Mná na hÉireann

Carol Leavy Joyce presents A Unique Celebration in Music and Dance of the Women of The Revolution

When Mary Robinson took up office of the Irish Presidency in December 1990 she said: ‘I want women who have felt themselves outside history to be written back into history’. This stage show aims to explore many such women who played a pivotal role in the history of Ireland during the revolutionary period 1900-1923. These women came from all backgrounds and all classes and their aim was to affect change and to establish a cultural identity for Irish women.

Carol Leavy Joyce documents the coming together of the women who formed organisations like Cumann na mBan (The Irishwomen’s Council) and Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland), led by such luminaries as Maud Gonne MacBride and Countess Markievicz (later to become the first woman elected to the British House of Commons). The vast majority of the women would never achieve celebrity or status and have largely been airbrushed out of history. One such woman, Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell, who delivered the surrender with Pádraig Pearse after the Easter Rising in 1916, is a particular focus in this show.

Through dance, music and song, the commitment, vision and power of these great Irish women and their place in history is honoured and celebrated: Mná na hÉireann.

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