Imagine, for a moment, being herded onto a ship for a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, with no prospect of ever seeing your family or friends again.
Now imagine it’s 1825, and your ultimate destination is a foreign land far removed from anything you know or think you know. To have survived the ocean crossing is one thing, but to survive what lies ahead is quite another.
The Peter Robinson emigration of 1825 saw 2,024 Irish settlers, including 234 families, leave behind the abject poverty and social unrest of their homeland for a new start in a new land, specifically designated settlement areas in what is now Peterborough County.
The brainchild of prominent Upper Canada politician Peter Robinson, the emigration “experiment” saw nine ships undertake a perilous six-week ocean crossing, making landfall at Quebec City before their human cargo proceeded by river and land, via Kingston and Cobourg, to their new home in and around Scott’s Plains, later named Peterborough.
With this year seeing a number of events commemorating the bicentennial of the Robinson emigration taking place, most all of them organized, coordinated, or supported by Nine Ships 1825 Inc., one of the most anticipated is Wild Irish Geese, a play making its world premiere from July 29 to August 30 at 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook.
Directed by 4th Line managing artistic director Kim Blackwell, Wild Irish Geese is the debut full-length play by Peterborough’s Megan Murphy, who is already a filmmaker, actor and performer, writer, storyteller, and more. Murphy also performs as the play’s seanchaí — a traditional Irish storyteller.
The play relates the story of the Robinson emigrants, including their hopes and dreams and their anguish over leaving behind the only life they knew for the uncertainty and challenge of building a new life in a harsh environment.
During a media event held Wednesday (July 16) at 4th Line Theatre’s Winslow Farm venue, Murphy explained how being tasked with writing the play some five years ago by 4th Line Theatre founder Robert Winslow marked the start of a creative process that challenged her like never before.
“Thinking ahead, they were looking to the bicentennial celebration of the Irish coming to this area,” recounts Murphy, referring to 4th Line’s motivation for asking her to write the play.
“I had never done a huge play like that. I thought ‘How hard could this be?’ And then I realized, ‘Really hard.'”
The research process, says Murphy, saw the local community “come out in droves, and give me huge bins full of material. I went to Ireland and fell in love with it. I knew the story (of the emigration) but I didn’t know all of it.”
Of note, Murphy had ancestors on one of the ships that made the crossing, noting “Part of the reason our family is in this area is because of the Robinson emigration.”
Murphy admits to having been “overwhelmed” by the breadth of the story, which has layers upon layers of themes — survival in the face of great hardship among them.
“I live in this community and I know so many of the (family) names. I was trying to honour everybody’s story, but then you realize that’s impossible. I was trying to make everybody happy, and that also isn’t possible.”
“Eventually I stumbled across Paul Hickey,” Murphy says. “He owned (advertising agency) Outpost 379 in downtown Peterborough. He didn’t know all that much about his family story, but one of his ancestors was a vigilante in Ireland, so that gave me one side of it, allowing me to write about the political climate. His fifth great grandmother came over with their eight children, but he (the vigilante) didn’t. I thought ‘This is an interesting story.'”
“Another family I followed was that of Nancy Towns, a good friend of mine who is also in the play. Her family story is also fascinating, and they have records,” Murphy says, adding “People generously allowed me to use their ancestry and I flushed the rest out.”
Murphy notes that many of those who made the overseas journey had Irish wakes held in their honour before they left, as all in attendance knew they would never see the emigrants again.
“They’d have a living wake, and then they’d walk them to the boats,” she says.
“What struck me was just how hard it was. They were refugees. They were desperate. They had no rights. They couldn’t own land. They couldn’t vote. They couldn’t speak their own language. They couldn’t celebrate their religion. They couldn’t educate their children. They had no food. They had no options. Fifty thousand applied for 2,000 spots. That shocked me.”
Immensely proud of her Irish roots, Murphy says the opportunity to delve deep into the Robinson emigration story was nothing short of a privilege.
“Initially, it stymied me,” she says of writing the play. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to honour my ancestors, thinking ‘How do I make them proud?'”
“When I went to Ireland (for the filming of her feature documentary Murphy’s Law) following in my dad’s footsteps, there was a piece of me looking for where I belong. Some piece of me is Irish. Some piece of me is Canadian. I kind of exist somewhere over the Atlantic.”
“When my life fell apart for a while, this community rose up to meet me and saved me in many ways, reminding me of who I am and where I belong,” recalls Murphy, referring to the time when she had both lost her mother and ended a romantic relationship. “So some of this (play) is a love letter to my community.”
Making his 4th Line Theatre debut is veteran local actor Paul Crough, who plays John Hickey, the patriarch of the Hickey family who is “fighting” for Ireland while also trying to be a good father who makes sure his family is safe and provided for.
Crough, who is making his 4th Line Theatre debut with Wild Irish Geese, has ventured to Ireland a few times to trace his family history and learn more about “that decision to pack into a wooden crate and go across the ocean.”
“It’s a reminder of the innate resiliency that the Irish are famous for,” he says. “I grew up in Ennismore. To this day, there’s still a real connection to our Irish roots and history. Growing up in that environment, a small farming community where people depended on others for survival, that’s a trait that has been passed on for generations.”
“There’s a line in play that says ‘It’s in me bones.’ There’s this underlying current, always in me, that there’s some type of greater force or power or spirit that we draw on to push us forward.”
For her part, Blackwell is “jazzed” to again bring an “epic” story to the Winslow farm.
“This is really within my wheelhouse,” she says. “It’s that beautiful melding of a large cast, music, choreography.”
“It’s probably most similar to Hero of Hunter Steet and The Cavan Blazers — a large, epic community-based play. I’m deeply thrilled and honoured to be working on it. It is one of the most beautiful companies I’ve worked with.”
Both Blackwell and Murphy hope audiences come away with a better understanding of the Robinson settlers and how they put down roots in the region.
“I hope that people see themselves in it a little bit,” says Murphy.
“This is a story of the past, but it’s actually very universal — it’s very present. People are people are people are people. No matter when it happened, the struggles are the same. I also hope it makes people realize how lucky we are and perhaps ask themselves ‘What is the mark you’re leaving on the planet?'”
The cast of 29 professional and volunteer actors/musicians in Wild Irish Geese also includes M. John Kennedy (who starred in the 4th Line Theatre productions of The Great Shadow and The Tilco Strike) as Peter Robinson, Toronto-based actor Sebastian Sage (who is returning to theatre for the first time since the pandemic), Lindsay Wilson (who also appeared in The Tilco Strike as well as Jim Watts: Girl Reporter), Indigo Chesser (whose 4th Line credits include The Cavan Blazers, The Great Shadow, and Jim Watts: Girl Reporter) and Darragh O’Connell (who performed in The Cavan Blazers and Jim Watts: Girl Reporter).
Behind the scenes, assistant direction is by Mikayla Stoodley with musical direction by Justin Hiscox, costume design by Bonnie Garland, choreography by Monica Dottor, original set design by Michelle Chesser, fight direction by Edward Belanger, Indigenous story consultation by Patti Shaughnessy and, handling intimacy direction, Greg Carruthers.
Sponsored by Pyle Wealth Advisory – CIBC Private Wealth Wood Gundy with support from The Hickey Family Bursary, Wild Irish Geese runs at 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays from July 29 to August 30, with preview nights on July 29 and 30, opening night on July 31, and an additional Monday performance on August 25.
Tickets are $52 for adults and $45 for youth, with a discounted price of $38 for both adults and youth on preview nights, plus tax and fee.
Tickets, season subscriptions, and gift certificates are available by phone at 705-932-4445 (toll-free at 1-800-814-0055), online at 4thlinetheatre.on.ca, and at 4th Line Theatre’s box Office location at 9 Tupper Street in Millbrook.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of 4th Line Theatre’s 32nd season.
