The Rough Field By John Montague


The Rough Field  by John Montague With Gerard McSorley, Barry Cassin and Fionnuala Flanagan John Montague's masterwork is more than a landmark in 20th century Irish poetry. It is a landscape and a whole micro-climate; and, like all ecosystems, it has influenced the cultural well-being and the social weather of our human community over almost fifty years. The only silver lining in the cloud-shape of the poet's recent death is the commemorative imperative to broadcast again, albeit in abridged form, his meditation on self and other in the tormented reflex of national history.  The text is performed by fellow Tyrone artist and actor Gerard McSorley, who is befriended by two of the most celebrated members of the Abbey Theatre company, Barry Cassin and Fionnuala Flanagan. Producer was Aidan Mathews RTÉ Radio 1 Drama on One Sunday 15th January 2017 Recognised as a classic of contemporary Irish writing. This extended meditation on Ulster, the province by which John Montague‘s poems have been haunted, presents in counterpoint some of the auhor’s finest work. The historical and personal, autobiographical and mythological, blend in a magnificent exploration of his own and his people’s inheritance.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.