1916 The Musical

1916 The Musical


Well this is an unashamed plug from a declared non-fan of musicals for, well. A musical! But this is a different musical for it commemorates the important event which happened 95 years ago at Easter 1916 in my home town of Dublin, the Easter Rising or in Gaelic, Éirí Amach na Cásca. There are two reasons for this plug; firstly I know the sister of Sean Ferris, one of the producers, who has kept me posted on developments. Secondly the events of 1916 have been somewhat hidden from discussion and analysis due to their raw historical resonance and the continuing fault lines in Ireland. They however deserve more attention and reappraisal for this was a seismic event for it was the first full scale uprising against British Rule in the 20th Century and it happened in its oldest “colony.” It heralded not just Irish Independence in 1922 but the eventual end of the British Empire which ruled 25% of the globe.



The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic. It was the most significant uprising in Ireland since the rebellion of 1798.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/years-of-french.html


Organised by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising lasted from Easter Monday 24 April to 30 April 1916. Members of the Irish Volunteers, led by schoolteacher and barrister Patrick Pearse, joined by the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly, along with 200 members of Cumann na mBan, the women’s league, seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic independent of Britain.


Proclamation of the Irish Republic - Easter 1916 Click for a larger image

The Easter rising was not generally supported in Ireland which witnessed widespread destruction in Dublin as well as 132 dead among the British forces and the police and 318 Irish deaths, mostly civilians. Prisoners were jeered after the surrender, and executions were demanded in motions passed in some Irish local authorities and by many newspapers, including the Irish Independent and The Irish Times. This is not too surprising with thousands of Irish soldiers fighting as volunteers in the British Army and the general view that by striking in time of war the rebels had committed treason. However, the number and swiftness of the executions, combined with the arrests and deportations and the destruction of the centre of Dublin by artillery, led to a surge of support for the rebels.




Kilmainham Gaol, scene of the execution of the 1916 leaders after summary trial by a military court


By 1918 with the end of the Great War and the General Election two Ireland’s had emerged. The general election of 1918 was the first (because of the war) since 1910 and the first (because of the Representation of the People Act) where non property owners and women (albeit, aged 30 or over) could vote and is seen as a key defining moment in modern Irish history. With the electorate increasing from 700,000 to two million in Ireland it saw the overwhelming defeat of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which had dominated the Irish political landscape since the 1880’s, and a landslide victory for the radical Sinn Féin (Ourselves Alone) party, which had never previously enjoyed such significant electoral success but which now won a decisive majority of 73 out of 105 seats in Ireland. The aftermath of the elections saw the convention of an extra-legal parliament, now known as the First Dáil (An Chéad Dáil), by the elected Sinn Féin candidates, and the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence.


Éamon de Valera after surrender. He was not executed because of his American Citizenship

1916 The Musical is still in development and looking for backers but here is the first sneak preview of the musical set to put the 1916 Easter Rising on the worldwide stage. These are scenes from 1916 The Musical’s world premiere showcase performance, which was held in Camden’s London Irish Centre.

Creative producer Sean Ferris and executive producer Martin Cox spoke about the show to guests who were then treated to the first ever performance of the musical’s score. The theatre production, which will open in Boston, run on Broadway and in London’s West End, before returning to Dublin in the Centenary year, is set in Dublin during the Easter Rising. At its heart lies a relationship between an Irish girl who falls in love with a British soldier but whose brother is a determined republican. Producers say that the musical - described as a journey of courage, patriotism, revenge, and love - is not simply a story set in the past.




Adrienne Stiefel playing Bridie in "1916" at West End Live in Leicester Square, London.

Presented as a musical journey of courage, pride and determination, ‘1916’ is set against the backdrop of the Easter Rising and political upheaval. Tracing the lives of those on the front line, the little people in the shadow of major events, it portrays a story of love and pain which can only end in tragedy and betrayal.
Indeed its legacy of achieving political objectives by violence is one which still causes debate and division, not least in Ireland. However the last docudrama on these events was the Irish TV Stations RTE’s rather amateurish 1966 production so there is not just a musical to be made here but probably a major movie. Let us hope that 1916 The Musical gets the support to go into production and acts as a catalyst for reappraisal of the seminal event in modern history. As the poet WB Yeats put it;

“Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.”

WB Yeats – Easter 1916

For more information here is the musical’s website and Twitter feed;

http://www.1916themusical.com

http://www.twitter.com/1916themusical

For more on why 1916 is the defining event in modern Irish history see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/towards-somme-personal-journey.html


For the fascinating story of one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising who became the first women M.P. see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/10/first-female-member-of-parliament.html


1916 The Musical