A humourous take on the Easter Rising

A NEW series about three friends who travel back in time to change the events of the Easter Rising will be broadcast on TG4 later this month.

The show stars Peter Coonan (‘Love/Hate’), Owen McDonnell (‘Singlehanded’) and Sean T Ó Meallaigh (‘Charlie’) in the main roles.

The protagonists are characterised as being bored or timid in their daily lives. Their only fulfilment is re-enacting key stages of the Easter Rising but they are ultimately clueless about the tribulations of war.

Immediately after travelling to 1916, the characters commit a massive blunder that changes the course of the rising – by killing Padraig Pearse!

The show follows their attempts at organising the Rising from what they know about it.

Writer James Phelan, a Waterford native who has lived in Dublin since 1994, is a former film reviewer with Northside People. He told us about the drama’s main characters.

“They get to go back and meet these flesh and blood characters who they’ve idealised and put on a pedestal,” he explained. “In some cases, it’s radically different from what they imagined.

“To really walk in someone’s shoes is a good way to get under the skin of history.”

The show is directed by Ruan Magan, a noted documentary filmmaker. It’s produced by Stephen Rooke, whose production company Tile Films has made several docu-dramas, including 2012’s ‘Saving the Titanic’.

Magan added: “This series allows us to the see the Rising’s leaders as living, breathing human beings, with doubts and issues of their own to confront.”

‘Wrecking the Rising’ was filmed in a replica of Dublin’s GPO, built within a hangar of Galway Airport at a cost of €150,000. It was constructed under the direction of production designer Padraig O’Neill.

“It was amazingly immersive for the actors,” Phelan said. “With most sets, there’s lights and cameras everywhere but this was a really solid set. It was like walking back into history.”

Filming took place between September and October 2015 and has been in post-production since. It was also filmed in Dublin locations such as Glasnevin Cemetery. Phelan outlined the approach he took in injecting humour into history.

“The humour comes from the protagonists,” he stated. “We’re hoping people are ready for a bit of fun. 

“But the last episode is poignant because it shows what the characters go through and the what the real figures of the Rising went through – It’s respectful.”

‘Wrecking the Rising’ will run from the April 23-25 on TG4.

Aura McMenamin