Sarah ties Michael's tie in this 1972 German television adaptation of Edmund John Millington Synge's play, The Tinker's Wedding. Photo / Getty Images
Sarah ties Michael's tie in this 1972 German television adaptation of Edmund John Millington Synge's play, The Tinker's Wedding. Photo / Getty Images
Rep Talk
Sarah Casey, tinker and common law wife of Michael Byrne, persuades a priest to formalise their marriage in the belief that it will give her greater respectability.
Although Michael isn't very enthusiastic about the wedding, he agrees to it as Sarah threatens to run off with Jaunting Jimmyif he doesn't comply. He agrees because he doesn't want to lose such a good money earner as Sarah Casey.
The local priest agrees to perform the ceremony for 10 shillings and a new tin can, but Michael's mother, Mary Byrne, steals the tin can and trades it in for beer at the local pub.
When the priest discovers the can is missing he refuses to marry Sarah and Michael and won't be persuaded to make their union legal.
During the ensuing fight the priest gets tied up in a sack, threatens to inform the police about the tinkers' poaching and is only released once he gives his word not to go to the police.
Yes, it is a farce. While it is quite funny it's not Synge's best work. He's probably best known for The Playboy of the Western World which also features violence.
Synge was a strong advocate for the Irish rural peasants despite his wealthy upper-class background, believing them to be a distinct and colourful class. He also believed that lurking not far beneath the surface of their avowed Christianity was a brutal paganism, hence the violence.
Synge rightly believed that The Tinkers' Wedding couldn't be performed in Dublin because it would be too upsetting for the Catholic population seeing a priest tied up in a sack, as there'd been a violent reaction when Playboy premiered, which kind of proves the point of a brutal undercurrent.
Reading the play, I could hear their lilting Anglo-Irish, their distinct phrasing which is delightful and their special humour. It could be fun to read this in the play reading group.
