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Fainne Oir
\nSeptember 26, 2019
\nShowtime: 8pm<\/p>\n
Peter Norton Symphony Space Theatre
\n2537 Broadway at 95th St.
\nNew York, NY 10025-6990
\nBox Office
\n212.864.5400
\nboxoffice@symphonyspace.org
\nTues\u2013Sun 1pm\u20136pm
\nOpen one hour prior to performances and events<\/p>\n
A cauldron of creativity, Ireland provides a natural opportunity for a creative individual to brew a mixed arts concept \u2014 and that again has happened. Blending music, dance \u2014 through \u201cLord of The Dance\u201d star Ciara Sexton\u2019s choreography \u2014 and the creative stage design of fine artist Padraig McCaul, the multi-media experience of \u201cFainne Oir\u201d will make its American debut in Symphony Space on September 26, 2019. Since creator\/composer Kathy Fahey is County Mayo based, she could not only draw on local talents, but it also meant she could employ the beauty of its pastoral landscape. All of that \u2014 and the dark history of the region \u2014 was lent to the passion behind this work.<\/p>\n
Paraphrasing the detailed notes, \u201cThis show depicts the story of an Irish family during the Famine Years of 1845-1848. As parents, children, friends and neighbors work together to survive off the sparse land through the life-giving potato crop, the Potato Famine devastates the island and the West Country where Mayo is situated. Parents Sean and Maire O\u2019Malley and their five daughters \u2014 Saoirse, Mary, Ann, Norah and Brid \u2014 rise dily to toil in the fields. Their oldest daughter, Saoirse, and farm hand Diarmuid, works late into the evenings so the two can be near to each other for as long as possible. When the destructive blight hits, the O\u2019Malley\u2019s small holding, located in a rural part of County Mayo, is badly affected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paraphrasing this historical note from Wikipedia, Ireland grew to over eight million people prior to the Irish Great Famine of 1845\u201347. People depended on the potato crop for sustenance so disaster struck in August 1845, when a killer fungus (later diagnosed as Phytophthora infestans) started destroying the crop. Widespread famine struck, about a million people died and a further million left the country. The catastrophe was particularly bad in County Mayo, where nearly 90% of the people depended on the potato as their staple. By 1848, Mayo was a county of total misery and despair, with any attempts at alleviating measures in complete disarray.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough music and dance, we watch as Diarmuid makes a promise to Saoirse that he will protect and love her forever. However, nothing can undo the blight\u2019s damage and soon, without their sustenance, people go hungry and starve. Saoirse\u2019s mum succumbs and dies at of 37; the O\u2019Malleys are heartbroken. Saoirse\u2019s father, a farmer with just one cow and donkey remaining, sell a precious gold wedding ring \u2014 the Fainne Oir \u2014 in order to buy Saoirse a one-way ticket to America. Despite her protestations, her dad insists the family can manage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like so many true Irish diaspora stories, Saoirse becomes a symbol for countless survival tales. Diaspora specialist Mike Hannon decided to produce \u201cFainne Oir\u201d but it \u201cbecame more solidly a reality once Kathy began working on after being commissioned in 2017. I felt there had be some kind of celebration of the Irish people\u2019s survival during such a dark time. I felt it would be inspirational for so many today.\u201d<\/p>\n
We watch the heartbroken O\u2019Malley family and Diarmuid wave Saoirse off at the pier as she boards the ship to America \u2014 wondering if their love will make its way across the vast ocean. As the outline further explicates, \u201cIn Part 2, Saoirse must forge a successful future in a land of promise, away from her famine-ridden homeland. Fortunately, the 18-year old finds immediate employment, working as the Johnson family\u2019s maid \u2013 who make her feel welcome \u2013 especially son Samuel. While her heart remains in Ireland, Samuel shows her around New York, nonetheless, she sends loving letters home to her family, looking forward to when they all can be together. New tragedy strikes with her father\u2019s death. In Ireland, Diarmuid stands by his promise to love and protect Saoirse\u2014 and care for the now orphaned O\u2019Malley sisters. As the worst of the famine passes, there is hope for the future and plans are made to bring the remaining O\u2019Malleys to America; Samuel wants to help but Diarmuid also longs to be with his true love. Money changes hands, tickets are bought and the magical Fainne Oir once more appears, and ultimately the story ends on a soaring note of love and happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fahey ultimately became inspired to write the storyline for Fainne Oir. Thinking of the rise and fall of the orchestral music she was composing, she commented: \u201cFrom the start the idea was for the Irish Famine to provide a source for the theme. While this period of Irish history is acknowledged and recognized the world over, it\u2019s rarely spoken about, and the many success stories that followed from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Fahey explained, \u201cI refer here to the diaspora and particularly the many successive generations of Irish Americans, Irish in Britain and Australia and throughout the world, who left our shores to survive and make it, who sent money back home and kept their familes alive. They did Ireland so proud through their hard work, dedication and ambition Because of that, we have hundreds of thousands of inspirational Irish people and leaders abroad, who we can be so proud of today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mayo-based musical cognoscenti added, \u201cIn creating this story around the Famine, I especially liked the idea that it was old Ireland. of course, while it was a profoundly sad time for people due to the starvation, death, and tragedy of it all, there were also happy elements to it. Families worked so closely together as unified groups, to support and protect each other and simply, to stay alive. Community was very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
As to the naming of the project \u201cFainne Oir,\u201d Fahey recalled, \u201cIn the back of my mind, I thought that the musical composition and storyline needed to be about more than a love story. Something needed to bind it together. It had to be symbolic, something that would appear time and time again and would stand the test of time through the generations \u2014 and that is when the idea of Fainne Oir came to be. Throughout this story, through the sacrifices made the permanency of this valuable golden ring, literally becomes the ring that saved the lives of an entire family and brought them around the world. Without a Fainne Oir, this famine-stricken clan wouldn\u2019t have survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Composer\/co-producer Fahey has worked with choirs since she was 12, both teaching and as an accompanist at local churches and weddings. At 18, she began teaching piano and soon was training her first adult choir. Now she\u2019s directing of several award-winning choirs including: Castlebar Gospel Choir, Vocalessence Ladies Choir, Ev\u2019ry Voice Community Choir, The Troubadours, Vox Fusion, Belcarra Local Parish Choir and Children\u2019s Choir. In 2017, Fahey was appointed Mayo Concert Orchestra conductor. Under her direction, her choral groups have performed in such prestigious places as Dublin Castle, the American Ambassador\u2019s Residence, National Concert Hall, Christ Church Cathedral the Late Late Toy Show. Given all her history, it\u2019s fitting that she turned to the Mayo Concert Orchestra to be the first to perform this new work.<\/p>\n
In co-producing Fainne Oir\u2019s world premiere in Ireland, Hannon also launched the County Mayo Foundation, a US registered not for profit to assist Mayo-based charities and organizations looking for support from the diaspora. Previously, he brought other Irish shows to NYC and Boston including \u201cAn evening with Pete St John\u201d at Symphony Space and John B Keane’s \u201cMoll\u201d at New York\u2019s Town Hall. Hannon has worked with charities both in Ireland and in the UK. Professionally accountant, he spent much of his career fundraising for charities in Ireland and the UK and worked on many capital campaigns, notably for Childline. In the UK, he ran events such as a gala at The Dorchester in London patronized by the late Princess Diana and a reception at No 10 Downing Street, hosted by John Major.<\/p>\n
Also key to this new production is choreographer Ciara Sexton, a veteran from the original international Irish multi media production \u2014 Riverdance. Sexton professionally began her dance career in the lead role of Morrighan in Michael Flatley\u2019s \u201cLord of the Dance\u201d \u2014 his production after his landmark Riverdance. When he returned on a world tour in 2011, she appeared alongside him. Sexton also does choreography regularly for her hometown troupe, Celtic Feet, touring with them in 2012 in their production of \u201cExcalibur \u2013 A Celtic Rock Opera. She also appeared with Flatley in the 3D film version of \u201cLord of the Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another unique element of \u201cFainne Oir\u201d is the addition of noted Dublin-born painter Padraig McCaul who now lives and works on Achill Island, off the Mayo coast. Widely collected internationally and at home, his work is in many prestigious collections, including London\u2019s Hottinger Art Collection, the President’s office of Notre Dame University, USA, the Haddington Hotel, Dun Laoghaire and the Tannery Restaurant in Dungarvan. He has had sell out exhibitions in Ireland with Dublin\u2019s Doorway Gallery and Fremantle, Australia\u2019s Kidogo Arthouse. A collection of new paintings will be used as the stage backdrops for F\u00e1inne \u00d3ir. Describing his symbiotic relationship with his adopted home place, McCaul noted,\u201dIt has everything a landscape artist would want \u2014 the sea, mountains, the rolling bog, sky and the light that changes every hour of the day. There is no reason to go beyond it; there is so much here to inspire painting.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Debuting early September in Mayo, co-producer Fahey and Hannon thankfully chose New York City as their next stop \u2014 but only on one night. Apparently tickets as selling quite fast through word of mouth and social media but there still is a chance to order.<\/p>\n
Go to https:\/\/www.symphonyspace.org for more information to purchase tickets.<\/p>\n