New Run of Ailliliú Fionnuala

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Afri is proud to be associated once again with the new run of Ailliliú Fionnuala, written and performed by Donal O’Kelly, directed by Sorcha Fox, designed by Robert Ballagh and presented by Benbo Productions.

Ailliliú Fionnuala takes place on the shore of Sruwaddaconn Estuary in Erris, North Mayo, where the Shell high-pressure raw gas pipeline is under construction.

Ambrose Keogh works for Shell. When the Tunnel Boring Machine he named Fionnuala sinks into the bog, he comes face to face with Fionnuala of the Children of Lir herself in a fairy fort. Fionnuala puts a geas (spell) 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. Continue reading “New Run of Ailliliú Fionnuala” →

Ailliliú Fionnuala

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Afri is proud to be associated with the upcoming première of Ailliliú Fionnuala, written and performed by Donal O’Kelly, directed by Sorcha Fox and presented by Benbo Productions.

 

Ailliliu_WEBAilliliú Fionnuala takes place on the shore of Sruwaddaconn Estuary in Erris, North Mayo, where the Shell high-pressure raw gas pipeline is under construction.
Ambrose Keogh works for Shell. When the Tunnel Boring Machine he named Fionnuala sinks into the bog, he comes face to face with Fionnuala of the Children of Lir herself in a fairy fort. Fionnuala puts a geas (spell) 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.

Ambrose Keogh is joined in this ordeal by his primary school classmate, Malachy Downes, now an anti-pipeline campaigner. They are pushed to reveal truths about how the holders of power operate in Ireland, behind closed doors, with no regard for civil rights of citizens, then and now.

In the foyer of the theatre is a photo exhibition by photojournalist William Hederman, documenting the past seven years in the struggle against Shell in north Mayo. http://www.facebook.com/events/112718452222480

For more details on this event, please see our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/453610148013600/

Where: Theatre Upstairs, Lanigans, Eden Quay, Dublin 1.
When: 1pm to 1.50pm Monday-Saturday, 5th November –17th November 2012.
To book: Please contact The Theatre Upstairs directly – by email theatreupstairs@gmail.com or by phoning 085 727 375.
Tickets cost €10 (or €8 concessionary rate).  Ticket price includes soup and bread.

Ten Days That Shook My World

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Donal O’Kelly and Sorcha Fox performing extracts from “The Cambria” at Afri’s 2009 Famine Walk in Louisburgh, County Mayo

Earlier this year we – Benbo Productions, Sorcha Fox and Donal O’Kelly – were invited to take our show The Cambria to the Harare International Festival of the Arts (called HIFA) in Zimbabwe, with the support of Culture Ireland, and in the International American School in Lusaka, at the invitation of the Irish Embassy, Zambia. The tour was also supported by Afri.

 

Day 1:

Monday 30 April

We meet our technical manager Ronan Fingleton at Dublin Airport and we pool luggage to get the combined weight under the limit. Our luggage includes the backdrop, floorcloth, costumes and props for our show The Cambria, about US anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass’s journey to Ireland in 1845 on the steamer Cambria. We fly on Emirates Airline direct to Dubai, arriving there late evening. In the windowseat, I witness an incredible electric storm over the eastern Mediterranean, and a gigantic oil flare-off in the Arabian desert. Luckily, Sorcha has found a way to get us accommodated for free in a Dubai hotel, because we have a 9-hour wait before flying on to Harare.

 

Day 2.

Tuesday 1 May

The flight to Harare has quite a few musicians on board, trying to fit their instrument cases into the overhead lockers. The vertical camera facility on the video screen shows amazing images of East Africa from 50,000 feet. The airport at Harare has a 1970s feel, queues forming for immigration booths with early 1990s computers. We queue up with our $55 entry fees, and get our passports stamped. A HIFA minibus is outside to take us all to the Rainbow Towers Hotel, formerly the Sheraton who pulled out of Zimbabwe a few years ago. We meet the HIFA people and they give us HIFA brochures. HIFA is an enormous festival, with bands and acts from all over the world taking part. The theme this year is “A Show Of Spirit”. We’re glad to bring a little of Frederick Douglass’s resilient spirit to Africa, the homeland his ancestors were forcibly torn from by the slave trade.

Continue reading “Ten Days That Shook My World” →