THE Silver Tassie is often considered the poor relation of Sean
O'Casey's work, an experiment in form and flavour that puts far more
demand on audiences and performers than the more accessibly naturalistic
Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars. With its mixture of
almost verse-like prose and a second act that borders on oratorio it is,
still today, a far greater challenge and is far less frequently seen. A
shame because judging by this wonderful revival from Dublin's Rough
Magic director Lynne Parker, it's the kind of play once seen is likely
to leave an impression for life.
Similar to Juno and Plough in its fierce pacifism, The Silver Tassie
has a visionary passion however that puts it in another league
altogether. Set still in Dublin but breaking away from the specifically
Irish troubles to look at the theme of the sorrow of war related to the
First World War, Parker's translucent, inspired production constantly
seems to echo the satire of Oh What A Lovely War and the pathos of
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem as its young men -- and particularly
Harry Heegan, the football champ who wins the Silver Tassie -- are seen
leaving for the front and then returning injured, embittered -- their
lives shattered for ever. (O'Casey, like Britten was partly inspired by
the poems of Wilfred Owen; the title of the play from a song by Robert
Burns.)
There is nothing I have seen recently to compare with Stuart Graham's
agonised fury as the wheelchair-bound Harry or the blend of
unsentimental lyricism Parker brings to this timeless and great play.
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