Author-turned-playwright Anna Carey has adapted her historical kids' novel The Making of Mollie into an acclaimed play, currently receiving its World Premiere at The Ark Children's Cultural Centre in Dublin; below, Anna explores Mollie's journey from page to stage...
In theory, there's nothing funny about the fight for women’s suffrage.
This was, after all, a struggle for women to be acknowledged as rational human beings, with the right to have a say about how their country is run. The women who engaged in militant action and became suffragettes in the early 20th century truly suffered for their convictions. They were attacked and beaten by both police and members of the public even when they engaged in peaceful protest. They destroyed property and got arrested for it, and when they were in prison many of them were brutally and violently force fed. None of this is funny.
(Pics: Ros Kavanagh)
But when I wrote my Irish Book Award-shortlisted novel The Making of Mollie, about a 14-year old-girl who becomes involved in the Irish suffragette movement, I always knew it was going to be a funny book. And when I was commissioned by the Ark Children’s Cultural Centre to adapt the novel for the stage, I knew it was going to be a funny play. I feel very strongly that serious and solemn are not the same thing, and that it’s possible to explore big and serious ideas in a fun and entertaining way.
The fact that we’re still being presented with "gritty" reboots of existing stories shows, however, that humour is widely viewed as inherently lightweight. To be serious, this mindset says, you must be po-faced, with no space for silliness. But most of the art that has really made an impact on me throughout my life, from Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole (the work that has influenced my own fiction more than anything else) to the recent HBO show Somebody Somewhere, about a 40-something woman dealing with grief and friendship, has been profound because of, not despite, its humour.
I feel very strongly that serious and solemn are not the same thing, and that it's possible to explore big and serious ideas in a fun and entertaining way.
In the case of both Adrian Mole and my own heroine Mollie, some of that humour comes from the fact that the young protagonists takes themselves very seriously – whether this is justified or not. So when I was working on the script for Mollie with the brilliant director Sarah Baxter, it was very clear that we were creating a comedy. Sarah and the actors took that concept and ran with it, creating a brilliantly physical comic production that perfectly captures the vibe of Mollie and her family and friends. As for Mollie’s canine nemesis Barnaby, the yappy, glowering dog who lives next door, his stage appearances are even funnier than his print adventures.
While both the book and the stage version of The Making of Mollie acknowledge the brutality with which the suffragettes were treated by the establishment – it’s one of many reasons Mollie’s elder sister Phyllis doesn’t want her to get involved in the movement – it was important for me to also show the excitement and joy that comes with a political awakening. Activism, as anyone who’s ever engaged in it will know, can be brutal. It can be emotionally gruelling, and incredibly stressful. But it can also be exhilarating, and empowering and ridiculous and, yes, funny. Just like life, in fact.
The Making of Mollie is at The Ark Children's Cultural Centre, Dublin from 23rd Feb - 16th Mar - find out more here.
