Theatre Review: The Plough and the Stars at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin
One irony of the Waking the Feminists furore that surrounded the Abbey Theatre’s 1916 commemorative programme was the fact that you really couldn’t get a more feminist take on the Easer Rising than Seán O’Casey’s play. The only minus point for its feminist credentials is the awkward fact it was written by a man.
But that’s the value of art. It complicates, it muddies. And that is what O’Casey’s play does so well. Just 10 years after the troubling birth of Ireland’s violent sundering from the United Kingdom, he cut through any self-serving simplifications. Another irony presents itself: that the play became a cosy heritage piece, wheeled out regularly at the Abbey Theatre.
