Connacht Tribune
Lauded Star of Sea returns for new run
One of Galway’s most innovative companies, Moonfish Theatre, wowed audiences during last year’s Arts Festival with their adaptation of Joseph O’Connor’s hit novel, Star of the Sea.
The Moonfish co-production with An Taibhdhearc Theatre was a total sell-out, but its limited run left many punters disappointed as tickets were like gold dust.
There’ll be no more disappointment, however, as Moonfish and An Taibhdhearc have revived the bilingual, multi-media play for an Irish tour which sees it return to An Taibhdhearc this week.
The story, set on the Famine ship, Star of the Sea, and telling the stories of its passengers and how they ended up on this voyage to America, is one that intrigued sisters Mairéad and Ionia Ní Chróinín of Moonfish since they first read the book.
“There are so many viewpoints in the novel and it was so well constructed that you feel for everyone,” observes Ionia, when we meet in the Meyrick Hotel during week two of a three-week rehearsal period for the revival. “The characters don’t have to be perfect for you to care about them – even the worst of them.”
She loves the way the book explored the notion of how much one person could survive before their humanity was knocked out of them – and in a way that made the reader understand, if not condone, their actions.
Moonfish were thrilled at the response of Galway audiences last year, and are looking forward to taking Star of the Sea on the road, after this new rehearsal period.
“There were a few things we wanted to restructure and refine, so to have these three weeks on top of the original four is a luxury,” Ionia says.
Star of the Sea features in this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival’s programme and will also visit nine other venues nationally as part of the Strollers Touring Network. The Arts Council are also on board for this tour, the biggest ever from Moonfish.
“It’s lovely to be doing it in Galway again because of all the people who didn’t get to see it, and the great reaction and the Taibhdhearc being co-producers,” Ionia reflects. “And it’s nice to bring it outside of Galway too. This is a story for the whole island. It resonates with everyone, everywhere.”
Galway was a natural starting point for it. Star of the Sea is set in Connemara and, as Ionia points out, Galway people hear Irish spoken more regularly than people elsewhere in the country do.
“So the bilingual aspect of it will be interesting outside of Galway.”
With that in mind, Moonfish are running a ‘sister tour’ alongside the main play to create ‘Learner Irish venues’.
They are seeking two members of staff in each venue who will take on the challenge of learning Irish. As part of this, audiences can get information from staff as to what Irish classes are already running locally.
“It’s about availing of the structure that’s already there,” says Ionia. “So many people came up to us after the Galway run and said ‘I’ve more Irish than I thought’.”
Moonfish have always had an innovative and inclusive attitude to presenting work in the Irish language. Their groundbreaking show, Pinocchio, created a method of working that was highly visual and that allowed audiences with limited or no Irish to understand what was happening on stage, without dumbing down the language.
“With Star of the Sea, Irish is intrinsic to the story,” says Ionia, explaining that it’s the first language for some of the characters. “And the Famine had such a devastating effect on the language, which is an undercurrent to the play.”
Moonfish were interested to see how people would react to their presentation of Irish in the play, given the baggage that’s attached to it, thanks mostly to an education system that doesn’t work. They were pleasantly surprised.
“We worked hard on it and were proud of it, so it’s gratifying to be bringing it back,” says Ionia. “You always find new things in it. You can investigate characters more and the relationships between the characters.”
Moonfish take an unusual approach to drama in that there’s no one director. Instead, the small group of performers work collaboratively from start to finish. Projects, such as this one, are developed over a long period, but not constantly, which means actors also work elsewhere.
Direction is done informally in a conversational manner, and while this takes longer than having one person in charge, it works.
Early on, the group worked with a London puppeteer about how to represent the play’s Famine characters.
“This was too essential and too grave for us to act out,” says Ionia of these roles, explaining that puppets could “portray the harrowing nature of the Famine so much better”.
They also had music workshops with local group Tradiohead, as central character Pius Mulvey is a balladeer and used his writing skills to escape Connemara, something which came back to haunt him.
Movement and light are also vital to the piece, which is staged unconventionally. Ionia’s sister Mairéad, who is one of the musicians and is involved in the technical aspect of the production, does so from the stage. Their other sister Sorcha, a stage manager, usually based abroad, is also working on this production.
The Ní Chróiníns may be central to Moonfish, but this is no family company. The open, collaborative approach is working as the group prepare to take on a residency in Kildare’s Riverbank Theatre where they will work on several immersive theatre projects.
For now the focus is on Star of the Sea which will tour until October 31 after its run at An Taibhdhearc from this Wednesday, September 16, to Saturday, September 19, at 8pm. Tickets €18.50/€15.50 from antaibhdhearc.com, 091-563600
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
