Part of Deirdre Kinahan's trilogy of landmark plays commemorating seven years of warfare in Ireland, Outrage explores the true nature of women's roles in the Irish revolutionary wars, and in particular the Civil War in 1922. Alice and Nell are sisters who play key roles in organising civic resistance and the propaganda war. They are fervent, they are funny, they are human and they - like everyone else in Ireland - become deeply conflicted as the country spins toward a shattering Civil War that splits the nation, and continues to haunt Irish politics, society and culture to this day. Outrage was first staged as a touring production by Fishamble: The New Play Company, in partnership with Dublin Port Company and Meath County Council, in 2022. Deirdre Kinahan's Raging trilogy tells powerful stories drawing on a tumultuous period of conflict in Irish history, from the 1916 Easter Rising to the Civil War which began in 1922. Each of the three plays - Wild Sky, Embargo and Outrage - was first performed a century after the event which it depicts, and they were commissioned and performed by companies including Fishamble: The New Play Company, Meath County Council Arts Office, Dublin Port Company and Iarnród Éireann. Together, they challenge the historical narrative, mixing true-life testimonies with powerful drama to create a theatrical hurricane of empathy, action and truth.
Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright and a member of Aosdána, Ireland's elected body of outstanding artists. Her plays include: An Old Song, Half Forgotten (Abbey Theatre, 2023); Outrage (Fishamble, 2022); The Visit (Draiocht, Dublin Theatre Festival 2021); The Saviour (Landmark Productions, 2021); In the Middle of the Fields (Solas Nua DC, 2021); Embargo (Fishamble 2020); Dear Ireland (Abbey Theatre, 2020); The Bloodied Field (Abbey Theatre 2020); Rathmines Road (Fishamble and Abbey Theatre, 2018); Crossings (Pentabus Theatre, 2018); The Unmanageable Sisters, an adaptation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2018); Wild Sky (Dublin, 2016); Spinning (Fishamble, 2014); Halcyon Days (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, and Dublin Theatre Festival, 2012); and Moment (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, 2009; Bush Theatre, London, 2011). In 2024, she and actor Bryan Murray were jointly awarded the inaugural Pratchett Prize for challenging the stigma of Alzheimer's Disease, for Kinahan's play An Old Song, Half Forgotten. |
