Charleville play delves into Dromcollogher fire that claimed 48 lives 

The Bell Ringer looks at the 1926 tragedy near the Cork-Limerick border 

Susannah de Wrixon and Pat Ryan star in The Bell Ringer, in Charleville. 

For writer/director Charlie McCarthy the production of his play The Bell Ringer is a case of bringing it all back home. Not just because the play is being staged in his home town of Charleville, but it’s a homecoming too for the story the play is based on.

The Bell Ringer is inspired by a catastrophic fire in the nearby town of Dromcollogher, on the Limerick-Cork border, in 1926, in which 48 people lost their lives. It was the Stardust of its time.