A NEW play which tells Battersea’s little known Irish story opens in London this month.
The production, by the Green Curtain Theatre company, tackles the history of the land that is now home to Battersea Power Station, which has many interesting Irish connections.
Power and the People asks what that land would say if it could tell its own stories - and the play, led by actor Kevin Bohan, goes on to do just that.
The production charts the history of the site from 1850, when the arrival of Famine refugees from Ireland marked the start of a long-standing relationship between the community and the Battersea area.
As the years went on many Irish people lived or worked there, including Peter O’Connell who left his native Carrigkerry, Limerick in 1952 to begin work as an apprentice electrician in London.
“The transformation of Battersea from a market gardening area in the 1800s to the area it is today is a tribute to the many nationalities who came to live and work in the borough,” the theatre company explains.
“Huguenots fleeing persecution in France, the Irish escaping Famine in the nineteenth century and the Polish who settled here in the post-war years alongside those from the Commonwealth and other lands,” they add.
“Green Curtain Theatre will use drama, song and first-person testimonies to re-tell some of those stories – of hardship, migration, and personal achievement.”
Bohan, who plays the spirit of the Power Station in the production, said: “I’m looking forward to performing the story of such an iconic piece of London’s history told from such a human angle.”
Three performances of Power and the People will take place on June 17, at the R.O.S.E. Community Clubroom in Ascalon Street, Battersea, SW8 4DL.
Performance times are 12noon, 2.30pm and 4.45pm.
Tickets are available here.
