During her marriage Grainne bore three children Owen, Murrough and Margaret. Over the course of time she gradually eclipsed her husband, actively engaging in politics, intrigue, tribal disputes, fishing and trading. The city of Galway, one of the largest trade centres in the British Isles, had closed its gates to the O'Flaherty's and so they had to trade themselves with Munster, Ulster, Scotland, Spain and Portugal. To the further annoyance of Galway Corporation she would swoop out in her fast galleys and waylay the slower merchants. She would negotiate with the ship's captain for a suitable price for safe passage or give leave to her men to pillage and plunder.

The Gráinne Mhaol Project

Many of the images shown here were taken in Coventry cathedral where we performed Gráinne Mhaol for a week. It was a wonderful experience and we thank all concerned. We look forward to the opportunity to perform the Mysteries 2003 next year.

The Belgrade Theatre is a repertory theatre based in the heart of the City of Coventry. It has long had a history of working with other Theatre companies based in the community of Coventry, and has collaborated with many of these companies to showcase their work in the Belgrade Theatre's Arts Alive Festival which runs for six weeks in the summer.

Jim Aherne - Site developer, manager

Press Reviews

Macnas Arts Festival Show to Celebrate Pirate Queen

By Judy Murphy

THE major home produced show for this year's Galway Arts Festival is the world premiere of Grainne Mhaol from Macnas Theatre company
This show, involving a cast of hundreds, will be performed both on the streets of Galway -at unannounced and unexpected times -and in the Big Top tent in the Fisheries Field. And while it contains dark elements, this work will ultimately be a celebration of one of Ireland's most extraordinary women.

Chieftain, pirate and a woman of outstanding ability and courage, it's little wonder that many of the stories surrounding Grace O'Malley or Grainne Mhaol enter the realms of fantasy. But some are very definitely based in fact and, while Macnas are not trying to be historically accurate with this piece, they are using events from Grace O'Malley's life as the inspiration for their 90 minute indoor show, explains the show's director Kathi Leahy. While the production focuses on one woman's story, it also interprets the bigger historic picture. The era of Grainne Mhaol in the late 16th and very early 17th century marked the death of the old Gaelic order in Ireland and the growing dominance of English rules and methods of inheritance.

Kathi, a second generation Irish woman, who was born in Coventry is taking time out from rehearsals in the Black Box talk about the show which will open on July 15th.

"We are beginning the fourth week of rehearsal, but in terms of the overall production it's probably been a year and a half of discussion, planning, preparation," says Kathi who is involved in community theatre in Coventry with a company Shakseen and who is also an independent director. Shaskeen focuses mainly on work that relates to Coventry's large Irish community and among her previous productions is "A Terrible Beauty" about another famous Irish woman, Countess Markievicz.

In recent years Macnas and Shaskeen have worked together, sharing expertise in their different areas of work and this shared experience led to Kathi's involvement in the Grainne Mhaol project.

This combination of street performance -not parades -and indoor show is a new departure for Macnas and rehearsals for both aspects to the production have been underway since February with a large community input.
"It evolved because the company were taking a new direction and needed a new challenge," says Kathi, adding that doing a show about a woman was also a new challenge. "Looking at the performances they had done so far, they had been slightly more biased towards males, so the idea was to called have a woman's show."

Kathi and writer Patricia Forde initially worked together on the telling of the Grainne Mhaol story and once that initial work was complete, Patricia completed a first draft. They then worked on that and they are now on about draft four, says Kathi, because this show is a "living thing which changes in rehearsal" and it is also a show with a lot of movement and dance in addition to dialogue.

Memories

I invite all participants and/or those who saw the show to enter their memories into this space. Photos of the show most welcome.

I look forward to hearing your Comments.

Jim Aherne