ArtScape:It's a staggeringly ambitious plan, and an exciting prospect. Ouroboros theatre production company and artistic director Denis Conway are bringing their terrific production of Brian Friel's Making Historyon tour, in this, the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls.
Back in 1942, Sean O'Faolain wrote in The Great O'Neill: "He [ O'Neill] is one of the very few figures in the Ireland, indeed in the Europe of the 16th century, who stands up like a rock above the tossing seas of men struggling to defend and resist and achieve they hardly knew what . . . There was a Gaelic people. There was not a Gaelic nation. O'Neill was the first modern man who gave that people a form, by giving it a speech that it could understand and which made it realise itself intelligently."
He wrote that anyone studying how historical myths are created could use O'Neill as an example. "And beginning with his defeat and death trace the gradual emergence at which the original would have gazed from under his red eyelashes with a chuckle of cynical amusement and amazement. Indeed in those last years in Rome the myth was already beginning to emerge, and a talented dramatist might write an informative, entertaining, ironical play on the theme of the living man helplessly watching his translation into a star in the face of all the facts that had reduced him to poverty, exile, and defeat."
Such a play is surely Brian Friel's Making History.
Starting this week and running until early April, the critically acclaimed production (first seen in 2005 in the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Dublin), directed by Geoff Gould, tours theatre venues in the north of the island - An Grianán in Letterkenny, Derry's Guildhall, the Riverside in Coleraine, Market Place in Armagh and Burnavon in Cookstown. Friel's great play is, interestingly, on the A-level syllabus in the North. And this summer, to mark the anniversary of the Flight of the Earls, Ouroboros hopes to perform the play along the routes associated with the story, performing not in theatres but in historic settings. Gould and Conway have scouted possible unconventional settings associated with either O'Neill or Rory O'Donnell, beginning with Charles Fort in Kinsale, Co Cork, and taking in the Cistercian abbey in Kilmallock, Co Limerick; the Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary; Mellifont Abbey, Co Louth; the Hill of Tara, Co Meath; Donegal Castle and Rathmullan in Co Donegal; and ending in O'Neill's birthplace in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.
Most of the places they are looking at are managed by the Office of Public Works, and Conway says that, without exception, there was a desire by those running these spaces to be part of the event, subject to finance being sorted out. The plan in Dungannon is to perform the play on September 7th and 8th on the site of O'Neill's original castle and stronghold on top of the hill, which commands a view all the way to Belfast in the east and Donegal in the west. In O'Neill's time, fires would have been lit on the hilltops along the way to warn of enemy approaches, and the Return of the Earls Festival hopes to re-light those fires. The hill has been the site of a British army post for the past 30 years and will only be re-opened to the public for this festival, so it will be the first time that most Dungannon people will have the opportunity to stand on this famous hill. Says Conway, "the most important thing about the week is that this committee crosses the communities. We had Francie Molloy of Sinn Féin and Walter Cuddy of the UUP both rooting for us to come up. With the peace process in mind the play is highly appropriate to the idea of reconciliation and moving on. Many of the dilemmas O'Neill struggled with are still with us today."
Other possible settings for the show are: Barryscourt Castle in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork; Desmond Hall in Newcastle West, Co Limerick; Roscrea Castle in Co Tipperary; Clonmacnoise in Co Offaly; Ballymote Castle and Parke's Castle, Co Sligo; Emo Court, Co Laois; Trim Castle, Co Meath; Carlingford Abbey, Co Louth; Bagenal's Castle in Newry, Co Down; and Enniskillen Castle in Co Fermanagh.
This ambitious project is still being organised and financial negotiations are ongoing. While the Arts Council's new Touring Project turned the proposal down, the Department of the Taoiseach and the OPW are both fully behind it and Ouroboros is confident it can pull it off.
Irish design to hit world stage
Plans are well along for Ireland's first representation at the Prague Quadrennial, the 11th International Exhibition of Scenography and Theatre Architecture (PQ 07), from June 14th to 24th. The only exhibition of its kind and magnitude to showcase the best of worldwide design for theatre and theatre architecture first took place in 1967, but Ireland has not been represented until now. The notion that Ireland should exhibit in Prague came from a group of people including Enrica Cerquoni, Phelim Donlon, Cathy Leeney, Denis Looby, Colm O'Briain, Lynne Parker and Joe Vanek, most of whom now form the board for the project, which is managed by Irish Theatre Institute. John Comiskey is curating the Irish exhibit, which will be in the three main sections of PQ 07: a national exhibition - the best of established theatre design over the past four years; Scenofest, for emerging and student designers (there are no courses devoted exclusively to theatre design in Ireland but many colleges have modules in the area, and designs selected for the student exhibition in PQ 07 will be announced in mid-April); and theatre architecture.
The architecture section will focus on the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Co Meath, designed by Grafton Architects; the Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Co Tipperary, designed by McCullough Mulvin Architects; and will highlight the 100-room venue designed by Andrew Clancy for Pan Pan's production of One: Healing With Theatre. Irish theatre, opera and dance designers haven't had the opportunity to showcase their work on a world stage like this before, says Jane Daly, executive producer of the Irish Theatre Institute.
PQ 07 will reflect the work of the best theatre designers from 60 countries and is set to introduce the best of Irish scenography to a world audience, as well as being a valuable forum for communicating, networking and exchanging ideas.
The theme of Ireland's national exhibition is Firing the Canon: Masterworks Revisited in Modern Ireland, and it aims to show how new approaches in scenography have influenced the restaging of the Irish and European classical repertoire, featuring the work of more than 25 designers from Ireland, and Irish designers based abroad, who work in stage, costume, make-up, lighting and sound design in theatre, opera and dance.
Preparations for this have been going on since November 2004. The Irish Theatre Institute has been involved for two years, and the Arts Council and Culture Ireland are on board for the project, which is being managed like a big touring show. The EXTR.acts exhibition at City Hall during last year's Dublin Theatre Festival was a sort of preamble to the showcase, out of which Comiskey chose work to show in Prague. Before heading to Prague in June, the whole display will be put together in Ireland to see how it works. And if you're going through Dublin airport, pause as you race down Pier A to see some photographs of Irish theatre design, which is also part of the PQ 07 preparations.
• The Arts Council, along with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, is looking for submissions for a Curated Visual Arts Award, which aims to promote the visibility of artists from Northern Ireland and the Republic, to encourage greater cross-Border mobility, and to provide an opportunity to work closely with an invited curator. The award, valued at €56,000, is designed to enable the selected artists to produce pivotal work that will advance their own practice. In partnership with the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin and Void in Derry, the two councils have invited artist Mike Nelson to draw up a shortlist and then select two artists to show at both galleries. Nelson sees the award as a way to enable the artists to produce work at a critical time for them, significantly advancing their own practice and making a notable public contribution to art. Submission deadline is March 30th and selected artists will be announced in May. Details at www.artscouncil.ie, www.artscouncil-ni.org or from Anne Rice at the Arts Council 01-6180279, anne.rice@artscouncil.ie.