REBELLION
Written by Colin Teevan
Produced by Catherine Magee
Directed by Aku Louhimies
Episode Two
News of the disastrous set-back spreads and the manoeuvres behind the planned uprising are rescinded. The Rising is off and Jimmy abandons the proclamation he has spent all night printing. Frances refuses to accept that her dream is in tatters while Elizabeth resigns herself to marriage to Stephen.
Plans change and a decision is made to carry on with the Rebellion. Ingrid arrives from Belfast in search of her childhood sweetheart George as the first shots of the Rising are fired outside the Castle. She stumbles in to the midst of the storming of the GPO, Frances and the St Enda’s boys among the assailants.
CAST
ELIZABETH BUTLER: Charlie Murphy
FRANCES O’ FLAHERTY: Ruth Bradley
MAY LACY: Sarah Greene
JIMMY MAHON: Brian Gleeson
ARTHUR MAHON: Barry Ward
DOLLY BUTLER: Michelle Fairley
EDWARD BUTLER: Ian McElhinney
HARRY BUTLER: Michael Ford-Fitzgerald
STEPHEN DUFFY – LYONS: Paul Reid
CHARLES HAMMOND: Tom Turner
VANESSA HAMMOND: Perdita Weeks
GEORGE WILSON: Andrew Simpson
INGRID WEBSTER: Sophie Robinson
About Rebellion
RTÉ’s new five-part 1916 commemorative drama Rebellion begins with the outbreak of World War I. As expectations of a short and glorious campaign are dashed, social stability is eroded and Irish nationalism comes to the fore. The tumultuous events that follow are seen through the eyes of a group of friends from Dublin, Belfast and London as they play vital and conflicting roles in the narrative of Ireland’s independence. Some prioritise family loyalties; some are motivated by the noblest of ideals or opportunism, while others take up arms, prepared to sacrifice everything for the dream of a better society.
Our story is told from the perspectives of men and women of their time. Husbands and wives. Sons and daughters. Brothers and sisters. Through these fictional characters, we dramatise the experience of living through a time of violent upheaval.
There are points in the history of all nations when lives are torn apart by tumultuous political events. Points when people have been forced to take sides. Points when societies unleash violent attack from fundamentalist extremists or political zealots. Rebellion is a drama that shows us what it feels like to be caught up in such events
We meet Elizabeth (Charlie Murphy), a young middle-class Irish woman, a student doctor. Idealistic and a campaigner for women’s rights she abandons her life of privilege, to devote herself to the revolutionary cause. Her dissolute libertine brother, Harry, (Michael Ford-Fitzgerald) watches from the side, enthralled by the action but interested only in spending his time more usefully pursuing life’s pleasures. We meet Arthur (Barry Ward), an Irishman who enlisted as a soldier in the British Army to fight the Germans in order to support his family, but who finds himself fighting his own brother (Jimmy -Brian Gleeson, a socialist revolutionary) on the streets of Dublin. Frances O’Flaherty (Ruth Bradley), is the earnest and committed republican who is determined to fight for her country whatever the costs to herself and her countrymen. We meet Charles (Tom Turner), a British administrator, who finds he has more sympathy with his adopted nation than the Empire that employs him. May (Sarah Greene), is a civil servant working in Dublin Castle. Her romantic entanglement with Charles looks like betrayal to her Irish peers. George (Andrew Simpson), Belfast born, Protestant, is a barrister with republican leanings. These are just a few of the complex, diverse characters that feature in our multi-stranded drama.
The series covers the events of 1916, beginning with the Easter Rising in Dublin. Our characters cross paths with well-known figures from history. Real-life characters from the time, such as Pearse, Connolly, DeValera, Countess Markievicz, Dr. Kathleen Lynn, are present in the drama and the context of the storytelling reflects the social, cultural and political events of the time. Rebellion is a drama, not a history lesson. It is about showing how people, in extraordinary times, are in Yeats’ words ‘changed utterly.’
Written by Colin Teevan, directed by Finnish director Aku Louhimies & produced by Catherine Magee for Zodiak Media Ireland Ltd.
***Please note additional imagery is available under embargo – please email rayna.connery@rte.ie***