In November 2009, Neil Richardson’s play about Irish First World War soldiers – Through the Dark C
louds Shining – was performed in the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. Inspired by true stories from Neil’s upcoming first book – A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall: Stories of Irishmen in WW1 – the play focussed on the stories of two men. Act one was about Sergeant Michael Curley from Athlone, a seasoned veteran soldier but with a terrible burden on his soul. Act two centred on Dubliner Harry Burke, a fictional veteran looking back on the war and remembering what it did to some of his fellow Irishmen (Harry Burke might have been fictional, but everything that happened to him was borrowed from the stories of real-life soldiers). The play sold-out all performances and was very well received, but after learning more about the history of Michael Curley, Neil decided to develop this man’s story into a play of its own.
The result was From the Shannon to the Somme, a play that borrows the act from Through the Dark Clouds Shining that concerns Michael Curley’s time in the trenches, but adds a new act about Curley’s time before the war.
From the Shannon to the Somme:
Act One: In November 1913, southern Irish Nationalists set up an army to defend Home Rule. Called the Irish Volunteers, it is this group which ultimately became the modern Irish Defence Forces. However, what history has forgotten, was that before the Irish Volunteers ever came into existence, there was already an active band of Nationalists – drilling and marching and training – to defend Home Rule. They were called the Midlands Volunteer Force, they were based in Athlone, and one of their founding members was a man named Michael Curley…
Act Two: In 1914, the First World War broke out. Curley, as a former soldier, was recalled to the army. So he sailed to Europe and fought in all of the earliest battles of the war. But as Christmas approached, Curley found himself in the horrific salient at Ypres. Here, he was forced to do something terrible to survive. Three years later, Curley has returned to Ypres to fight again. Only now, he is haunted by the memories of what he did…