I am reviewing a play called Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard. It is the second in a series of four starting with a book called the Twelfth of July. I think that the play is written to remind us of what is happened in Ireland in the past.
             The setting for the Irish question is in Ireland in the time of the massive conflict between the Prods (Protestants) and the Micks (Catholics.)
             There are two main streets in the play. Sadie's street and Kevin's street. There are also other places like Bangor and uncle Alfie's truck.
             For the costumes I would use everyday clothes for the actors. (Usual for the people I those times.) For the boys like Kevin and Brian I would use jeans/trousers, tee shirt/polo shirt. For the men like Kevin's father I would use a suit. For the girls like Sadie and Brede I would use dresses/skirts/trousers and a tee-shirt/blouse.
             The structure of the play is very simple and is set out in 16 short scenes. The first two are an introduction to the play and to the main characters so that you can get a feel of their personalities and the way that they feel about each other ant their religion differences. The next lot of scenes are the main story and they stop at scene 14. The last two scenes tell the end of the play and what happens to Kevin and Sadie. It is left at a cliff-hanger because there is another book in the series that the play came from.
             The main storyline of the play is this. Kevin and Sadie meet again after a while. They start to go out but there is the problem of being a different religion to each other that gets them into a lot of trouble. Sadie gets pressure from her family and her supposed "friend" Linda. Kevin also gets pressure from his family but in a completely different manner. While Sadie gets it from her parents Kevin gets in the warning tones of his Sister Brede's voice. Also Kevin is the one that gets insults from others and is
             ...