Taking No Prisoners

O'Reilly has assembled another strong cast to bring this remarkable play to life. John Windsor-Cunningham gives a great performance as the personification of perfidious Albion. Patrick Fitzgerald is excellent as the Welsh commentator with his own axe to grind. Emma O'Donnell skillfully highlights the cost of so much high-flying idealism on ordinary lives.

As Casement, Phillip Goodwin gives a nuanced performance, finding the pathos and the passion for justice that animates his character. And in scene after scene he finds himself in a familiar dramatic setting for so many Irish rebel leaders - giving a speech from the dock.

It was the so-called "black dairies," Casement's jauntily written accounts of his private sexual exploits, that prejudiced his trial in England's favor and eventually sealed his fate. As soon as news of Casement's homosexuality was broadcast, protests on his behalf lost their fervor and his jurors suddenly achieved a dramatic consensus.

Onstage O'Reilly consistently focuses on the poignancy of Casement's predicament - he was a brilliant and accomplished Irish Nationalist who had once been a supporter of the Empire; he was a cultured gay man who showed heroic fortitude throughout his adult life; he was an Irish patriot who had been knighted by the King. Rarely has the epic struggle between two nations been so personified in one human being.

In Prisoner of the Crown there is a lot of talk about whether the "black diaries" are forgeries or not. By the play's end we realize that we're asking the wrong question.

The British government wanted to hang a traitor and besmirch his legend by any means necessary. Just as they had with the famous Irish dramatist Oscar Wilde, the British establishment had become adept at playing to popular prejudice to rid themselves of their most eloquent critics.

The Irish ultimately replied that - straight or gay - Casement had died for Ireland, and they honored his sacrifice. When his coffin lay in state in Dublin's Garrison Church of the Sacred Heart, 165,000 mourners filed past to pay their respects.

The lesson was unmistakable - Casement's heroic efforts had helped to win Ireland's freedom. Britain's efforts had won the Empire only a few more years.

Prisoner of the Crown is now playing at the Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street. For tickets call 212-727-2737.

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