Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138311 in Books
• Published on: 1986-07-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 72 pages

Review
"This powerful and subtle play...follows the experience of eight men who volunteer to serve in the 36th (Ulster) Division at the beginning of the First World War. It reaches a climax at the start of the terrible battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, the actual anniversary of the battle of the Boyne in 1690. The Somme, where the Ulster Division suffered heavy casualties, has, like the Boyne, come to have a sacred place in the Loyalist Protestant mind. It marks the Union sealed with blood. It stands for the ultimate test of Ulster's loyalty; a blood-sacrifice to match any made by the Irish nationalists."--"Times Literary Supplement"

Customer Reviews

A Unique Persepctive on WW1
Even today 90 years on, the Battle of the Somme of 1916 retains a special and tragic significance for the Protestant people of Ulster.

This play explores the attitudes and motivations of those who volunteered to fight for the British government and the dreadful inevitability of their sacrifice. For the English reader it provides an insight into a defining event in Unionism and the complexity of the relationships between two communities of Irishmen.