River of Thorns
A new play on the life of the extraordinary Irish woman, Margaret Kearney Taylor
River of Thorns is a new play, written by Féilim James, directed by Eric Weitz, performed by Michelle Costello, designed by Áine O Hara and produced by Mary Moynihan and Freda Manweiler.
River of Thorns tells the story of Margaret Kearney Taylor, an Irishwoman who escapes extreme poverty to mix with the elite of Spanish society, running the prestigious Embassy tearoom in Madrid. Yet when the Second World War strikes, and word spreads of Nazi death camps, Margaret is compelled to act, to risk it all for the sake of humanity despite living in a fascist state. Charting her journey from an austere English workhouse to the glamour of Spanish high life, to secret wartime saviour, this dramatic one-woman monologue is both riveting and moving, exploring what it means to be human in a time of massive injustice.
River of Thorns receives its world premiere at the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival, with five performances only taking place at the Chester Beatty hosted, Dublin Castle hosted by Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality in partnership IFESCOOP, Valencia, Spain; University of Hannover, Germany; and Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Lodzi, Poland. Each performance of River of Thorns is followed by a post-show discussion with the artists involved.
River of Thorns is presented as part of the ‘State of the Art: Nation State as Both Violator and Protector of Human Rights’ project, funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and as part of the ‘Forgotten Voices: Stories of Hope, Courage and Resilience from the Holocaust and WWII’ project, funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the EU.
Image: Golden Bride, courtesy of Linda Greene
Tickets: €15 / €12. Book via the links below.