Revisit the RTÉ Road to the Rising

Over 100,000 people turned out to participate in RTÉ Road to the Rising, a highly creative and impactful re-imagining of Ireland as it was 100 years ago, held on Easter Monday in Dublin. RTÉ Road to the Rising was created in partnership with An Post, Dublin City Council and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht as well as collaboration and support from Century Ireland, the Abbey Theatre, the National Library, Transport for Ireland and the local business sector.

The event, unprecedented in scale and diversity, consisted of over 60 talks, lectures, panel discussions and screenings as well as stage and street performances, vintage exhibitions, re-enactments, tours and broadcasts. At the GPO, the National Library’s team of archivists and historians invited the public to bring along items of interest connected with the Rising, where they were given guidance as to its meaning and how it might be preserved for future generations.

As for the Century Ireland contribution, our exhibition on O’Connell Street attracted thousands of visitors, proving so popular it has been decided to showcase it at other venues across the city.

Young and old gather around the Century Ireland exhibition panels at the RTÉ Road to the Rising on Dublin's O'Connell Street.

Elsewhere, Century Ireland curated a day-long programme at the Abbey Theatre, which featured readings, performance and lectures from many of the country’s top historians. The morning programme, titled ‘The Making of 1916’ was hosted by RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan and introduced by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Christy Burke; it featured readings, songs and lectures by Professor Declan Kiberd (University of Notre Dame), Dr. PJ Mathews  (UCD) and Professor Foster (University of Oxford).

The afternoon programme, ‘Revisiting the Revolutionary Era’, was hosted by RTÉ’s David McCullagh and introduced by the Minister for Arts, Heritage & Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys; it featured lectures by Catríona Crowe (National Archives of Ireland) and Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (UCD), as well the performances of select scenes from the play, ‘The Spancel of Death’ by T H Nally, which had been due to be performed alongside Lady Gregory’s Cathleen Ni Houlihan during Easter week 1916 . The centre-piece of the afternoon saw David McCullagh ‘In Conversation’ with Professor Joe Lee of New York University.

Actors Declan Brennan and Catherine Barry reading from the published work and private correspondence of, amongst others, W.B. Yeats and Maud Gonne, on the Abbey Theatre Stage. 

 

For those unable to attend the Road to the Rising, RTÉ Radio broadcast a range of programmes to cater for diverse interests, from history to literature, music:

John Murray Show

Part 1: Official Countdown to the Easter Rising - Ist Hour
Dublin in 1915 was a city of enormous change & today O'Connell Street, will come alive as RTÉ recreates the atmosphere of the time to 'The Road to The Rising'. On the programme this morning we shall paint a little picture of what Dublin was like in 1915. In studio is Mark Duncan of Century Ireland. Click here to download podcast.

Part 2: A review of 1915 - 2nd Hour
In studio with John are Henrietta McKervey, Catriona Crowe & we are joined by Fergus Sweeney to review newspapers in 1915, the first Irish produced film with Brian Reddin & playing the Ukulele with the Rathfarnham & Dun Laoghaire Ukulele Band. Plus Colm Flynn from O'Connell Street. Click here to download podcast.

The History Show: Myles Dungan and guests discuss life in 1915 as well as the personalities and events which set the stage for the Road to the Rising.

Arena: Sean Rocks presents an afternoon of live music, poetry and literature looking at the culture of Ireland in 1915 and the legacy of the Easter Rising.

Cormac ag a Cúig: Cuireann Cormac O hEadhra clár speisialta i láthair ó Shráid Uí Chonaill, BÁC

Bowman: Sunday: 8.30: Historian and broadcaster, John Bowman revisits the RTÉ archives to look at the making of ‘Insurrection’, the special series of Telefís Éireann programmes that was broadcast in 1966, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

To view more images from the Road to the Rising Day  day, please click here and here.

To view short filmed highlights from the Road to the Rising, click here.

RTÉ News report by Sinead Crowley, Arts & Media Correspondent, on the Road to the Rising event. Broadcast: 9 O'Clock News, 6th April 2015

View RTÉ Archives Exhibition - ‘Easter 1916: Golden Jubilee Commemorations 1966’

In the 1950s and the 1960s RTÉ radio and television recorded interviews with participants in the Easter Rising of 1916 and the War of Independence. In the lead up the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising RTÉ Archives will make content related to the events of 1916 available in this online exhibition.

Presented in the exhibition is the 1956 radio series compiled and presented by Desmond Ryan 'They Remember 1916' and five interviews recorded for television under the working title of 'The Survivors' although they were never broadcast. Alongside this broadcast material is some remarkable colour film of the Golden Jubilee of the Rising. Edited from footage shot for RTÉ these films present a colour record of events during Easter Week 1966. To access, click here.