MAKING MEDIA

15 October 2015 I Irish Independent Irish Independent I 15 October 2015 Irish Independent 1916 Youth and Imagination Programme | 1918 | Irish Independent 1916 Youth and Imagination Programme

SEAN O’CASEY was a famous Irish playwright, who lived from 1808-1964. Much of his work focussed on the impoverished Dublin

working classes in the early part of the 20th century. His father died young, and Sean suffered much the same poverty as he wrote about in his plays.

Although a nationalist, he did not support the idea of violent rebellion and, in the years running up to 1916, he was more concerned that efforts focus on helping the poor of Dublin.

The Plough and the Stars, one of his best-known plays, is set in Dublin’s tenements in 1915 and 1916. The tenements described filthy, overcrowded and disease-ridden houses in the city slums.

The youngest character is Mollser, who lives in a tenement with her mother. Although Mollser is 15, she looks only 10 because she was dying of TB, often called consumption, a highly infectious disease that usually affects the lung. In 1905, 16 out of every 100 deaths in Ireland were from TB, which spread easily through overcrowded tenements, mainly among the 15-25 age group.

Mollser says very little in The Plough and the Stars — only about 12 lines — but she finds a powerful voice in Me, Mollser, a monologue , by Ali White, retelling The Plough and the Stars through her eyes.

As part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme, the Department of Education and Skills is funding the creation of three touring productions to provide performances of Me, Mollser to pupils aged 10 and over, in primary and post-primary schools. Further information is available via email to memollser@abbeytheatre.ie.

Each production will stage 10 shows a week, which means there will be about 30 shows weekly around the country over the January to March period. “Very much depends on the response,” said Phil Kingston of the Abbey Theatre. Visits will take place either directly in schools or in local arts venues.

As well as a 30-minute performance, the visit by the Abbey team also involves a pre-show discussion and a 15 minute workshop afterwards.

THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD

Inset top: ‘Me, Mollser’ cartoon images. Above: Mothers chatting at the entrance to a tenement building in Dublin, c 1945. Right: Mary-Lou McCarthy in the original 2013 production of ‘Me, Mollser’.

COURTESY ABBEY THEATRE, GETTY IMAGES AND NEIL HARRISON

WHEN the pupils of St Attracta’s National School, Charlestown, Co Mayo rose to the challenge of

making their own movie, they didn’t have to look too far for their inspiration.

Sitting in their classrooms were direct links to one of the most famous world events of the 20th century, the funeral of US President John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Among the 152 pupils are the grandson and grand-daughters of local man, Michael McGrath, who helped form the guard of honour for President Kennedy’s funeral in November 1963.

Then 19, Michael was one of 26 young Irish army cadets who travelled to the US, following a special request from President Kennedy’s widow, Jacqueline, that they form a guard of honour at his funeral in Arlington Cemetery, Washington.

She did so because, only months earlier, on his celebrated visit back to the country of his forefathers, President Kennedy had been highly impressed with the funeral drill he saw when he came to pay his respects at the Arbour Hill military cemetery in Dublin — burial place of executed 1916 leaders.

Michael recalls that not only were they participants, but the Irish cadets were given prime position and stood only metres away from the Kennedy family.

St Attracta’s principal Brian McDermott understood what a great story it was, and his pupils embraced it with gusto as their entry for the Fís Film Project, an initiative encouraging primary schools to explore the medium of film: “I got him to come down to the

kids and we scoped all the questions we needed from him. We took it from the angle of his story.”

The fifth and sixth class pupils, including Michael’s grandson Jake (12) got the job of producing the film, while third and fourth classes participated in crowd scenes. Jake’s siblings, Jessica, Roisin and Cian are also pupils at the school and an older brother, Darragh is a past pupil.

Their Back in the Springtime film tells the story of Irish emigration, the links between the Kennedy family and Ireland, and how the visit helped to put Ireland on the world map. Pupils mixed their own scenes with footage of the funeral they found on YouTube.

“The range of learning

possibilities was fantastic — from history to communication to teamwork. What really came to the fore was the different strengths of individual pupils,” said Mr McDermott.

Michael McGrath said it was wonderful to work with the pupils: “They were so immersed in it; they asked so many questions, it was amazing. They made history come alive.”

Q ‘Back in the Springtime’ is a finalist in the National FÍS Film Festival in the Helix Theatre on November 3. The school is already planning its 1916 Fís project

Q Ireland 2016 film award: there will be two prizes for 1916 based films in the 2016 Fís Film Festival competition. Full details will be on www.fisfilmproject.ie

FILM

MAKING MEDIA

Since its first production in 2013, Me, Mollser has been seen by more than 2,500 children and has visited more than 100 schools. “Once a school sees it, they tell their friends,” says Phil Kingston.

Me, Mollser is the first in the Abbey’s ‘Priming the Canon’ project, one of a series of specially-commissioned monologues designed to introduce characters in Irish theatre to young audiences.

A PARTNERSHIP between the Department of Education

and Skills, RTÉ and the Abbey Theatre invites primary schools to write a short drama (up to 10 minutes) based on the events of 1916, and to submit a 60-second filmed extract and a synopsis of their play to a judging panel. A shortlist of entries will be made available via RTÉ Swipe TV, with an online public vote to decide the winners.

The drama can be based on any of the social, cultural, military or political dimensions of 1916, including the Easter Rising or an event from World War I during 1916.

It can be written and performed in Irish or English. RTÉ and the Abbey Theatre will provide resource packs for teachers and children, including video and PDF tutorials online at www.abbeytheatre.ie, www.rte.ie/swipetv, and on Scoilnet. The winning play will be performed to students’ family and friends at the Abbey, and will be filmed by RTÉ for broadcast on Swipe TV.

DRAMA

HOW TO ENTER

THE IRELAND 2016 ALL-ISLAND SCHOOLS’ DRAMA COMPETITION

IRELAND has become an ethnically and culturally diverse country, and nowhere is that richness better reflected than in the country’s schools.

At last count, there are more than 100,000 pupils born outside of Ireland enrolled in primary and post-primary schools — that’s about 12pc, or one in eight, of the school-going population.

In the 2014/2015 academic year, 60,969 primary school pupils were recorded as having a nationality other than Irish. They are from all over the world, including almost 10,000 from

Asia, more than 9,000 from Africa, about 2,300 from another State in Europe other than the EU, and 782 from Latin or South America.

Meanwhile, about 44,000 post-primary students are of non-Irish origin, from as many as about 180 countries. After the UK, the biggest representation is from Poland, followed by Nigeria, Lithuania, USA, Philippines and Spain.

School projects under the banner of the 1916 centenary programme will be a legacy for future generations, offering

a snapshot of Ireland at a particular time in its history and, thanks to modern technology, an easy facility to store it forever.

The network of 4,000 primary and post-primary schools has a reach into communities the length and breadth of the country like nothing else. So, schools are uniquely positioned to reflect back the story of Ireland in 2016.

While the centenary programme is commemorating events of 100 years ago in Ireland, it also provides

an opportunity for those whose forefathers were not Irish to reflect on their history and to share their stories and journeys.

Through the various initiatives in the 2016 Schools’ Programme, such as the Ancestry Project, the Proclamation for a New Generation, The Schools’ Collection 2016, the film, art, drama and song competitions, there are platforms for pupils with non-Irish backgrounds to weave their histories and perspectives into the tapestry that is the new Ireland.

The new Irish: telling the story of all the nation’s children

MAKE HISTORY — MAKE A MOVIE

Above and below: Pupils from St Attracts’a NS, filming their JFK project, based on the story of Michael McGrath (pictured below right with his grandson Jake, and classmates), who helped form the guard of honour at JFK’s funeral.