Caisc ’16
“This production is one not to be missed [it] has been written by Anna McKiernan a trained actor and we are very fortunate to have her on board”
— Melissa Roche - Cultural Officer for Birmingham Irish Association
“Anna has created a wonderful ensemble production where dialogue, music, singing and narration weave seamlessly together to move this Irish storytelling along. ”
— Gerry Molumby
Caisc’ 16 charts the two worlds of Birmingham 2016, where the Pearse family, like many others commemorate their Irish heritage in many ways. Dublin 1916, is a world of yearning and revolutionary ideals. As we shift back and forth between these two worlds, the voice of a new generation emerges.
NARRATOR:
Factions had begun to form in the Irish Republican Brotherhood. At the start of WW1 James Redmond, who led the Irish Parliamentary Party pledged support to the British War effort/
A whirlwind enters the room. James, Patrick’s 15 year old son throws himself into the room with his football. He has just won a match and is ecstatic about it. Patrick looks at him as he enters and can’t help but smile as Patrick kicks the ball to him running round the room as he retells his winning story.
JAMES:
I come in, right half here ready, waiting to fire! Give me a go I say, do they listen? Yes they do.
Pass it to Devlin, hand pass over, solo down the field, come on we are nearly there let me give it a shot! McCrory has got me corned, left back itching to shoulder me out of the game. I won’t be having it, I won’t be! Edge it forward, hand pass back to me from O'Shea and I move it forward, solo, bounce and keep it going… I am ready, going to give it a shot, kick it off smoothly she fires through and goal! 3 points to McDermott’s and we are finished we are done!
The crowd are crying now they all want a piece of me, can’t touch this magic skill bestowed from the ancestral spirits…..
JAMES:
What is Fiendish park/
SEAMUS:
/Well it’s/
PATRICK:
Never you mind what it is, Seamus I am not sure you and your jokes are appropriate.
SEAMUS:
And when exactly was your father ‘appropriate’ Pat?
Silence. Patrick shoots a look at Seamus as he walks away. Seamus looks incredibly sincere until Patrick is out of earshot.
SEAMUS:
So anyways, there are three whoers in Fiendish park/
“‘So for the rest of the two act performance we are told by narrators, actors and musicians the events of Easter week and fleetingly we are brought right up to date and 2nd and 3rd generation Birmingham Irish challenge themselves and each other about their Irish identity. This is nicely conveyed between brother and sister Siobhan (played by Shannon Kavanagh) and James (played by Patrick Hickey) ; Patrick is a manic GAA young man while his sister has ditched the Irish Dancing and wears (hiding it from her dad) an English football shirt.”
SEAMUS:
SIOBHAN:
I’m not being funny, but I don’t like where this is going/
Can a man not tell a joke at the funeral of his best friend?
