Arts Week with Judy Murphy

“We make work of a very high standard, but whatever your level of Irish, you should be able to come and enjoy a beautiful Christmas show. Language shouldn’t be a barrier,” says Artistic Director of An Taibhdhearc Muireann Kelly about An Fathach Leithleasach/The Selfish Giant.

Oscar Wilde’s famous fable for children has been translated to Irish by Brídín Nic Dhonnchadha for this highly visual production, which Muireann is directing. It’s currently running at the country’s national Irish language theatre.

“It’s not a traditional panto,” Muireann says, “but it has many of the traditional elements for people to enjoy; singing, dancing kids and magic.”

Wilde’s story, first published in 1888, tells of a selfish giant with a beautiful garden who refuses to let children play in it and, for Muireann, it has much to say for our times.

“We want to transport kids to a time when kids were kids. Also, in the times we are in, adults need some magic. It’s about learning to share and the importance of sharing.”

This show is set in a magical other-worldly garden, populated with mythical creatures, plants and trees, where children, the grumpy giant and a mischievous fairy sing and dance their way through the story, and the giant learns how to share.

Mayo woman Muireann, who took the reins at An Taibhdhearc a year ago, having spent most of her working life in Scotland, is keenly aware of the theatre’s history.

She mentions the curtains on either side of the stage, which were painted by its co-founder Mícheál Mac Liammóir and how they’ve helped inform her approach to this production. Aubrey Beardsley’s early illustrations of A Selfish Giant from the art nouveau period were another influence.

Beardsley illustrated several of Wilde’s works and was an influence on Mac Liommóir, a trained artist, who wrote and illustrated books for children in the early 1920s and, some 40 years later, created an acclaimed one-man show about Oscar Wilde.

“Even Oscar, the narrator, looks like Mac Liammóir,” says Muireann. “I thought we should have that in the story as a gesture to the origins of the theatre.”

Saoirse O’Shea’s set has a nod to the early days of the theatre too, with thatched cottages in the foreground, harking back to the Claddagh.

“It’s all there if people want to read into it but it’s not necessary,” says Muireann.

Pictured: Séamus Hughes as an Fathach Leithleaslach/The Selfish Giant, delivering a message to local children to stay out of his garden, in the production that’s currently running at An Taibhdhearc.