John's Irish Plays - London Irish Theatre

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1916 (Easter Rising)

Belfast

Famine (Gorta)

The Informer

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John's Irish Plays

London Irish Theatre Plays

John has written and produced a number of critically acclaimed plays, many of which have premiered at the King's Head Theatre, London under the artistic directorship of Syd Golder's Elephant Theatre.

John's original plays consist of a trilogy of Irish plays namely Famine, 1916 and Belfast. John has also adapted Liam O'Flaherty's seminal classic, The Informer. All of these plays received critical acclaim from Time Out and the national press.

Tom's plays have also received critical acclaim and Mary's work is equally prolific, the most performed piece being An Island's Lament which charts a family's departure from the Blasket Island's to the mainland.

1916 (Easter Rising) by John Dunne

The story of the Irish rebellion in Dublin during the first world war in which a few men of distinction, blinded by fine ideals and resolute patriotism, seized the GPO in a misguided attempt to free Ireland from English rule, only to watch the coup dissolve around them into a humiliating fiasco - all to the apparant indifference of their fellow countrymen. A bloody sarifice was deemed necessary, a view not held by all the insurgents at the time. Out of defeat came victory, out of chaos came order and out of a bomed to bits city came the the capital of an Irish Republic. As Yeats put it, "A terrible beauty was born".

1916 was first produced by the Elephant Theatre at the Kings Head, Islington in Mar/Apr 2001 directed by Syd Golder. The play was based on Thomas Coffey's Agony at Easter (Pelican 1969) for which many thanks.

Belfast by John Dunne

A British army family are posted to Belfast. The year is 1966, three years before the troubles were officially to begin. However, the seeds are beginning to take root. An autobiographical play, Belfast examines a family tottering on the edge of an abyss that was to split the six counties in the north of Ireland for decades after. Belfast was first produced by the Elephant Theatre in 1988 with a second production in 1990.

Famine (Gorta) by John Dunne

Based on the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840's, the play takes a family crisis and turns it into a microscopic segment of those turbulent times. The facts of the hunger are well known. A million died and a million left for the New World over a four-year period. All this against a background of food being produced and exported to England and beyond with landlords taking the opportunity to rid the land of troublesome peasants.

Old Red Lion, 418 St John Street, Islington EC1 4NJ 5th to 23rd May

This production is dedicated to the memory of Lorcan Devine (Old Red Lion)

The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty

Liam O'Flaherty's The Informer was written in the 20's and filmed in the 30's by John Ford and concerns the fate of Gypo Nolan who turns informer against his republican comrades. Set against the backdrop of the Irish rebellion and the revoutionary ferment of the earl 20's the play is both a thriller and a critique of the times. The play was premiered by the Elephant Theatre at the King's Head, Isington in Nov '94 and was directed by Syd Golder.