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theatre · Saturday 24 October 2026 · 8:00pm 
The Last Witch: Bridget Cleary
At Dunamaise Arts Centre · Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
At Dunamaise Arts Centre · Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
Dunamaise Arts Centre stages The Last Witch: Bridget Cleary, a solo storytelling theatre piece, on Saturday 24 October 2026 at 8pm. The show is built around the true, well documented case of Bridget Cleary, a young woman from Co. Tipperary killed by her husband in 1895 in a killing often described as Ireland’s last witch burning. Tickets are priced at €22.50, with a €20.50 concession rate.
The production is performed as a single actor’s solo piece, weaving the historical record of the Cleary case together with Irish folklore and belief. It draws on figures from Irish mythological tradition, including the Changeling and the Caileach, to explore the world of fairy belief that shaped how Bridget Cleary’s neighbours and family understood her illness and death. Rather than staging the case as straightforward true crime, the show uses it to examine fear, superstition and the pressures that pushed an ordinary rural community toward tragedy, and asks what the story still says about power, identity and control over women’s lives. Expect a serious, atmospheric evening rather than a light night out; the material deals directly with violence and death, framed through storytelling and folklore rather than graphic depiction.
Dunamaise Arts Centre is on Church Street in Portlaoise town centre, a short walk from the train station and the main car parks. Portlaoise sits on the Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Limerick rail lines and just off the M7 motorway, making an evening show straightforward to reach by train or car from across the Midlands and beyond.
Church Street and the surrounding town centre have cafes, restaurants and pubs open for a pre-show meal or a drink afterwards. Dunamaise’s autumn programme runs alongside this show with music, comedy and family theatre through October, so it is worth checking what else is on the same week. There is more to see in Portlaoise and across Co. Laois.
Heading to Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise? Laois has plenty more to see. Read the Portlaoise area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.