Friday, June 10, 2016

SHALL ROGER CASEMENT HANG?

This play was part of the commemorations for the centenary of the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916 , Roger Casement was very much a solid establishment member who one would expect to be loyal beyond the call to the British Empire , yet he played  a role in the events to grant freedom and Independence for an Irish Free state.

This review from The Scotsman gives a succinct accurate appraisal.
In an odd reflection of the British Empire as a system at work the voices we hear are of a Scotsman , an Ulsterman and a Welshman in the form of the interrogator , policeman who makes the arrest and a compassionate gaoler.

This Herald Review looks into the psychological nuances between the protagonists
"While Casement's interrogation by hard-nosed Scotsman Captain Hall is initially respectful, as played by Stephen Clyde with grim-faced politesse, good cop turns bad the next day as Casement's secret life is unearthed. Benny Young invests a seasoned hang-dog gravitas to Casement's exchanges with Hall, even as Hall compares him to Oscar Wilde, another sexual rebel “evangelical of art, Ireland and buggery,” as he puts it. Over eighty-minutes of cut and thrust punctuated by flashbacks that sees each scene captioned as a misplaced file might be, Arnott gets to the core of both men with forensic insight in this most intimate of psychological thrillers."

This documentary looks into the life and times of Casement and his background and motivations including his trips to The Congo and Peru.




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