Seamus Byrne’s Design for a Headstone (1950) and Brian Friel’s Volunteers
(1975) are some of the most controversial plays in the canon of Irish
drama, exceptional in their explicit political implications. Loosely based
on the role of the IRA in the Republic, they achieve a high degree of
universality in their discussion of such provocative issues as political
radicalism, internment, hunger strike, the role of the Church in society,
passive resistance vs. active rebellion, justice vs. humanity, and loyalty vs.
betrayal. In their tragic endings, both plays reveal a deep pessimism on
the part of their authors.
