'The Quiet Land' at Longford's Backstage Theatre

Theatre legends Des Keogh and Derry Power will star in Malachy McKenna’s ‘The Quiet Land’ at the Backstage Theatre on Wednesday May 17, and Roscommon Arts Centre on Wednesday May 3.

Two elderly farmers, Eamon and Nashee, meet at a gate on a remote hillside. These men are old friends, old rivals, old neighbours. They are men of heart, of humour, of hardness.

Their conversation is a throwback to a gentler time, when silence was as telling as declaration, and meaning was more often found between the lines than on them.

But there’s nothing gentle about today’s conversation.

In facing the bitter reality of their remote defiance, Eamon and Nashee have grown feargul and desperate.

Now they are forced to confront each other with some heartbreaking truths that test their friendship to its limit. After today, will they ever again talk on this hillside?

‘The Quiet Land’ is a celebration of the humour, resilience and endearing innocence of an exiled generation as it struggles to survive in the isolated rural Ireland of today.

This is a heartfelt tribute to a rare breed of forgotten men who live a long way in off the road.

Tickets are €18/€16 and available from backstage.ie (phone: 043 33 47888) for May 17, or roscommonarscentre.ie (phone: 09066 25824) for May 3.

Showtime is 8pm.