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Eclipsed

by Patricia Burke-Brogan

About the Author

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The Author about the Play

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Reviews of other Productions

"Voltaire said tragedy could not be written without testicles. You have proved him wrong. Congratulations!"

M.J.Molloy, Irish Playwright, in a letter to Patricial Burke Brogan, August 1992

"A compelling Irish play called 'Eclipsed' brims over with darkness and light, rising from Ireland's boggy soil like a wailing banshee . . ."

Ray Loynd, Los Angeles Times, 21 April 1995

"There comes a point at which all of Ireland's repression seems to be fermenting in this room - but the effect is not so much to depress as to shellshock. It's worth the experience."

The Scotsman, Edinburgh Theatre Festival, 22 August 1992

"The play picks away at a scab to reveal the vicious subcutaneous reality beneath the hypocrisies that were spread across Irish society not too many years ago. The poisonous afterglow of those times still lingers on. - It would not be a bad idea to frog-march every one of our T.D.'s, particularly the male majority, into the theatre to see it."

Micheal Finlan, The Irish Times, 21 February 1992

"Audiences walk away from 'Eclipsed' with a communal knot in their stomach - a sour feeling from having seen a piece of Irish history that people rarely talk about and a slice of Irish culture many would rather not remember. - This is a story about women, it is a story about religion, it is a story about judgement and it is a story about Ireland. But it is for anyone with compassion in their hearts and the condition of women in their minds."

Azell Murphy, Southbridge News, Worcester Mass., USA, March 1994

"['Eclipsed'] contains a great dramatic force, a cry of horror for a life that slips away without a chance of being lived."

Mauro Martinelli of 'Sipario', Firenze (translation)

"The impact of 'Eclipsed' outside of purely theatrical consideration has been considerable. As a result of her sensitive handling of a controversial issue, Patricia Burke Brogan's fine play has led to reports and studies being done on the subject of the Magdalen Laundries and the situation then and now of unmarried mothers. These include a series of articles in the Irish Times, two documentaries on RTE Radio 1 and at the moment BBC2 is putting together a documentary for television on the Magdalen Homes in Ireland and Scotland."

Judy Murphy, The Galway Advertiser, 26 November 1992;
the documentary went out in 1993.

"Its subject matter is timeless - how society treats its unwanted members, those who have behaved differently."

Tina Neylon, The Cork Examiner, 8 November 1995