Details

First seen in a 24 hour performance in Dublin at Easter 1975, this ambitious revival - directed by exciting Irish director Shane Dempsey - will be the first time that the entire cycle has ever been presented continuously in the UK. Part One: Boyhood 1868 - 1889 James Connolly, born among the Irish in Edinburgh, can find no work, so he joins the Army and is sent to Ireland. He discovers Irish nationalism and international socialism: he discovers a wife: he discovers his political destiny. He determines to go elsewhere. Part Two: Apprenticeship 1889 - 1896 James Connolly, in Edinburgh once more and married, gains experience in the pioneer socialist movement. He seeks political office and fails to find it: he seeks to earn a living and fails likewise. He determines to go elsewhere. Part Three: Professional 1896 - 1903 Act I: A Movement with Some Purpose. James Connolly becomes a political organiser in Dublin and founds the Irish Socialist Republican Party. He meets the New Ireland of the literary renaissance and disrupts the royal jubilee. Act II: Alarums and Excursions. James Connolly, in Dublin, leads the Irish Socialist Republican Party in militant opposition to British imperialism and the Boer War. He is criticised by Keir Hardie of the British Labour movement. Act III: Outmanoeuvered. James Connolly is rejoiced to find the Irish Socialist Republican Party recognised by the Socialist International. Rosa Luxembourg - in controversy with Kautsky - throws doubt upon Connolly's view of Irish nationhood. The Irish Socialist Republican Party throws doubt upon his views of political priorities. He determines to go elsewhere. Part Four: The New World 1903 - 1910 Act I: Into the Party James Connolly emigrates to the United States. He joins the Socialist Labour Party, led by Daniel De Leon. He is frustrated by its doctrinaire secretarianism. Act II: Out of the Party. James Connolly greets with enthusiasm the Industrial Workers of the World, believing them to be the great new revolutionary force. He forms the Irish Socialist Federation among immigrants of the USA. Unable to accommodate himself to De Leon's control of the Socialist Labour Party, he determines to pursue politics elsewhere. Act III: Forward to the Revolution...? James Connolly, as IWW organiser, struggles against odds in New York. He helps the presidential election campaign of Eugene Debs. He becomes a paid worker for the Socialist Party of America. He determines to go elsewhere. Part Five: The Great Lockout 1910 - 1914 Act I: Donnybrook Fair. James Connolly returns to Ireland and its furious political and trade-union confusions. He meets James Larkin, who sends him to Belfast to organise the New Irish Transport Workers' Union. He has ideological clashes with William Walker of the Northern Ireland labour movement. Act II: Keir Hardie's Promise. James Connolly continues his work in Ireland for the Labour movement. The Irish Labour Party is founded. The Dublin Employers' Federation is founded. The 'Great Lockout' is imposed: Larkin, aided by Connolly, responds with a general strike. Act III: Once More Go Down to Hell. James Connolly sees the Dublin General Strike collapse when the British Trade Union leadership fails to respond to the demands of its rank and file that the Irish workers be given positive support. The Irish National Volunteers are formed. The climate of violence intensifies. Part Six: World War and the Rising 1914 - 1916 Prologue: King Conaire and the Prohibitions. In ancient times good King Conaire saved the country from its enemies by fighting them against all odds: even though the circumstances of the battle were contrary to the ritual prohibitions prescribed by his Druids. Act I: Clouds of War. James Connolly confronts the aftermath of the great lockout in Dublin. The Irish constitutional crisis brings fear of civil war, combining with the threat of a general strike in Britain. International imperial rivalries simultaneously intensify. Act II: World War to Civil War. James Connolly sees international socialism collapse in the face of the outbreak of the world war. Resolute in his opposition to imperialism in all its forms, he seeks desperately for allies - in particular from among members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood within the National Volunteers. Act III: The Rising. James Connolly brings the Irish Citizen Army into the Rising of Easter 1916: and thereby becomes the first working-class leader to enter the world conflict in the cause of socialism. He is compelled to surrender to superior force: and is shot to death. The first UK production for more than 40 years. Single Performances - Mon Apr 4 Parts 1&2. Sun Apr 11 Part 3. Mon Apr 12 Part 4. Sun Apr 18 Part 5. Mon Apr 19 Part 6. All Day Performances: Sat Apr 23 at 12:00 Parts 1-4. Sun Apr 24 12:00 Parts 5,6. The Non-Stop Connolly Show website.

Cast/Performers

Shane Armstrong, Helen Belbin, Paul Carroll, Melissa Dalton, Aoife Kilbane, Padraig Lynch, Scott Lyons, Lucia McAnespie, Niamh McGowan, Aiden O'Neill

Creatives/Company

Author(s): Margaretta D'Arcy, John Arden
Presented by: Neil McPherson (for the Finborough Theatre)
Director: Shane Dempsey
Music: Alex Brabbins