GRANUAILE
The only portion of Clew bay not in O'Malley hands was governed by the castle of Rockfleet (Carraig-an-Cabhlaigh). So around 1566 she married Richard-an-Iarainn, Iron Dick Burke. Curiously enough he was the son of her first husband's sister who he had committed murder for.
Traditionally she had married Richard for 'one year certain', i.e. either party could terminate the marriage after one year. Marriage under the Brehon system was a contract for the mutual benefit of the participants. Divorce was simple and uncomplicated for both partners and more like a business transaction. It is said that after a year Grainne had thoroughly installed herself in Rockfleet and when Richard returned from one of his war missions she called down from the ramparts 'I dismiss you' and thus divorced him.
The Gráinne Mhaol - The Process
In February we began the rehearsal and development process (three nights per week) with a large-scale community involvement to create all the elements for the street part of the production. This was overseen by our Community Arts Coordinator, our Performance Director, our Production Designer and key Macnas artists, makers and performers working with a wide range of different community groups and enthusiastic individuals. The object of the exercise was not only to create the production elements necessary for the event, but also to develop a new model of community involvement over a long-term and sustained period.
Declan Gibbons - General Manager - Macnas - July 2002
Press Reviews
Fintan O'Toole - Irish Times - Friday 19th July 2002
THE pageant died of embarrassment sometime in the late 1960s. With the weird exception of the annual mock re-enactment of the Battle of the Boyne at Scarva, the last really big historical pageant in Ireland was the one staged in 1966 in Croke Park for the 5Oth anniversary of the Easter Rising. Even then, in the television age, it probably seemed naff. Pageants, with their cheerful amateurism and naive view of history, have little place in more cynical and sophisticated times.
And yet something was lost when the form was abandoned. Pageants were community theatre before the term was invented. Shakespeare may have patronised the rude mechanicals who perform heroic drama for their social betters in A Midsummer Night's Dream, but Bottom and Peter Quince are still a lot
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
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