'No Escape' docu-drama may tour

ABBEY THEATRE director Fiach Mac Conghail has indicated that it may take the current Peacock production No Escape on tour, and…

ABBEY THEATRE director Fiach Mac Conghail has indicated that it may take the current Peacock production No Escapeon tour, and in particular to Britain.

This powerful docu-drama is a stage production of the greatest Irish social tragedy of the last century, as illustrated through the monumental Ryan report.

Published on May 20th last, it dealt with the sexual, physical, emotional abuse and neglect of approximately 170,000 children held in 216 institutions throughout Ireland from the 1930s to the early 1970s.

The 2,600 page report found both the 18 religious congregations involved in running the institutions and the State which had responsibility for them, culpable for what befell the children.

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Mr Mac Conghail said that a reason they were considering taking the production to Britain was because 40 per cent of the children who had been in the institutions emigrated there.

Adapted from the Ryan report by award-winning journalist and TV producer Mary Raftery, No Escapeis directed by another award winner in her field, Róisín McBrinn, and features strong performances from some of Ireland's finest actors.

They include Lorcan Cranitch, Jane Brennan, Donal O’Kelly, Jonathan White, Michele Forbes, Eamonn Hunt, and Eleanor Methven who play many roles but it is as the vulnerable children that they excel. On opening night, before an audience which included abuse victims and Mr Justice Seán Ryan, the production received a prolonged standing ovation.

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry

Patsy McGarry is a contributor to The Irish Times