Lauded ‘Star of the Sea’ returns for new run

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

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 will see it return to An Taibhdhearc from September 16-19.

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 – the first time Moonfish are taking part in the event – and will also visit nine other venues nationally as part of the Strollers Touring Network. This group of theatres approached them and are part-funding the tour. 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’.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.