GRANUAILE
During the 1560s Murrough na dTuadh O'Flaherty (Murrough of the Battleaxes), a young chief, was making his presence felt. In 1564 the Earl of Clanrickard was forced to fight him just outside Galway and was resoundly defeated. This was too much to be overlooked but the English were short of funds as ever. In return for his submission and promise to 'Observe the Queen's peace' he was pardoned and made the chief of all of Iar-Connacht, in effect making him The O'Flaherty and thus ousting the current one and the tainist, Grainne's husband.
Donal is said to have died in a revenge attack by the Joyces for his capture of the island castle of Caislean-an-Circa. During that fight he earned the name of Donal-an-Cullagh (the Cock) for the great courage he displayed defending it. The Joyce victory was premature though. Grainne herself fought on and defeated them. She earned the name 'the Hen' and the castle was henceforth called Hen's castle.
The Gráinne Mhaol Project
This lead to the decision that the production would have a long-term and sustained community involvement with rehearsals starting in February and be on a large-scale with between two and three hundred people involved in the production. It would also have a professional cast of 18 performers all of whom will be selected from the November workshops.
Declan Gibbons - General Manager - Macnas - July 2002
Press Reviews
Macnas Arts Festival Show to Celebrate Pirate Queen
By Judy Murphy
The indoor aspect nf the show involves a cast of 17 professional actors
and a voluntary community cast of 50 people, including children. These
50 people have been exploring performance and theatre technique with Macnas
performers since March. Last month, they joined the professional cast
for intensive rehearsals, led by Kathi.
"The piece is all about ensemble playing," she explains. "If
you took the" community cast away you couldn't do it
The outdoor sections of the show, which are being directed by Renmore
woman, Judith Higgins and features over 300 performers and drummers. Again
community involvement is central.
Drumming rhythms for both indoor and outdoor scenes are being developed
in workshops supervised by John Donnelly.
But there's going to be lots more than drumming in this production, with
classical and Irish music also being incorporated, as well as the music
of Shaun Davey from his composition, the Granuaile Suite.
This new show with its various different components is Macnas's most challenging
undertaking for many years. "It is difficult to combine outdoor work,
spectacle and dialogue," comments Kathi," and it's not done
very often. It's a big challenge" And it's also going to be a large
challenge for the actors to hold their own against the very impressive
props and furniture currently being made by much that meant to people
when it was Macnas's design team. The edges of rehearsal area in the Black
Box is full of strange looking objects -one of which is Queen Elizabeth's
dress, although you'd have to see it in action to fully appreciate it.
The meeting between Grainne Mhaol and Queen Elizabeth I is probably one
of the best known episodes in Grace O'Malley's life and is one which will
be re-enacted in this production.
"These are two women who have a lot of power but a lot of differences.
One is ensnared by her power, trapped by it, and has never been on a ship,"
says Kathi referring to the queen. The other is of course Grainne Mhaol,
much of whose life was spent at sea. Kathi is a strong believer that for
community theatre to have an impact the work must be relevant to the community
it's being performed for and that's certainly the case with this piece.
"In Galway especially because of the O'Flahertys and Joyces and you've
got the legacy of the sea outside the door and how the something that
they made their living from. The outdoor scenes will take place in locations
which are central to Galway's history, as well as in a few surprise places,
says Judith Higgins. These scenes feature the tribes of Galway, the Spanish
Armada and other events which give a taste of that time and they have
been designed by the show's production designer Kieran McNulty who designed
last year's parade.
