Comment, not confilct

Neil Donnelly's play "The Sivler Dollar Boys" won the 1982 Harvey's Award for the Best Irish Play of the year. In this interview with Paddy Agnew, Neil Donnelly discusses some of the play's themes and preoccupations.

How much was concern about the nature of education in Ireland the primary reason for writing this play?

One of the reasons why I wanted to write this play was because I had exxperienced both sides of the coin, I had had the experience of education both as pupil and teacher. As a pupil I had had a particular experience of the system and when. I became a teacher myself I tried very unconssciously to be aware of the ignorances of my own teachers. I would definitely lean very far away from the authoriitarian form of education which I myself experienced ...

. . . However what this play is essenntially trying to do is to look at the education of a group of people in the late sixties who are taught by teachers whose own formative education was in the forties and fifties. These teachers are totally ill-equipped to give the boys anything that is going to be of substance or usefulness to them, since much of those boys lives will be lived in the seventies, eighties and nineties which is obviously a very different era from the fifties.

Is that why Brother Lorcan remarks so early in the opening scene that he would "send pupils out into the world equipped with knowledge of how to deal with that world. Of how to get a job, get a house, get their names down on the ballot" paper at election time for the man an the party who 'II get them better housin', better transsport and better pensions. "?

Yes, absolutely. And .everything else that happens subsequently is trying to tum that on its head.

How do you think a Christian Broothers education in 1982 compares to the education of the late sixties that you portray in "Silver Dollar Boys"?

It is impossible for me to be a school boy again in 1982, so it is impossible for me to answer that. But the commments that I have had from teachers and pupils are that what the play portrays is not that far removed from what happens today. Aspects of that way of dealing with people still persist. Obbviously there is more enlightenment now as to the effect which that type of battering had on someone's sensiibility, there is greater awareness now. Yet ultimately schools are concerned with the same practical end product, that is supplying people with a little ticket which is going to get them a job. But unfortunately there are no jobs, so a lot of people are getting tickets which are worthless.

A tone p oin t in a maths class Brother Lorcan administers such a violent beating to Billy, that the boy is apparently knocked unconscious. Is the portrait of Brother Lorcan in any way unfair, seeing him as something of a frustrated psychopath?

No I don't think so. I think he is a very frustrated and unhappy man. Possibly he was recruited into the Christian Brothers at a time when the recruiting brother offered him this red apple, a way out of the small farm, poor family situation. The reasons why people do things are always very unclear, people never really discover why. Lorcan said he wanted to teach, but ultimately that was not the main reason why he became a brother. He chose the wrong profession at a time when there was no career guidance and little choice.

How typical of the period was Brother Duffy's history lesson?

It is a more or less verbatim reproducction of the type of history lesson which I received from a particular brother ... It is important to rememmber that at the time when Duffy was full of nationalism and nationalist rhetoric, it was easy to be a nationallist, that is in the fifties and early sixxties.

Is the fact that the population of the 26 counties does not want to know about what is happening in the North one of the play's main preoccupations? I am thinking for example of the scene where Bob takes the leaflet about Burntollet Bridge, asks "what's this all about?" and throws it to the ground.

The question of the North is a preeoccupation of the play, but not the primary one. The play is trying to deal with things that confront young peoople when they are leaving school. The majority of such young people are not directly concerned with events in other parts of Ireland. Rather they are concerned about getting a job, getting money, becoming independent, workking out their lives ... As for Bob, he too is unconcerned by the North. He is incubated by material success, he is. not worried about unemployyment or discrimination. He can hire and fire people ... People like Bob, and Lorenzo as well, the success stories of the Irish capitalist system are what this country admires. They represent the lust for materialism, which is a comparable sickness to whatever sickness Billy may repressent in his development into some form of urban terrorist.

How important is the text which the boys are reading in Kelliher's English class? (See Panel)

I feel this is a very important speech, and for that reason I want it quoted in the programme. The quote is from "The Pleasure of Hating" by Hazlett and I think it sums up an awful lot of what happens in the play. Each line touches on one of the play's themes. Hatred alone is. immortal, for example, obviously refers to Billy.

For this production, you have made changes to the original version. What changes and why?

The final swimming pool scene has been changed. That scene was trying to be too dramatic and it did not work and it lent too much importance to a side issue in the play. This is a play of comment, not of conflict.