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theatre · Saturday 4 July 2026 · 8:00pm 
The Kings of the Kilburn High Road
At Roscommon Arts Centre · Circular Road, Roscommon, Co. Roscommon
At Roscommon Arts Centre · Circular Road, Roscommon, Co. Roscommon
Jimmy Murphy’s play has been a staple of Irish repertory theatre for good reason - it says something true about the Irish experience that few other works manage. Pure Mule Productions bring their 2026 touring production of The Kings of the Kilburn High Road to Roscommon Arts Centre on Saturday 4 July, and if you have any connection to emigration - your own, a parent’s, a grandparent’s - it will hit close to home. That said, this is not a misery piece. Murphy writes with dark humour and hard honesty, and the evening is absorbing rather than harrowing.
In the mid-1970s, a group of young men from the west of Ireland took the boat from Dublin and crossed to England looking for work and a future. Twenty-five years on, only one of them - Jackie Flavin - comes back, and he comes back in a coffin. The play unfolds over a single day as the survivors gather to drink to Jackie’s memory, pick over their choices, and face what became of the men they thought they would be.
Pure Mule Productions are a touring company with strong roots in the west of Ireland, and the 2026 cast includes Peadar Conway, Gerry Farrell, Michael McLoughlin, Niall Brewster, and Brian Gallagher. The running time is approximately two hours. Roscommon Arts Centre’s 194-seat performance space has retractable seating and an end-on stage configuration - intimate enough that the performances land fully. The theatre bar opens half an hour before curtain if you want to settle in before the show begins.
Roscommon town sits on the N61, roughly midway between Athlone (about 30 minutes south-east) and Boyle (about 30 minutes north). From Dublin, the M6 to Athlone and then the N61 north gets you there in under two hours. From Galway, take the N63 east - about an hour. Bus Eireann runs services to Roscommon from Dublin, Galway, and Sligo, with the town centre a short walk from the bus stops. The Arts Centre is on Circular Road, just off the main thoroughfare, and there is parking available at and around the venue.
Roscommon town has a Norman castle ruin worth a look before the show, and the county as a whole is lake country - loughs Ree and Key are both within easy reach for a drive the following day. There is more to see in Roscommon and across Co. Roscommon.
Heading to Roscommon Arts Centre in Roscommon? Roscommon has plenty more to see. Read the Roscommon area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.