A large audience turned out for a special performance a new play by renowned Limerick playwright Mike Finn.
The Rising of the Women tells the story of John Ford’s visit to film in Limerick in the 1950’s and how local women who were cast as extras went on strike.

Some well-known names from the world of Limerick theatre took part in the rehearsed reading along with actors from the local King’s Island community.

The hall of St Mary’s National School was the venue for the reading which was directed by Joan Sheehy.

Speaking to Live 95 News Mike Finn says he hopes the project will receive the necessary funding to be produced on a larger scale.

The fascinating story of those Limerick women who stood up to the world of Hollywood in 1956 clearly went down well with the Limerick audience who got a taste of what a bigger production of the play might look like.

In 1956, legendary film director John Ford came to Limerick to film scenes for his film The Rising Of The Moon.

This being his first film since the success of The Quiet Man, the new film was eagerly anticipated and the great man’s arrival in the Treaty City was the cause of great excitement.

Amid the glamour and the clamour, two hundred women were recruited from the Labour Exchange to be extras.

Their job was to portray worried citizens, anxiously reciting the rosary outside King John’s Castle while inside, a condemned rebel awaited execution at the hands of the Black and Tans.

Midway through the first day’s shooting, the extras discovered that the buns provided for lunch were stale and that their pay was to be six shillings and eight pence rather than the promised ten bob. There was nothing for it but to strike! While they were at it, they also demanded porter to wash down the buns!

The rehearsed reading was produced by The GAFF which facilitates direct connection between artists, communities and the wider public in Limerick.

After successes like Pigtown, Bread Not Profits and Waiting for Poirot – it’s now hoped Mike Finn’s latest capturing of a uniquely Limerick story can secure the necessary funding to produce on a bigger scale.

Article: Story of Limerick women standing up to Hollywood gets first outing – Live95 FM