Galway's Brú Theatre gives Sean-Phádraic's stories new lease of life
Two short stories by Galway’s Pádraic Ó Conaire will be given new life this weekend as local company Brú Theatre teams up with An Taibhdhearc to present the world premiere of the show, 'Neill|Páidín'.
It’s based on Neill and Páidín Mháire, stories from 'Scothscéalta', the ‘best-of’ collection of Ó Conaire’s short fiction, edited by Dr Tomás de Bhaldraithe and published in 1956.
Ó Conaire had been dead for almost three decades by the time 'Scothscéalta' was published but its stories, exploring themes of loneliness, broken dreams, betrayal and revenge, in settings from Galway to Galilee, remain timeless.
'Scothscéalta' was on the Leaving Cert curriculum for years and was still being taught when Moycullen-man James who is now 41, sat the State exam.
“Seventeen mightn’t be the best time to be experiencing those stories for the first time,” he says with a laugh. But they struck a chord with that particular 17-year-old.
James trained in physical theatre and improvisation at London’s LISPA and Berlin’s APT and spent years working in both cities. In London, he was a key member of the LipSinkers drag performance group for four years.
Brú, the company he founded with Jill Murray back in Galway in 2018, is one of Ireland’s most innovative theatre groups, creating multi-disciplinary works that variously incorporate word, movement, mime, puppetry, visuals and music.
Whatever form the company’s work takes and whether it’s bilingual or mime, its artistic director's philosophy is simple.
“It’s important to bring an audience with you.”
With 'Neill|Páidín' – and another show that’s in the pipeline for the Arts Festival – Brú is offering a new take on Ó Conaire’s work.
Neill’s young life is irrevocably changed after she’s betrayed by the man she loves. Years pass, but she cannot let go of her desire for revenge. Fisherman Páidín Mháire also undergoes a devastating, life-altering experience. In his case, it’s due to an accident. Different circumstances but with profound consequences for each of them.
The stories “don’t speak to each other in an obvious way”, with Nell having a linear structure while Páidín Mháire is more poetic, but both characters are sad and compelling. “People on the edge,” James says, praising Ó Conaire’s “beautiful writing”, which calls on readers “not to be so quick to dismiss” the suffering of others.
“Two very different pieces that make a whole,” is how the director sums them up.
Adapting them for theatre meant stripping “things back to the bones” while retaining their essence. To do that, James collaborated with “brilliant dramaturg,” Emily Reilly.
“I’m visual and I see things in pictures and feelings. Emily is so literate and knows how to take the story from the page. It was a meeting of minds and a conversation I enjoyed,” he says.
The process involved “identifying what is essential and losing what doesn’t serve it as a theatrical production” James explains. “It’s about what’s left on the bone when you strip it back. Then putting flesh and flowers on it.
“Ó Conaire was a storyteller in the seanchaí tradition and there’s something in his telling that allows the listener in,” he says, adding that Brú has strived to keep that aspect.
Since 2018, James has experimented with different dramatic formats for Brú, with shows incorporating everything from keening to knitting, to Virtual Reality. Through that, he’s learned a great deal about his strengths and weaknesses as a creator and director.
“I know what I’m good at and not good at.”
One of Brú’s finest shows, 'Not a Word', premiered at the 2023 Arts Festival, with mime artist Raymond Keane in a heart-breaking, non-verbal performance as an Irish labourer in London.
Raymond is one of the four top-class actors in 'Neill|Páidín', alongside Caitríona Ní Mhurchú, Eoin Ó Dubhghaill and Maeve McGrath. Their input has been crucial.
“For the first few days of rehearsals, we didn’t look at a script. We looked at the short stories,” James explains. “Week one is all about people bringing ideas.”
The production crew was also involved.
“I want the actors and artists to feel they can bring ideas to the table.”
Another Brú regular, Anna Mullarkey, has written the music for 'Neill|Páidín'. Galwaywoman Anna recently composed the music for 'Playboy of the Western World' at London’s National Theatre and is currently working on 'Miradolina', new play by Marina Carr, which is a co-production between the Abbey and theatre companies in Italy and Croatia.
Andrew Clancy is set designer for 'Neill|Páidín', the lighting design is by Sarah Jane Shiels and costume design is by Renvyle woman Clíodhna Hallissey, who created the beautiful outfits for An Taibhdhearc’s Christmas production, 'An Fathach Leaslaiteach'.
James’s enthusiasm is infectious as he describes how he loves the immediacy and transience of theatre, creating work that will be “seen and experienced, often by a small group of people, who know it could go wrong at any moment”.
His approach is elemental.
“It always comes back to the self, to what resonates with me.”
He has directed large-scale shows too including the 2023 Macnas Halloween street spectacle, 'Cnámha La Loba'.
James is currently directing a new operatic version of the Greek myth of Orpheus, his first time taking on opera. 'Orpheus in the Garden', a collaboration between two Dublin primary schools and ecologists, artists and botanists, will be staged at Ireland’s National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, at dusk on May 27 and 28.
It’s a bit scary, he says, but he's enjoying it.
There are other projects in the pipeline too, some of which he can’t talk about, as it’s early days. But no shortage of ideas or work for James, who’s grateful to An Taibhdhearc for co-producing this show.
“I am lucky that I’m being allowed to pursue my vision,” he says of the support being provided to Brú by the country’s national Irish language theatre. And it’s appropriate that Ó Conaire’s work is premiering there.
“He would have walked past the building regularly,” says James. “Irish was so pivotal to his life and it’s so pivotal to an Taibhdhearc and to Brú.”
He loves the space and says it's helping to shape the show.
“It's so painterly, the stage is framed and people are moving in and out of it. It's different to doing a show in the Black Box,” says James, stressing that 'Neill|Páidín' will be highly accessible, whatever people’s level of Irish.
Neill|Páidín will be at An Taibhdhearc Theatre from this Friday to Sunday May 1-3 and from May 7-10 at 8pm nightly, as part of Galway Theatre Festival. Tickets at antaibhdhearc.ticketsolve.com.