by Rose Rushe
Photo: Alan Place
“I AM delighted to bring contemporary theatre practice to [The Colleen Bawn Trials], thanks to Limerick City of Culture,” stated Joan Sheehy at the press launch of her next show, opening tonight Thursday 14 at 8.30pm. Shannon Boat Club is the site of said judicial trials. Chapters of that celebrity event – the Irish liberator Daniel O’Connell rolled in to defend the indefensible – will take place outside and within this historic building.
Overlooking the river at dusk will compound that eerie feel, the weedy dank suggestive of how the body of 15 year-old Ellen Hanley was sunk by servant Stephen Sullivan (Pat Ryan) to her aristocratic husband John Scanlon (Shane Whisker).
“I can’t imagine a more beautiful setting for this piece,” noted Sheehy, writer/ director/ Viva Voce producer, who has cast eight actors to play out the aftermath when Ellen’s body was found. “We have no Ellen Hanley cast, we have the young people of Limerick Youth Theatre so as the audience will understand how very young she was”.
Contemporary practice manifests in intriguing effects. John Greenwood has created a steel bow chime that the LYT actors play, sounding the heave-ho of a creaking hull and aching, surly waters.
Visual artist Anne Marie Morrin bought in gowns from the 1800s to handsew their filmy delight. A bodice and petticoat swing from the boat house ceiling as would a pendulum of guilt.
“It’s about finding the balance between the installation and narrative to give the most,” Greenwood observes. “The steel bow gives the sound of a sigh to create a backdrop that will run throughout the whole piece, working in the space between light, sound and acting to arrive at the balance between relevance and possibility.
“The Colleen Bawn Trials is an immersive theatre piece”.
Book for August 14 to 23, 8.30pm at 061-525031 or email thecolleenbawntrials@gmail.com
