The final part of the In The Middle of The Fields series has premiered on the Hot Press YouTube channel.

SoFFT Productions are celebrating the extraordinary life and work of Irish writer Mary Lavin with the film series, of which two parts are now available to watch on the Hot Press YouTube channel.

In The Middle of The Fields is produced with the support of the DTCAGSM Local Live Performance Programming Scheme, Meath Arts, with special thanks to the Lavin family.

Mary Lavin

Mary Josephine Lavin (1912 – 1996) was a major Irish short story writer and novelist. She is widely regarded as a pioneering female author in the traditionally male-dominated world of Irish letters. Lavin’s work contains sharp insights into the quiet tragedies and joys of human life and she is considered one of the great artists of the short story in the English language.

Playwright Deirdre Kinahan, best known for her works The Unmanageable Sisters, Rathmines Road, Moment, Halcyon Days, Bogboy, and her Irish Revolutionary History Trilogy Wild Sky, Embargo, and Outrage has curated this exciting series. Speaking about the films Kinahan says: “Each artist was invited to read Mary Lavin's evocative short story collection In The Middle of The Fields and see what strikes them, what inspires them. It might be a theme, a colour, a phrase or a character and out of that can grow a new song, a new tale, a new performance.

Deirdre Kinahan in 'In The Middle of The Fields'

"Mary Lavin once described the short story as 'akin to ‘Lightning’s Flash’ because it has the ability to light up an entire landscape in one moment. She was both a brilliantly gifted and quietly subversive storyteller with an unflinching insight into the human soul. Her stories lifted the latch on the screaming passions, conflicting impulses and social barricades that beleaguered Irish life. There is an electricity to her writing, my hope is that we can tap into some of that extraordinary energy.”

The first of this trilogy was premiered with Hot Press on August 9 to much acclaim. Now, Hot Press and SoFFT Productions are bringing viewers the final instalment.

The end of the series sees Kinahan herself perform Lavin's work, filmed in Dunderry Park, Trim, Co. Meath. First published in 1967, In the Middle of the Fields explores multi-layered and secretive, peculiar and intimate lives, offering a window into the quiet tragedies and joys of human life. In this instance, Deirdre brings Barb's story from In the Middle of the Fields to life in a heartbreaking, spine-tingling performance.

Watch Part 3 of In The Middles Of The Fields below: