Dublin, 1742. A city emerging from a winter of famine and despair, looking towards the light. The great composer Handel is the toast of the town, his masterpiece Messiah completed, the hall booked; but in his desperate attempt to put a company of singers together he must work with an untrained voice, the celebrated stage actress Susannah Cibber. Gradually, he is seduced by the quality of her performance and the truth of her expression. Partly set in the original Smock Alley Theatre this joyous play tells the story of the world's most popular choral work, from its fraught birth to its glorious outcome; a tale about the complicated, comedic business of putting on a show and the transformative power of music.
