Seamus Finnegan | |
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 Seamus Finnegan in Mishkenot Sha'ananim, Jerusalem 2012 | |
| Born | Seamus Finnegan 1 March 1949 |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, dramatist & lecturer |
| Years active | 1978–present |
Seamus Finnegan (born 1949) is a Northern Irish playwright. He lives in London, and was born in Belfast Northern Ireland on 1 March 1949. In 2010, Finnegan and American academic Carolyn Cummings-Osmond were married in London.
Born in Belfast Northern Ireland, he is the son of Mary (née Magee) and Billy Finnegan, a bricklayer. He went to St Mary's Grammar School where he was taught by the Irish Christian Brothers. At the outbreak of 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland, [1] he became a member of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement and the People's Democracy (a left wing student group led by amongst others, Bernadette McAliskey née Devlin). In 1971 he went to Manchester to read English, Drama and Education where he graduated and qualified as a teacher. He later moved to London where he taught at the Jews' Free School from 1974 to 1978.
Finnegan's first major play Act of Union was produced in 1980 at the Soho Poly Theatre [2] with the support of Bill Ash and of which Irving Wardle wrote in The Times : "It may seem a negative compliment to this extremely informative and well-written piece, but its main achievements are to have developed a highly theatrical pattern from dislocated fragments, and to have exposed some of the tangled loyalties and hatreds of the divided country without the smallest trace of sectarian bias". Soldiers, North and Mary's Men soon followed in the quartet of 'Troubles' plays.
In 1982, at the invitation of Kariel Gardosh, the Israeli Cultural Attaché in London, Finnegan's play James Joyce And The Israelites was performed at the First International Conference and Festival of Jewish Theater in Tel Aviv. [3] "An evening of undivided enjoyment... a non-Jewish play on a Jewish subject done with much understanding and sympathy" (Jerusalem Post).
In 1984, Tout, a play about informers in Northern Ireland was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed at the Barbican as part of the Thought Crimes At The Barbican season in memory of George Orwell and his 1984 .
1986 saw the production of The War Trilogy which included The Spanish Play, The German Connection and subsequently for BBC Radio 3 The Cemetery of Europe. Of The German Connection, which opened at the Young Vic, Andrew Rissik wrote in The Independent : 'Seamus Finnegan's The German Connection is an outstanding new play whose theme is tellingly summarised in the line, "Betrayal can make monsters of people... Finnegan's writing cuts through the potential melodrama with heart-breaking perception and skill... his dialogue has an urgent workaday vigour..."
In the mid-nineties, Finnegan was writer in residence at Mishkenot Sha’ananim in Jerusalem, where he collaborated with Israeli dramatist Miriam Kainy [4] on Hypatia and began work on his book about Israeli playwrights, Dialogues In Exile, with the help and support of Dani Horovitz, another Israeli dramatist.
Since 1998, Finnegan has worked closely with Scottish theatre director and artist, Ken McClymont [5] on more than seven productions, most notably, Dead Faces Laugh, Disapora Jigs, Murder In Bridgport and Spinoza and with Madani Younis at the Bush Theatre in 2012 on The Star In The Cross, a play set in the Budapest ghetto and Jerusalem in 1944.
Finnegan's latest work with director Ken McClymont: After Paris at Rosemary Branch Theatre in 2016 and I Am Of Ireland at Old Red Lion Theatre in June 2018, of which Julia Pascal wrote in londongrip, 'an epic piece of theatre rooted in Irish identity, politics and history';'a vivid production in sympathy with poetry of writing'.
MRS BURNS'S BLACK RANGE and SHALOM, BELFAST...awaiting production 2024/5
The Beautiful Nun, Wild Goat Press, 2020. MURDER IN BRIDGPORT,Wild Goat Press, 2021 MRS BURNS'S BLACK RANGE & MCGLINCHEY & FLANNAGAN,Amazon, 2023
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying its Southern part. Jesse and his sons, including King David, belonged to this tribe.
British Israelism is a pseudo-historical belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin. From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.
Finnegans Wake is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is known for its allusive and experimental style and its reputation as one of the most difficult works in literature. In 1924, it began to appear in installments under the title "fragments from Work in Progress". The final title was only revealed when the book was published on 4 May 1939.
Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
(William) Denis Johnston was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work on cosmology and philosophy. He also worked as a war correspondent, and as both a radio and television producer for the BBC. His first play, The Old Lady Says "No!", helped establish the worldwide reputation of the Dublin Gate Theatre; his second, The Moon in the Yellow River, has been performed around the globe in numerous productions featuring such storied names as James Mason, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Barry Fitzgerald, James Coco and Errol Flynn. Later plays dealt with the life of Swift, the 1916 Rebellion, the pursuit of justice, and the fear of death. He wrote two opera libretti and a pageant.
Jim Norton is an Irish stage, film and television character actor, known for his work in the theatre, most notably in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer, and on television as Bishop Brennan in the sitcom Father Ted.
Events from the year 1996 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1958 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1939 in Ireland.
The Skin of Our Teeth is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1942. It was produced by Michael Myerberg and directed by Elia Kazan with costumes by Mary Percy Schenck. The play is a three-part allegory about the life of mankind, centering on the Antrobus family of the fictional town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The epic comedy-drama is noted as among the most heterodox of classic American comedies, as it breaks nearly every established convention of theatrical performances that was in effect when Wilder wrote it.
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Black Hebrew Israelites are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees. Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.
Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), ChickLit, The Ghoul, The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), and The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2003).
The Ten Lost Tribes were those from the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. They were the following: Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim—all but Judah and Benjamin, both of which were based in the neighbouring Kingdom of Judah and therefore survived until the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Alongside Judah and Benjamin was part of the Tribe of Levi, which was not allowed land tenure, but received dedicated cities. The exile of Israel's population, known as the Assyrian captivity, occurred in line with long-standing Assyrian deportation policy, which was practiced in many subjugated territories.
The Lyric Theatre, or simply The Lyric, is the principal, full-time producing theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland.. In January 2023 it won The Stage's Theatre of the Year award in recognition of "its programme...as well as for its online festival of skills development sessions... and the their work to attract under-represented audiences through LGBT+ productions, as well as for their extensive education and outreach programme."
Dervish is an Irish traditional music group from County Sligo, Ireland which has been described by BBC Radio 3 as "an icon of Irish music". They were formed in 1989 by Liam Kelly, Shane Mitchell, Martin McGinley, Brian McDonagh, and Michael Holmes and have been fronted by singer Cathy Jordan since 1991. They represented Ireland in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, singing a song written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. In 2019 they released an album on the US Rounder Records label called The Great Irish Song Book featuring a selection of classic Irish songs sung by a number of well known singers including Steve Earle, Andrea Corr, Vince Gill, Kate Rusby, Imelda May, Rhiannon Giddens, The Steel Drivers, Brendan Gleeson, Abigail Washburn, and Jamey Johnson. In 2019 they received a lifetime achievement award from the BBC.
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Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny is a cultural centre located in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. The centre is located behind An Grianán Theatre on the Port Road in the town and is the leading cultural centre in north-west Ireland. It has been described as a cultural beacon by The Irish Times second only to Kilkenny City.
Ancient Israelite cuisine refers to the culinary practices of the Israelites from the Late Bronze Age arrival of Israelites in the Land of Israel through to the mass expulsion of Jews from Roman Judea in the 2nd century CE. Dietary staples among the Israelites were bread, wine, and olive oil; also included were legumes, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, fish, and meat.
Damer Hall, also known as Damer Theatre and An Damer, is a former theatre and former school located in the basement of the Dublin Unitarian Church at 112 St Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland.
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