By Kate Holmquist
Irish Times
March 2, 2010
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0302/1224265421749.html
IRELAND -- 'Christ Deliver Us!', Thomas Kilroy's new play at the Abbey, has moved audiences to tears with its themes of Catholicism, repression and sexuality in 1950s Ireland. Four people for whom the themes have a particular resonance give their reactions
THOMAS KILROY'S play Christ Deliver Us! opened at the Abbey Theatre last month. Since then, some audience members have left the theatre in tears, while some others have felt fearful of attending at all, such is the power of the play's themes.
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| Aaron Monaghan and Aoife Duffin in Christ Deliver Us! |
Seventy-five year old Kilroy, whose work was first seen at the Peacock in 1969, has based the play on Wedekind's Spring Awakening . The play is set in 1950s rural Ireland, among teenage boys and girls coming of age in a time of sexual and religious oppression. Priests and parents are against the emotional, intellectual and sexual freedom the teenagers crave, with tragic results.
Michael, the "posh" boy, is an atheist. His girlfriend, Winnie, is a widow's youngest child who is curious about sexuality. Mossie, Michael's best friend, is a boy driven to suicide by repressed sexuality, parental abuse and guilt.
The play's themes include the power of the Catholic Church; the physical and mental abuse meted out by parents, priests and brothers; the confusion of some priests within that culture; the hypocrisy and repression of church and lay people alike; and the ultimate price of shame: death.
In order to test the relevance of the play to society today, we brought four people – each with a personal interest in the themes involved – to see the play.
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