The Freedom of the City is a play by the IrishplaywrightBrian Friel first produced in 1973. It is set in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1970, in the aftermath of a Civil Rights meeting, and follows three protesters who mistakenly find themselves in the mayor's parlour in the Guildhall. The plight of the protesters is that their mistaken circumstance is interpreted as an 'occupation'. The play illustrates their final hours in the Guildhall, their failed escape and the tribunal into their deaths. Following a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march on 30 January 1972 in the events now known as Bloody Sunday, in which Friel participated, the British1st Battalion Parachute Regiment opened fire on the protesters which resulted in thirteen murders. An early form of the play, having been started approximately ten months prior to Bloody Sunday, was modified following the events of the day to entail certain links to the events.
Set in Derry 1970, the play interweaves the 'present' - a hearing into the deaths of three unarmed citizens at the hands of the security forces, the reaction of the population shown by the character of the Balladeer and flashbacks to the main story - the final hours of the lives of three peaceful marchers who accidentally stumble into the Mayor's parlour after the march is hit by smoke and tear gas. Most of the action revolves around the unwinding personal stories of the three as they attempt to wait out the violence so they can go home only to find that they are now the centre of the action. Lily, a 43-year-old mother of eleven, Michael, a 22-year-old man, and 'Skinner', 21 and unemployed, are the antiheroes, who perish as British soldiers shoot them in cold blood when they surrender. The ultimate irony is that the judge finds the security forces didn't act punitively, that Lily and Michael were armed according to non-existent witnesses and that Skinner was the innocent instead of the angry young man who despite his background wanted a free Ireland.
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by many municipalities, including Irish ones, to esteemed members or organisations of the community for heroic community service ; the term applies to two separate honours, one civilian and one military. Friel adopts a word play to presumably represent the characters of the play and the protesters who took part in the Bloody Sunday march.
It is a semi-inherited honour which the descendants of former Freemen of the City can receive. During the 17th and 18th century in Derry the Freemen were part of the ruling body of the city council. Skinner signs himself in as 'Freeman of the City' and with a surname of Fitzgerald. In the report of the funeral procession his coffin is carried by the the Knights of Malta.
