Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179224 in Books
• Published on: 1991-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 81 pages

Customer Reviews

"A law for...priests, doctors, and lawmen. No law for us."
Harking to one of his favorite themes, Keane, one of Ireland's foremost dramatists, once again focuses his action on a character who is at odds with the law but in tune with the sentiment of his fellow farmers. Big Bull McCabe, a farmer whose nineteen-acre farm has no water, has leased four acres of poor land from Maggie Butler for five years, gradually developing it into prime grazing pasture by fertilizing it, fencing it, and pulling the thistles, to give his cows access to water. Now Maggie wants to sell the land to the highest bidder, and Bull, having invested his time and effort, believes that he has rights to the property. When an "imported land grabber" from England offers an unusually high price for the land, Bull, his son, and a friend decide to take justice into their own hands.

The passion of local Kerry farmers for their land, and their consequent resentment of outsiders who threaten the land, take on particularly dark tones in this play. Bull, who seems to have sprung fully grown from the soil, believes that land has its own morality, that the laws which are imposed by "society" are irrelevant. He is willing to do whatever it takes to control the outcome. The other characters here are equally tied to the land, supporting Bull and adhering to a code of silence regarding his activities when the law and the local priest investigate the dispute.

Starkly realistic, the play is simple in concept, but its revelations of the local Irish culture and the response of these Kerry farmers to outsiders and "the clan of the round collar" taps into the "us vs. them" dynamic of the disenfranchised everywhere. Bull is no more extreme in his temper and his desire to protect what is "his" than is Mick Flanagan, the pub keeper, who treats his constantly pregnant wife Maimie like property. Dark and powerful in the tension it establishes between the "law" and the men it is supposed to govern, the play is firmly rooted in the local culture, establishing Bull McCabe as one of Ireland's most famous characters. Mary Whipple

One of the Great Plays in the Irish Theatre
John B. Keane's "The Field" is one of the great plays in the Irish Theatre. It is a powerhouse of a play. The film - which guts Keane's original story of its tension and moral dilemma - cannot hold a candle to the play. The Bull McCabe is an unforgettable character as is Mamie. The play works on many levels. It is true that the Irish literati have turned up their collective noses at Keane's work. His plays apparently have too strong a narrative to be considered "literature." But Keane uses the holy trinity of Irish themes - God, Land and Family - to construct an extraordinary drama. Whatever your perspective, it is impossible not to be interested in one of those universal facets of human existence. Keane's seemingly provincial plays such as "The Field," "The Year of the Hiker," "Big Maggie," "The Man from Clare" and "Sharon's Grave" will be produced long after the current critical favorites are left to collect dust on forgotten stacks at dusky university libraries. No theatre company can go wrong in tackling "The Field." Audiences are enraptured by Keane's story. Actors jump at the chance to play such well-drawn characters and directors will have much to investigate. This is an unforgettable play. As the Bull says, "The grass won't be green over his grave when he'll be forgotten by all . . . forgotten by all - except me." And except you

Another great masterpiece from the legacy of John B Keane
John B Keane has been sneered at by the Irish litreature society, for a long time. This is mostly because he uses the west of Irelands customs, traditions and slang in his work. However it is because of this, he has become known as one of Irelands most reputable and best loved writer and playwright. He is the original Roddy Doyle, who uses stories of his area and real life incidents of his native Kerry, to cement his reputation and add to his legacy

The field is the most widely known of his work, due to the ground breaking 1989 film adaption of this play, which stared Richard Harris as one of Keanes most notorious and dominating characters, Bull Mc Cabe. The field centres around a fertile field placed in one of Kerrys roughest landscape regions. It is worked by the fierce yet proud Bull Mc Cabe, who will kill and shall do, so he can own what he has put in so many years hard work for and pass on to his son. Yet when the widow puts the field up for auction Bulls hopes for the future are dashed by the arrival of a stranger amongest the community, who is also bidding for the sacred field.

Keane presants a cast a characters that will remain in your memory for many a year. The Bull Mc Cabe quickly pushes Keanes other stage creations well into the dark, due to his brutish attitude and the lenghts he will go to over property.

This is a superb play that tackles an issue that us Irish find hard to speak about, " the death of one to gain land ", a problem that many suspect that every parish suffers from. This play is loosely based on the murder of farmer Mossy Moore in the Listowel area in 1958. A dispute arose between Moore and a neighbour Dan Foley over a fence on the land near their farms.. This is what attracted Keane to the story, he knew both men and in 1962 he began writing driven by the elements Land..silence....death.....silence. This is a classic play and well worth the purchase or to view it if your local drama society put it on, you will not be disappionted