Caitríona Cunningham’s The Marian Hotel: A Review

By Lucy Hughes

I begin to write this review, my hair a mess from late-night washing, sitting on a cramped bus, with my bag in a death grip to avoid jostling the person dozing next to me. Though messy and tired, I chose to be here, and as I sit here, I reflect on this privilege.

In 1979, Caitríona Cunningham was signed into Marianvale Mother and Baby Home, and her child was subsequently given up for adoption without her consent. Cunningham used her experiences in Marianvale to write The Marian Hotel. The play is a Sole Purpose production, directed by Patricia Byrne, and developed in association with dramaturg Emily DeDakis. The play is loosely based on Cunningham’s time in Marianvale Laundry, a church-owned institution (one of many throughout Ireland) for unmarried, expectant mothers. Residents at Marianvale were forced to carry out gruelling physical labour at the laundries as late as the third trimester of their pregnancy. Following the birth, the mothers very often had their children covertly put up for adoption.

The play is hard-hitting, but Cunningham takes full advantage of theatre’s dimensionality to create a shared sympathetic experience between performers and audience, effectively blending humour and drama. We see beyond the headlines, and beautiful performances from the actors playing Kitty (Aoibh Johnson), and the other four girls she meets at Marianvale, impact the audience in a way a BBC Panorama special couldn’t. In particular, the introduction of one of the supporting characters, Ellen (Rachel Harley), had every member of the chatty, fidgety, post-Covid audience pale-faced and silent. For me, the standout performance amongst other excellent portrayals was Sorcha Shanahan as Jackie, a woman born to a Marianvale resident. The play shows us Jackie’s life vignetted, following her from childhood to tracking down her birth mother in adulthood. Shanahan brought sincerity and urgency to the role and her memorable performance highlighted the often-forgotten generational victims of Marianvale.

On a technical level, the staging was tastefully minimal, ensuring the audience remained focused on the emotional core of the piece. Set pieces were moved between scenes by the cast, which Cunningham described in the after-show Q&A as a purposeful parallel to the physical work the residents of the laundry were forced to perform. One particular detail about the setting that stuck out to me was a small shrine to the Virgin Mary, which remained on stage throughout the whole play. The statue took on a different aspect in each scene throughout the play, acting as judge, confidant, and a symbol of both hope and despair. It embodied the messy tangle of emotions religious institutions have left Ireland from the banishment of the snakes to the outpouring of clerical abuse inquiries in the 21st Century. This was an incredibly effective piece and highlighted the clear artistic direction. The play used its soundtrack effectively, incorporating both religious music and late 21st-century pop and rock and roll tracks to contextualise the timeline and drive home the disjointed relationship between modern society and the stubborn remnants of misogynistic, church-enforced conservativism.

It would be remiss to write a review of this play without mentioning the work of those associated with it, particularly surrounding the ongoing inquiry. According to Phil Scraton – a member of the Independent Truth Recovery Panel – this inquiry is the first in the world to be preceded by an open call to the public for evidence, which if successful can aid in providing reparations and justice for survivors and their children. Sole Purpose productions are seeking those willing to share their stories, as part of an oral history archive as SolePurpose.org.

Although these homes seem like a thing of the distant past, the last home in Northern Ireland remained open until 1990. However, the victims of these places are still awaiting any semblance of justice. After seeing the play, laughing with these partly-fictionalized women; crying, dancing, and grieving with them, it is impossible to shut your eyes to the injustices carried out by the system to their real-life counterparts. The Marianvale Hotel is an affecting and important piece of theatre; encouraging its viewers to listen to the victim’s voices and support their fight for truth and justice.

The Marian Hotel will run until November 23rd , with performances at:

• The Playhouse, Derry: October 3rd-5th

• The Alley Theatre, Strabane: November 14th

• The Lyric Theatre, Belfast: November 21st-23rd

Q&A sessions led by Phil Scraton – Professor Emeritus of Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Law, and member of the Independent Truth Recovery Panel – will follow the performances on October 5th and November 22nd.

Information on the support available for those impacted by these institutions and more information on the inquiry can be found at www.victimssupport.org.
Information on the production company, their previous productions, and their ongoing work with survivors of mother and baby homes is available at www.solepurpose.org