The first of three plays chronicling the story of the Donnelly's arrival in Lucan has opened at the Blyth Festival's Outdoor Harvest Stage.
Assistant Associate Kelly McIntosh said the trilogy was written by James Reaney and directed by Blyth Artistic Director Gil Garratt.
"'Sticks and Stones' details the arrival of Jim and Johanna Donnelly to Biddulph Township in 1840," said McIntosh. "It details what happened in their early arrival at a time when there were many people coming over from Ireland and settling along the Huron Tract.”
McIntosh said the way it worked back then was the Canada Company promised a piece of land.
“You have to break so many acres, say, in the first five years," she said. "You lease the land and then if you manage the land well, this is back in the days of clearing the stumps and the stones and creating farmland, then you were promised a first right of refusal to purchase the land.”
That's where thing started going wrong and that's what is presented in "Sticks and Stones", the first play of the trilogy.
McIntosh added the story is unique for a number of reasons. In particular, the fact that on one night a large group of residents of the town storm the Donnelly's home and murdered five members of the family. There was a witness to the whole event. The were several arrests and trials, but no one was ever convicted.
More information can be found on the Blyth Festival website.