The Trial is a multi-screen visual art installation on the history of healthcare and human rights in the Irish criminal justice system. Created by visual artist Sinead McCann, made in collaboration with men from the Bridge Project, Dublin, who have lived prison experiences, and draws from historical research by UCD historians Catherine Cox and Fiachra Byrne. It is part of a larger Wellcome Trust funded research project ‘Prisoners, Medical Care and Entitlement to Health in England and Ireland, 1850-2000’.
For twenty-two minutes, three characters–Tommy, Charlie and Neilí–tell real-life stories of those who were held or worked in Irish penal institutions during the 19th and 20th centuries. The thematic focus is on experiences of solitary confinement, dealing with separation from family when in prison, mental and physical wellbeing in prison and childhood experiences of detention in St Patrick’s Institution, Dublin.
The making of The Trial involved the design of a creative process that enabled the men from the Bridge Project to engage with UCD academic research on healthcare in prison, past and present. The script for The Trial was developed through a series of creative workshops using carefully selected historic research and the men’s own health in prison experience. Two case studies from the 1880s, John Burns and John Burke resonated strongly with the men and were developed into mini scripts.
Actors Tommy O’Neill and Neilí Conroy then performed these scripts in a series of theatre workshops led by the men from the Bridge Project. During this process, the men authored monologues using their own experience of healthcare in Irish prison in the late 20th century as well as their responses to the historic research. Their monologues were incorporated into the script for The Trial along with responses from the Irish Prison Service, a prison chaplain, an addiction councellor, two former prison governors and a representative from the Irish Penal Reform Trust. Combined, these accounts present a compelling story of healthcare in prison.
In 1847, the Shell Store where The Trial is exhibited was first a prison hospital. Then it was converted into a juvenile prison that held up to 100 boys. The Trial makes explicit use of this history to physically and poetically reference healthcare in prison over time.
Director Dr Sinead McCann
Script Writer Sarah Meaney
Video production Mary Caffrey and Dan Monk Sixbetween
