New home in ex-pub leaves Fíbín in high spirits

A French outdoor spectacle during a Galway Arts Festival show in the 1980s made such an impression on one young Galway boy that it inspired him to be a part of a pioneering theatre movement in his native Conamara Gaeltacht.

To date, one of Darach Ó Tuairisg’s creative highlights with Fíbín since the company was established in 2003 is Stair na hÉireann — a show not unlike Royal de Luxe’s History of France, the spectacle he witnessed as a child in the Galway Cathedral carpark.

He definitely caught the theatre bug that night but more importantly, it showed him that good theatre didn’t need to be defined by a language. As he got older, Darach further realised that nobody was producing that type of entertainment in his native Irish language.

“It’s not about language. Fíbín was never set up to promote Irish but to promote good theatre, street theatre, one that was more visual than linguistic,” he explains.

In a few weeks’ time Fíbín will present its new show on their new four-acre property in An Tulach – it’s an outdoor spectacle based on a historic uprising in An Cheathrú Rua in 1880.

The three performances will be free and will involve a professional cast, supported by up to 100 extras from the local community.

Darach has good reason to be excited. Not only has Fíbín finally found a permanent home but the group now has the outdoor space to indulge its creative fantasies.

“It’s a long way from developing ideas in my bedroom,” he ruminates as he sits in his new boardroom, overlooking a field of long grass which will be the setting for this production.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.