British civil servant, Roger Casement was famed for his reports on the abuse of indigenous people in colonised countries and even gained a knighthood for his efforts from King George V.
However his status as a humanitarian hero was short lived; Casement spent April to August 1916 in Pentonville Prison and he was hanged for his dedication to the Irish Nationalist cause. Many influential people petitioned for a reprieve for Casement, however copies of diaries alleged to be Casement’s, recording homosexual practices, were circulated, it is said, by the British government to defuse the campaign for a reprieve.
Choreographer Fearghus Ó Conchúir uses the complicated legacy of Casement to ask contemporary questions of nationalism and belonging in The Casement Project. Ó Conchúir uses the queer body to explore ideas of nationalism and belonging and to ask: Who gets to be in the national body? How can the national body move?
See The Casement Project in London, Dublin & Belfast.
Click here to find out more about The Casement Project.
Roger Casement
