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Plays 1: The Factory Girls / Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme / Innocence / Carthaginians / Baglady
A collection of Frank McGuinness plays from the 1980s.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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June 30, 2016I decided only to read the first two plays in this collection, though I may come back to it some day.
Factory Girls: This is a fairly good play about the difficulties of establishing a united worker's front among female factory workers. In particular, it is more challenging for female workers to have their voices heard when male-run labor unions work with factory owners or managers, rather than putting the actual workers at the center of the discussions. However, the women in this play--for all their bickering, arguing, and sometimes deep-seated mistrust--stand together against a management plan to extort more work, lower wages, and fewer workers.
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme: A pretty good WWI play, I'd actually perhaps write about this play alongside Tom Stoppard's Travesties, which is a similar WWI memory play. McGuinness' play follows a group of eight Protestant Ulstermen who volunteer for the British army in WWI and end up at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Through the pairings--the 8 characters divide into 4 pairs--various cultural norms and psychological problems are explored. One pairing problematizes religion, which is really interesting among the fiercely Protestant Northern Irish soldiers; one pair deals with homosexuality and social class; one pair explores how the experience of the trenches confronts narratives of nationalism; and one pair deals with shell shock.
Factory Girls: This is a fairly good play about the difficulties of establishing a united worker's front among female factory workers. In particular, it is more challenging for female workers to have their voices heard when male-run labor unions work with factory owners or managers, rather than putting the actual workers at the center of the discussions. However, the women in this play--for all their bickering, arguing, and sometimes deep-seated mistrust--stand together against a management plan to extort more work, lower wages, and fewer workers.
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme: A pretty good WWI play, I'd actually perhaps write about this play alongside Tom Stoppard's Travesties, which is a similar WWI memory play. McGuinness' play follows a group of eight Protestant Ulstermen who volunteer for the British army in WWI and end up at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Through the pairings--the 8 characters divide into 4 pairs--various cultural norms and psychological problems are explored. One pairing problematizes religion, which is really interesting among the fiercely Protestant Northern Irish soldiers; one pair deals with homosexuality and social class; one pair explores how the experience of the trenches confronts narratives of nationalism; and one pair deals with shell shock.
May 24, 2007
Theatrically interesting and of some considerable accomplishment. Observe the Sons is the clear triumph in this collection. A moving and compelling experience. However, how much of that is in herent in the subject matter of a group of young, innocent lads leaving there homes in Northern Ireland to experience the horrors of the Somme, and how much of it is derived from character and language. I fear I think it weighs to the former; but still very worth consideration.
McGuinness certainly is a distinctive voice in contemporary Irish Theatre. In Baglady I feel we see all to clearly the difference between an able writer and the genius of Beckett.
McGuinness certainly is a distinctive voice in contemporary Irish Theatre. In Baglady I feel we see all to clearly the difference between an able writer and the genius of Beckett.
March 21, 2007
I'm really only reviewing "Carthaginians" but I couldn't find an edition of just that play by itself. Anyway, "Carthaginians" is a fabulous play . . . only Frank McGuiness could write such an accessible story about a group of Irish misfits camped out in a graveyard on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, waiting for the dead to rise. Led by a fearless drag queen called Dido, these troubled, funny and realistic characters argue and share their stories and connect in this dark, passionate and quintessentially Irish play. A beautiful, beautiful story.
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August 30, 2013Read "Observe the Sons of Ulster..." on September 2nd, 2012.
Read "The Factory Girls" in February 2013.
Pausing for now...
Read "The Factory Girls" in February 2013.
Pausing for now...
June 26, 2024
4 stars for The Factory Girls
3.5 stars for Observe the Sons
3.5 stars for Carthaginians
3.5 stars overall (rounded up to 4)
3.5 stars for Observe the Sons
3.5 stars for Carthaginians
3.5 stars overall (rounded up to 4)
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews