Archive for February 1st, 2011
“From Stage to Street”
"From Stage to Street"
is a new six-part radio series, presented by Colin Murphy, on the times when what was happening on the Irish stage reverberated on the streets outside.
From the Playboy riots of 1907 to more recent controversies, the series takes a fresh look at key moments in Irish theatre. Why did Lady Gregory’s nephew lead a drunken chorus of ‘God Save Our King’ at the Abbey in 1907? And why, fifty years later, was Brendan Behan to be found leading a drunken chorus of ‘The Auld Triangle’ outside Dublin’s pocket theatre, the Pike?
Why was there an attempted armed kidnap attempt on an actor in Sean O’Casey’s “The Plough and the Stars” in 1926? Was it really that unpatriotic to have the tricolour in a public house?
On the road, Anew McMaster was bringing his theatre company and the works of Shakespeare to the masses nationwide throughout Ireland. John B. Keane, a publican from Kerry, become one of the biggest names in Irish theatre. Works like “Sive” packed houses and enthralled audiences from Listowel to Roscommon to Dublin.
Tennessee Williams’ “The Rose Tattoo” at Dublin’s Pike theatre saw it’s director Alan Simpson hauled from the stage and arrested for bringing indecency to the theatre when a condom fell from the pocket of an actor during the play.
All these events and indeed more feature in the new series “From Stage to Street”. Every week we talk about the players and passions at stake in the most provocative moments in Irish theatre history, and recapture those moments with the aid of actors and original archival gems. Listen back to the series on RTE Radio http://www.rte.ie/radio1/stagetostreet/
Please tune in and join the discussion at http://www.facebook.com/#!/FromStageToStreet
Add your thoughts and comments, view the letters, playbills, videos and press articles from the archives that bring these moments to life!
You can also follow the series on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/stagetostreet