‘The Flaming Door Revisited’ at Kilmainham Gaol

 

During Easter Week 1991, a concert was held in Kilmainham Gaol to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Easter Rising. The concert was titled ‘The Flaming Door’ and was held in the East Wing of the prison where most of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation and leaders of the Easter Rising were detained before their executions.

Frank Harte’s singing of the lament for James Connolly by Patrick Galvin at that concert is immortalised by the words of the poet Theo Dorgan who was there and dedicated his poem ‘Kilmainham Gaol Easter 1991’ to Frank. This year marks the 21st anniversary of Frank’s death, so it is fitting that we revisit the scene of that memorable performance and place where many Irish patriots were incarcerated as they awaited trial, transportation and execution.

 

The tour will have three stops within the historic prison, at the Courthouse, the East Wing, and the Breaker’s Yard, where the history of Ireland from 1797 to 1922 will be told through songs relating to those incarcerated and executed there. Songs and poems relating to patriots Henry Joy McCracken, Robert Emmet and Anne Devlin, Parnell, the Invincibles, the Fenians, and those transported to Australia, or ordinary prisoners who were publicly executed there will be sung and recited at each stop. The final stop, the Stone Breaker’s Yard where the leaders of the 1916 insurrection were shot, will provide a poignant opportunity to remember with great respect the sacrifice made to achieve our national independence. By special permission, the uilleann pipes of Éamonn Ceannt – a founding member of Na Piobairi Uilleann – who was executed at Kilmainham following the Easter Rising will be played by Gay McKeon – CEO of Na Piobairi Uilleann from Ceannt’s cell door in the East Wing.

 

The performers will include regular An Góilín singers and several invited guests.