The Catholic Church and all boys Schools in Ireland have a dark history they would rather forget. Writer Meade Conway discovered his school in Ireland had itself been involved with one of these scandals. Where child abuse and sexual assaults were known to have been commonplace behind closed doors and those who dared to challenge were silenced ostracised and deemed to be lying. After all these respectable people wouldn’t do such a thing!
A Silent Scandal confronts the difficult subject of abuse which was often and still can be “silenced” by perpetrators and victims blamed or shamed to cover the “scandals” allowing the crimes to continue unchallenged.
Ms. Turley hasn’t worked at the school for very long, and her son is having a few problems settling in. A single parent who is working hard and concentrating on doing her best for her son. However, when she attempts to speak out, her character, according to the overly nice untrustworthy headmaster, is questionable due to her “smoking too much!”
The challenges faced by her all because she dared question his behaviour and threatened to expose his criminal behaviour are abhorrent. Yet, due to his position, he can quash her and leave her character tainted as a liar. Letting him remove the problem.
The cast of three Ms Turley, O’Toole and the Headmaster offers an excellent portrayal of the depth and damage caused to the innocent parties by these crimes. The writing delves into the silence and pulls out the truth to expose it only to find the lid slams down fast, covering the scandal back up.
Every detail and action throughout the play are powerful and the word “abuse” is never used but the passion of Ms Turley and anger allow the audience to fully understand the extent of the events taking place within the school walls.
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Four Stars.
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