The Ireland We Dreamed Of - Smock Alley, 2-4 May 2024
The Ireland We Dreamed Of is a new performance by visual artist and member of the Societal Engagement team, Dr Sinéad McCann, in collaboration with sociologist Dr Louise Brangan.
In Catholic Ireland, moral purity and virtue had become the national motifs. The problem was, you can’t claim purity if you know otherwise. The dirt and sin that defied it had to be scrubbed from Ireland’s national consciousness.
Work, work, work. Pray, pray, pray. That was the only way to keep the devil and your secrets at bay. Those who did not fit in, who deviated from the well-worn grooves of this regime, were liable to be removed. Should they return, a life of shame and silence was their penance.
The Ireland We Dreamed Of brings the audience through a series of unsettling dreamscapes. This powerful performance explores what it was like to live with the unbearable weight of self-denial, how silence seeped into our homes, and the bravery it took to break out from this world of secrets.
Tickets are available now from the Smock Alley website.