Michael Davitt: freelance radical and frondeur Laurence Marley (Four Courts Press, €45) ISBN 9781846820663 Michael Davitt once took the sort of questionnaire that would now be found in a glossy magazine. We learn from it that his heroes were ‘those who minimise suffering’; his favourite food was ‘anything purchased by my own energy’; his favourite … Read more
The Big House Lennox Robinson Abbey Theatre, Dublin by Eamon O’Flaherty The Abbey’s decision to revive The Big House more than 50 years after its last run was amply vindicated by the success of the recent production, which also revealed how much an improvement has been made, at relatively little cost, by the new auditorium. … Read more
‘They never drank water but whiskey by pints And the shanty towns rang with their songs and their fights . . .’It is perhaps unsurprising that the opening minutes of The men of Arlington should feature a song from the Pogues, a band who embody the London-Irish spirit and who sang of White City, Kilburn, … Read more
‘Depression or no depression, the cinema grows more popular everyday in Ireland—already there are more than 30 cinemas in Dublin with more to come. In face of these facts, it may seem perverse to ask if anyone in Ireland is really interested in the cinema at all’ (‘Film Notes’, Irish Times, 29 June 1935, p. … Read more
Like most places in Ireland, Athy, Co. Kildare, boasts hundreds of nicknames, some unique to the individual, some family nicknames, others specific to a townland or street. When renowned photographer John Minihan presented his Athy collection to Samuel Beckett, the playwright observed that they were both capturing the same angle of the soul. The photos … Read more