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theatre · Thursday 22 October 2026 · 8:00pm 
The Love Hungry Farmer
At Droichead Arts Centre · Stockwell Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
At Droichead Arts Centre · Stockwell Street, Drogheda, Co. Louth
“The Love Hungry Farmer” is Seamus O’Rourke’s one man stage adaptation of John B. Keane’s novella of the same name, following bachelor farmer John Bosco McLaine as he sets off in dogged pursuit of a wife, undeterred by a lifetime of failure, an endless stream of unwanted advice from the neighbours, and a distinct shortage of eligible women in his part of the country. O’Rourke, often described as a natural successor to Keane’s storytelling tradition, plays the role with the warmth and comic timing that has made this production a regular sell out on the touring circuit around Ireland in 2026, taking in venues including Longford’s Backstage Theatre and Nenagh Arts Centre before this Drogheda date. The show runs to roughly ninety minutes and moves between broad comedy and a quieter, more wistful undertow, in keeping with Keane’s own gift for finding loneliness underneath the laughs. Keane wrote the original novella from deep inside the world of rural matchmaking and loneliness he knew from his own life in north Kerry, and O’Rourke’s adaptation has been touring Irish venues for several years, regularly returning to sell out houses wherever it plays.
Droichead Arts Centre is on Stockwell Street in Drogheda town centre, beside the Municipal Centre and library, within walking distance of the bus and rail stations. Drogheda is just off the M1 motorway roughly 50km north of Dublin, with Enterprise and commuter trains from Dublin Connolly taking about 45 minutes.
Drogheda’s centre has a good choice of pubs and restaurants close to the arts centre. There is more to see in Drogheda and across Co. Louth.
Heading to Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda? Louth has plenty more to see. Read the Drogheda area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.