Sara Keating on theatre: Recreating the revolutionary history of a Rathfarnham park

Smashing Times Theatre Company tells the stories of some of the famous historical figures, such as Padraig Pearse, associated with St Enda’s Park

Michael McCabe narrates the story of Robert Emmet, who had secret meetings with his lover Sarah Curran on the grounds of St Enda’s Park in Rathfarnham in the years before the 1803 rebellion. Picture: Declan Brennan

Easter Sunday has a special significance in Irish history, marking as it does the final surrender of the rebels who orchestrated the 1916 Rising. The leaders had deliberately chosen Easter Weekend as the date for their ill-fated rebellion.

As their countrymen and women celebrated the death and rebirth of Jesus, they were hoping their military manoeuvres would mark the death of colonial rule, and the rebirth of Ireland as an independent nation. Of course, the ...