Special performance of Ailliliú Fionnuala by Donal Kelly for NUI Maynooth.
Monday February 4 @ 7:30 in Classhall F, Arts Building, North Campus
(# 35 on map available here).
This event is open to the public and admission is free.
Facebook event here.
Written and performed by Donal O’Kelly, directed by Sorcha Fox, and designed by Robert Ballagh, Ailliliú
Fionnuala takes place on the shore of Sruwaddacon Estuary in Erris,
North Mayo, where the Shell high-pressure raw gas pipeline is currently
under construction.
Ambrose Keogh works for Shell. When the
Tunnel Boring Machine he named Fionnuala sinks into the bog in Erris
Co. Mayo, he is magically confronted by Fionnuala of the Children of
Lir. Fionnuala puts a geas on him – he’s bound to tell the truth about
Shell’s operations in Erris, such as the attack on Willie Corduff in
the Shell site at Glengad. During his ordeal, Ambrose comes face to
face with his primary school classmate, Malachy Downes, now an
anti-pipeline activist, and echoes from the past resound.
Ambrose Keogh was the silent minion in Donal O’Kelly’s international
success Bat The Father Rabbit The Son, premiered by Rough Magic in
1988, and touring to acclaim in Edinburgh, New York and Australia. A
quarter of a century later, Keogh’s found his niche in the corridors of
power, at the heart of the Shell/Corrib gas project.
A writer
and actor, Donal O’Kelly’s previous award-winning solo plays include
Catalpa, Joyced! and Bat The Father Rabbit The Son. Other plays include
The Cambria, Jimmy Gralton’s Dancehall, The Adventures Of The Wet
Señor, Vive La, Operation Easter, Asylum! Asylum! and The Dogs.
“Cuts a swathe through Shell/State propaganda, allowing audiences to
access the truth of what’s happening in North Mayo” Hot Press
“A stirring piece of theatre” Irish Theatre Magazine
“Highly entertaining while packing a punch” Exeunt Magazine
“O’Kelly
performs superbly” Sunday Independent
“Digs for truth beneath the
controversies” Irish Times
“Why a drill and a play are at the centre of
Irish democracy” Irish Independent
Supported by the justice and human rights organisation Afri.Hosted by the MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism.
