Hourglass to stage The Field

FOR many, The Field is less a stage play than a film and it brings to mind Richard Harris’ oscar-nominated performance as the Bull McCabe.

 

Of course, The Field was written for the stage by the late John B Keane and will be performed at Glór on February 4 and 5 by Hourglass Theatre Company. Both performances are during the day time and will be suitable for Junior Cert programmes.

Ian Patterson founded Hourglass and he acknowledges that people might have some false expectations of the play.

“A lot of people’s understanding of The Field comes from the film and I think they’re kind of surprised by the differences in the play, which is, of course, the original script. The film gives the impression that the Bull McCabe goes mad because he kills the outsider and he loses his son but that doesn’t happen in the play. The son survives, they get the field and they don’t have to answer for their crimes.

“That’s a big difference between the two versions and the other thing is that there are some characters in the film that you don’t have in the play and vice versa. In the film, you have the tinker girl and that doesn’t exist in the play. In the film, the outsider is an American, in the play he’s from Galway but he’s lived in England and built up a business there over 12 years. The bar owner’s wife features strongly in the play but she doesn’t exist in the film. In the film version, you see the Bull McCabe’s wife but she’s not in the play so you have all of those differences.”

In some ways, Keane’s play was sanitised for the film. “It is a dark play and that’s one of the main reasons why they changed the play so much for the film. It was felt that for an American audience, in particular, it didn’t have that very strong moral resolution. It’s very ambiguous in the stage version, in that they commit the crime, the village goes into a conspiracy of silence, they don’t help the police, they don’t help the priest when it comes to the investigations and basically they get their field and get away with the crime.”

The company was founded two years ago and it was an extremely difficult time, as theatre companies have been hit very hard by the downturn.

While the recession has led to more productions of one-man shows and plays with small casts, The Field has a fairly large cast.

“There are some actors that are doubling up. That’s possible in some cases but it’s pretty much an ensemble piece and there are a couple of scenes where you would have a lot of characters on the stage at one time. There’s a cast of 10.”

On a personal level, Ian says he really likes the play. “I love it, it’s a very strong play in a lot of respects, very strong characterisation and it’s got a very strong narrative. It’s a very good story and it says a lot about the Irish character, I think.”

The Field was first performed in 1965 and the character of the Bull McCabe was based on a man named Dan Foley, who died shortly beforehand.

In 1959, a bachelor farmer called Moss Moore was murdered in Kerry and Foley, his nearest neighbour, a former member of the IRA, was suspected as the two had been engaged in a bitter dispute over the positioning of a fence.

While Foley was never prosecuted, he was boycotted by the local community and, on two occasions, rifles were fired on his home.

His living relatives still maintain his innocence.