The Bodies on the Beach: The Last Battles of Fionn MacCumhaill

A NEW MYTHLAB PROJECT FOR 2026

I have spent the last 40 years of my life working with the stories of Fionn MacCumhaill and the Fianna trying to bring this extraordinary cycle of initiatory tales to public attention on the island of Britain and beyond.

During my year in Oxford as an Artist in Residence, I was able to see and handle the pages of a 15^th Century vellum copy of The Battle of Ventry which is kept in the Bodleian Library. These are the first and last pages:

For the past few months, Steph Brittain and I have been developing a new show using this material as a starting point. We have researched the events leading up to, and away from, a tragic and monstrous and magical battle that shook the furthest shores of Ireland two thousand years ago. We managed to get a Research and Development grant from Arts Council England and are developing the piece incrementally with work-in-progress performances before audiences from whom we are inviting feedback.

The piece follows the legendary hero, Fionn MacCumhail, his children and his companions through their life-long struggles with Donn, Lord of Death and King of the World, and through generations of love, war, sacrifice, enchantment and survival. We are re-combining narrative fragments from ancient manuscripts, archaeology, folklore held by farmers and contemporary oral tradition, as we try to make the pattern of a forgotten epic clear. The Bodies on the Beach presents a little known Celtic Iliad.

We have already made three outings – and in the next few months are doing eight more shows, culminating in an Urban and a Rural premiere. We need audiences to help shape how such passionate and unnerving material is reimagined for contemporary audiences. So join us – fresh from exploring the windswept battlefields of the Dingle Peninsula — as we test the edge of ancient myth in modern form.

Raw, lyrical, and unforgettable. What will survive the tide?

The Bodies on the Beach Spring Tour 20026

8^th January – Cardiff Scratch Performance

30^th January – Tooting Common, London Scratch Performance

10^th – February Newhaven Preview Performance

4^th – March London Preview Performance

6^th  -March Bridport Preview Performance

26^th – March Leicester PreviewPerformance

18^th – April Dorset (Rural Premiere)

23^rd – April Bristol (Urban Premiere)

As tickets go live, we are adding them to the events page.