Acclaimed Bloody Sunday play comes to County Derry

Following a sell-out premiere, Bernadette MacFarland’s acclaimed play "4 Days in Derry: A Woman’s Story" returns for a 2026 regional tour. This powerful production tells the story of the 1972 Bloody Sunday atrocity through thirteen poignant monologues based on real-life testimonies from the wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters of the victims.

The performances at An Coire Arts Centre, Slaughtneil on January 9 and 10 mark the first leg of a tour that will also travel to theatres in Armagh and Donegal before finishing off in Derry's St Columb's Hall in April.

Bernadette told DerryNow: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to perform our play in South Derry. The people here have always been enormously supportive of the campaign for justice for the victims of Bloody Sunday, and 4 Days in Derry, which tells the stories - in their own words - of the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of the men who were slain, is part of that endeavour to ensure that the atrocities carried out by state forces on innocent civilians, and the devastating impact it had on their families, are never forgotten.

“Telling these women's stories to audiences far and wide is so important to us. It is the driving force behind this tour and it is a privilege to be kicking things off here in South Derry.”

The play was written after Bernadette sat down with female relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims and listened to their personal accounts of the four days in and around one of the worst atrocities of The Troubles.

What they told her formed the basis of thirteen powerful and poignant monologues that are delivered in the play.

“Those interviews are an experience I will never forget,” said Bernadette. “I laughed with them. I cried with them. They told me how they coped - and didn’t cope. I came away from each interview thinking, 'What strong women'; what strong, strong women’.

“When it was finally performed, I was not prepared for the reaction. I could hear people crying in the audience. The actors delivering the monologues were emotional - because they needed to be, but also because they were overwhelmed by the emotion of the words they were speaking, which were full of rage, grief, pain and loss.”

An Carn Arts Officer Claire Doherty said: “We are delighted to be hosting 4 Days in Derry.

“It is a very powerful and moving play and I think the intimate performance space in An Coire will lend itself to that in a way that will be very special.”

4 Days in Derry, An Coire, Slaughtneil, January 9 and 10.

Tickets are available at An Carn.

The play will make its Donegal debut with a special one-night performance in St Mary’s Hall, Buncrana, on Saturday, January 17, 2026. 

Tickets for the Donegal performance are available online here or at the hall for those wishing to pay cash.