A Tribute to Seamus Heaney with Liam Neeson. The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour

This event took place at the British Library on Thursday 05 October 2023.

A tribute to poet, playwright, translator, Oxford and Harvard academic, educator, and Nobel Laureate for Literature, Seamus Heaney. This event commemorated the tenth anniversary of his death in 2013. His daughter Catherine Heaney opened the evening with a few personal words about her father.

With a special recording by actor Liam Neeson.

Also featuring readings by:

Bríd Brennan - a Tony and IFTA award-winning actress, with multiple Olivier Award nominations. She has worked at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, the National Theatre, and the RSC. Amongst her best known films are Brooklyn and Dancing at Lughnasa.

Edward MacLiam - who hails from Cork, Ireland, and lives in London, where he trained at RADA. He was an IFTA Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor for Run & Jump. Known for his versatility he works widely in Independent Film, TV, Theatre, and as a Voice Over artist.

Des McAleer - originally from Belfast, and played Philoctetes in Heaney’s The Cure At Troy. He appeared in The Ferryman, at The Royal Court and in the West End. At the National Theatre he was in David Hare’s trilogy of plays by Chekhov: Ivanov, Platonov, and The Seagull. He has also worked at the RSC in several productions with the late Sir Michael Boyd, and with Rupert Goold.

Ruth Negga - played Antigone in the Irish premiere of Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes at The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 2004. Her more recent credits include Lady Macbeth opposite Daniel Craig in Macbeth on Broadway, films Passing and Loving, and TV drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Preacher.

Cast and curated by Shevaun Wilder.

All extracts from the works of Seamus Heaney are © the Estate of Seamus Heaney. Reused with the permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.