Premiere of Lourdes play by Duleek man

The Droichead Arts Centre will host a world theatrical first next month when 'Bernadette', a new play by Duleek man Michael Ferguson, is staged there. For the first time ever the story of St Bernadette and the apparition of Our Blessed Lady at Lourdes will be dramatised on stage. Ferguson is an award winning actor and director with over 25 years experience in Irish amateur dramatics. He has visited Lourdes and spent over a year researching the background to the story of fourteen year old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous and her visions. Using the information he has gleaned from newspapers of the time and other historical documents, Michael has produced 'Bernadette' a play in four acts. With its fresh new approach 'Bernadette' brings to life the many feisty characters and all the drama that 'one ignorant girl' unleashed in the whole of France and ultimately the Christian world. "You could say that I was inspired one fateful night in the Carlingford Cinema some 50 years ago when I first beheld that marvellous film 'The Song of Bernadette.' I knew that no stage play of Bernadette's life exists and, as someone who has been involved in amateur dramatics most of my life, I wanted to change that," said Ferguson. To help him bring off this major theatrical coup, Ferguson is being supported by two local drama groups, the Duleek Players and Drogheda's Aistóirí Na Boinne. "Our aim is to bring the miracle of Lourdes to Drogheda. There is no doubt it is a very ambitious production. We have over 20 talented character actors. Our skilled stage hands are recreating the grotto and the other scenes at Lourdes in atmospheric detail. We are all looking forward to what is going to be an absolutely marvellous and incredibly poignant piece of theatre," Michael Ferguson added. 'Bernadette' goes on stage at the Droichead Arts Centre from Monday, 22nd February until 5th March.