Imagine Arts Festival presents: Reginald’s Tower Prison Tales
Behind the thick walls of Reginald’s Tower lie stories that never made it into the history books — until now. While working as a tour guide, Petra Kindler uncovered a trove of microfiche newspaper archives documenting the men and women incarcerated in the Tower between 1819 and 1860. Transcribed from fading columns of print, their stories are by turns poignant, tragic and unexpectedly funny — glimpses of ordinary lives caught up in the machinery of the law.
Following a widely praised outing at Booze, Blaas & Banter 2025, Petra and Frieda return with an expanded staged reading, bringing together up to five performers and a musician to give voice to a fuller cast of Waterford’s forgotten prisoners. Part social history, part theatre, it’s a rare chance to hear the city’s past speak for itself.
Curators: Petra Kindler, Frieda Ryan.
Writers: Clare Smith, Martina Kavanagh, Vivienne Cummins, Petra Kindler, Frieda Ryan.
Actors: playing Judge/Mayor/City Officials; Constables; Defendants; Plaintiffs; Prosecuting Citizens; Witnesses:
Clare Horgan, Clare Smith, Vivienne Cummins, Martina Kavanagh, Derek Flynn (also music), Bryan Costello, Steven Walsh, Paul Dillon (also music)
