DEAR IRELAND CONTINUES (Abbey Theatre Dublin)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wTpWqaldZg

Available until: Unknown but Part 1 is still available from four months ago

The original Dear Ireland land series was four evenings of monologues, filmed in lockdown, which might or might not have had a lockdown theme. The fifth part is linked, but different. This time, the writing is by audience members who have written letters to Ireland. The letters are read live onstage (yes, live onstage!) by some of Ireland’s leading actors.

I loved the first four episodes of this and it’s lovely that the audience have a chance to contribute with their own writing. It all helps the audience to feel closer to the actors, a feeling which has been missing for a lot of people for months.

In between groups of letters, singer and guitarist Damien Dempsey performed songs related to the current situation. They’re really lovely songs and although I really loved the letters, it was good to listen to some music sometimes as well.

It is a beautiful collection of letters. Everyone writes in such a different way. Some do feel like letters, but others are more like poetry or even prayers. They show the many different ways people’s lives and outlooks have changed. People have used their letters to express feelings and tell their own stories and other people’s. The positives as well as the negatives. The letters are very different, but they’re all linked by Ireland.

A lot of the letters are focused on the present. Getting through each day. The way the situation has changed who they are.

There are letters that look back into the past, whether that’s to better times or to one particular person or situation that is now in their minds because of the situation we’re all in.

There are letters that look to the future. The people who want things to get back to normal and look forward to those times. And the people who know normal isn’t good enough and there is still more to fight for.

Many people aren’t focusing on one particular time but looking at their whole life, their past, present and future. Seeing what has changed and what needs to be changed. Or questioning whether the hard work of the past can still lead to the planned future.

The two I particularly liked were the two that weren’t in English. One in Irish and one in Irish Sign Language. I wasn’t able to understand the letter in Irish at all as the subtitles were also in Irish. But I loved the fact these letters were there and it didn’t matter that I didn’t understand very much of them. I didn’t feel excluded. I just felt happy that the people who use these languages were included and the ISL letter made some really important points. It is not always disability itself which causes isolation. It’s the way people with a disability are treated.

The prompt was so simple. ‘Dear Ireland’. Everyone is an individual and they responded as individuals and it is really good to see this being celebrated and appreciated. There was no right or wrong. No judgement in the way the actors read the letters.

I’m not Irish. I might never go to the Abbey Theatre, but I hope I will. Especially now. I feel really lucky that the Abbey Theatre and Ireland shared their country with me.