FLOODESIGN

and refused food, succor, and aid to the families of striking workers. … O'Casey thought the Easter Rising was the wrong conflict and that it divided the working class at a time when it should have been united in fighting the class war." In this light, as Phil Kingston of the Abbey Theatre notes, "The Plough and the Stars is not a museum piece that romanticizes the feisty spirit of the tenements and celebrates the Rising. Rather, it is a passionately critical work that is sympathetic to those who lived in the shadows of history, but scathing about the myth-making that led people to die for a cause O'Casey believed wasn't in their best interests. In a way, The Plough and the Stars isn't really about 1916 at all but about the world it gave rise to in 1925, the year it was written. It is about how that world isn't the one it could have been. This play is a classic because that sense of frustration, and possibility, is still alive today." 1 8 8 4 Michael Cusack formed Gaelic Athletic Association; police and army denied membership. Immediately infiltrated by Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). 1 8 8 6 First Home Rule Bill for Ireland presented to House of Commons. Defeated 343 – 313. 1 8 9 3 Douglas Hyde founded Gaelic League to promote Irish language and culture. Second Home Rule Bill passed House of Commons but vetoed in House of Lords, 419 – 41. 1 9 0 0 Cumann na nGaedheal (Irish Council) formed to promote a "Buy Irish" campaign. 1 9 0 5 Dungannon Clubs founded in Ulster to promote separatism from Britain. 1 9 0 7 Groups including Cumann na nGaedheal and Dungannon Clubs merged to form Sinn Féin. 1 9 1 2 Third Home Rule Bill passed House of Commons. 1 9 1 3 Irish Transport and General Workers Union went on strike. Irish Citizen Army (ICA) formed to protect strikers. 1 9 1 4 World War I; Home Rule delayed. 1 9 1 5 IRB formed Military Committee to plan rebellion while Britain was at war. Padraig Pearse declared, "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace." 1 9 1 6 James Connolly, commander of the ICA, voted onto Military Council, ensuring ICA involvement in the Rising. A P R I L 24 , 1 9 1 6 Nationalists staged Easter Rising, proclaiming an independent Irish republic. Britain crushed the Rising and executed its leaders. Irish public outraged. 1 9 2 1 Irish Free State established. Northern Ireland remained part of UK. 1 9 2 1 – 1 9 2 3 Treaty to ratify Free State narrowly passes Dublin parliament. Hundreds die in civil war between forces supporting and opposed to the Free State. MICHAEL CUSACK DOUGLAS HYDE DUBLIN LOCK-OUT PADRAIG PEARSE DUNGANNON CLUB DUNGANNON CLUB MICHAEL CUSSACK MICHAEL CUSSACK E A S T E R R I S I N G IRISH CIVIL WAR JAMES CONNOLLY T H E 1 9 1 6 E A S T E R R I S I N G T I M E L I N E Janet Moran as Mrs. Gogan in The Plough and the Stars Photo: Ros Kavanagh Texts excerpted from the Abbey Theatre's program and resource packs for The Plough and the Stars, written and compiled by students of Tallaght Community School, Phil Kingston, and Mirjana Rendulic. " Dublin Lock-out photo courtesy of National Library of Ireland on The Commons www.peakperfs.org 21

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