A new play, 'Observatory,' written by Armagh man Daragh Carville, opened at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on 25th March. The play is a gothic science-fiction thriller, and is set at the Armagh Observatory in both 1799 and 1999.
Observatory details the entangled lives of four people across two centuries.
Armagh Observatory, a symbol of both science and religion, becomes in this entirely fictional play, the setting for a powerful exploration of nationhood and revolution, love and betrayal. Jon McKenna, hired to computerise an archive of the Observatory's history, becomes involved with Nicola McLoughlin, the assistant astronomer. Together they try to uncover the relationship between the Observatory's first astronomer in the 1790s, James Hamilton, and his assistant Robert Hogg - man of science, cleric, and revolutionary. Carville creates two fictional characters who bear the names of Hamilton and Hogg. 1st May 1999.