Changing times in that trawl for a perfect mate

Country Living with Francis Farragher

There’s an old country saying of: “When God made them, he matched them,” and often one not used in a complimentary tone back the years when I’d hear my father or mother, or the neighbours, dissecting the travails of a couple not renowned for their tolerance or understanding of each other’s way.

Tales would emerge of how couples had been matched up,– sometimes with bad light and the cover of darkness being used to camouflage the more obvious physical defects of one of the parties – but even if the pairing was made in the shade, honour would prevent it from being undone, when the next viewing occurred during the reality of daylight.

A couple of weeks back, I took one of those far too infrequent visits to the Town Hall Theatre in the city of Galway (accompanied) to take one of those steps back in time to watch one of the late John B. Keane’s classic compositions, The Matchmaker.

Maybe, not a production to everyone’s liking on the basis of slightly coarse language and a cluster of sexual innuendos, but you’d want to be in a seriously bad humour, not to burst into fits of laughter at the antics of Jon Kenny and Norma Sheahan.

It was a tonic for both body and soul, although at an early stage of the performance four or five people took to the exit doors, two of them having to climb over the backs of their seats, to escape from the devilish and irreverent prose of the Listowel playwright.

While there is of course the funny side to the whole business of matchmaking, that mirth could also conceal a deep-rooted loneliness felt by many people in rural Ireland, often bachelor farmers of reasonable means and appearance, who had a longing to spend the rest of their days with a companion (in those days always a female) to stoke the fire, share the household duties and maybe enjoy ‘a bit of fun’ as well.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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