THE JOKER’S CHAIR AN APPROPRIATE MEMORIAL TO DERMOT MORGAN AKA FATHER TED
Erected with the generous assistance of RTEÌ and Dublin City Council
There are two types of people in the World: [1] Those who hated Father Ted [2] Those who loved Father Ted. My mother, who was 100 in May, switched from [1] to [2] about two years ago … I have no idea why. She still hates “Mrs Brown”.
Joker’s Chair was erected in the memory of the writer, actor, satirist and comic Dermot Morgan (1952-1998), who achieved international renown for his role as Father Ted Crilly in the much loved and successful sitcom Father Ted. The inscription which accompanies this piece reads; ….and all the rest is laughter laughter liberating laughter to be remembered.
The artist Catherine Greene was born in Galway and studied at the National College of Art and Design from 1979-85. Her sculpture has a comical spirituality that seems to prevail throughout her work. This nod to humour and the less obvious is particularly appropriate in this piece as it appears to fittingly capture Dermot Morgan’s comical spirit.
Greene was approached by Dermot Morgan’s partner to create the memorial which was funded by RTEÌ and supported by Dublin City Council. A condition of the commission was that it should be an allegorical piece rather than a representative image.
Greene saw Dermot as being like the modern day seer who never feared to tell the truth, cleverly, searingly and with verve. This led her to the idea of the Shakespearean fool, who was always the closest to to the throne and who never feared to tell the truth. She felt it would be important for the public to engage with the artwork so she created a throne and if one looks just underneath the seat, you will see an eye, which for Greene represents the knowing eye. The balls on the top of the seat for her are like the hat of the jester. All these elements create a sense of fun and comedy about the piece. Joker’s Chair fits well within Greene’s work in that during the years preceding this commission she had been making small thrones as she was caught up with the idea of absence within her work.
The square was laid out after 1762 and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand for such Georgian townhouse residences south of the River Liffey had been fuelled by the decision of the then Earl of Kildare (later the Duke of Leinster) to build his Dublin home on the then undeveloped south-side. He constructed the largest aristocratic residence in Dublin, Leinster House, second only to Dublin Castle. As a result of this construction, three new residential squares appeared on the Southside: Merrion Square (facing the garden front of Leinster House), St Stephen’s Green, and the smallest and last to be built, Fitzwilliam Square.
Aristocrats, bishops and the wealthy sold their north-side townhouses and migrated to the new south-side developments.
The earliest plan of the park shows a double line of trees around the perimeter which was later enclosed by railings in the early years of the 19th century. A Jardin Anglaise approach was adopted for the layout of the park with contoured grass areas, informal tree clumps, sunken curved paths and perimeter planting.
Up until the 1960s, the park was only open to residents in possession of a private key. Now managed by Dublin City Council, the park contains a statue of Oscar Wilde, who resided in No. 1, Merrion Square from 1855 to 1876, many other sculptures and a collection of old Dublin lamp standards [was removed a few years ago].
The Irish American sculptor Jerome Connor, best known for his work Nuns of the Battlefield in Washington DC, designed the public art piece, “Eire”. The park also contains a sculpture of a Joker’s Chair in memory of Father Ted star Dermot Morgan.
The park in the square was called “Archbishop Ryan Park”, after Dermot Ryan, the Catholic archbishop who transferred ownership to the city. In 2009, Dermot Ryan was criticised in the Murphy Report; in January 2010, Dublin City Council sought public views on renaming the Park. In September 2010, the City Council voted to rename the park as Merrion Square Park.
The park was also used by the St John Ambulance Brigade for annual events such as review and first aid competitions. The organisation was founded in 1903 by Sir John Lumsden K.B.E., M.D. During this time Dr Lumsden was living nearby at 4 Fitzwilliam Place. He was the chief medical officer at the Guinness brewery and practised at Mercer’s Hospital.
During the First World War, both St. John Ambulance and the British Red Cross Society worked together in a joint effort as part of the war effort. This ensured services did not overlap with each other. Both organisations were a familiar sight among Irish people but particularly at Merrion Square where St. John Ambulance operated for almost 50 years. The headquarters of St. John Ambulance was situated at 40 Merrion Square during WWI later moving to 14 Merrion Square. Today they are located at Lumsden House, 29 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4.
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