“Blood Upon The Rose” relates the sad and tragic story of Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford set against the Easter Rising in Dublin 1916. Plunkett’s love for Grace, immortalised in the song of the same name, comes to a tragic end with his execution in the “Stonebreaker’s yard” after his marriage to her the previous night in the chapel in Kilmainham jail. The humour, the wit, the passion, and the pain are all laid bare in this epic production. The deep divisions in Irish revolutionary thinking were severely exposed and indeed proved to be a major contributing factor to the military defeat of the rising. Writer and producer Gerry Cunningham has unleashed a historical masterpiece. So, sit back and let the cast and musicians of the River Tall Theatre Company take you right back to the heart of Dublin 1916.

It is against the background of the Easter rising of 1916 that Gerry captivated the audience with the love affair between Grace Gifford ( a Protestant Unionist) and Joseph Plunkett a member of the secret revolutionary committee the I.R.B , Irish Republican Brotherhood . Their love affair and Plunkett’s execution after their marriage for his part in the rising ,captured the hearts of an nation and the stunning “Blood Upon the Rose”  brings to life this sad but momentous occasion in our history.