At the barricades

Firstly, as a result of gremlins entering the system at the production stage last issue, I must offer profound apologies to Paul Mericer, author of Homeland and to the theatre’s new artistic director Fiach MacConghail!
Because, due to circumstances entirely beyond my control, the interview I did with Mercier for the last Stage column wrongly ascribed to Mac Conghail quotes that were actually given by Paul. In fact, Fiach has yet to speak to Hot Press about his new gig but will, I hope, in the near future. Sorry Fiach!
Likewise, Paul actually said far more in the somewhat-lost-in-cyberspace original interview than hit the page in the magazine. One of the things that was unintentionally omitted was the view expressed by Paul on Mac Conghail’s recently-stated objective of bringing the Abbey “back to the barricades” and ensuring that it will be at the forefront of social and political change in Ireland.
This ambition is borne out by the fact that Mac Conghail’s first commissioned work as Artistic Director is Homeland, which deals with highly contentious socio-political issues such as immigration, the rezoning of land and heroin use. So, for the record, here’s what Paul did have to say on this subject.
“I would agree with Fiach’s view,” he stated, “because, apart from the Abbey’s artistic remit, what he says is part of its job. Besides, that social and political bent was always my inclination and, better still, nobody here in this building has said ‘we think that the play you are presenting is at odds with the ethos of the Abbey’. The opposite, in fact, with the new set-up. I’ve simply been asked to do my own thing and there has been a huge element of support for the way I do it and I can’t but be grateful for that. Overall, I have been allowed to present this particular project, in the best possible way.”
I’m not sure that Homeland is up there with Mercier’s best works, but I would certainly highly recommend it to any reader of this magazine . Mercier’s directorial skills shine through, and in addition there is some magnificent ensemble acting and a characteristically gripping central role, played by Liam Carney – who has since told me, incidentally, that he regards Mercier as “a modern day Sean O’Casey.”
Another production that comes highly recommend right now is Play About My Dad, directed by Tara Derrington and written by her co-founder of the READCO theatre company, Michelle Read. Not surprisingly, given the simple but effective title of this play, Read has based this work on memories of her dad, who died from cancer the night before she was due to premiere another work, Romantic Friction at the 1998 Edinburgh Festival.
Michelle started her career as a stand-up comic and is a founder member of Dublin Comedy Improv. Interestingly, the idea for Play About My Dad germinated after Carrie Crowley asked Read to write a series of five daily, comedy sketches for an RTE radio show.
“So I contacted her,” Michelle explains, “and said that I’d rather write reminiscences about my dad, which would be funny, at times, but not necessarily comedy pieces. Luckily, Carrie said ‘ok’ and now it’s evolved into a one-person show, which, at points, is deeply moving for me. We use actual photographs of my family and look back over the life they lived from the 1950’s up to the 90’s, in Norwich, where I was born and raised.”
Michelle has been living in Ireland since 1991. She moved here after falling in love with fellow comedian, Irishman Michael Redmond. And Play About My Dad, is itself – “very much”, as she puts it – the love story of Michelle’s folks. But even moreso it is the conversation she never had with her father. He died before she could sit down, even if only for one last time with him, to talk. Her final comment should be a wake-up call to us all.
“One of my great regrets is that I didn’t sit with my dad and have the kind of conversation I now have with my mom, especially since he died,” she says. “He was only 57 at the time and I really am sorry we didn’t get to sit down at his 60th birthday and talk about the things that really matter.”