image via Unsplash
by Saoirse Anton
The year is marching onwards and somehow it is already, well, March! Alongside a beautiful wash of daffodils and crocuses that have been brightening my mornings, March brings us both Mother’s Day and International Women’s Day, so what better to focus on in this month’s column than the fantastic work by and about women on Ireland’s stages?
Motherkraft
Described as a ‘call to her arms, a gathering, inviting the audience to witness a ritual to reconceive the power of creation,’ Motherkraft is an intriguing theatrical performance, blending movement, music, storytelling and video to tell the story of a woman who, with the guidance of a sentient bioship she has built, voyages through the isolation of motherhood and a rediscovery of herself.
This new work from Regan O’Brien promises to be an inventive exploration of the vulnerability, chaos and learning that accompanies motherhood.
Motherkraft runs at Project Arts Centre from the 20th-23rd March
Sin Scéal Eile
Celebrating World Storytelling Day, singer and seanchaí Helena Byrne brings a smorgasbord of stories and songs to Mermaid Arts Centre. Randing from spooky stories of ghosts and faeries, to heart-warming meet-cutes in the Arcadia Ballroom, Sin Scéal Eile looks set to transport its audience in an evening of story and song.
Sin Scéal Eile is at Mermaid Arts Centre on the 22nd March
Ideal World
A comedy about online shopping, family secrets and second chances at love, Ideal World at the Viking Theatre is a new play from Isobel Mahon. Telling the story of Merce, a woman coping with the recent death of her mother, this play promises a curious cast of characters and insightful reminders that there is no such thing as an ideal world.
Ideal World runs at the Viking Theatre from 6-16th March
The Hare
In too many stories, and too often in life, women who don’t conform to our narrow definition of normal and acceptable have been left to the periphery. Clare Monnelly & Bob Kelly’s production, The Hare, tells the story of one such woman. Rejected by society for her wild nature, the main character greets the audience on a day where a letter arrives that may change everything. With live music and an intriguing story, The Hare is sure to be a captivating night at the theatre.
The Hare tours to venues across Ireland throughout March.
An Evening Celebrating The work of Rita Ann Higgins
Rita Ann Higgins is one of Ireland’s foremost poets, and this month Townhall Theatre Galway hosts a celebration of her work with readings from a selection of Irish writers including Elaine Feeney, Mary O’Malley and Sarah Clancy. Higgins’ work makes the ordinary extraordinary, so whether you are a lifelong fan or have never heard her poems before, head along for a memorable night of poetic celebration.
An Evening Celebrating the Work of Rita Ann Higgins is at the Townhall Theatre Galway on the 20th March
Audrey or Sorrow
Another of Ireland’s celebrated writers, Marina Carr, brings a new work to the stage this spring with Audrey or Sorrow at the Abbey Theatre. Blending the mythological with the domestic, Carr’s plays leave her audiences musing on questions of love, life and the world around them, and Audrey or Sorrow looks to be no different. Billed as a dark and dangerous comedy that will ‘bring audiences on a shape-shifting, time-bending deep dive into a world of family secrets, unimaginable loss, ghosts behaving badly and the endless pull of the sea,” this is a production not to be missed.
Audrey or Sorrow runs at the Abbey Theatre until the 23rd March
From Teresa Deevey and Lady Gregory to Waking the Feminists and Mothers Artists Makers, theatre in Ireland has always had capable, talented women at its heart, even in times where they have been overlooked and undervalued. This March, head on down to your local venue and support the work of some of the many incredible women in the industry.
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