Genre-defying show fuses music, words and dance

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

“It’s like hunting more than farming,” says writer and director Darach Mac Con Iomaire about the creation of Óró…, a new production which he describes as “a fusion of dance, music and theatre”. It will receive its premiere at Gailearaí an Tismeáin, An Ceathrú Rua, next Monday.

Produced by Ealaín na Gaeltachta for Galway 2020, Óró… is a story of language, identity and survival, which was devised and will be performed by artists from Ireland, Scotland, the Basque Country, Cornwall and Friesland.

“It’s about people finding a home away from home, about language and the migrant experience,” says Darach. “About people being forced out and having to find their own space in the world. It might not be your place, but you find a space in it.”

And he stresses that “it’s not a play, it’s an experience”.

Irish participants in Óró… include musicians and composers Liam Ó Maonlaí and Maitiú Ó Casaide, contemporary dancer Sibéal Davitt, artist and designer Seán Ó Flaithearta, and actors Síle Nic Chonaonaigh and Diarmuid de Faoite.

Scottish singer Josie Duncan, Cornish poet and performer Taran Spalding-Jenkin, Basque actor Amaia Elizaran and Frisan painter and poet Anne Feddema are also involved.

“There’s music, song, contemporary dance, narrative and art – it’s not a play and nor is it a concert, it’s somewhere in between,” says its director.

“The space is a huge part of it,” Darach adds, referring to the former factory where it will be staged.

Darach, whose previous productions include the stage play Baoite and the TV series Corp agus Anam, is used to directing scripted shows but this is totally different – hence his hunting analogy.

“Just because you caught fish in a place before doesn’t mean you will again if you go back there,” he says of the tricky process of progressing a collaborative story.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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