Captivated by the allure of the sea, man has always been intrigued by underwater exploration and the mysteries of the deep. The year is 1873. Dundalk-based, novitiate Christian Brother, John Philip Holland is obsessed with his design for a bizarre, submergible craft. His other obsession happens to be his house-keeper, Maggie B. Farrell. When Holland casts aside his cassock and follows his sweetheart to America, he finds himself caught up in the frantic, international race to tame 'the Mistress of the Sea'. He is fiercely courted by the fractured Fenian movement, hoping to turn his ingenious submarine on the British. The U.S. Naval department also sees the potential to gain a powerful upper hand in warfare. Holland, a dreamer and a pacifist, bobs and weaves his way through duplicity and threats on his life in 1890s New York, but ultimately this humble Irish school-teacher faces a terrible choice: integrity versus intellectual sell-out. Infused with the inventiveness of the eccentric genius, this true-story drama tells the little-known tale of 'the father of the modern submarine' and one of Ireland's greatest, unsung naval heroes. Upstate Theatre presents Aidan Harney's touring to venues in Dublin, Galway, Drogheda, Listowel, Monaghan, Thurles, Castleblaney, Downpatrick and Lisburn. See our theatre listings for more details.