Paul Malpas

Irish soldiers who enlisted in the British Army in their hundreds of thousands in late 1914 were faced with a massive dilemma by 1917.  What was their exact place in history?  Could they ever be let live with their families in their much changed homeland?  Would their blood sacrifice be forgotten?  What were they and who were they fighting for.  In some cases these questions were answered.  They were fighting for their regiment in this case, the proud Connaught Rangers and they were fighting for Ireland and they were soldiers in the true tradition.  What was left unanswered was what yet they had not faced.  Post war Ireland and the horrible way these heroes were treated by nationalistic dogma for the next 80 years.  It is only with books like Sebastian Barry’s Its A Long, Long Way and now with the play I watched last night is their place in history becoming resolved.

It was my privilege to attend The Little Theatre in Athlone last night, where Rain King Productions presented From The Shannon To The Somme.  A play based on the true story of Michael Curley, a native of Athlone, and an ex-sergeant in the Connaught Rangers, who was involved in forming the first company of Volunteers in Ireland in about 1912.  The Volunteer movement gathered pace and by late 1914 they had about 195,000 members when John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party appealed to them to join the British Army in their fight against Germany and thus ensure independence at cessation of hostilities.  175,000 did so immediately and Michael Curley and his friend Jack West were just two of these men.  The Easter Rising in April 1916 put paid to these ideals.  Michael and Jack were stuck there in France in charge of Irishmen who had in fact all joined up for lots of different reasons but they all faced the same problems on returning home.

Beautifully written by a young Irish writer, Neil Richardson, who has a book coming out this autumn from O’Brien’s Press called A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall: Stories Of Irishmen In WW1. Look out for it.

Under the very able direction of  Caroline Barry the action skips along from pre-war Athlone to 3rd Ypres in 1917, with much humour, and especially in the 2nd act, pathos that visably hit the audience.  The absolute silence and then spontaneous bursts of applause mid-scene says much for the writing, directing and acting.  The barrack-room language ensured the attendance was treated to genuine reality.

The four actors, Stephen Jones, Gerard Adlum and Nessa Mathews, who cut their teeth in Dramsoc at UCD and Paul O’Bryan from Bull Alley more than impressed with their delivery and timing.  Star of the piece for me was Stephen, as Michael Curley, who was on stage throughout the play and had the audience in the palm of his hand when emotion was called for.  He was more than ably and comically backed up by Gerard’s Jack West, as the unwilling reservist who admirably took on his responsibilities.

Look out for these six names in the years to come, you will undoubtedly hear plenty more of them and thank you Rain King Productions for a magnificent piece of theatre.