The year is 1895. Bridget’s husband, Michael, is claiming that she’s been replaced by a changeling, silently swapped in the middle of the night. Are his attempts to cure her, force-feeding her herbal concoctions until the supposed magic is gone with the help of other male relatives, rooted in faery-lore or an exercise in marital control? When Michael drenches Bridget in gasoline and sets her alight something dark within the men of the village is awoken. Set against a backdrop of folklore, religion and rural Ireland, The Burning plaits together the institution of marriage, misogyny and burning desire.