Jeananne Marner

The Children of Lir Jeananne Marner

This is a powerful and tragic one act play based on an old Celtic myth, The Fate of the Children of Lir, designed to be played by schoolchildren with diverse and challenging roles even for actors of every age and type. The four children of King Lir, three sons and a daughter, are extremely happy when their father re-marries. Their mother Eva passed away several years back. Aife, their new stepmother is kind to them. But she really has a wicked streak and in her heart she is consumed with jealousy of the children. She desperately wants the King to love her more than his four children and is determined to be rid of them, but the children have magic life protection and therefore cannot be killed. So she uses her secret magic powers and lays a terrible enchantment on them that will last 900 years, changing them into swans. They spend long years on lonely oceans, lakes and frozen seas, until one day the spell is broken and they can retain their human appearance. Though everyone they loved is long gone, they are so happy to be freed at last. The play covers the legend, but has been condensed considerably to enable easy roles for an optimal performance. The play lasts ca. 20-25 minutes and not only captures the imagination of all children or adults participating in the different roles, but also those in the audience. It is one of the favourites at the yearly Newry Feis in NI.