Writings by Jack Mitchell - THE GREAT POTATO TRIAL
Note by Nollaig Tate
My co-author, the late Jack Mitchell, and I wrote The Great Potato Trial to commemorate those who died of hunger during the Gorta Mor of the 1840s.
The Irish famine has been a contentious subject at times briefly touched upon but most of the time ignored. There are those who would have us believe that the time of starvation is best forgotten, and buried with the million who died. I believe that when we turn our backs on history we deny our own past and refuse the knowledge that lies therein.
It is almost incredible that the disease of one variety of vegetable should have had such a devastating effect upon this country. Ireland was after all a land of plenty, but she was also a colony and her people apparantly expendable.
To those who perished 150 years ago, we dedicate this play.
Nollaig Tate
Nollaig Tate and Jack Mitchell
