Irreverence in the air as Nualas play Town Hall on Good Friday

Date Published: {J}

Sex on the farm, the current political climate, Ireland’s obesity problem and the country’s housing crisis will the themes of songs being performed by the all-singing, all-dancing, all-acting Nualas when they visit the Town Hall on April 6, Good Friday, with their new show, One Night of Dignity.

“Irreverence and drink will be the order of the day,” says the Nualas’ newest member Maria Tecce, referring to the fact that alcohol will be freely available on the night, because the Town Hall’s theatre licence permits it.

“We’ve got a new show and Galway is one of the first places on the tour, so there will be a lot of fresh material,” says the Italian-American jazz cabaret singer, who lived in Galway for two years after first arriving in Ireland about a decade ago.

Maria subsequently moved to Dublin where she forged a successful career as a cabaret singer and an actress before joining Anne Gildea and Sue Collins in the Nualas over a year and half ago.

“I knew Ann from the Dublin scene,” says Maria, explaining the background to her involvement with the comedy group, which was founded in the mid 1990s, with Anne and Sue being there since the beginning.

During their previous seven years together The Nualas completed six sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival and played theatres in Dublin, London and New York. The New York Times described their work as ‘wackily original’ while The Scotsman simply declared, "Genius. Kill to get a ticket!’

“Anne rang me to say she had a view to re-forming the Nualas,” continues Maria, “and was wondering if I knew anybody who could sing three-part harmony, act and do comedy. I suggested a few people, but they had already tried some of them and wanted to work with somebody new.”

Eventually she offered to fill in while they succeeded in finding someone. It was an ideal match – the only reason they hadn’t asked her was because they thought she was too busy.

The three got together in Sue Collins’ house and ‘had a laugh”, running through potential material. That was a year-and-a-half ago and Maria has gone from filling in with the Nualas to being fulltime.

But it’s been a tough year. They launched a new show early in 2011, in Vicar Street and then started gigging nationally. However their plans had to go on hold when Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer in July.

“She was the first thing and the most important thing was to get her well,” says Maria. “But nobody was more disappointed than Anne about having to put things on hold, because she had spearheaded re-forming the group.”

Anne’s treatment involved chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiotherapy to tackle the cancer. Her radiotherapy finished a few weeks ago, and her entire experience was documented by a moving documentary, which was broadcast on RTE 2 in early March.

Meanwhile, as Anne was being treated, Maria had to spend a few weeks in hospital, after an injury to the base of her spine left her unable to walk.

“But we’ve turned a corner now and come out fighting,” says Maria, acknowledging that they tried to keep writing while Anne was sick, partly to keep themselves busy.

Maria has kept herself very busy

since arriving in Ireland about a decade ago. Following her move to Dublin she has worked with the Abbey and Gate Theatres as well as on productions for BBC and ITV. Her career this side of the Atlantic began Galway, she explains.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.