Entertainment
Moving play Eclipsed retains the power to stir audiences
Arts Week with Judy Murphy – judymurphy@ctribune.ie
A story of human resilience and resistance, more than one of oppression is how director Niall Cleary describes Patricia Burke Brogan’s groundbreaking play, Eclipsed.
The play, which played a major role in exposing the shameful history of Ireland’s Magdalen laundries, opens this week in the Town Hall Theatre, in a new production from local company, Mephisto Theatre.
It’s been 21 years since Eclipsed, written by the former Mercy novice, was premiered by Punchbag Theatre in Galway. Since then, it has been translated into many languages and has had at least 60 productions all over the world, including in North America, Germany, France, Germany and Italy.
Here in Ireland, the Magdalen Laundry issue has been put back in the spotlight in recent months, with the publication of the McAleese Report on the laundries in February, and the thorny issue of financial compensation for the women.
“It is still time to reflect on it while it is unresolved,” Niall feels, and Eclipsed offers a perfect way of doing that. It represents “a different way to have a conversation about the laundries”, and gives people an opportunity to listen to the stories of the women who were institutionalised, he adds.
“They were real women in these places. The characters in Eclipsed are fictional, but they represent real stories and Patricia was an insider in the laundry so this play comes from a very heart-felt place.”
While Eclipsed is heavy in parts, it’s also uplifting and it’s not a heavy night of theatre, Niall says.
“You think of a place like that and the misery of it, but Patricia captured the women’s imagination and their fight to survive. Some of the women have been institutionalised and some are fighting like lionesses to see their children. There isn’t a ‘type’ of person in there. They are all doing what they can to survive.”
And it’s not just the unfortunate inmates who face that struggle.
Sr Virginia, the young nun in Eclipsed, is “Pat’s voice in a way”, Niall says. “She had entered the convent to work for the poor and care for people and then found herself in the role of oppressor.”
While the unwilling inmates are the real heroines of Eclipsed, the play is so well written that even the older, more forbidding figure of Mother Victoria evokes sympathy, he observes. “She is as much institutionalised as any of the women, or maybe even more. Everyone here is damaged and they are not stereotypes of goodies or baddies.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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