Review: Mamma betalar
Protest voice on an island
Northern Ireland, the little man and the hardships of everyday life are themes that constantly recur in Marie Jones, the playwright from Northern Ireland who has also dedicated herself to depicting the Northern Irish conflicts between Protestants and Catholics.
Marie Jones herself has a Protestant background, but became aware early on of the injustices in Northern Ireland, where Catholics were discriminated against. This is about, among other things, Marie Jones’ play Mamma betal, which premiered yesterday at Lilla Teatern.
It was towards the end of the 1960s that the crisis between Protestants and Catholics accelerated when Protestant extremists began attacking Catholic settlements in Belfast, among other places, and British troops were sent to Northern Ireland to calm the situation.
“I myself also come from a poor family in Belfast and had no relations whatsoever with the Catholic population,” says Marie Jones. My ancestors worked in the shipbuilding industry as ordinary workers. But growing up, I couldn’t help but notice the way in which the Catholic population was treated and repressed its own culture, Irish folklore, music and songs. I gradually became aware of the abuses. This is something that also comes up in Mum Pays,” says Marie Jones.
During the difficult times of conflict in Belfast, especially in the 1960s, where Mum Pays is based, Irish culture operated underground, says Marie Jones.
“It was especially in the pubs, after closing time, that you could play your own music and sing your own songs. The pub owners were usually Catholics and made sure that there was nothing provocative in the Catholic-Irish way when the pub was open. But as soon as the pub closed, the instruments were taken out and the music began to sound. Often they also moved up to the floor above the pub where the owner had his residence.
“The complexity of all this, the intolerance towards the Catholic population and the difficult conditions in which it lived, led me to have the need to address the Catholic-Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland in the form of a play. In addition, I also decided to learn Irish.
“But my plays are also about ordinary people, the fates that befall them and their struggles in everyday life. The characters in my dramas find themselves in unusual, odd situations, so to speak. After the premiere of Mamma Pays, Marie Jones received various kinds of upset reactions.
“There were people who were negatively provoked, while others burst into tears because the play recounted something of their own life experience.
Marie Jones says that she has not really been inspired by any particular playwright, trend or style in terms of her own creativity.
“I start from what I see around me and react to. And then I write it down.
One playwright that Marie Jones likes in any case is Arthur Miller.
“There is something deeply humane in all the plays that Arthur Miller has written.
Right now, Marie Jones is making a musical based on Molière’s Tartuffe.
“It’s very exciting to write this musical where the action is set in Northern Ireland.
PROFILE
Marie Jones
Profession: Playwright.
Born: In Northern Ireland, Belfast 1951.
Current with: The play The Blind Fiddler at Lilla Teatern.
Career: Began his acting career in Belfast in the 1970s. Co-founded the Charabanc Theatre Company in 1983, the Double Joint Theatre Company in 1991, received the John Hewitt Award for its contribution to the arts and culture in Northern Ireland, awarded for Stones in the Pocket.
Literary production: Written for radio, television and about twenty plays for the theatre stage. Debut as a playwright in the 1980s. The play Stones in his pockets (1996) has been shown on the Mini-stage of the Swedish Theatre in 2001 and the Helsinki City Theatre in 2002.