<P> By the Bog of Cats is a play by Marina Carr . By the Bog of Cats premiered at Dublin's Abbey Theatre in October 1998 . A 2004 revival of the play in London's West End starred Hollywood actress Holly Hunter in the role of protagonist Hester Swane . The play takes place in the Midlands Region of Ireland in an unspecified time in the modern era . It is loosely based on the Greek myth Medea . In this myth, the sorceress Medea marries the hero Jason and has two children with him . When Jason leaves her for another woman, Medea kills their children, Jason's new bride, and the bride's father . By the Bog of Cats contains many mystical and mythical elements, including ghosts, magic, and curses . It includes themes of motherhood, betrayal / abandonment, and ethnic prejudice . </P> <P> At the beginning of the play, Hester is dragging a dead black swan across the snow and ice at the Bog of Cats . The Ghost Fancier has come to collect her but realizes that he is early as Hester is still alive . The Ghost Fancier exists and says that he will return at a later time . Hester's neighbour, Monica, enters and attempts to convince Hester to accept the impending marriage between Hester's former lover, Carthage, and his much younger bride, Caroline Cassidy . Upon this marriage, Carthage will inherit Cassidy's father's farm . While digging a grave for the swan, Hester talks with the Catwoman about how her mother, Josie Swane, left her in the swan's lair as an infant and claimed: "that child...will live as long as this black swan, not a day more, not a day less ." During this conversation, the audience learns that Hester has been waiting on the Bog of Cats for her mother, Josie, since she was abandoned at age 7 . The Catwoman urges Hester not to wait any longer for her mother, but Hester refuses to leave the Bog . In the next scene, Hester and Carthage's daughter Josie plays cards and discusses Carthage's upcoming wedding with her grandmother, Mrs Kilbride . Mrs Kilbride cheats her granddaughter at cards and talks disparagingly of Hester because of Hester's lack of fortune and inferior "tinker" blood . Meanwhile, Caroline Cassidy visits Hester in her wedding dress and attempts to convince Hester to allow her to marry Carthage without disruption and to leave the house on the bog, which Hester has previously signed over to Carthage . Hester scorns Caroline and reminds her that Hester was once her babysitter . Hester challenges Caroline about Carthage and claims: "Carthage Kilbride is mine and only mine . He's been mine since he was sixteen . You think ya can take him from me? Wrong . All wrong . Now get out of me sight ." Following Caroline's visit, Carthage also visits Hester in his wedding clothes and also attempts to convince her to leave the house . Hester reminds him that it was with her money that he bought his first land and accuses him of "sellin' me and Josie down the river for a few lumpy auld acres and notions of respectability ." Xavier Cassidy, Caroline's father, also visits Hester to urge her to leave . Hester refuses to listen to any of the visitors and insists that she is staying on the Bog of Cats until her mother returns for her . </P>

When was by the bog of cats written