Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Five years ago, when Rod Goodall, formerly of Footsbarn and Macnas theatre companies, wrote a Christmas story for his grandson Juno who lives in France, he never expected it would become a stage show. However, when Rod’s stepdaughter Petal Pilley read it, she knew it had potential for more. Petal is Artistic Director of Blue Teapot Theatre Company for people with intellectual disabilities and she realised it could be developed into a perfect Christmas show for the ensemble, which is based in Galway City.

Next week, Fairy Tree will have its premiere at Blue Teapot’s Theatre’s space on Munster Avenue.

A 40-minute show for children, young and old, aged 6+, tells a story of fairies in winter, who are so cold they are freezing to the trees. Two young girls see this and ask people to take the fairies into their houses to warm them up. Some householders object at first but eventually agree, on condition that the visitors don’t overstay their welcome – 12 days is the time agreed.

The fairies are reluctant to go indoors initially but when they do, they get comfortable and negotiations are needed to ensure they return to the great outdoors once the allotted time is up. The show has a cast of seven Blue Teapot members as well as Rod, who also directs. And there’s music, song and puppetry, as well as a giant spruce tree – the fairy tree of the title.

Rod hadn’t been thinking about a stage show when he first wrote the story for Juno who was then six years old, but he’s delighted at the way the play is unfolding.

It all took a while though, he says. As happened with so many other companies, Blue Teapot had started working on it in 2020 but Covid meant it had to be deferred. Now, its time has come.

The group began focusing on it properly in September, rehearsing three days a week, with breaks for mid-term and Baboró.

Casting was completed earlier this year but there were a couple of changes since then, which required Rod to do a bit of rewriting so that the script suited the new performers.

It’s clear he’s having fun as the elder lemon of the cast, guiding the story along and playing a grumpy old man, who isn’t happy about the fairies being allowed indoors.

Rod himself, meanwhile, clearly relishes the connection between humans and the natural world we inhabit. He lights up as he explains why he wrote Fairy Tree for Juno initially.

“It’s to do with notion of the Christmas tree and the 12 days of Christmas. Why do we bring in trees in the first place and then throw them out after 12 days?”

Curious to answer this question, he began looking at the origins of the tradition.

Pictured: Rod Goodall and Kieran Coppinger in Fairy Tree, Blue Teapot’s first children’s show, which will run from next Wednesday to Saturday, December 4-7. Photo: Andrew Downes, xposure.