WORDS Maria Hogan
Jimmy Fay’s engaging production The Risen People combines the literary work of James Plunkett with historical reality to bring the story of the 1913 Lockout to the Abbey stage in music. We follow the life of a community: two couples, a prostitute, a lovable gouger and two young men — as they embark on a “mission of discontent”. Fay stages a thought-provoking exploration of what happens to the working class when they renounce, then are denied employment.
Fay meticulously follows the events of the seven month-long struggle during which workers were refused the right to unionise. He anchors the plot in reality by portraying Larkin as an overbearing God-like presence: headlines and images from 1913 are projected onto the backdrop of the stage. However, perhaps too grounded in history, the first act falls short of captivating the audience; an excessive number of characters are introduced, none of whose stories develop sufficiently to truly evoke empathy. Moreover, the portrayal of social conflict is unsatisfactorily one-sided in that the oppressive employers fail to make an appearance.
But the second act redeems the play, winning over the audience with a heart-rending portrayal of the strikers’ loss of faith. Their ideals tarnish as they are faced with the decision to return to work and renounce their cause, or watch as their lives crumble. Strain is placed on domesticity and identity when starvation and deprivation become the frightening reality of the lockout. Ian Lloyd Anderson, Charlotte McCurry, Phelim Drew, Hilda Fey and Joe Hanly’s characters are finally given room to develop and come into their own as Dublin, this “kip of a city”, fractures around them.
Music is skilfully woven into the action, and is perhaps the play’s most affecting quality. The strikers’ voices join in harmony, often whilst they stand in picket-line unity, a poignant translation of their solidarity. Movement director Colin Dunne’s artful choreography effectively emphasises the physical struggle demanded of the characters that are left with nothing but one another to cling on to. Pianist Conor Linehen and guitarist Niwel Tsumbu are on stage throughout the action. At times the actors join in, up to seven of them playing a variety of instruments at once.
At the end of each performance, a mystery public figure, artist or academic is invited to the stage to perform a “Noble Call”, in which they offer a response to the play. This original addition to the evening invites further reflection: One hundred years after the events, the plight of the working class during the Lockout still resonates today. For the opening night, Eleanor McEvoy takes the stage to the audience’s delight. She plays a song emphasising the refrain that, though “the dates may be different, the song is still the same”.
