DruidO’Casey: A dangerous revolution right outside the window
A poignant epic about Dublin residents living on the edges of the revolutionary period
Abbey Theatre - Abbey Stage, Dublin
★★★★☆
For the distressed residents inside the tenements of Sean O’Casey’s Dublin trilogy, living on the edges of a violent revolutionary period, there is comfort in knowing your neighbours. Whether it be the dragged heel of a drunken husband stumbling home, or the latched door of an unfriendly neighbour leaving the building, at least everyone knows that one of their own is walking though the front door.
In Druid’s poignant marathon-theatre production weaving The Plough and the Stars, The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock into one epic, set designer Francis O’Connor grimly observes that – during a period of radicalisation, guerrilla warfare and assassination – an unfamiliar tap on the door could be a warning sign. (“That’s a stranger. That’s nobody belonging to the house,” someone says with alarm, at one point). The faded, Georgian expanse of the tenements may have the tall sash windows, but the walls are made of wood – sonically good for door-knocks, and easy to tear down.