About

Bright Umbrella presents a talented amateur and community cast in 'Soldier Pike'.

Soldier Pike (or The Man Who Lost His Barrow) is a darkly comic play set on the North Coast of County Antrim in 1798, as revolutionary ideas ripple through Ireland. At its centre is Pike, a former soldier whose wheelbarrow becomes symbolic of work and dignity. Pike's everyday rhythms of rural life collide with the forces of empire and rebellion and friends, lovers and family are drawn into whispered discussions of liberty, France, and the dangerous promise of change.

Blending verse, sharp dialogue and striking theatrical imagery, Soldier Pike explores how ordinary people are caught up in extraordinary times, Funny, haunting and provocative, this is an intimate, imaginative re-telling of a moment when history presses hard on individual lives. The play shifts fluidly between dream, memory and reality, revealing a society on the brink — where loyalty is uncertain, fear is contagious, and ideals of freedom sit uneasily with survival.