Inside Track

WHY would the events of Dublin in Easter 1916 resonate so clearly in Scotland at the time, and create the backdrop for a special season of theatre one hundred years on?

When you consider the themes at play in Dublin; nationalism, anti-imperialism, the rise of working class movements and the radicalism of young people, it’s not hard to see why.

Many Glaswegians were descendants of the Irish diaspora and still trapped on the lower ladder rungs of Scots society they could empathise with their Irish counterparts. Scots such as James Connolly fought with the Irish against the Brits and it’s no coincidence perhaps his job back in Edinburgh was driving a s*** truck.

What’s also pertinent is the Irish struggle for independence wasn’t run on religious lines; many of the leaders such as Wolfe Tone were in fact Protestants. This was a class movement. It was about being disenfranchised.

Glasgow, which featured its own class struggles at the early part of the 20th century, culminating in the George Square riots of 1991, is now stepping back 100 years to focus on that period when nationalists declared war on Britain.

The Tron Theatre’s Mayfesto programme has created a programme of work that looks back at historic events in Ireland, primarily the Easter Rising of 1916, as well as at contemporary theatre and issues in Ireland today.

That work includes playwright Peter Arnott’s new production, Shall Roger Casement Hang?, featuring the complex and contradictory Ulsterman, Sir Roger Casement. In 1911, Casement knelt before King George V and was knighted for his humanitarian work. Five years later, he was hanged for treason at London's Pentonville prison and his naked body thrown into an open grave.

James Connolly was also brutally executed for his part in the 1916 Rising and a new play, Connolly, written and directed by multi-award winners Martin McCardie and actor Brian McCardie, tells his story.

Scots women were also involved in the Easter Rising and Margaret Skinnider:Rebel Heart tells of the Coatbridge woman who was wounded fighting in Dublin for James Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army.

Theatre in Glasgow is also making a clear attempt to overview Irish history with modern Irish drama Northern Star, the intriguing story of Belfast-born United Irishman, Henry Joy McCracken as he dissects the reasons for the failure of the 1798 rebellion.

Director Fraser MacLeod has devised A Present State, which uses discussions around the Easter Rising as a starting point to explore power struggles.

However, the legacy of Irish independence is also explored in the award-winning one woman show, My Name is Saoirse, written and performed by Eva O'Connor, which tells of an ‘ordinary, extraordinary 15-year old girl growing up in 1980s rural, conservative, Catholic Ireland.’

And later in the year it’s hoped Rab C. Nesbitt writer Ian Pattison’s play, McCrum, featuring the final days in the life of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, will be toured in Scotland and Ireland.

What’s clear is the Scots connection with Ireland a hundred years-ago was not based on misty-eyed romanticism. What’s still apparent is many of the factors for the movement which led to independence still exist today.