The Clearing

Synopsis

In a small Irish community Robert Preston, an English Protestant landowner, marries Madelaine, a fiery down to earth Irish Catholic. Against the epic backdrop of Oliver Cromwell's ruthless colonisation of Ireland, they celebrate the birth of their son, a symbol of hope for the future. As Cromwell's ruthless colonisation of Ireland, they celebrate the birth of their son, a symbol of hope for the future. As Cromwell's men close in, their passionate love for each other is torn in different directions as Robert is forced to choose between exile, and pledging his allegiance to the English. Helen Edmundson's award-winning play is an absorbing experience, with a tremendous modern resonance, which explores our sense of national identity, our humanity and how history weighs upon us all.

Our Review:

24 April 2002

Note: This review dates from March 2002 and an earlier stop on this production's UK tour.

Racism, bigotry, ethnic cleansing - all seem sadly a part of our times in varying forms, whether in Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia or the streets of English cities following 11 September.

Writer Helen Edmundson admits that although she wrote The Clearing during the time of civil war in the former Yugoslavia, it has a new relevance given the number of Muslim people attacked and abused in Britain since New York's Twin Towers fell.

But in the play she takes us back to the 1640s and Oliver Cromwell's ruthless colonisation of Ireland, and this touring production from Shared Experience is a poignant and provocative message for us all.

Maddie (a fabulous Aislin McGuckin) is an Irish Catholic girl in Kildare who has fallen for and married young Protestant English landowner Robert Preston (played with wonderful torment by Joseph Millson)....

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