IT has been interesting how people, including many schoolchildren, have taken such an interest in the First World War, the battles fought and the dreadful casualties between 1914 and 1918.
And the stories keep coming. Plays and books have been written, mainly based on fact so we have a good idea of the scale and horror of those days. Recently a diary went on display, written by teenager Private Thomas Chambers from Co Armagh, who served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers; Jane Coyle’s play The Suitcase continues to perform to appreciative audience and in July the Lyric Theatre is bringing back the Frank McGuinness play Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme.
But perhaps the most unusual production of all is The Box, the story of a local woman who drove an ambulance at the Western Front.
Olive Swanzy, a nurse from Newry, tried in every way to keep her patients positive and hopeful of a future when peace came. She was a gentlewoman who, as she tended the injured, kept a record of this time through a collection of poems, sketches, cartoons and stories, many contributed by the soldiers in her care. She also had an autograph book containing many personal messages and drawings which she treasured alongside her own watercolours of landscapes and war scenes.
When she returned home to work in a Newry nursing home, these treasured possessions lay for years in her attic in Rostrevor. When her house was bought after her death, the box remained in the attic unopened. It was only when the owner was downsizing and selling everything before going to live in Finland that artist Marie Claire Douglas saw them, liked the watercolours, bought the lot for £50 and framed the delicate paints.
She framed the watercolours and put the rest of the memorabilia in her father’s Second World War suitcase in the bottom of the wardrobe. That was 25 years ago.
“Then, one day I was tidying and decided to take a look in more detail at the contents of the box. I was staggered by what I read, I was in floods of tears and I realised I would have to do something about this.”
And so a plan began to form. Marie Claire talked to journalist Denis Tuohy who was intrigued and took charge of the archive. A lot of interest came from the autograph book where here are intimate messages, drawings of tanks and officers and one cartoon which shows the young nurse receiving an award from Queen Mary with King George sitting in the background on his thrown, soldiers standing to attention and a Beefeater presiding overall. An honour that one young soldier thought should be awarded to the heroic woman.
Then writer Carlo Gébler was drawn in and he took the pieces of the jigsaw and began to assemble a dramatic play. He formed a structure telling the story through a conversation between Olive, brought to life by local actress Abigail McGibbon, and her gardener and painting companion (Gerard Jordan), a man who was injured when serving at the front.
Through the experiences of these two friends, Carlo highlights the impact of those times and the ripple effect that touched many lives in Ireland.
Kabosh Theatre will now bring this unique piece of multi-art-form theatre to the unusual stage that is the Ulster Museum. The performances of The Box, directed by Paula McFetridge, will take place on Saturdays and Sundays at 12pm and 3pm from June 5 until June 19. This will coincide with original items from the archive being on display as part of the Creative Centenaries exhibition running from June 3 to September 18.
:: More at www.kabosh.net.
STRETCHER BEARER! THE LAST DAYS OF MANKIND
Not a million miles away at the Linen Hall Library a free exhibition will open next week featuring paintings which depict the heartbreaking work and humanity shown by Irish, Ulster, British, German and French stretcher bearers in the Battle of the Somme. This runs from June 3 until July 30. The exhibition is complemented by poems from San Burnside’s new book Forms of Freedom.
FR PETER MCVERRY TRUST
A star-studded fundraising concert will be held in the National Concert Hall in Dublin on June 2 at 8pm. It’s a show with a difference as the cast are from Northern Ireland as is promotor George Fleeton and his friend of 50 years Fr Peter McVerry, not surprising then that the concert goes under the title, Northern Lights.
“Each member of the newly-formed Northern Lights Ensemble has performed to great acclaim at home and abroad,” George told me, “and now they will be working together for the first time, combining their diverse classical vocal and instrumental talents in what is an Irish premiere event. This concert is for Peter to mark his life long vocation working with the young homeless of Dublin.”
Taking part will be Giselle Allen, Una and Fionnuala Hunt, Carolyn Dobbin, Eugene O’Hagan and Christopher Cull.
:: More details at www.georgefleeton.com.
