Following a successful run at Theatre Peckham, Republic of Silence has transferred to Riverside Studios as part of the Bitesize Festival!
Based on true stories, Republic of Silence is about Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries. If you don’t know what they are, you might not want to keep reading as it is a truly horrific part of history and the abuse young people suffered at the hands of the catholic church.
Mother and Baby homes (as they were called) were formed in the 1920’s as a place for fallen women to go and have their babies privately so as not to disgrace their families for giving birth outside of wedlock. These girls had their hair shaved and all dignity taken from them as they were forced to work in laundries run by nuns. When they had their baby, it was taken from them and often sold for the church’s profit. The girls were not given any medical treatment and sometimes died from their injuries.
But it wasn’t just pregnant girls who were sent to these places. There are stories of girls being deemed ‘too beautiful’ so that they may be a temptation to men and so should be locked away. One woman has spoken about how, at the age of eight, she was abused by her father and when she told a school teacher, she was sent away for being a disgrace.
The late Irish singer/songwriter, Sinead O’Connor, was sent to one of these homes as a teenager for being unruly – shoplifting and not listening to rules. She witnessed the abuse, which led to her infamous Saturday Night Live appearance where she tore a picture of the pope up on stage and said ‘fight the real enemy’. There was, however, one nun who saw Sinead’s potential and gave her a guitar, which kick-started her love for music.
Republic of Silence focuses on one part of this history. In 2018, part of St. Anne’s school was sold off by the church and in 2021, a discovery of bones on the grounds of Sean Ross found hundreds of women and babies buried in unmarked graves. This triggered a movement for justice, and one man’s reckoning of his past, and the past of a Nation.
On the same site, in 1965, two young pregnant girls hear whispers of stolen babies, missing girls and violence within the Abbey. At breaking point, the girls rage against the Catholic institution that cage them.
The story flits between the modern day, where one man fights for justice of these uncertified deaths and two pregnant girls, working in the laundries and the abuse they suffered.
As just 50 minutes long, this play doesn’t go too deep into the whole fascinating story but as with all good plays, it gives you just enough to keep you interested and want to go home and find out more about it.
The performances feel a little unrehearsed and amateurish, as though there has been no direction and the cast of four have just been left to get it on with themselves.
As the show came to its climax and the stage went dark, I was surprised to see it was over. Republic Of Silence is a hugely important and harrowing piece of history that could really pack a punch on stage but in its current state it feels like a play that has been ripped in half and we are missing the second act.
The last of the Magdelaine Laundries was closed in 1996 – the year the Macarena was in the music charts. Just thirty years ago.
★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma
