RTE's Rebellion: Dubs Blowing Up Dublin

15th Jan 2016

It isn’t often the PROC spends time watching the pro-Dublin television channel RTÉ. Mostly it features programming that isn’t about Cork so there’s little in it for the likes of ourselves here at PROC’s underground bunker and war room albeit it does occasionally allow us to get a glimpse into the lives of the enemy.

It may come as a surprise to our readers, however, that we highly recommend watching a new series on Dublin4 TV that is almost entirely about Dirty Aul Town itself.
 

Rebellion

Yes, the PROC is seriously suggesting you put down your hurley (you can always practice your hand-passing against a wall while watching telly) and grab some tripe and drisheen flavoured popcorn for a highly entertaining hour on the box every Sunday night.

Rebellion is a five part series about the failed 1916 Easter rising and is full of delightful high definition footage of Dublin being blown up and turned inside out by the Dubs themselves. Unlike Cork City that was burned down by English Black and Tans in December 1920 this wonderful programme shows the destruction wrought on their town by Dubliners themselves on both sides of the rising.
 

Sarah Greene who plays May Lacy. You probably played pool with her the Vic once.

Can you imagine any Corkonian blasting their way into the GPO on Oliver Plunkett Street and terrifying their fellow citizens? The awkwardness and sheer mortification of kicking your postal-company working next door neighbour out of a job at gun point would be too much. And can you imagine any Corkonian who grew up to the sounds of “Echo! Echo!” pressing fire on mortar rounds to destroy beautiful buildings on Leeside from the safety of a big ugly navy boat down at Horgan’s Quay? No chance.

The Dubs of the British Army and the Dubs of the Irish Volunteers showed a dark enthusiasm for violence against each other and went at it hammer and tongs until their town lay in ruins.

Previously charming buildings were reduced to piles of grey smoking rubble, the capital’s stinking streets lay strewn with sharp barbed wire barricades and rocks lay strewn around broken shop windows - their stock long looted before they were set fire to and turned into charred caves of despair thus creating “the kip” that radio presenter Joe Duffy refers to his city as.
 

Dublin hasn't changed much since the 1916 rising

These scenes of destruction in Rebellion brought about by the Dubs themselves are intended to hang a sympathetic weight on our hearts.  It might do but in truth it also makes for great entertainment for Corkonians like us.

The acting in this exciting series is excellent with lots of young Dubs queuing up to play the parts of their forefathers who helped wreak havoc on their city. The best performance by far however is reserved for Sarah Greene from Glounthane who plays May Lacy from Cork – secretary and lover to a married English government official who is directly involved in the crackdown on Irish Republicans.

Having already made a name for herself in the hit series Vikings, Greene’s beautiful lilting accent and her Rebel charm alone make Rebellion worth watching but the character she portrays takes a far smarter approach to undoing British rule in Ireland : using her natural charisma, good looks and wit to get inside the head of her target – something every single Corkonian who has ever gone on holiday abroad can relate to (hupoudat smiley face with a wink).

Instead of joining Padraig Pearse’s rag tag band of amateur soldiers voluntarily and sadistically heading for certain death, May Lacy cleverly uses her position to steal highly sensitive secret documents and leak information on British plans to quell Irish republican dissent.

Our young Rebel’s efforts are shown to be far more worthwhile and sensible than those of the other naïve volunteers who post themselves as sitting ducks in the line of fire of the best trained army in the world - the massive military hardware they had in Dublin ensured there was always going to be just one winner.

Greene’s performance is not only worthy of Oscars, Golden Globes and an appearance on Bandon’s Graham Norton’s show it is also, more importantly, going down very well on Leeside. Cork viewers will delight in her superb effort in portraying the stark difference in approach between people from different cities in achieving sovereignty:

While brash Dubs were trumpeting long winded proclamations in public places and blowing up their own city in the hope of gaining column inches in newspapers and history books, Corkonians remained anonymous and quietly carried out far more effective revolutionary work in as humble a way as you would expect from someone from Cork.

Movies like The Wind That Shakes the Barley accurately depict the glorious victories of Corkonians that led to a British withdrawl from Ireland. The producers of Rebellion have done an equally accurate job in highlighting the fantastic failures of Dublin’s efforts in trying to achieve the same. In fact, the only victory for those Dubs in Rebellion is the catapulting of one Cork acting career further into the big time.