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35-602: The play is set in Mountjoy Prison , Dublin . The anti-hero of the play, The Quare Fellow, is never seen or heard; he functions as the play's central conceit. He is a man condemned to die on the following day, for killing his brother. It revolts his fellow inmates far less than that of The Other Fellow, a very camp, almost Wildean , homosexual man. There are three generations of prisoners in Mountjoy including boisterous youngsters who can irritate both other inmates and

70-732: A Garda officer, Charlie Kerins , former Chief of Staff to the Anti-Treaty IRA , was hanged at Mountjoy Prison on 1 December 1944. The last execution carried out in the Republic of Ireland, that of Michael Manning , took place in Mountjoy Prison on 20 April 1954. Some Irish leaders involved with the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War were held there. On 14 May 1921, an IRA team led by Paddy Daly and Emmet Dalton mounted an attempt to rescue Sean McEoin from

105-410: A gay character, but he is referred to as The Other Fellow. In Ireland, the word 'quare' has also come to be used in a context that means "remarkable" (e.g. "That's a quare day" or "she's a quare singer"), which is most likely the sense in which Behan intends it to be read. It is also used to add accentuation to an adjective, usually as an alternative to 'very' (e.g. "he's a quare good pianist" or "that

140-462: A man's life is examined from many different angles: his fellow prisoners of all hues, the great and the good and the prison officers. The play is a grimly realistic portrait of prison life in Ireland in the 1950s, and a reminder of the days in which homosexuality was illegal and the death penalty relatively common (35 people were executed between 1923 and 1954, about one every 10½ months). The play

175-401: A number of prisoners attacked three prison officers with pool cues and balls during recreation. Reinforcements were brought in from around Dublin to quell the riot and a number of Alsatians dogs from the riot unit were also deployed. In 2016, figures were released showing that Mountjoy Prison saw a disproportionate number of prisoners hospitalised due to assaults and self-harm. In response,

210-427: A period in separate confinement before being transferred to Spike Island and transported from there to Van Diemen's Land . A total of 46 prisoners (including one woman, Annie Walsh) were executed within the walls of the prison, prior to the abolition of capital punishment. Executions were carried out by hanging and firing squads, after which the bodies of the dead were taken down from the gallows and buried within

245-508: A shower block and a laundry. In the late 1980s, inmates diagnosed with HIV or AIDS were housed in the separation unit. This policy was brought to an end on 1 January 1995. Following the unit's refurbishment in 1997, all cells had in-cell sanitation. The separation unit was closed indefinitely in 2014 following an inspection by the Inspector of Prisons. The Mountjoy Campus is home to three other separate penal facilities. A former governor

280-470: A song called Mountjoy about the prison. Bryanston Films (UK) Bryanston Films was a British film company formed by Michael Balcon and Maxwell Setton in mid-1959 following the collapse of Ealing Studios . Neither a production studio, nor a distributor, it released independent British films through British Lion Films In operation until 1963, it was intended to be an unofficial group of independent film producers. The Bryanston consortium

315-659: A spectacular escape by a hijacked helicopter by three Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners, Kevin Mallon, Seamus Twomey and Joe B. O'Hagan . By 2006, a 60-hectare site had been acquired for €30 million at Thornton Hall, Fingal , where a replacement for Mountjoy was to be constructed. The new facility was intended to accommodate 1,400 prisoners. The site was planned to include court facilities, video-conference links, medical and therapeutic facilities, but due to government cutbacks these plans have now been sidelined. In August 2006, prisoners who were normally separated from

350-596: Is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin , Ireland . The current prison Governor is Ray Murtagh. Mountjoy was designed by Captain Joshua Jebb of the Royal Engineers and opened in 1850. It was based on the design of London's Pentonville Prison also designed by Jebb. Originally intended as the first stop for men sentenced to transportation , they would spend

385-402: Is an on-site kitchen and bakery where trusted inmates are given employment under supervision. The Medical Unit, otherwise referred to as the drug detoxification unit, is a three-storied structure. It provides accommodation for sixty prisoners in forty-eight single-person cells and three cells that can accommodate up to four people. All the cells in this unit have in-cell sanitation facilities. It

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420-478: Is based on Behan's own prison experiences, and highlights the perceived barbarity of capital punishment , then in use in Ireland. The play also attacks the false piety in attitudes to sex, politics and religion. The title is taken from a Hiberno-English pronunciation of queer , meaning "strange" or "unusual". In context, the word lacks the denotation of homosexuality that it holds today. The play does feature

455-654: Is equipped with medical facilities, classrooms and kitchen facilities. The Inspector of Prisons reported in 2009 that this unit was bright and clean and did not suffer from overcrowding. The Controlled Behavioural Unit, known as the CBU or the Block, is used for unruly prisoners or those on punishment and is located in the 'C' Base, underneath the C wing. This includes 24-hour lock-up, with the exception of one hour of open-air exercise, and no integration with other inmates. The Separation Unit had 35 cells. It also had kitchen facilities

490-553: Is unconvincing as the Quare Fellow's promiscuous wife. The best performance comes from Walter Macken, compassionately cynical as the warder Regan, one of the few characters who still has a bit of Behan in him. Arthur Dreifuss' direction is quite effective on the unsubtle level dictated by his script." Kine Weekly called it "challenging stuff, enacted by an all-but-flawless cast." Variety called it "grim entertainment." Filmink magazine argued "Syms’ character wasn’t in

525-412: The 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes , protesting being interned without charges or trial and poor prison conditions. Close to 500 men began the hunger strike in Mountjoy and the strike quickly spread to other camps and prisons with over 5,000 prisoners taking part nationwide. Andy O'Sullivan , from County Cavan, died on hunger strike on 23 November 1923 in Mountjoy Prison. After being convicted of murdering

560-707: The Comedy Theatre , London. In September 1956 the Abbey Theatre finally performed The Quare Fellow . It had such success that the Abbey's artistic director, Ria Mooney , pushed the next play back to allow The Quare Fellow to run for six weeks. In October 1956 it transferred to Streatham Hill Theatre . Its first New York performance was on 27 November 1958 at the Circle in the Square Theatre . In 1962

595-782: The Irish Film Finance Corporation. It was shot in Dublin, including location work at Kilmainham Gaol , with studio work done at Ardmore Studios. Filming started in November 1961. The film had its world premiere at the Seventh Cork International Film Festival. Britain submitted the film to the Venice Film Festival but they rejected it in favour of Term of Trial . The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "In

630-587: The Irish Penal Reform Trust said the "ongoing levels of violence and intimidation in Irish prisons, particularly in Mountjoy Prison, must be addressed". Mountjoy Prison is constructed along a radial design with four main wings, A through D, each of which has three landings, as well as an underground basement landing. The wings are connected to a central circle, known simply as 'the circle'. When originally built in 1850 it had 500 cells each of which

665-430: The audience and the weary old lags Neighbour and "methylated martyr" Dunlavin. The first act is played out in the cramped area outside five cells and is comedic . After the interval, the pace slows considerably and the play becomes much darker, as the time for the execution approaches. The focus moves to the exercise yard and to the workers who are digging the grave for the soon-to-be-executed Quare Fellow. The taking of

700-600: The distributors tend to ask us for old formula films. Many of us have said this has forced us to be less enterprising than we would wish to be. But now the onus is on us. If I submit a script to Bryanston, I know it will be vetted by fellow producers whose opinions I respect. The company started off with £1,000,000. In November 1961 the company announced it would go into co-production with Seven Arts Productions , to make Sammy Going South and Tom Jones . Bryanston distributed several films made by Woodfall Film Productions but refused to produce Tom Jones (1963) in colour,

735-494: The enclosed world of the play and extended it to the people who are affected in the world outside the prison gates. We have continued the tangent' we have not drawn another line on the plot's graph." Dreifuss says they tried to end the piece with an upbeat ending. "We're trying to bring the thing full circle," he said. Behan was unhappy with the changes. Finance was obtained from Bryanston Films , Pathé Corporation in America and

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770-435: The film the centre has been shifted from the prison and its inmates in general, to a "hero", the new young, warder who begins by seeing everything as either black or white and (discovering that men can be gaoled for stealing firewood, and hanged for killing the seducers of their wives) comes to appreciate the existence of innumerable shades of grey. Patrick McGoohan gives a lightweight performance as this innocent, and Sylvia Syms

805-436: The movie. "The subject scares all hell out of the movie magnates," he said. "We really are making this film on faith, spit and belief." Originally, Behan was asked to write the script. In the end, Dreifuss did it himself with additional dialogue by James McKenna, author of The Scattering . The script made substantial changes to Behan's original. "We have made explicit what was implicit in the play," said Dreifuss. "We have taken

840-574: The play but became the focus of the film, which caused her to get worse reviews than she deserved (from the few people who saw it). She’s actually quite good in a less typical performance (lower class, trash bag) – although the film should’ve been closer to the play." " The Auld Triangle ", a song from the opening of the play, has become an Irish music standard and is known by many who are unaware of its link to The Quare Fellow . Mountjoy Prison Mountjoy Prison ( Irish : Príosún Mhuinseo ), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed The Joy ,

875-401: The play was adapted for the screen and directed by Arthur Dreifuss and starred Patrick McGoohan , Sylvia Syms and Walter Macken . Although the film received some favourable reviews, it is not regarded as a faithful adaptation of the play. Thomas Crimmin is a new warder at a Dublin prison where two men are condemned to die. One has his sentence commuted. Crimmin falls in love with Kathleen,

910-466: The prison grounds in unmarked graves . The list of Irish republican prisoners executed at Mountjoy Prison includes: Annie Walsh from Limerick, who was found guilty of murdering her husband, was executed in Mountjoy prison on 5 August 1925. She remains the only woman ever executed by the Irish State which was founded in 1922. On 13 October 1923, Irish Republican prisoners in Mountjoy Prison began

945-452: The prison. They used a captured armoured car to gain access to Mountjoy, but were discovered and had to shoot their way out. The Fenian poet, author of the popular song "Rising of the Moon", John Keegan 'Leo' Casey was imprisoned here during the 1860s; subsequently in the 20th century, playwright and IRA activist Brendan Behan was also gaoled within. On 31 October 1973, it was the scene of

980-515: The rest of the population for safety were mixed together for a night with mentally ill inmate Stephen Egan. Prisoner Gary Douche was killed by Egan who was found not guilty of murder due to a lack of responsibility. This prompted the Minister of Justice to seek a limit of 520 inmates on the capacity of the prison. In October 2010, the prison was placed under lockdown after a night of violence and rioting involving more than 70 inmates. It started when

1015-905: The street to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital on 25 September 1916 where he died a few hours after arrival. Peadar O'Donnell , IRA Commander of the 2nd Northern Division, was imprisoned in Mountjoy Gaol and the Curragh. Following the end of the Irish Civil War, he participated in the mass republican hunger strike (1923 Irish Hunger Strikes), remaining on hunger strike for 41 days. O'Donnell's prison experience and eventual escape in March 1924 are described in his 1932 memoir The Gates Flew Open . Morrissey 's 2014 album World Peace Is None of Your Business by includes

1050-426: The wife of the other prisoner, the "quare fellow". Kathleen tells Crimmin her husband found her in bed with his brother and that was why her husband killed him. The quare fellow is hanged. Blondefilm and CBS were interested in the film rights. However, in the end, the rights were bought for £2,000 by Arthur Dreifuss. Dreifuss was under contract to Columbia Pictures at the time but could not interest them in making

1085-573: Was Charles Arthur Munro, brother of the Edwardian satirist Saki . The schizophrenic French surrealist playwright Antonin Artaud was briefly detained in Mountjoy before his deportation from Ireland as "a destitute and undesirable alien". Thomas Ashe was also a former inmate of the jail for his involvement in the Easter Rising 1916. After a protest of starvation, he was transferred across

The Quare Fellow - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-675: Was composed of 12 to 15 members who bought their way in by putting up £5,000; the equity of the group guaranteed distribution through British Lion and financing from the National Film Finance Corporation , banks, and American producers. In addition to Balcon and Setton, members included Kenneth Shipman, John Bryan, Tony Richardson , Julian Wintle and Ronald Neame . Alliance Films, Denham Laboratories and Lloyds Bank were also investors. Producer-investors were meant to "vet" each other's scripts. Ronald Neame said that: The old complaint of producers has always been that

1155-551: Was deemed that 'prisoners were using too much water'. However, all cells in the main jail have in-cell sanitation following refurbishment in the period 2010 to 2015. These cells contain a toilet, a sink, a television and a small kettle. Facilities in the prison include gymnasiums, computer classes, carpentry, masonry and a wide variety of school activities such as music, drama and cookery. Prisoners can undertake to complete academic exams in school such as Junior Certificate, Leaving Certificate and even Open University. Additionally, there

1190-414: Was designed for single capacity. Many parts of the original building have either been renovated or destroyed. At the time of the 2009 inspection, there were 371 cells in the main unit of the prison. These are the original cells which were built in 1850 for single occupancy. Their size varies from 3.91m x 2.06m to 3.43m x 2.06m. The prison was built with in-cell sanitation but this was removed in 1939 when it

1225-626: Was quare heavy rain this morning"). The word remains in common use in Ireland. The play was offered to Dublin 's Abbey Theatre , but was turned down. It premièred at the Pike Theatre Club , Herbert Lane, Dublin, on 19 November 1954 to critical success. The Quare Fellow had its London première in May 1956 at Joan Littlewood 's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East . On 24 July 1956 it transferred to

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