Eclipsed by Patricia Burke Brogan
Synopsis
Framed by a present-day prologue and epilogue, the play is set in 1963 in a convent laundry at St. Paul's Home for Penitent Women in Killmacha, Ireland.
'Eclipsed' explores the practice of making pregnant and unwed Irish mothers work as 'penitents' in church-run laundries.
Reviews
'Mothers for a moment, then cloistered forever. ... powerful and thought-provoking.' The New York Times
'A sterling ensemble achievement, alternately scalding and magical in its theatricality.' Los Angeles Times
'Despite a seemingly bleak and dark subject matter, the play is filled with humour and celebration ... and the script is well-crafted and subtly poetic. This is a fine piece of work and deserves a large audience.' Seattle Fringe Review Rag
About the Author
Patricia Burke Brogan's first play, Eclipsed, has won many international awards including a Fringe First at Edinburgh, the USA Moss Hart Theatre Award, and Best of the Fringe at Seattle. She received an Arts Council Bursary in Literature in 1993 and a European Script Writers' Fund in 1994. She has won awards for her poems, etchings and short stories. Above the Waves Calligraphy, her collection of poems and etchings, was published by Salmon Press in 1994.