The Pull of the Stars at Gate Theatre: A view from the maternity ward during the birth of the Irish nation

The Pull of the Stars at Gate Theatre, Dublin until May 12

Sarah Morris and Ghaliah Conroy in The Pull of the Stars at the Gate Theatre. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

Katy Hayes

We often refer to the revolutionary period in Ireland as “the birth of the nation”, but in all the foundational narratives there is rarely much about childbirth. This fascinating show gets up to its elbows, literally, in the messy process of bringing forth new life, as wars happen, pandemics rage, and tiny babies relentlessly continue their march down the birth canal towards life.

Emma Donoghue’s new play, adapted from her 2020 novel, is set in a Dublin maternity ward in 1918, quarantined for Spanish flu. The people are characters who have strayed in from Seán O’Casey terrain. It is a paean to the world of women in the shadowy years after the 1916 Rising and before the War of Independence. It is also a love letter to nurses and nursing.