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12 March 1998 Edition

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Television: The world according to Frank

By Sean O Donaile

Frank McGuinness BBC1 Tuesday
True Lives RTE1 Monday
Cursai Ealiane TnaG Domhnach
Eurosong RTE Sunday
After recent reprimands from the north west I better write some nice things about Donegal men and who better than Buncrana's finest playwright, Frank McGuinness, featured on BBC1 on Tuesday last.

McGuinness grew up in a background of blacksmiths and as a child he had already entered the fantasy world, scripting his ideas on brown paper bags, wherein lie his ``first stirrings of egomania''.

McGuinness was a UCD academic and his writings were noted for ``the ability to pick up the pain of others and sending out their cry for justice''.

This featured in his portrayal of the ``heroic'' shirt factory women of Derry, in his first play, Factory Girls, which he based on overhearing the conversations in his grandmother's home.

It was acknowledged as a tribute to ``exceptional women operating under desperate circumstances''.

His second play which focused on Derry was the controversial Carthagenians, which focused on the pain of Bloody Sunday and the exorcisim of grief that followed.

It was initially blacklisted by a number of Derry Councillors after viewing it in Galway, primarily for focusing on the transvestite character who played a central role.

However it recieved a rapturous reception when ``on trial'' in the Rialto theatre, from Mary Nelis among others, who describes it as ``tremendous, with the characters representing all types of Derry people''.

McGuinness used the then youthful rock group The Undertones as a symbol for the resurgence of Derry people in the wake of Bloody Sunday and their determination to ``celebrate life''.

He spent a considerable number of years working at the University of Ulster, where he underwent a considerable ``Protestant culture shock''. The powerful story of the huge losses the Protestant community suffered in World War I took possession of him and resulted in the well known Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme.

One of its loudest backers was David Ervine, who claims that rather than celebrating war, it offers an understanding of sacrifice and futility of war. Ervine questions ``why the hell it happened'' as does Patrick Mason who believes ``the story was never told in such a comprehensive way''.

Similar to `98, many were blinded to the truth when the Protestant (and Catholic to a lesser extent) working class were used as pawns in the war games of their colonial masters.

Less is known about ``Mutabilities'' which raises the issue of the suffering inflicted by the British. He states, ``the English have always been touchy about suffering inflicted on Ireland but should not be allowed to forget it.''

Likewise the other Frank - McCourt - who was featured in the documentary The McCourts with his brothers Malachy, Michael and Alfie, as they reminisce about the misery of their childhood in Limerick. Most of us are already familar with their circumstances through the bestseller Angela's Ashes but the programme tells us of life after the book, focusing on McCourt's father who returned after a along absence in 1964. Malachy described the heartbreak of waiting at the train station on Christmas Eve as the last of the carriages emptied with workers home from England. ``The last carriage would slam and the auld bastard wasn't there.''

In his defence he was deeply affected by the loss of three of his children but was always a ``mad lunatic'' who devoted his life to the bottle, leaving his family to survive on a pittance.

Their memories of mother Angela are a lot different but Frank describes the ``shame I felt when I witnessed my mother among the beggers at the priest's door''.

Unfortunatly for Angela she married the first man who was ever kind to her and suffered greatly afterwards.

Malachy describes the street life of the so called ``Laners'' who always had snotty noses, their arses hanging out through the hole in their trousers and if lucky enough to live until 13, were given a jobs as messenger boys.

Laners were looked on as the lowest form of life and the only time the clergy visited was once a year looking for money - quelle surprise.

They described the church ``full of Catholics but very few Christians'' and likewise school was run by ``nasty old bastards'' The programme, like the book, seems an effort by the brothers to exorcise their grief and their story would be very much at home in Frank McGuinness's stable.

The subtitled Cursai Ealaine is another TnaG gem, persented by the zany Marina Ni Dhubhain, who interviewed this week's guest in a train carraige. First passanger was Clare accordeon player Conor Keane who laments radio stations' zeal to promote other music to the detriment of traditional music.

He perceives the Irish as ``thinking what's out there is better than our own'' due to the colonial mentality of many. Also featured was the increased popularity of visual and figurative art.

Gone are the days when your only paintings were of a stone washed cottage and the Sacred Heart, primarily among the apartment-domiciled middle classes, who view art as an investment or a hobby.

Our own POWs, among them the talented Hughie Doherty, could hardly be described as middle class, but then again the cultural revival of the republican community doesn't get much airplay.

Somewhat lower down the pecking order of arts is the infamous Eurovision, and Ireland bit its fingernails last Sunday as our favourite Pat Kenny presented Eurosong. The pre-race favourite was the atrocious ``Make That Change'' penned by Boyzone's Ronan Keating, where northerners were exerted to ``stop that fighting and hold hands.'' It would be more at home at a New Consensus rally, and although well meaning comes across as patronising. My own favourite was Sean O Muineachain's racy number Ina Measc, which was the nearest you'll get to Bob Marley or NWA as Gaeilge.

Unfortunately it came second last and Ireland now has to wait on tenderhooks to see if we're dumped with hosting the Eurovision yet again.

Bring back Dana!

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