A new live show will bring romance, music and a turbulent chapter of Northern Ireland’s history to the Market Place Theatre in Armagh this August.
“In The Heart Of The Country” is scheduled for Saturday, 28 August, and Sunday, 29 August 2026. The production follows Sean and Beth, a young couple who meet at a dance in the Parochial Hall and develop a shared love of country music.
A romance tested by a changing country
Their friendship grows into a romance despite objections from both families, particularly their fathers, who oppose the relationship for different reasons. Sean and Beth later decide to perform at a local carnival, where a leading artist of the time is due to appear.
Against that personal story, the production explores the changing political landscape of the period. As the Civil Rights movement gains momentum across the North, meetings are organised and marches planned in response to discrimination experienced by a mainly Catholic section of the population.
The two young singers become caught up in the wave of protest, as events outside their relationship begin to affect the rural community around them.
Music, farming and a rural community
The play is set in a small farming community in Tyrone. Its story presents farming communities as the bedrock of society and considers how shared rural life could cut across perceived differences.
That harmony is eventually broken, leaving the community to question whether it can ever return to the way it was. The production promises a mixture of humour, sadness and anger while looking back at a time portrayed as simpler, with more relaxed attitudes and greater forgiveness.
Audiences can find further information and purchase tickets through the event listing supplied by the Market Place Theatre. The production’s promotional material describes the show as a journey into the heart of the country, combining a love story with country music and memories of social and political change.
