What do you think?
Rate this book
Hinterland
The latest dramatic offering from one of Ireland's master playwrights
Johnny Silvester should be enjoying his retirement in his opulent home outside Dublin, but the past is catching up with him. Once lionized for ushering the Irish Republic into the modern world, Silvester has fallen out of favor not only with the public, but also with his family and friends. Rapidly aging and fed up with a barrage of criticism, he retreats to his study where he reassures himself of his inculpability and awaits a call from his doctor--a call he expects will bring news of a fatal affliction. As he hovers near the phone his family, friends, colleagues, journalists, and students come forth with their reproaches. Among these visitors is the Morleyesque ghost of Cornelius, an ex-colleague and one-time friend for whose mental breakdown and death Silvester is responsible. With Hinterland Sebastian Barry examines the personal and public risks involved in making political advances on a national scale. Weaving modern history in with the life story of a man and his family, Barry has created another searching drama of the uneasy balance between heroism and roguery in Irish politics.
Johnny Silvester should be enjoying his retirement in his opulent home outside Dublin, but the past is catching up with him. Once lionized for ushering the Irish Republic into the modern world, Silvester has fallen out of favor not only with the public, but also with his family and friends. Rapidly aging and fed up with a barrage of criticism, he retreats to his study where he reassures himself of his inculpability and awaits a call from his doctor--a call he expects will bring news of a fatal affliction. As he hovers near the phone his family, friends, colleagues, journalists, and students come forth with their reproaches. Among these visitors is the Morleyesque ghost of Cornelius, an ex-colleague and one-time friend for whose mental breakdown and death Silvester is responsible. With Hinterland Sebastian Barry examines the personal and public risks involved in making political advances on a national scale. Weaving modern history in with the life story of a man and his family, Barry has created another searching drama of the uneasy balance between heroism and roguery in Irish politics.
- GenresPlays
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2002
60 people want to read
About the author
Sebastian Barry
52 books2,128 followersSebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist and poet. He is noted for his dense literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers
Barry's literary career began in poetry before he began writing plays and novels. In recent years his fiction writing has surpassed his work in the theatre in terms of success, having once been considered a playwright who wrote occasional novels.
He has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His 2011 novel On Canaan's Side was long-listed for the Booker. He won the Costa Book of the Year again - in 2017 for Days Without End.
Barry's literary career began in poetry before he began writing plays and novels. In recent years his fiction writing has surpassed his work in the theatre in terms of success, having once been considered a playwright who wrote occasional novels.
He has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His 2011 novel On Canaan's Side was long-listed for the Booker. He won the Costa Book of the Year again - in 2017 for Days Without End.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 29, 2023
I must admit I don't enjoy Sebastian Barry's plays nearly as much as his novels. This is about Johnny Silvester who is now retired. He once was praised for ushering in the Irish Republic but he is now out of favor and criticized by the public and his own family.
January 20, 2023
First Performance: Octagon Theatre, Bolton on 17 January 2002 (Royal National Theatre/Out of Joint co-production, directed by Max Stafford-Clark)
Irish Premiere: Abbey Theatre, Dublin: 30 January 2002
London Premiere: Royal National Theatre (The Dorfman Theatre (formerly the Cottesloe Theatre)), London: 28 February 2002
Length: Full length; 2 acts; 78 pages
Barry continues his exploration of Irish history via the life of the people of Ireland with his 2002 play "Hinterland". However, unlike the previous two (The Steward of Christendom and Our Lady of Sligo), he does not look back at his own family history for inspiration but introduces us to Johnny Silvester, a fictional ex-prime minister of Ireland who is trying to hold his sanity and enjoy the zenith of his life. If you know any Irish history or if you had paid attention at the news around the start of the century, you will know the name Charles Haughey - the ex-prime minister/Taoiseach of Ireland who got tangled into tribunals and accusations of misappropriation of funds in his later years and you will recognize him as the fictional Johnny Silvester. By not using the actual politician, Barry picks which parts of his life to match - the wife being the daughter of a politician remains (because it is important for his development) but just one of his children shows up in the play; Brian Lenihan is there albeit under a different name and so is his long running affair.
But you do not need to know any of the backstory and the real history to enjoy the play - I checked it after I read the play because I was curious. When we meet Johnny, it is 2000 and he is trying to enjoy his retirement. Except that noone seems to be very interested in what he wants to enjoy - a tribunal to look at his misappropriation of funds is due to start soon, his ex-lover is still upset for him dumping her after a few decades of an affair, his wife is really fed up with him, the ghost of an ex-collaborator who Johnny screwed up keep showing up and his son is struggling with mental health issues. To top it all, he is waiting for a call from his doctor who found something he did not like. Add a butler who cannot hide his disdain for his bosses and a student who shows up with questions about the past and gets more than she bargained for and things don't really go as Johnny expect.
The play itself explores some of the topics Barry had been exploring earlier - mental health, Irish history, family. But unlike some of the previous ones, this one feels less personal - we spend most of the time in Johnny's head and he is a lot less compelling character that Mai O'Hara, Annie or Eneas are. Just like Thomas Dunne in "The Steward of Christendom", Johnny is part of the establishment (in a different way) but unlike Thomas, he is a willing participant and has a totally broken moral compass, without the excuse of a mental disease. And that's what makes him so very different from every other Barry character before him - even when they made a terrible choice or behaved badly, they were mostly good people. Johnny Silvester is not and believes that the world owes him.
As a play based on the life of a real man, the play works. It does not completely work as part of the tapestry of Ireland that Barry had been weaving but then it does not need to. Although, it can be considered just another part of it - it is part of Ireland and not everyone on the country was always decent.
The play came out 4 years before the final reports about the excesses of Charles Haughey came out, confirming most of the rumors. Reading about the real politician makes me feel like the play is too soft, too forgiving in places. But then it does its job in showing that people can be complicated.
Irish Premiere: Abbey Theatre, Dublin: 30 January 2002
London Premiere: Royal National Theatre (The Dorfman Theatre (formerly the Cottesloe Theatre)), London: 28 February 2002
Length: Full length; 2 acts; 78 pages
Barry continues his exploration of Irish history via the life of the people of Ireland with his 2002 play "Hinterland". However, unlike the previous two (The Steward of Christendom and Our Lady of Sligo), he does not look back at his own family history for inspiration but introduces us to Johnny Silvester, a fictional ex-prime minister of Ireland who is trying to hold his sanity and enjoy the zenith of his life. If you know any Irish history or if you had paid attention at the news around the start of the century, you will know the name Charles Haughey - the ex-prime minister/Taoiseach of Ireland who got tangled into tribunals and accusations of misappropriation of funds in his later years and you will recognize him as the fictional Johnny Silvester. By not using the actual politician, Barry picks which parts of his life to match - the wife being the daughter of a politician remains (because it is important for his development) but just one of his children shows up in the play; Brian Lenihan is there albeit under a different name and so is his long running affair.
But you do not need to know any of the backstory and the real history to enjoy the play - I checked it after I read the play because I was curious. When we meet Johnny, it is 2000 and he is trying to enjoy his retirement. Except that noone seems to be very interested in what he wants to enjoy - a tribunal to look at his misappropriation of funds is due to start soon, his ex-lover is still upset for him dumping her after a few decades of an affair, his wife is really fed up with him, the ghost of an ex-collaborator who Johnny screwed up keep showing up and his son is struggling with mental health issues. To top it all, he is waiting for a call from his doctor who found something he did not like. Add a butler who cannot hide his disdain for his bosses and a student who shows up with questions about the past and gets more than she bargained for and things don't really go as Johnny expect.
The play itself explores some of the topics Barry had been exploring earlier - mental health, Irish history, family. But unlike some of the previous ones, this one feels less personal - we spend most of the time in Johnny's head and he is a lot less compelling character that Mai O'Hara, Annie or Eneas are. Just like Thomas Dunne in "The Steward of Christendom", Johnny is part of the establishment (in a different way) but unlike Thomas, he is a willing participant and has a totally broken moral compass, without the excuse of a mental disease. And that's what makes him so very different from every other Barry character before him - even when they made a terrible choice or behaved badly, they were mostly good people. Johnny Silvester is not and believes that the world owes him.
As a play based on the life of a real man, the play works. It does not completely work as part of the tapestry of Ireland that Barry had been weaving but then it does not need to. Although, it can be considered just another part of it - it is part of Ireland and not everyone on the country was always decent.
The play came out 4 years before the final reports about the excesses of Charles Haughey came out, confirming most of the rumors. Reading about the real politician makes me feel like the play is too soft, too forgiving in places. But then it does its job in showing that people can be complicated.
April 20, 2011
Not nearly so good as the other SB play I have just read, but perhaps it was the subject matter: I admit I have always preferred alcohol to politics. This play attempted to remain humourous throughout, but I feel this continuous light-hearted streak in the main character, Johnny Silvester, even though often morbid and whilst understanding that his ceiling was metephorically collapsing around him, meant that we were kept from ever feeling a strong or overwhelming sense of pathos for him.
His son, 30, is supposed to be suicideally depressed but in fact was written more as a Rain Man simpleton - get your mental afflications right, Sebastian! - and so I found him a little bit irritating with his Walkman obsession, although I think depending on actor and director this could be rectified. Johnny, after swearing off his decades-long love affair to his wife, and meaning it, is finally able to see a sliver of hope of patching up his relationship with his wife, a good woman, despite both still exchanging barbed resentments over the tea and cake. But when his ex-lover, Connie, suddenly arrives in Johnny's study wearing a mini-skirt, we are surprised: this couple has been apart for a long time, and apparently Johnny left her with no gentleness. However, when Johnny's wife and son suddenly return to the house a few moments later having forgotten something (well that bloody Walkman to be precise), Johnny hides his ertstwhile lover in a cupboard, his wife discovers everything and says that that is finally it... it all seemed rather contrived and implausibly definite. Well maybe not. I guess I'd dump my husband if I found myself in this scenario. But with this being the one and only time in his life that Johnny is actually innocent vis-à-vis Connie, and the only moment where one thing in his big hairball of a life actually seems to be heading on an 'up' gradient, and such precise timing... it stretched my bounds of credulity. In addition, with Johnny stuffing his lover in to a cupboard 2 seconds before his wife walks in to the room, the playwright seems to think that by having one of his characters say "This is not a bedroom farce, you know", extricates it from looking like bedroom farce. And, unfortunately, it does not. Although there is some beautiful language in here, and I like that the play is set against the backdrop of partition and the shadows and symmetries this highlights in Johnny's life, I thought this play was not much more than amusing and a bit sad. I really missed the poignancy of Our Lady of Sligo and somehow felt there could have been more depth to the characters than what we were shown. However with a politician, an old dying lion who will continue to fight, maybe, to be fair, there wasn't.
His son, 30, is supposed to be suicideally depressed but in fact was written more as a Rain Man simpleton - get your mental afflications right, Sebastian! - and so I found him a little bit irritating with his Walkman obsession, although I think depending on actor and director this could be rectified. Johnny, after swearing off his decades-long love affair to his wife, and meaning it, is finally able to see a sliver of hope of patching up his relationship with his wife, a good woman, despite both still exchanging barbed resentments over the tea and cake. But when his ex-lover, Connie, suddenly arrives in Johnny's study wearing a mini-skirt, we are surprised: this couple has been apart for a long time, and apparently Johnny left her with no gentleness. However, when Johnny's wife and son suddenly return to the house a few moments later having forgotten something (well that bloody Walkman to be precise), Johnny hides his ertstwhile lover in a cupboard, his wife discovers everything and says that that is finally it... it all seemed rather contrived and implausibly definite. Well maybe not. I guess I'd dump my husband if I found myself in this scenario. But with this being the one and only time in his life that Johnny is actually innocent vis-à-vis Connie, and the only moment where one thing in his big hairball of a life actually seems to be heading on an 'up' gradient, and such precise timing... it stretched my bounds of credulity. In addition, with Johnny stuffing his lover in to a cupboard 2 seconds before his wife walks in to the room, the playwright seems to think that by having one of his characters say "This is not a bedroom farce, you know", extricates it from looking like bedroom farce. And, unfortunately, it does not. Although there is some beautiful language in here, and I like that the play is set against the backdrop of partition and the shadows and symmetries this highlights in Johnny's life, I thought this play was not much more than amusing and a bit sad. I really missed the poignancy of Our Lady of Sligo and somehow felt there could have been more depth to the characters than what we were shown. However with a politician, an old dying lion who will continue to fight, maybe, to be fair, there wasn't.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews