Brokentalkers presents
We are excited to offer Audio Description and ISL Performance on 29th Feb, along with a Touch Tour just before the show begins.
In this most unlikely of artistic collaborations, leading experimental theatre company Brokentalkers join forces with one of Ireland’s foremost traditional Irish musicians, Danny O’Mahony.
Danny has dedicated his life to the mastery of his instrument as well as to the preservation and performance of Irish traditional music.
Now, after 40 years of breathing life into centuries-old tunes to honour the memory of those who have come before him, this walking repository of an unquantifiable repertoire of ancient sonic heirlooms is finally taking a breath, a moment to stop and consider what this life long dedication has cost him.
Bellow is a new theatre performance exploring the weight of tradition, the capriciousness of memory and the artist’s need to express their true self.
Performed by Danny O ‘Mahony alongside Brokentalkers’ Gary Keegan, Bellow fuses traditional music, electronic sound design, dance and new writing to heighten the tension between past and present, contemporary and traditional, preservation and progress.
Accessibility
If you require assistance for your visit, please do not hesitate to contact us at access@projectartscentre.ie or call 01 8819 613. You can find the latest information about Project’s accessibility here.
Credits
Written by Feidlim Cannon, Gary Keegan & Danny O’Mahony
Performed by: Danny O’Mahony, Gary Keegan & Emily Kilkenny Roddy
Movement Director: Eddie Kay
Set Design: Sabine Dargent
Lighting Design: Sarah Jane Shiels
Costume Design: Sarah Foley
Sound Design & Composition: Valgeir Sigurðsson
Mask Design & Construction: Ger Clancy
Dramaturg: Bjarni Jonsson
Production Manager: Gavin Kennedy
Stage Manager: Grace Donnery
Line Producer: Alice Quinn Banville
Publicist: Jenny Sharif
Vocal Coach: Cathal Quinn
Chief LX: Sarah Timmins
Assistant Stage Manager: Maeve Smyth
Costume Assistant: Dara Gill
Set Assistant: Caroline Menassol
Scenic Artist: Craig Starkie
Carpenter: Conor Burnell
Stage & LX Crew: T Kokalij, Grace Woulfe & Damian Woods
Sound Engineer: Aidah Sama
Promotional and Production Photography: Ste Murray
Creative Producer: Rachel Bergin
Director: Feidlim Cannon
Biographies
Brokentalkers are a multi-award winning Dublin based theatre company, led by Co-Artistic Directors Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan with Creative Producer Rachel Bergin. Brokentalkers was founded in 2001 by Cannon and Keegan after graduating from De Montfort University in Leicester. For over a decade Brokentalkers have been making formally ambitious work that defies categorization and have built a reputation as one of Ireland’s most innovative and original theatre companies.
Their working method is founded on a collaborative process that draws on the skills and experiences of a large and diverse group of contributors from different disciplines and backgrounds. Some are professional artists, performers, designers and writers and others are people who do not usually work in the theatre but who brings an authenticity to the work that is compelling.
They make work that responds to the contemporary world, using elements such as original writing, dance, classic texts, film, interviews, found materials and music to represent that world in performance.
Their recent work includes: Manifest (Project Arts Centre, 2023) The Boy Who Never Was (Dublin Theatre Festival 2022), MASTERCLASS (Winner: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 2022, Premiered at Project Arts Centre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2021), The Examination (Premiered at Project Arts Centre 2019, followed by a run in both Edinburgh and Dublin Fringe Festival 2019; Winner of Best Production & Best Soundscape Irish Times Theatre Awards 2020, Winner of Best Production and Best Performer, Dublin Fringe Festival 2019), Woman Undone (Premiered at Project Arts Centre & Mermaid Arts Centre 2018, followed by National Tour 2019 & 2020), The Circus Animals’ Desertion (Dublin Theatre Festival 2016), This Beach (Munich Kammerspiele, Dublin Fringe Festival 2016, followed by National Tour 2017), Have I No Mouth (Dublin Fringe Festival 2012, followed by National & International Tour; winner of Total Theatre Award, Edinburgh 2013) and The Blue Boy (Grand Prix winner, Kontakt Festival, Torun, Poland, 2014).
To date Brokentalkers have presented their work in Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, New Zealand and the USA.
Brokentalkers are Project Artists, an initiative of Project Arts Centre.
Brokentalkers are Associate Artists field:arts, Dublin
Brokentalkers are Associate Artists LOKAL Performing Arts, Reykjavik.
www.brokentalkers.ie
Danny O’Mahony is a traditional musician from Ballyduff in North County Kerry. He grew up playing music with the older generation of musicians in his locality. His late father Mick had a very positive influence on Danny as a young child and nurtured his keen ear and interest in traditional Irish music. Both imaginative and fearless in his interpretation, Danny’s musical style is expressive and deeply personal, and reflects his affinity with the music of past masters.
His performance abilities have been acknowledged through winning Junior & Senior All-Ireland titles and graduating from the University of Limerick with a Masters in Performance. In 2013 Danny was awarded Top Button Accordionist (US, IRE, EU, UK) by the Irish Music Association in America.
2011 saw the release of Danny’s long awaited and critically acclaimed debut solo recording ‘In Retrospect‘ accompanied by Patsy Broderick on piano, Cyril O’Donoghue on bouzouki and Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh on percussion.
He collaborated with concertina maestro Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh in 2012 and released their duet album, aptly titled ‘As it Happened’. This features Danny & Mícheál playing unaccompanied in the comfort of Mícheál’s kitchen. ‘As it Happened’ was awarded Instrumental Album of the year by LiveIreland Music Awards.
Funding
Bellow is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland.
Co-Produced by The Everyman, Droichead Arts Centre, Mermaid Arts Centre and Town Hall Theatre Galway.
Supported by Dublin Theatre Festivals Futures Award.