Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme

Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, is perhaps one of Frank McGuinness's most respected plays. The Irish dramatist's work received several awards and accolades, most notably the London Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. It was first staged in the Peacock Stage of the renowned Abbey Theatre[1], in Dublin in 1985.

Characters

Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme was first performed at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin, in February 1985. The cast was as follows:

• Geoff Golden – Kenneth Pyper (old man)
• Bosco Hogan – Kenneth Pyper (young man)
• Lorcan Cranitch – David Craig
• Oliver Maguire – George Anderson
• Ian McElhinney – Nat McIlwaine
• Tom Hickey – Christopher Roulston
• Michael Ford – Martin Crawford
• Mark Lambert – William Moore
• Niall O'Brien – John Millen

Director· Patrick Mason
Designer Frank Hallinan Flood

The play subsequently opened in London at the Hampstead Theatre in July 1986, directed by Michael Attenborough.^[1]
It was revived by the Hampstead Theatre in June 2009. ^[2]

Plot synopsis

The play centres on the experiences of eight men who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of the First World War. It reaches a climax at the start of the terrible battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916 — the actual anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The Somme, where the Ulster Division suffered heavy casualties, has, like the Boyne, come to have a significant place in Northern Irish Unionist consciousness. Stylistically typical of McGuinness's art, the narrative decentres the constructed ideals of homosocial institutions, such as the military.

The Story carries the famous Northern Ireland accolade of one being a "Son of Ulster", a Unionist term used to describe a heroic person/people from the North East of Ireland who defended the Unionist cause. Traditionally, the term either refers to the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) who assembled in 1912 in an attempt to resist a United Ireland, or it is used today to describe men of that organisation who died or resisted the IRA as it attacked their institutions. Many Unionist marching bands carry this name out of respect to all who defended the Unionist cause in Ireland.

References

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