Under the Hawthorn Tree
The Mac Theatre
In any context, bringing to the stage a play telling a story of mass death and starvation to both educate and entertain is a hard station. When the effort is aimed at doing so against the back drop of the Great Famine that ravaged Ireland in the mid nineteenth century, in a one hour production geared to children from ages seven to 11, it is especially challenging.
But fresh from a special performance of Under the Hawthorn Tree at the International Performing Arts for Youth festival last weekend in Philadelphia, Cahoots Childrens' Theatre has delivered a sensitive and challenging production at Belfast's MAC Theatre of the play written by Charles Way and based on the novel of the same name by Marita Conlon-McKenna.
The company has indeed managed a remarkable job via the combination of excellent acting, directorship and a hauntingly beautiful musical score as it launched a 10 day run with a production that breathes life into the meaning of the old Irish saying `Ar Scath a Cheiel A Mhaireann na daoine' - under the shelter of each other we survive'.
This important one hour production provides an invaluable message to young and old alike about how resilience against the needless starvation then that afflicted Ireland then matters in a world today where families and countries are still torn apart by death and mass emigration.
The spartan set consisting of a circular wooden stage platform supported by Garth McConaghie's score provided a performance that was well received by the audience. An early song in Irish and English Oh, God in all your Mercy movingly performed by Collete Lennon Dougal - cast in the role of the mother of three surviving children forced to take to the roads - is especially memorable.
Director Paul Bosco Mc Eneaney, a Co Monaghan native, called the production "a rewarding challenge with a universal message of resilience in the face of great turmoil and loss".
The director's job was indeed made easier by the excellent performances of Adam Dougal (Michael), Maeve Smith (Eily), and Philippa O'Hara (Peggy) as the three young siblings. The cast also includes experienced actors like Frankie McCafferty who plays Mr O'Driscoll, the children’s bereft father forced to leave his family in search of work.
Under the Hawthorn Tree encapsulates a story of being forced to deal with trauma in the midst of hunger and upheaval. It also underscores the value of love and loyalty within a family in this case among three surviving siblings. Yet it also confronts the grim reality of the challenges presented to one's own humanity when confronted by starvation and the need for basic survival.
The play ends with a direct reference to the reality of mass emigration at the time when Peggy the youngest member is bound in search of a new life in America, as over a million others would also do.
:: Under The Hawthorn Tree runs at The MAC until February 9 before touring Ireland. Tickets are available from themaclive.com or for more information go to cahootsni.com. Other northern performances will be Ardhowen, Enniskillen (Feb 12); Iontas Theatre Castleblayney (Feb 14) The Burnavon Theatre, Cookstown (Feb 26) and the Market Place Theatre Armagh (Feb 28-29)
:: Dr Francis Costello is a writer and lecturer and Contrbuting Author to the Meaning of the Famine (Leicester University Press).
