Ruth Wilson stirs up trauma of Magdalene laundries in ‘The Woman in the Wall’
By ALICIA RANCILIO
Associated Press
In her latest role in Showtime’s “The Woman in the Wall,” Ruth Wilson plays Lorna, a woman prone to sleepwalking and night terrors. Her sleep issues are the manifestation of trauma she experienced as a pregnant teen forced to live in a religion-run facility — sometimes called Catholic laundries or Magdalene laundries — where she worked throughout her pregnancy and her baby was taken immediately after birth. These facilities existed in Ireland and the last one closed in 1996. In a Q&A, Wilson talked about learning of these facilities, spreading the word about injustice and how Sinéad O’Connor contributed to the project.