‘The Bailout’ primed to capture political drama

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen and former ECB president Jeane Claude Trichet will be among the key characters to feature in an upcoming documentary play about Ireland’s bailout.

Ireland’s fight to retain its economic sovereignty, the tense negotiations around the bailout and the issue of burning bondholders will be among the themes in the play, to be staged this September.

Author and journalist Colin Murphy is putting the finishing touches to the drama, which is a follow-up to his previously acclaimed staged play the Guarantee.

The story picks up after the September 2008 bank guarantee and lets the audience see how then finance minister, the late Brian Lenihan, came to realise the real cost of propping up the banks.

“The country’s economic sovereignty is on the line and the play is about the battle to retain it,” Mr Murphy told the Irish Examiner.

Key individuals and players in the period leading up to the bailout and who will be identified include Mr Cowen, Mr Lenihan, and central bank governor Patrick Honohan.

The Bailout is being produced by Fishamble and will premier in the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, at the end of September.