Theatre

Little is known of Brian Merriman other than that he wrote The Midnight Court, that irreverent 18th century Gaelic poem which…

Little is known of Brian Merriman other than that he wrote The Midnight Court, that irreverent 18th century Gaelic poem which gave voice to the sexual frustrations of women, and dragged clerical celibacy into the dispute. It has been staged many times and in different ways, but never as successfully as by Galway's Druid company in 1992. Singer-composer Sean Tyrell added music to David Marcus's translation, to achieve a fusion which amounted to a new Irish folk opera. The production, bawdy and energetic, was a huge success, bound to rise again. The Fairy Court, a tribunal with teeth, reopens its proceedings tonight at Galway's Town Hall Theatre, and will conclude them in just one week, without the benefit of barristers. There's women for ye.