Smashing Times were delighted to perform The Art of W/Rights engaging with the unique historical setting of Pearse Museum and St Enda’s Park. Smashing Times presented stories of people from Irish history, with links to the area of Rathfarnham, who spoke out for the rights of others.
This walk-in-the-park performance regaled audiences with storytelling, poetry and song. The play reflects on the lives of Robert Emmet and Sarah Curran; William Butler Yeats and the Pearse Women.
A Walk on the Wild Side features:
A Beauty That Will Pass written and directed by Mary Moynihan performed by Michael McCabe, is a poetical response to the love story of Sarah Curran (1782-1808) and Robert Emmet (1778-1803) interwoven with reference to John Philpot Curran (1750-1817) and Padraig Pearse (1879-1916).
Tales from an Afterworld by Féilim James, directed by Geraldine McAlinden, performed by Rob Harrington, a reflection on the life and work of writer William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). Born in Dublin in 1865, William Butler Yeats was the son of a well-known Irish painter, John Butler Yeats. He spent his childhood in County Sligo, where his parents were raised, and in London. He returned to Dublin at fifteen to continue his education and study painting, but quickly discovered he preferred poetry. Born into the Anglo-Irish landowning class, Yeats became involved with the Celtic Revival, a movement against the cultural influences of English rule in Ireland during the Victorian period, which sought to promote the spirit of Ireland’s native heritage. Yeats was deeply involved in politics in Ireland. He also had a life-long interest in mysticism and the occult, and his work drew extensively from sources in Irish mythology and folklore. Lady Gregory and Yeats founded the Abbey Theatre in 1904. Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923 and died in 1939 age seventy-three.
The Pearse Women, a presentation scripted by Dr Sinead McCoole, historian, inspired by the life-stories of Mrs Margaret (Brady) Pearse (1857-1932), Politician and Dáil Deputy; Margaret Mary Pearse (1878-1968), teacher, TD and Senator and Mary Brigid Pearse (1884-1947), musician, teacher and author; linked to objects in the Pearse Museum collection, exploring the role these women played in shaping Irish society and their relevance to a diverse Ireland today.
An Ród Seo Romhainn, an Irish poem written by Áine Ní Ghlinn, a bilingual Irish journalist, poet, playwright and children’s writer and current Arts Council Laureate na nÓg, 2020—2023, the first to write exclusively in Irish. The poem is inspired by the two teacups on display in the Pearse Museum, left out by the mother of Padraig and Willie Pearse, before her two sons went to join the Rising in 1916.
Performances and talks linked by music performed by Lisa McLoughlin-Gnemmi.
The Art of W/Rights is an outdoor performing arts spectacle by Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality featuring site-specific outdoor shows and Walks in the Park combining theatre, film, literary pop-up installations and creative conversations, promoting equality, compassion, and human rights in changing times. The Art of W/Rights partners are Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, South Dublin County Council Arts Office, Rathfarnham Castle, Pearse Museum and the Office of Public Works – Rathfarnham Castle Park and St Enda’s Park. The Art of W/Rights is supported by the Arts Council In the Open | Faoin Speir, South Dublin County Council Arts Office, the Creative Ireland programme of South Dublin, Erasmus+ and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV). The programme generates a celebration of literature, visual and performing arts and discussion on key themes of equality, compassion and rights in changing times.
Read our audience feedback here: https://smashingtimes.ie/audience-feedback-from-the-art-of-w-rights/