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NOTES
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Click for larger image
The "Ecce homo" frontispiece was the work of John (Pa) McAdam, maternal
grandfather of the playwright, who attended St. Mungos Academy
in Glasgow. It is dated 1876. Brian was five years old when his
grandfather died in 1925. Brian himself died in 1980. Many thanks
are due to a great granddaughter of Pa McAdam, Frances Leach, and
her daughter Crístin, through whose courtesy the frontispiece appears.
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About the play
First produced at Rockwell College on St. Patricks Day 1956. The
sets were designed by Brother Ambrose, lighting was by Father Comerford,
and makeup by Father Redmond Walsh. Father Ward, as he then was,
directed production. A list of the players is given below
The cast in the Rockwell production included:
Pilate Maurice
OBrien
Claudia Michael
Falkner
Artemius Paddy
Byrne
Longinus Desmond
Bodley
Centurions Patrick
Fenoughty, Eamon Flood, Barry Mahon
Judas Michael
Crowley
Caiphas Paul
Bissett
Annas Maurice
Foley
Nicodemus Hugh
Behan
Chresidorus James
Toohey
Temple Priests Noel Kingston, Finbarr OLeary,
Cathal Cavanagh
Bemba ?
Stage hands
Peter Linehan,
Michael Kirby, Mob Eamon, Tuffy Fergus Lawlor, John OCallaghan,
John OKeefe
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Epilogue to Pilate
The original production contained an epilogue which,
in a later draft, was subsumed into Pilates closing speech. For
the benefit of later readers it is reproduced herewith.
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Whats done is done, stamped with its authors name,
How Pilate won his too, too tragic fame.
Why must our deeds so hardened grow
And crystallise in their results?
Can man not cut the cord twixt action and effect?
Or must the seed of doing
Relentless yield its fruit commensurate?
O doubtful freedom! Privilege divine
In human hands, that groping twist the helm
Through fogs of prejudice and fear!
For man must choose,
And bear the burden of his choice;
The thing thats done, must ever be
For good or ill.
Here was a man,
In eminence of state, not wholly good or bad
Whose conscience failed before the mad stampede
Of cowardice, ambition and self love.
Yet lets be fair --
For any one of us might well have been
The central figure in the play youve seen.
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Pilate
An introduction to the historical figure, Pilate, may be found in
many sites on the Internet. Only five persons are mentioned by name
in the Nicene Creed, the Blessed Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and Pontius
Pilate. His dramatic words when displaying Christ with a crown of
thorns, "Behold the man", have echoed and re-echoed down the centuries.
In the Coptic Church he is ranked in the calendar of saints.
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