1. The Plough and the stars
Introduction

2. Characters
Jack Clitheroe: (a bricklayer), Commandant in the Irish Citizen Army
Nora Clitheroe: his wife
Peter Flynn: (a labourer), Nora’s uncle
The Young Covey: (a fitter or person who assembles machinery), Clitheroe’s cousin and a socialist
Mrs. Gogan: (a charwoman or cleaning lady)

3. Characters Bessie Burgess: (a Protestant and a street fruit- vendor)
Mollser: Mrs. Gogan’s child who suffers from pulmonary tuberculosis or, as it was known then, consumption. She struggles to breathe and is dying of her illness.
Fluther Good: (a carpenter)
Lieut. Langon: (a Civil Servant), of the Irish Volunteers
Corporal Stoddart: (a corporal in the British army – in the Wiltshire regiment)
Sergeant Tinley: (a sergeant of the British army – in the Wiltshire regiment)
Rosie Redmond: (a prostitute)

4. The Action of the Play
Act I: The living-room of the Clitheroe flat in a Dublin tenement
Act II: A public-house (pub), outside of which a meeting is being held
Act III: The street outside the Clitheroe tenement
Act IV: The room of Bessie Burgess
Time: Acts I and 2, November 1915; Acts III and IV, Easter week A few days elapse between Acts III and IV

5. SETTING
The home of Jack and Nora Clitheroe. It consists of two rooms of what was once a fine old Georgian house and is now a tenement building. It is obvious that someone has taken some trouble to try to make this humble home look a little elegant and refined. There are pictures on the wall and a bowl of flowers on the chest of drawers.

6. Dublin tenements: early 1900’s
Worst Housing Conditions in Europe
There were extensive slums.
The wealthy moved from city centre to suburbs and huge, red- brick Georgian houses in previously fashionable areas were taken over by the rent-paying poor

7. Poverty, Overcrowding and Unemplyoment
In Henrietta Street, 835 people lived in only 15 houses
Dozens of families could live in a single house, most were lucky to have one room.
Disease, malnutrition and filthy conditions prevailed.
Most families depended on casual labour
Unemployment was rife
Families lived in extreme poverty

9. Sean o’casey:
Youngest of thirteen children, of whom only five survived
Lower-class Protestant Father died and family had to move to a tenement
This is arguably O’Casey’s most famous play and is written as a criticism of the 1916 Rising.

10. Sean O’Casey The play takes place during the 1916 rising
It actually includes looting from shops on O’Connell Street which is based on real events
In the play O’Casey is showing that most working class people in Dublin were more interested in surviving than unattainable political ideas

11. Controversy
The play was met by riots when it was first performed at the Abbey Theatre
Republicans saw the play as a great offence to those who fought and died in the 1916 rising
O’Casey refused to rewrite history to venerate the leaders
James Connolly had ordered his men to fire at looters during the rising

12. controversy
Those who took part in the Easter Rising did not have the support of the people in the beginning. The fighting closed down the city and food became scarce. Many civilians were killed and buildings were destroyed. A lot of looting took place immediately after the Rising as well. In many cases, the Rising left people worse off than they were before. 
However, public opinion changed. When fifteen of the leaders were executed people changed their minds and started to support the idea of independence from Britain. O'Casey's play is quite critical of the Rising and this is why it caused riots when it was first performed, ten years after the Rising. 

13. The plough and the stars flag
The Plough and the Stars was the banner of the Irish Citizens Army. James Connolly, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army, said the significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars. The flag depicts the constellation of Ursa Major, known as The Plough and the Stars in Ireland and Britain. Ursa Major is one of the most prominent features of the night sky over Ireland throughout the year.

14. What was life like then?
For the unskilled workers, Dublin in the early 1900s was a city of extreme poverty, unemployment, poor housing conditions and a high mortality rate. The fact that the population was increasing at the time only made the situation worse. A family like the Clitheroes, with three earners and no children, would have been very unusual at the time. 

15. What was life like then?
By 1914, Dublin’s death rate was the fifth highest in the world. The main causes of death were: poor clothing leading to exposure in bad weather, insufficient food for children, overcrowding, tuberculosis and malnutrition.

16. What was life like then?
Acts I and II of the play are set in late At this time World War I was been fought in Europe. This affected Ireland greatly. Firstly, over 150,000 men went to fight in the British army. Secondly, Home Rule was put on hold, which meant that Ireland now had to wait for its own government.  

17. What was life like then?
Acts III and IV are set during the week of the Easter Rising in There was a minority of people in Ireland who wanted complete separation from Britain. They saw World War I as an opportunity to attack Britain and gain independence for Ireland. Patrick Pearse was the leader of these people. He appears in Act II as “the figure in the window.” He believed that Irish people should make a “blood sacrifice” to win freedom for Ireland. 

18. A Love Story
Though this play is politically charged it is important to remember that "The Plough and the Stars" is not just a political play. It is also the story of Nora's love for her husband, Jack Clitheroe, and how the Rising separates them.

19. The Sleeping venus: Nora’s painting

20. Jack’s Song: Norah
ww.youtube.com /watch?v=B9QXll1kwxs