Clever, creative approach to complex historic territory

COGADH NA SAOIRSE FÍBÍN TEO REVIEW by Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

Fíbín have done it again! Their latest production, Cogadh na Saoirse, has all the elements of a Galway International Arts Festival show – drama, music, dance, pyrotechnics and it also stirs the emotions.

The night-time show performed under the stars by a cast of 50, including local volunteers, on Fibín’s four-acre site at Minna, beside TG4’s headquarters, it is a feast for eyes, ears and heart.

The War of Independence was a turbulent time for Ireland and possibly a period many of us have chosen not to revisit – as much as for keeping the peace as anything else – but Fíbín’s artistic director Philip Doherty has boldly tackled it and concisely, within two hours.

You could say it’s a bit like ‘history for dummies’, told matter-of-factly through dialogue, using various types of music from trad to bluegrass and topped by the haunting voice of Julie Feeney.

Paper-boys circulated newspapers to the audience which featured articles from the era – from the 1918 Conscription Crisis up to the signing of the Treaty in 1921 – alongside the production’s programme. It featured adverts too, asking people to wear masks for protection against the Spanish Flu, as well as a Public Notice informing readers that all public places of congregation were closed during the pandemic.

The current Covid pandemic was why Fíbín decided to stage their new outdoors. The weather was in their favour for the opening night on Saturday and looks good for the rest of the run.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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