The Great Hunger

One of the poems on the V form poetry course (examined in 2010) is Patrick Kavanagh's 'The Great Hunger'.

Good luck to a member of our Department, Evan Jameson (left, upside down...), who tomorrow night opens in the lead role of Patrick Maguire in the Balally Players' production of Tom MacIntyre's 1983 dramatisation at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum. In the words of their website:-

The story is centred on the life of Inniskeen farmer Patrick Maguire. He is a lonely man, living a physically and emotionally isolated life. While the play draws a very clear picture of the frustrations associated with such an existence, it has hilarious as well as brutal and tragic moments. Maguire has occasional and ultimately futile skirmishes with Agnes and the 'local girls'. This, and his failure to communicate with the other women in his life, his mother and sister, is very well portrayed. In contrast to this, he finds with 'the lads' a camaraderie and a sense of fun that lifts his spirits. This is a piece of physical theatre where the lines of the poem are used sparingly and appropriately.

The play is directed by Geoffrey O’Keeffe, All-Ireland Winning Director and Chairman of Balally Players this year. This adaptation of Patrick Kavangh's poem of the same name became a touchstone for fresh and exciting approaches to Irish theatre when it was first produced in The Peacock Theatre in 1983.