‘There is another law stronger than the common law…the law of the land.’  Work from the pen of John B. Keane. Listowel’s prolific scribe often wrote late into the night in the back kitchen of the family pub in the heart of Listowel town. His muses were his friends, his customers, the people of Ireland.  Perhaps one of John B’s most compelling creations is The Field, from which the first line of this blog is taken. How appropriate that line is too,  these days. While we are busy tweeting, facebook networking and the like, (and even writing blogs….) do we forget how important the fundamentals of life really are? Ireland’s agricultural land is precious. Mother Earth of our very survival.  The Field tells the story of ‘Bull’ McCabe,  his simple existence, intense love of the field he rented, the fierce battle to keep it. Published originally in 1966, then 25 years ago made into a movie, filmed in the countryside and on the seashores of beautiful Connemara.Renvyle House was home to cast and crew during filming. To celebrate the quarter of a decade since John B Keane’s thought provoking play became a major movie, the house will bring its characters back to life again with live performances of The Field this month. Production is courtesy of  The Swan Theatre Company of Gort, Co. Galway, whose reputation for quality has taken them from Ireland, to London and San Francisco. Before the show, enjoy performance of another kind. Food theatre at the hands of Renvyle’s Head Chef Tim O’Sullivan, staged in the house restaurant.  Tim’s food featured hugely during filming, as he cooked for Brenda Fricker, Brendan Gleeson, John Hurt and Harris.  and crew each Richard Harris requested Tim’s Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner one evening. After eating the plate clean, the enigmatic actor threw the script up in the air, declaring theatrically as the pages fluttered around him, ‘I’ve died and gone to heaven!’   That reaction still happens with Tim’s cooking! Check our Offers listings for booking details for a one or two night stay package on 19th and 20th April. Literary and gastronomic pleasures await in magnificent Connemara…