Subversive Marc brings a new energy to kids’ drama

City Lives – Denise McNamara meets Marc Mac Lochlainn of Irish-language theatre company, Branar

For a non-native Gaeilgeoir, the Irish language certainly has a champion for its future survival in Marc Mac Lochlainn.

before.

This year he has had no less than five shows on the road, with 125 performances entertaining a phenomenal 12,000 children.

After requests from his regular venues, he decided to stage a Christmas family show for the first time. After two years of workshopping, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas goes on a national tour, playing to their largest audiences yet – some 600 people saw the show in Sligo in one day.

“It’s selling out all over the country. Already seven venues are looking at it for next year. It’s our first time to do a show for a capacity audience, usually children’s theatre means we do small venues, so this is certainly a surprise.”

The son of farmers in Kildare, Marc first fell in love with Irish – and teaching – in the Connemara Gaeltacht. Coláiste Chiaráin in Carraroe was the first Irish college he went to, when he was in fifth year.

“We went for the girls,” laughs the affable Marc. “ I was doing pass Irish and all of a sudden I was talking to the Bean an Tí and realised there was a life to the language other than poems. I loved it so much I went back every summer for ten years.”

He was “principal” for four years on the fourth course in Coláiste Lurgan in Inverin, the famous Irish college which produces hit musical videos ‘as Gaeilge’.

He recalls doing a film based on the legend of Diarmuid and Gráinne, involving 600 kids over six days with 100 kids per scene and six scenes to be filmed.

“You get to deal with all different kids. It’s really energising working with young people every day. You’re always finding ways to make it interesting for them to learn Irish.”  

The experience led him to train as a teacher in St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra. He went on to Galway to get the H Dip, the place where he really immersed himself in theatre.

“Everyone performing in St Pat’s, UCG and UCC are now the actors in Ros na Rún or the broadcasters on TG4. Between 2001 and 2004 I was doing a lot of directing; they were professional shows at An Taibhdhearc dramatising the Irish curriculum.”

After graduating, he went on to teach in a Dublin primary school before taking a part-time job in Coláiste na Coiribe.

“I was using a lot of drama with the kids as a way to make links to the Irish language curriculum, using drama to make the poetry, short stories and novels interesting. I remember looking for people to come and do workshops, but because it was in Irish I was doing a lot of it myself.

“I researched different styles of drama, different genres. I ended up taking the shows on the road, doing five shows a day, going to schools all over the country. With Branar, we don’t aim to teach Irish. It’s about making Irish interesting and relevant to modern children without having a language agenda. It’s about getting them to experience it in a kind of subversive way – they enjoy it without realising it.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.