A GROUP OF writers will share their experiences of the Dublin Riots this coming Culture Night in the capital.
Dublin Riots – What Happened? will take place at the Lab in Foley St on Friday 20 September, organised by I Nua writers group. The free event will be part of the Culture Night festivities, and it’s hoped that a larger event will take place on the anniversary of the riots in November.
On the evening of 23 November last year, violent scenes occurred in the city centre, culminating in a bus and a Luas being set on fire on O’Connell St. The events unfolded in the wake of a young girl being seriously assaulted on Parnell Square East.
Certain online accounts and WhatsApp messages encouraged people to go to the city centre and attack gardaí, immigrants and politicians, following speculation about the attacker’s identity.
Incidents in the city that night included rioting, looting of department stores and violence against the gardaí.
There was widespread condemnation of what occurred, with the Taoiseach promising the Government would modernise Ireland’s laws against incitement to hatred following the riots.
‘Everyone knows where they were on the night’
The I Nua group of playwrights met at the Irish Writers Centre this summer, where they discussed the possibility of staging a night exploring their experiences.
The writers all come from very different backgrounds and their pieces on the riots will reflect their perspective of what occurred on the night and how the aftermath affected them, says I Nua member and Ballymun playwright Lisa Walsh.
“Anybody I’ve spoken to since November knows exactly where they were on the night,” says Walsh. “I happened to get caught up in it – I was at Manchán Magan’s book launch on the southside and trying to get to the northside.”
She has written a semi-fictional piece based on her experience, and recalls: “The guards in Christchurch were lined up with their riot shields. They were only young fellas. And one of them was shaking, his shield was shaking, and [I remember thinking] he was the same age as my son. He was terrified.”
Walsh’s monologue will be performed alongside work by Vietnamese-Irish-American playwright Brigid Leahy; Co Leitrim writer, actor and director Charlie McGuinness; theatre director, performer and writer Kathleen Warner Yeates; writer Kelly Hickey; writer and actor Linda Teehan; Japanese theatre translator/poet Mai Ishikawa; writer actor and producer Melissa Nolan; and emerging playwright Susan Lynch.
While the riots sparked off weeks of discussion, Walsh feels that they haven’t been publicly explored through art yet in Ireland. “My feeling about this is nobody’s writing about it, or talking about it,” she says.
“Really, for me, my piece was about trying to understand what is going on. I was terrified for myself and the people around me. I was not safe in my own city. I witnessed loads of violence – but I also got a hug from a garda at the Ha’penny bridge.”
For Walsh, exploring the Dublin riots through theatre is particularly important now, rather than waiting to reflect on it further into the future.
“I think we should be talking about it, and I think it should be explored,” she says. “I would hope that [our event] would give permission to people to talk about this thing, and to say this massive event, this historical event, happened only last year. And nobody seems to be talking about it. Why? Are we afraid?”
‘For the migrant community, it’s been really hard’
Another participant in the show is poet and theatre translator Mai Ishikawa, who has lived in Dublin for four and a half years. Originally from Japan, she was making her way home from Axis: Ballymun when the rioting broke out.
When Lisa Walsh approached her about the project, she was already writing a poem about the riots. “It was a topic that really interests me, because for the migrant community, it’s been really hard,” she tells The Journal.
While she avoided the height of the violence, Ishikawa had been experiencing street harassment and name-calling in the city centre before the riots. Though she says most people are nice towards her, because of what occurred she now avoids the city centre unless absolutely necessary.
“I just don’t go there at night. I go there only if I really have to, and I always take my husband. I just became ultra vigilant in terms of going into the city centre,” she says.
As a poet, writing about experiences like the riots is “healing”, says Ishikawa. “It’s a nice process as you go deep into it, and it’s not about accusing someone else, or finger-pointing. It’s really about – gosh, what happened there? It’s a literary reflection on the event. It’s really meditative.”
Ishikawa has also noticed a dearth of artistic responses to the riots so far. “It’s a really weird feeling that that huge flame was there that night, and it died down instantly. But then it’s all around us, lingering, which is kind of strange. I’m trying to still figure it out. It’s a bit scary for me as well to take part in this event, but it’s really important to talk about it in public.”
She adds: “All the writers have very different perspectives. Mine is a perspective from a migrant, immigrant point of view.”
The writers hope that Dublin Riots – What Happened? will help spark a new level of discussion about the events of 23 November 2023.
“The show, we hope, gives space for a discussion and contemplation of really difficult issues in Ireland today and let the emotional effects resonate with our audience,” says Lisa Walsh.
Dublin Riots – What Happened? will take place at The Lab on Foley Street in Dublin on Culture Night, 20 September. Tickets are free but need to be reserved in advance here.
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