Historic drama with a message for now

Martin Sullivan describes Galway’s St Nicholas’s Collegiate Church as “a dream venue” for his one-man drama, The Reincarnation of Cornelius Agrippa, as he prepares to return to the church with the play this Saturday, November 1.

The Reincarnation of Cornelius Agrippa is based on events that occurred in 1519 in the French town of Metz, when scholar and Renaissance man Cornelius Agrippa successfully defended a woman accused of witchcraft, securing her acquittal. Such a feat was unheard of – and this is the only recorded incident of its occurrence.

The church, especially the Dominican order, which was at the heart of this case, was unhappy with Agrippa as a result. But while he was hated in some quarters, he was revered in others as a man of learning and bravery.

Martin’s play, which he wrote and performs, features the original trial and also brings the action forward 500 years, as Agrippa returns and is once more called upon to defend the condemned.

The first act reimagines his original trial, with arguments drawn directly from historical records. The second explores the devastating consequences of his defence for Agrippa and those around him.

From Furbo, Martin was a member of Galway Youth Theatre from 2002 to 2005, before retuning to college at the age of 25.

He did an arts degree at the then NUIG, followed by a Masters in Geography, and then went to Bristol to do a PhD, focusing on the Corrib Gas controversy, but got sick and didn’t finish it.

His supervisor suggested turning his research into a book, but by then, Martin had discovered Cornelius Agrippa and felt “it was time to go back to theatre”.

He certainly had found an extraordinary story and it’s one he is passionate about.

By 2015, he was ready to write it, but it took a while to get started. By then, “other things, like pandemics got in the way”.

Martin says that while this is technically a one-man show, “you always have people helping you”, and he is grateful for the help and advice he has got all the way through and to his production team.

After Covid, feeling he had forgotten the craft of acting, he took classes with Mary Murray at Visions Drama School in Dublin and also began workshops with Run At It Shouting in London, “getting back into the world of it”.

Then, last year, he was ready to bring The Reincarnation of Cornelius Agrippa to stage with his company Wilderlands Productions.  He staged it in Dublin’s Smock Alley in November before bringing it to Galway in February for a four-night run at St Nicholas’s, a church he had previously acted in during his days with DramSoc in college.

Pictured: Martin Sullivan in the one-man show, which returns to St Nicholas's Collegiate Church on November 1.