Our Lady of the Goldfinches

Synopsis

On an anonymous beach, three characters meet in this radical new play examining sacrifice, martyrdom and the redemptive quality of love. This is the story of Jean McConville's murder by the IRA and of her daughter Helen who tries to make sense of her death. After 30 years of searching, the Good Friday agreement prompted the IRA to disclose the location of Jean's grave. Using a bold multi-media score to animate the fog of war, the music ranges from traditional to live mixed samples. This haunting play evokes a lonely beach in County Louth as a holy place in a Last Rites of Reconciliation.

Our Review:

11 May 2012

Born Protestant Jean McConville converted to Catholicism after marriage and as a result suffered harassment during the conflict in Northern Ireland .Her large family was intimidated out of a Protestant district and Jean was later abducted and killed by the IRA claiming that she was an informant for the British security forces.
 
The IRA never provided any proof to back-up their claim and Jean’s murderers have not been brought to justice. Faced with a situation in which the truth is unlikely to emerge director Bill Hopkinson uses McConville’s life and death to illustrate the effect of unexplained loss on a family and the impossibility of trying to live a normal life during constant conflict and fear.

Hopkinson sets a disjointed atmosphere to convey the shattered lives of the McConville family. Constantly shifting chilly blue patterned filmed images by Laura Haughey and Andy Duggan are projected over the cast. This approach works well in the main but th...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

Mike Mann - 14 May 2012:

This play needs to be brought to Belfast. The conflict in Northern Ireland is not over. This play will make people think!...

Read more and add your own review