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The Silver Tassie
| Opening Date |
28 August 2010 |
| Closing Date |
24 October 2010 (on tour) |
| Director |
Garry Hynes |
| Writer |
Sean O'Casey |
Cast
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Liam Carney, Derble Crotty, Christopher Doyle, Aoife Duffin, Clare Dunne, Brian Gleeson, Elliot Harper, Ruth Hegarty, Gerard Kelly, Aaron Monaghan, Eamon Morrissey, Bush Moukarzel, John Olohan, Adam Welsh |
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Venue: Dublin
Oct 5 - 10
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Gaiety Theatre
(01) 677 8899
€10 - €35 |
Venue: Cork
Oct 12 - 16
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Everyman Palace Theatre
(021) 450 1673
€7 - €25 |
Venue: Portlaoise
Oct 18 - 20
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Dunamaise Arts Centre
(057) 866 3355
€16 - €24 |
Venue: Tralee
Oct 22 - 24
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Siamsa Tíre
(066) 712 3055
€19 - €25 |
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(Anti) War Cry
Arguably Sean O'Casey's most controversial play, The Silver Tassie makes a welcome return to the stage as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival. A four act production written between 1927 and 1928, The Silver Tassie is a biting social commentary of the imperialism of war and the brutalities inflicted on the multitude affected by them. "A generous handful of stones, aimed indiscriminately, with the aim of breaking a few windows. I don't think it makes a good play, but it's a remarkable one," said Seán O'Casey about his much vaunted work. Nevertheless the play was famously rejected for The Abbey Theatre by a cautious W.B. Yeats and did not make its debut in Ireland until 1935, when the resulting furore caused O'Casey to leave Ireland permanently.
Directed by Tony Award winner Garry Hynes, The Silver Tassie opens onto a scene set in a Dublin tenement where our young quasi-hero Harry Heegan (Aaron Monaghan) is at the centre of tumultuous celebrations following his success on the football field. With his girl Jessie (Aoife Duffin) on his arm and drink slurped from The Silver Tassie cup, the joyous atmosphere is soon checked by the call to arms of Harry and his friends as they must join the massed ranks of soldiers making their way to the battlefields of France. Act II joins the men at the front as they await action and lament on their dire circumstances. The final two acts see Harry, the once boisterous young man fresh from the pitch, paralysed and wheeling himself dejectedly around as Armistice celebrations carry on around him. As he watches his former love Jessie in the arms of his able-bodied best friend Barney (Brian Gleeson), the Harry that he once was seems a distant memory and his once optimistic outlook on life has now turned to bitterness and despair.
A common problem with staging The Silver Tassie is maintaining the unity of the action. The dichotomy of the first two scenes, one in the more domestic setting of the home and the other in the anonymous environs of the trenches is oftentimes hard to relate but Hynes has done well to make them, if not the natural extension of each other, then the inevitable one at least in the context of the subject-matter. The light-hearted moments provided by Susie (Clare Dunne), Sylvester (Eamon Morrissey) and Simon (John Olohan) are well acted and juxtapose nicely with the solemnity of the unfolding events of the principal character. The musical numbers grate a little after a while but this is more down to personal preference rather than the performance, although Liam Carney as the frustrated Teddy seemed a little uneasy singing some of the more jaunty numbers. Undoubtedly however, it was the visual impact of the second act that struck the audience most-a tank looms out of the dank surroundings of the battlefield, its enormous hull and turret facing the spectators. There is no escape from war it seems to scream, a fact that Harry knows all too well.
- Louisa McElwee |
