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24 May 2001 Edition

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Powerful drama of 1981

The Laughter of Our Children

Directed by Pam Brighton

Written by Brian Campbell and Laurence McKeown

``The men of art have lost their heart,

They dream within their dreams.

Their magic sold for price of gold

Amidst a people's screams.

They sketch the moon and capture bloom

With genius, so they say.

But ne'er they sketch the quaking wretch

Who lies in Castlereagh.

From The Crime of Castlereagh by Bobby Sands.


Reviewing Laughter of Our Children for the BBC on Thursday 3 May, Malachy O'Doherty described Dubbeljoint's drama as ``subtle propaganda''. But then Malachy sees anything that emanates from within the republican tradition as propaganda. It's as if the reviewer sees no merit in republicans describing their experiences of the conflict in in a way that legitimises those experiences.

On the same programme, Grania McFadden praised the technical aspects of the drama, including the set. However when describing that set, McFadden referred to the ``dove of peace in the middle''.

O'Doherty corrected her, pointing out that her dove was actually ``Bobby Sands' Lark of Freedom''.

Why is it so important to point this out as part of a review of the play?

To me it is important, because the Lark was one of the most important and symbolic images to have come out of the H Block protests and the Hunger Strike.

That the Lark, in this case, could be mistaken for a dove of peace strikes me as an example of how the republican experience of the war has been overlaid with beliefs, images, perspectives and distortions designed to undermine the legitimacy of republicanism as a political ideology.

In other words, people want to interpret the republican experience in a way that suits their view of the world rather than see it for what it is.

So when Dubbeljoint staged Binlids and Forced Upon Us, these plays were seen as ``republican propaganda''. The Catholic/Nationalist/Republican experience of living in a one-party Unionist state just couldn't be legitimate.

So when the Arts Council refused to fund Dubbeljoint's production of Forced Upon Us (which looked at nationalist antipathy towards the RUC and its roots in the campaign of assassination carried out to terrorise nationalists into accepting partition) we saw a clear example of how the `men' of arts had lost their hearts.

The Laughter of Our Children is about the 1981 Hunger Strike; it is about the experiences of the nationalist community at a time of great tension and fear.

This fear gripped the hearts of parents whose sons were in the H Blocks and of parents who never knew if their child would come back from the shop. Both 12-year-old Carol Anne Kelly and 14-year-old Julie Livingstone were shot dead by Crown forces as they went to the shop for milk.

Written by former prisoners Brian Campbell and Laurence McKeown (the latter spent 70 days on hunger strike) this play has an authenticity about it speaks to and for the nationalist community. The quality of acting and production values are top notch. Pam Brighton's direction is to be commended.

The play explores, with an accuracy borne of experience, the experience of prisoners' families during the hunger strike. The play does great service to our community - it allows it to speak for itself.

This play isn't about Sinn Féin - it is about ordinary people and how they reacted with courage to extraordinary circumstances. The courage of the hunger strikers is only surpassed by the courage, strength and love their families mustered as they supported their sons in their actions. The play is about the courage and commitment of the thousands and thousands of people who took to the streets despite the threats, intimidation and death that awaited them to support the prisoners.

This play is an example of a confident community prepared to tell its story without fear or contradiction. The authors and cast together have achieved something most would believe impossible: a play both tragic and deeply moving, deeply provocative of the nature of struggle, funny, and amazingly, it just happens to be true. Without individual heroes/heroines, just the people, finding their way in the tide of events.

This is the drama Brecht tried to write, the use of song, the excellent stage set, no heroes, just people, in a marvellous joint enterprise. Thank you all for making it possible to live with those times of terrible sorrow.

BY PEADAR WHELAN

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland