The Colleen Bawn; or, the Brides of Garryowen

by Dion Boucicault

"The Colleen Bawn; or, the Brides of Garryowen" by Dion Boucicault and Gerald Griffin is a melodramatic play first performed in 1860. When Irish landowner Hardress Cregan faces financial ruin, his mother pressures him to marry wealthy heiress Anne Chute. But Hardress harbors a dangerous secret: he's already married to Eily O'Connor, a beautiful peasant girl. As deceptions multiply and a villainous magistrate circles the failing estate, loyalties are tested and desperate measures threaten tragic consequences in this tale of forbidden love and class divides.