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theatre · Saturday 18 July 2026 · 8:00pm 
The Cable - Live at Valentia Cable Station
At Valentia Cable Station · Valentia Island, Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry
At Valentia Cable Station · Valentia Island, Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry
A one-person play performed inside a Victorian-era telegraph station on a Kerry island is not the kind of theatre you forget in a hurry. The Cable, written and performed by Mike Kelly and directed by Aidan Dooley (of the celebrated Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer), is a co-production with Siamsa Tíre that takes the extraordinary true story of the 1866 transatlantic telegraph cable as its backdrop. The production runs for two performances at Valentia Cable Station on 18 and 19 July 2026, putting the audience inside the very building where history happened. If you are within driving distance of Kerry in mid-July, this is worth planning a trip around.
Mike Kelly performs the piece solo, weaving a personal family story through the larger drama of a world on the cusp of instant long-distance communication. The play’s central image is deceptively simple: as one family waits for a single word from across the ocean, a cable is being laid that will shrink the Atlantic to seconds. The thematic tension - between technological transformation and raw human longing - is carried by Kelly’s writing and performance, with original music by Dave McGilton and atmospheric lighting by John Hurley.
The show runs approximately 2 hours 10 minutes including a 20-minute interval. Siamsa Tíre describe it as suitable for all ages. The site-specific staging at the Cable Station means the building itself becomes part of the performance - the same walls that once carried telegrams between continents now hold the story of what that connection meant to ordinary people.
Valentia Island sits off the Iveragh Peninsula in south-west Kerry. It is reached by road bridge from Portmagee on the R565, or by a short car ferry from Reenard Point near Cahersiveen in the summer season. From Tralee, the drive via Killorglin and Cahersiveen takes roughly an hour and 20 minutes. There is no direct public transport to Valentia Island, so a car is the practical option. The Cable Station is in Knightstown, the main village on the island’s eastern end. Parking in Knightstown is limited, so plan to arrive with time to spare before the 8:00pm start.
The show makes a natural anchor for a longer Kerry trip - the Ring of Kerry, the Skellig Coast, and the mountains of the Iveragh Peninsula are all close by. There is more to see in Tralee and across Co. Kerry.
Heading to Valentia Cable Station? Kerry has plenty more to see. Browse the area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.