Give Me Your Hand bringing it all back to beautiful Beara

Give Me Your Hand is a play with a simple premise that has been hugely successful both in Ireland and internationally.

Actors Dermot Crowley and Dearbhla Molloy perform the poetry of Paul Durcan, who loosely based his collection of the same name on 50 paintings in the National Gallery in London. On July 20 the play will be performed in the village of Eyeries in West Cork as part of its annual festival, which also features a concert by Damian Dempsey. For Crowley, it is a chance to give something back to the close-knit community that has been an important part of his life for the last 15 years.

“In 1997, I came to Beara to film the mini-series Falling For A Dancer with Colin Farrell and Liam Cunningham,” he recalls. “Even though I grew up in Cork city I had never been to Beara and I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful it was. I rang my wife within a few days and told her that I wouldn’t be able to leave this place behind me. I bought a house in the village and have been coming back ever since.”