excellent and historicaly accurate, TV drama set in Dublin. Great performances by such fine actor's as Cyril Cussack and Donal McCann. however a young actor,Dubliner David Mangan in his first t.v. role, steals the show in his role as alterboy to the very uncharitable priest. Well worth watching. Based around the union leader James larkin, and follow's the trials and tribulations of the people of Dublin as he leads them into a general strike followed by a lockout. The church is divided as to how or if there flock should receive help as the people of Dublin get hungrier and sicker. Produced by the Irish national t.v station r.t.e, it remains to this day one of the most successful t.v drama's ever produced in Ireland. Footnote... David Mangan then went on to further success as lead guitarist with well know Dublin rock band Pictures in Grey. One of the success stories of north Dublin.
5 Reviews
Spirit of Dublin
Dave-J72 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Excellent adaptation that's as good as most Brit dramatisations and better than many. I watched it again on YouTube and found it just as riveting as first time round with some superb performances from David Kelly, Donal McCann, Bryan Murray, Cyril Cusack, Angela Harding and, of course, the luminescent Peter O'Toole.
The tale follows the lives of those caught up in the almost perpetual struggle of labour versus Employer, always emphasising the human dimensions over the tub-thumping, nationalistic or moralising that it could easily have succumbed to. The pernicious Brits are rarely mentioned by name and the middle class landlord and factory owners may have English accents but we aren't told where they were born. This works well because the plight of those good people speaks for itself and gives us an understanding of the stresses underpinning the revolution without any rabble-rousing rhetoric. Indeed the drama could have been played out in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Middlesborough, Manchester or any other industrial city. The poverty of Dublin was pretty much the same as the poverty of anywhere else - just the grinding lack of anything but muck and drudgery.
So it's the people of Dublin, and the fights they fight against horrible circumstances, who are the point of it all. Bob Fitzpatrick, whose understated, indomitable character leads him to a poignant pass on the troopship to the Trenches, and his wife, Mary, left behind with her child. Barney Mulhall, whose crippling seems to be only slightly worse than the drudgery it stopped. Father O'Connor, who is caught up in a moral dilemma that tears his naive mind apart and makes us wonder if that's what has already made Father Giffley turn to drink to stifle his own sobs. And of course, poor old Rashers Tierney who never had a chance from the day of his birth. A cruel world but indomitable spirits.
The tale follows the lives of those caught up in the almost perpetual struggle of labour versus Employer, always emphasising the human dimensions over the tub-thumping, nationalistic or moralising that it could easily have succumbed to. The pernicious Brits are rarely mentioned by name and the middle class landlord and factory owners may have English accents but we aren't told where they were born. This works well because the plight of those good people speaks for itself and gives us an understanding of the stresses underpinning the revolution without any rabble-rousing rhetoric. Indeed the drama could have been played out in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Middlesborough, Manchester or any other industrial city. The poverty of Dublin was pretty much the same as the poverty of anywhere else - just the grinding lack of anything but muck and drudgery.
So it's the people of Dublin, and the fights they fight against horrible circumstances, who are the point of it all. Bob Fitzpatrick, whose understated, indomitable character leads him to a poignant pass on the troopship to the Trenches, and his wife, Mary, left behind with her child. Barney Mulhall, whose crippling seems to be only slightly worse than the drudgery it stopped. Father O'Connor, who is caught up in a moral dilemma that tears his naive mind apart and makes us wonder if that's what has already made Father Giffley turn to drink to stifle his own sobs. And of course, poor old Rashers Tierney who never had a chance from the day of his birth. A cruel world but indomitable spirits.
Powerful angry record of the 1913 Dublin lockout
johnjredington27 May 2005
"Strumpet City" is based on one of the best-selling Irish novels of the 20th century. James Plunkett's tale of love, loyalty and anger is set against the backdrop of the 1913 Dublin lockout and the political context that surrounded it. When it was published in the 1970s, the period was about to depart from living memory and the emotions evoked by this record of one of the most bitter episodes in the nation's history meant that it would never be forgotten.
Unless a total cock-up was made of the material, the mini-series was bound to command huge public interest in Ireland. At the time, however, such an outcome was not beyond the bounds of possibility. Up to 1979, a year before Strumpet City was first broadcast, the only television available in much of Ireland was six hours a day on RTÉ's single channel. British TV could be picked up in Dublin and along the east coast and cash-strapped RTÉ's output often looked amateurish in comparison.
Nowhere was this more evident than in drama. Although the national broadcaster had produced two well-written soap operas, most of its few attempts at historical fiction were embarrassing to watch. Badly scripted, badly structured and dominated by hammy scene stealing, they were seen more as an attempt to the drama department to justify its underfunded existence rather than as an attempt to entertain.
To make matters worse, the BBC was then in its heyday, producing such blockbusters like "Upstairs, Downstairs", and its success exacerbated the monumental inferiority complex afflicting much of the nation during the 1970s.
With its credibility at rock bottom as a result of a political censorship that rivaled that of North Korea, RTÉ was taking a major chance when, for the first time in history, it ransacked every available budget to come up with the resources needed for a plausible attempt at period drama. And just to make sure, established international stars Peter O'Toole and Peter Ustinov were taken on to prove the seriousness of their intent.
Heavily publicized and amid the usual whinging from nonentities about the diversion of scarce resources, the first episode was promised for a wintry Sunday evening in late 1980. A huge audience tuned in, many of whom half-expected yet another national disaster.
I saw it myself in a pub somewhere in the middle of Ireland as I stopped halfway through a long journey home from a football game. Like the rest of the packed crowd, I stood up and clapped when it was over.
A quarter of a century later, it doesn't look quite the finished article on RTÉ's DVD and betrays the playwright background of Hugh Leonard who adapted Plunkett's novel. Traces of Abbey Theatre mannerisms, which may be fine before live audiences but appear pretentious on screen, linger on as do the occasional excessive wordiness and a tendency to state rather than imply the obvious.
But Leonard still captured the raw spirit of the book, the historical anger of its broad sweep, the private tenderness and kindness of its personal level and the tone and propriety of early 20th century Dublin. I was as moved as I had been a generation ago when, last week, I saw it only for the second time.
Six hours is a lot of viewing but Strumpet City's pace allows it to hold interest right to a bittersweet end. It is helped no end by some outstanding acting, particularly Donal McCann as hard-as-nails carter Barney Mulhall and Cyril Cusack as the sad, boozy, world-weary but decent parish priest, and Angela Harding as Mary retains a credibly beautiful, innocent and resilient presence despite the depressing awfulness of Dublin's disease-ridden and poverty-racked tenements.
And on a visual level, Strumpet City looks great. Big scenes like the fire in the foundry, the royal visit and the riots are taken on and provide the depth of background needed to carry its emotions. That, more than anything else, defined Irish reaction to its original release as it proved to a confidence-sapped nation that, if we put our mind to it, we could do just as well as anyone else.
Unless a total cock-up was made of the material, the mini-series was bound to command huge public interest in Ireland. At the time, however, such an outcome was not beyond the bounds of possibility. Up to 1979, a year before Strumpet City was first broadcast, the only television available in much of Ireland was six hours a day on RTÉ's single channel. British TV could be picked up in Dublin and along the east coast and cash-strapped RTÉ's output often looked amateurish in comparison.
Nowhere was this more evident than in drama. Although the national broadcaster had produced two well-written soap operas, most of its few attempts at historical fiction were embarrassing to watch. Badly scripted, badly structured and dominated by hammy scene stealing, they were seen more as an attempt to the drama department to justify its underfunded existence rather than as an attempt to entertain.
To make matters worse, the BBC was then in its heyday, producing such blockbusters like "Upstairs, Downstairs", and its success exacerbated the monumental inferiority complex afflicting much of the nation during the 1970s.
With its credibility at rock bottom as a result of a political censorship that rivaled that of North Korea, RTÉ was taking a major chance when, for the first time in history, it ransacked every available budget to come up with the resources needed for a plausible attempt at period drama. And just to make sure, established international stars Peter O'Toole and Peter Ustinov were taken on to prove the seriousness of their intent.
Heavily publicized and amid the usual whinging from nonentities about the diversion of scarce resources, the first episode was promised for a wintry Sunday evening in late 1980. A huge audience tuned in, many of whom half-expected yet another national disaster.
I saw it myself in a pub somewhere in the middle of Ireland as I stopped halfway through a long journey home from a football game. Like the rest of the packed crowd, I stood up and clapped when it was over.
A quarter of a century later, it doesn't look quite the finished article on RTÉ's DVD and betrays the playwright background of Hugh Leonard who adapted Plunkett's novel. Traces of Abbey Theatre mannerisms, which may be fine before live audiences but appear pretentious on screen, linger on as do the occasional excessive wordiness and a tendency to state rather than imply the obvious.
But Leonard still captured the raw spirit of the book, the historical anger of its broad sweep, the private tenderness and kindness of its personal level and the tone and propriety of early 20th century Dublin. I was as moved as I had been a generation ago when, last week, I saw it only for the second time.
Six hours is a lot of viewing but Strumpet City's pace allows it to hold interest right to a bittersweet end. It is helped no end by some outstanding acting, particularly Donal McCann as hard-as-nails carter Barney Mulhall and Cyril Cusack as the sad, boozy, world-weary but decent parish priest, and Angela Harding as Mary retains a credibly beautiful, innocent and resilient presence despite the depressing awfulness of Dublin's disease-ridden and poverty-racked tenements.
And on a visual level, Strumpet City looks great. Big scenes like the fire in the foundry, the royal visit and the riots are taken on and provide the depth of background needed to carry its emotions. That, more than anything else, defined Irish reaction to its original release as it proved to a confidence-sapped nation that, if we put our mind to it, we could do just as well as anyone else.
An excellent adaption of Plunkett's Novel
PeterJordan1 May 2006
Reading the other reviews of this served to remind me what an "event" it was on Irish TV at the time. Prior to this, the extent of 15 year old RTE's TV's drama output were the parochial Sunday evening soap offerings of Tolka Row and The Riordans. Being quite young at the time I hadn't realised how much criticism RTE drew for its commissioning of this huge undertaking and of course 25 odd years on "plus ca change", There are always those, politicians and so called self styled critic and journalist types as well members of the general public who strive to make personal capital out of rubbishing or attacking the creation or good efforts of another, most recently notable with RTE's latest and quite impressive drama commissions The Stardust and Fallout.
A couple of years ago I read James Plunket's excellent social account of the turbulent years in Dublin prior to the Easter rising. Many of the characters so vividly portrayed in this 1980 TV production came rushing back to me off the pages so memorable were their portrayals in the TV adaption.
Amongst the many notable performances, pride of place must go to David Kelly for his career high representation of Rashers Tierney (well before Waking Ned and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he still looked ancient!). However other performances stand out too, Cyril Cusack's restrained performance as the humanitarian alcoholic parish priest Fr Giffely, Donal McCann as the tough socialist true "Dub" Mulhall, Peter O'Toole's almost fanatical Big Jim Larkin and in one of his earliest roles before hitting the soap big time Bryan Murray as Bob Fitzpatrick.
The series also showcases the appearance of many stars of Irish soaps who were latterly to make prolonged appearance in future episodes of Glenroe and Fair City, people like Brendan Caldwell, Eileen Colgan, Donal Farmer and Alan Stanford.
The range of the book meant that it was always going to take a mini series rather than a 90 minute film to do it justice. Using as it canvas the famous Dublin General Strike and Lockout of 1913, this production takes us convincingly into the backstreets and tenements and oppressive poverty of what was at the time allegedly the worst slums in Europe in what was the British empires supposed 2nd city. However what makes it great is how it equally takes us into the lives of the privileged classes who also shared their lives and the very same streets with these people yet managed to remain largely oblivious and removed indeed one could almost term it unsoiled by these unfortunates. It sheds a great educational light on the pro empire sympathies of Dublin prior to the 1916 rising and also on the birth of Trade Unionism in Ireland from the beginnings of the ITGWU which in later years was to become SIPTU. What it also portrays very well through the bigoted snobbery of Fr O'Connor, is the fanatical grip that Archbishop McQuaid's Catholic Church in Ireland had made on the people of Dublin and beyond, a stranglehold with a litany of abuses and shameful episodes that would extend right into the early 1990's.
A couple of years ago this series was rescreened on RTE TV again on Sunday nights after which the entire re digitised version was released on DVD. For those that want a grasp of Irish history in the early years of the 20th century prior to nationalism and independence I can highly recommend this as an excellent produced dramatic accompaniment to further research
A couple of years ago I read James Plunket's excellent social account of the turbulent years in Dublin prior to the Easter rising. Many of the characters so vividly portrayed in this 1980 TV production came rushing back to me off the pages so memorable were their portrayals in the TV adaption.
Amongst the many notable performances, pride of place must go to David Kelly for his career high representation of Rashers Tierney (well before Waking Ned and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he still looked ancient!). However other performances stand out too, Cyril Cusack's restrained performance as the humanitarian alcoholic parish priest Fr Giffely, Donal McCann as the tough socialist true "Dub" Mulhall, Peter O'Toole's almost fanatical Big Jim Larkin and in one of his earliest roles before hitting the soap big time Bryan Murray as Bob Fitzpatrick.
The series also showcases the appearance of many stars of Irish soaps who were latterly to make prolonged appearance in future episodes of Glenroe and Fair City, people like Brendan Caldwell, Eileen Colgan, Donal Farmer and Alan Stanford.
The range of the book meant that it was always going to take a mini series rather than a 90 minute film to do it justice. Using as it canvas the famous Dublin General Strike and Lockout of 1913, this production takes us convincingly into the backstreets and tenements and oppressive poverty of what was at the time allegedly the worst slums in Europe in what was the British empires supposed 2nd city. However what makes it great is how it equally takes us into the lives of the privileged classes who also shared their lives and the very same streets with these people yet managed to remain largely oblivious and removed indeed one could almost term it unsoiled by these unfortunates. It sheds a great educational light on the pro empire sympathies of Dublin prior to the 1916 rising and also on the birth of Trade Unionism in Ireland from the beginnings of the ITGWU which in later years was to become SIPTU. What it also portrays very well through the bigoted snobbery of Fr O'Connor, is the fanatical grip that Archbishop McQuaid's Catholic Church in Ireland had made on the people of Dublin and beyond, a stranglehold with a litany of abuses and shameful episodes that would extend right into the early 1990's.
A couple of years ago this series was rescreened on RTE TV again on Sunday nights after which the entire re digitised version was released on DVD. For those that want a grasp of Irish history in the early years of the 20th century prior to nationalism and independence I can highly recommend this as an excellent produced dramatic accompaniment to further research
Irish drama at its best
dndcullens14 November 2005
Brought up on a diet of the "Riordans" and "Hall Pictorial weekly", the thought of Ireland's national broadcaster producing a "Shogun"-type of mini series was something of a surprise and so many people turned in to see just what a mess RTE would make of "Strumpet City". They were in for a surprise. What a superb drama which had everything except a big budget. The best of Irish talent was there could be no complaint about the acting. David Kelly, as "Rashers", was perhaps the best of the lot but even Peter O'Toole in his short time on the screen was brilliant. It will look dated now but at the time it was top quality and done on a very limited budget. I believe RTE had tried a similar effort on the 1916 rising earlier but no copies exist. What "Strumpet City" shows is that when RTE put their mind to it they can produce quality mini series but tend to stick with safe soap operas and quizzes. I will be adding this to my DVD collection if my wife gets the hint and surprises me at Christmas with it!!
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