallelujah returned from Listowel Writer’s Week to perform on the Main Stage Galway for a wildly successful five nights after which Velvet Revolution, the fourth Truman Town production, also written by Mick Donnellan, was premiered in St. John’s Theatre, Listowel. It went on tour to Kilmallock, Kenmare and Waterville, then up to Ballinrobe, on to Galway and ran for ten days as part of the Galway Fringe. Mentioned as a Highlight of the festival by the Irish times, it was subsequently performed in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloghanover, Headford, Electric Picnic and The New Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin.
Radio Luxembourg, Mick’s fifth Play, was bought by a London Film Company (Dixon/Baxi/Evans) and has been adapted for the screen. The title for the movie version is “Tiger Raid”. Starring Brian Gleeson, Damian Molony and Sofia Boutella, it was accepted into the Tribeca film festival (New York) and was seen at Cannes and Edinburgh. The Irish Premiere was screened at the Galway Film Fleadh.
Currently Mick is working on the exciting screen adaptation of Shortcut to Hallelujah with Florence Films. The screenplay is titled Sam and is based around the curse supposedly put on the Mayo Football team as they returned home as All Ireland Champions in 1951. Drenched in Irish lyricism and modern day dark humour, the script has been met with keen interest by film producers and actors throughout the industry.
Between writing projects, Mick has enjoyed roles as a lecturer in writing at University of Ireland and TUS Athlone.
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Read more on www.mickdonnellan.com
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