War is a fertile place for drama
Dave Duggan's new play, 'Still,The Blackbird Sings: Incidents at Ebrington Barracks,' is currently running at Derry's Playhouse before embarking on a national tour. This week he spoke to the Journal's LAURENCE McCLENAGHAN about his admiration for Francis Ledwidge - the central character of the new production.
Dave Duggan's new drama is an examination of the inner conflicts and doubts which existed in the Meath-born poet/soldier as his beloved Ireland struggled for freedom against a backdrop of The Great War in which he was fighting as a British soldier.
Dave says he was drawn to the story as a result of the inerrant contradictions between the "life affirming poet and the death affirming soldier."
These conflicts echo the wider debates of one of the most extraordinary periods in Irish, indeed, world history.
The play focuses on Ledwidge's six month stay at Ebrington Barracks in Derry. It was here that he received training ahead of a posting to the Western Front with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Despite having inititally criticised Nationalist leader John Redmond's call to join the war effort on behalf of 'little Belguim,' Ledwidge later enlisted. It was such contradictions which attracted Dave to the character.
The playwright says: "There are a number of reasons given for this contradictory behaviour: either he was broken hearted - Francis was a man who enjoyed the ladies - or his patron, Lord Dunsany, convinced him to join up."
After enlisting "he fought in sand rather than mud" for three campaigns in two years at the Dardanelles. However, he had already established a literary reputation for himself before leaving his hometown of Slane.
It was in Derry that more overt manifestations of Ledwidge's Irish nationalist sympathies occured. Indeed, some of his first writings on the national question came while he was wearing a British Army uniform.
Dave adds: "While it is drama and not fact, I think of the play as a heightening of those conversations at Ebrington. I think imagination is the key resource for writers. While I am a fiction writer rather than a historian, this play focuses directly on Ledwidges associations with Derry - from his station at the barracks to his visits to the pubs on Duke Street and to Government House on the Letterkenny Road and his romantic walks along the river."
Dejected after the Easter Rising and the executions which followed, Ledwidge wrote his best-known poem in honour of his close friend, Thomas McDonagh, one of the leaders who was executed. The first verse of 'Thomas McDonagh' reads: "He shall not hear the bittern cry: In the wild sky, where he is lain, Nor voices of the sweeter birds, Above the wailing of the rain."
Dave says these sentiments are key to "Still The Blackbird Sings" and still echo today.
"Issues of loyalty and nationalism echo right up to the recent Hillsbrough Agreement on policing. It is a question which is as relevant today as it was in 1916.
It is not the first time Dave has set his narratives against a backdrop of war. 'AH6905', which was performed in Afganistan, 'Plays from a Peace Process' and 'Scenes from a Tribunal' all deal with the consquences of larger conflicts on individuals.
Human drama
"I am interested in the human drama," he says. "War offers us a chance to draw a bead on the human under duress. It is a fertile place for drama. I found Francis to be a fascinating character - moody, funny, excitable, and also talented and perceptive.
"As a kid, I read some of his poetry, though not his war poetry. He wrote of nature and love."
Having visited Ledwidge's grave in Belgium a number of years ago, Dave had first researched Francis the soldier before coming to admire the poet.
"That experience in Ypres had a big impact on me," he says.
Despite having survived battles in Gallipoli and Serbia, Ledwidge fell in the Third Battle of Ypres, Flanders, on 31 July, 1917. He was aged just 29. Of all the poems he wrote, many were lost at war. More than 200 survive but only nine deal with The Great War directly.
Turning to his new play, Dave says: "It is always difficult to hand over a script but theatre is a collaborative effort which can't occur without the help of a good team."
Commissioned by The Playhouse, 'Still' is the second play of Dave's they have toured. Following the Derry dates, Still... embarks on a national tour, stopping at Dublin's Project Arts Centre for a week's run. The play will then be performed on the parade ground at Ebrington Barracks.
"It means so much to the cultural confidence of the city that we now have a producing house; The Playhouse is a facility which any town would be proud of.
"I honestly believe that the reclamation of the former military base at Ebrington for arts and culture use is also a step forward for the city.
"That said, it is primarily a pleasant theatrical experience."
"Still, The Blackbird Sings" - produced by Jonathon Burgess and directed by Catriona McLaughlin - runs at The Playhouse today (Friday] at 11am and 8pm and tomorrow at 8pm; it will also be performed at Ebrington Barracks on March 13 and 14. Tickets available from Tel: 71268027.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Derry
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 9 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 7 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
