As bad as work conditions can get in the modern industrialized world--with wage slavery in China and other places, it's kind of disturbing to think that there would have been outright slavery anywhere. That it would happen to be a place publicly acknowledged as an institution of rehabilitation is more than a little unsettling.
Up until 1996, there were places in Ireland that locked-up unwed mothers and forced them to work in laundry facilities. They handled vestments from churches as well as big commercial accounts from various businesses. "Magdalene Laundries," operated for over 100 years on the slave labour of women who were scorned by society.
Patricia Burke Brogan called attention to this particularly dark part in the history of Ireland in her play Eclipsed. That drama is meeting with a local staging that features a really, really impressive cast. James Gallagher directs Drace DeWolf, Kelly Doherty, Lindsey Gagliano and Joan End. This is a really, really good cast in the service of the type of story that really needs to be told again.
Milwaukee Irish Arts' production of Eclipsed runs May 9th - 13th at the Irish Cultural Heritage Center. For more information, visit Milwaukee Irish Arts online.
