Performers at Scéalta Shamhna

Artists Biographies

Gearóidín Breathnach
Donegal

Gearóidín is originally from The Rosses in County Donegal and now lives in Dungloe. Her father was the noted seanchai Eddie Frainc Mac Grianna and it is from him that she learned many of her stories. She is in turn passing on these stories to her children and her community.

Niall de Búrca
Galway

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Niall was raised in the west and for many years lived in New Zealand, which had a big influence on his storytelling style. He travels the world performing and holding storytelling workshops. Niall lives in Dublin and is the director of Scealta Shamhna.

John Campbell
Armagh

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John Campbell is one of Ireland's finest seanchai's and has represented Ireland at many international festivals in Europe, Australia, and North America. John is a shepherd and lives in the village of Mullaghbawn. He is steeped in the tradition and folklore of the area around slieve gullion, Ireland's most mystical mountain.

Kate Corkery
Cork and London

Originally from Passage West in County Cork, Kate tells professionally with Winston Nzinga as Spud and Yam. Based in London they have performed at festivals throughout the UK and Ireland. Kate is the founder of the Hammersmith Yarnspinners.

Ellen Cranitch
Dublin

Ellen is a graduate in music composition from Trinity College Dublin. She has worked as a freelance flute player with the National Symphony Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Opera Theater Company and many classical chamber ensembles. She plays with the group "Khanda", which explores Indian and Eastern European music through an Irish traditional medium. She has composed soundtracks for many theater and television productions. She is a regular performer at Scéalta Shamhna with Nuala Hayes as Two Chairs Company.

Len Graham
Newry

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Len is one of our best known traditional singers and is well known internationally for his singing and also for the breadth of his knowledge of Irish folk music. Len draws from the tradition of the past, assimilates the songs in the here and now and remakes them for us in his own voice. In 1992, Len was the recipient of the Sean O'Boyle Cultural Traditions Award in recognition of his work as a collector and singer of traditional music and he is the founder member of SKYLARK, a traditional music group.

Nuala Hayes
Dublin

Nuala is an actor storyteller and sometimes broadcaster. A founding member of Two Chairs Company, she was director of Scéalta Shamhna for ten years. Nuala is presently artist in residence in Co Laois where she is recording some of the voices and stories of the region.

Susie Kennedy
Dublin and USA

Susie Kennedy is a Dublin based actor, singer, director and storyteller. She has most recently appeared in The Tribunal Show and as Mae West in Come Up And See Me Sometime.

Jack Lynch
Dublin

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Jack is a great favorite in storytelling circles. His great humor and charm combine to deliver his engaging stories in the most entertaining, hilarious manner. As a storyteller, told often for the Dublin Yarnspinners, Scéalta Shamhna, Cultra, Omagh and the Courtmacsherry festivals. As an actor, he's played in almost all of Dublin and, indeed, the country's Theaters. He's appeared on BALLYKISSANGEL and numerous other TV programmes and films. He also spent five seasons as a presenter/writer/actor/puppeteer on Irish Children's TV.

Aideen McBride
Carlow

Aideen McBride often uses storytelling in her teaching at Primary School in Ballymun, Dublin, and has told her stories at the National Museum in Dublin, Cultra Folk Museum in Belfast and at many, many summer festivals. Her stories, sad and funny by turns, include yarns and folktales handed down to her by her father in Carlow. She loves to include her audience in the stories, many of which have a participatory element. Audiences of all ages will enjoy the spell Aideen weaves with her imaginative and warm delivery of these stories from the Irish tradition.

Michael Parent
USA

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Michael Parent grew up in a bilingual French-Canadian family in Lewiston, Maine. He has performed traditional and original stories in both English and French, to great acclaim, throughout the US and beyond since 1977. In 1999 Michael received the US National Storytelling Networks Circle of
Excellence Award.

Micéal Ross
Dublin

Micéal is the keeper of the flame at the Dublin Yarnspinners. His quick wit and great store of tales make him a perfect host to an always entertaining and often surprising storytelling evening.

Pat Speight
Cork

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Pat is one of Ireland's best known storytellers, carrying on the timeless art and oral tradition of storytelling for young and old, he specialises in traditional Irish Tales, Folk Tales from the fireplaces of Ireland. He has stories to make you laugh and to make you cry and to scare and cheer, stories about Animals and Birds, Kings and Warriors, Saints and Sinners, Witches and Magicians, Pickpockets and Ghosts, Fairies and Mermaids, and Mythical, Mystical characters that inspire and captivate the imagination.

Billy Teare
Antrim

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Billy incorporates many talents such as music, juggling, mimicry and superb memory skills in his storytelling performances. He has been a featured storyteller at many festivals including the US National Storytelling festival in Tennessee and The Cape Clear International Storytelling festival. He lives in Larne, Co Antrim.