Theatre of Dissent – this week's must see shows

Valentine’s week sees the performance in Galway of work by two gay writers and left wing thinkers, both of whom suffered savage punishment because of their sexuality.

Oscar Wilde was sentenced in 1895 to two years hard labour for being homosexual. The prison regime broke him physically and played a direct part in his death in 1900.

Federico Garcia Lorca was executed by fascists in 1936. One of his executioners declared later  that he had “fired two bullets into his ass for being a queer.”  

Here is the details of the two productions:

Múscailt Arts Festival presents:

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

By Oscar Wilde

Directed and performed by Rab Fulton  and SandraCoffey 

When: Thursday 13^th February at 8pm.

Where: BOI theatre.  

Tickets: 5 euro (can be bought at show or booked in advance from Socs Box at 091 492852 or socsbox@socs.nuigalway.ie ) 

'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' is a moving and heart breaking insight into Oscar Wilde’s time in Reading Prison. It is also the last work Wilde wrote just months after his release from prison after serving two years of hard labour for being homosexual. Beset by wicked sprites and tolling bells Oscar and his fellow inmates endured the madness and cruel absurdity of a Victorian prison regime - and all the while waiting for the judicial killing of a fellow prisoner.

For more see The Ballad ofReading Gaol and Múscailt Arts Festival 

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The Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, NUI Galway and Core Theatre College present
Yerma
by Federico Garcia Lorca
Where: Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane, Galway 
When: February 13th – 15th at 8 pm.

Tkts 10/8 euro from Socsbox Socs Box at 091 492852 or socsbox@socs.nuigalway.ie ) 

Translation by Peter Luke. Directed by Max Hafler

Yerma is a woman living in a small village, who feels like she has done everything right. Yet she cannot have what she wants, a baby, with her husband. Her desire alienates her from friends, and her small world. The villagers are not cruel but she feels excluded. She knows a family is what God and the society expect. Her isolation takes her on a terrible journey. Yerma is about the hunger to conform and the dangers of obsession. The play is full of passion, humour, music and rhythm. It is both poetic and brutally realistic. 

For more see: Yerma  

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(Gay?) Love and Marriage
Jailed for Loving Peace

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