Classic theatre with a message that still echoes in these times
IT’S interesting that this classic John B Keane play is having more life breathed into it when we are considering a referendum about the family. Sive is a play that Keane wrote and staged in 1959, and there are plenty who were alive at that time which isn’t so far away but in terms of societal change it may as well be light years ago.
Sive tells the story of a young girl who is being brought up by her aunt and uncle after the death of her mother, in the family homestead where her grandmother also still lives.
She is studying in the local convent, learning more than most thanks to a promise her Uncle Mike made to her mother when she was dying.
Sive is innocent and knows not where she came from, despite her constant questioning which is batted off by her grandmother.
Her Aunt Mena has no child of her own and is embittered by the fact that her niece is allowed to go to school and be educated while she toils on the farm.
But the appearance of Tomasheen Sean Rua, the local matchmaker, is about to send poor Sive’s life into turmoil.
An elderly farmer Sean Dota has set his sights on the young girl as a match, despite the huge age difference.
And he’s offering a sizeable amount of money for the privilege too – Sive will never want for anything while Mena and Mike will get comfort and the boost to their own coffers plus the added attraction of Nanna Glavin moving into Sean Dota’s farm with them.
The money turns Mena’s head and so she endeavours to make the match without Sive’s consent.
Sive in turn has fallen for Liam Scuab, a local lad whose cousin was the man who stole Sive’s mother’s heart, brought her to London and left her there where she met Sive’s father, also a fella who did a disappearing act which saw the poor woman coming home in shame.
In Keane’s day, the subject matter was radical as he courageously shone a light on the harsh doctrines of the time demanded by State and Church.
We are no longer in times where matchmakers hold power thank goodness and while it’s an old-fashioned concept, Keane’s work in the hands of such master players is something to behold.
Fionnula Flanagan as Nana is spectacular as she traverses between spite and sadness and her final scene is one that breaks hearts, as does John Rice playing the lovelorn Liam.
Denis Conway should be considered a national treasure and as the money-grabbing matchmaker Tomasheen commands the stage with comedy and rage.
Mena might be a battleaxe but through Norma Sheahan’s careful characterisation we see the frustration that her own life has left her with and the demands of convention that have tied her to her fate.
There is comedy amongst the tragedy too, and Larry Beau and Steve Wall as Travelling men Carthalawn and Pats Bocock provide a good few of the laughs and, it must be said, all of the singing.
Patrick Ryan as Mike Glavin is a tortured soul who is trying to do the right thing to protect the women and children in his life while John Olohan plays the bumbling Sean Dota.
Sive is on the current list for the Leaving Cert and if there are any reluctant students at home, this is the perfect way of helping breath life into drama that a modern day 17-year-old might have problems understanding. That, and they will get to see some actors at the top of their game showing audiences what good theatre is all about. A trip to see this production would certainly be an education for anyone.
As the title role, Sade Malone as Sive illuminates the stage and there is no doubt we will see more of her in the future. She may not have much of a voice as the central character here, but surely that is the point that John B Keane was trying to make back in 1959, and one that’s still sadly all too relevant today in an era where the phrase protecting women and children is still being bandied about by people with only their own gains in mind.