Moonfish Theatre will present an adaptation of Oein DeBhairduin’s Why the Moon Travels at this year’s Arts Festival. The book which draws on the storytelling tradition of the Travelling community has been reimagined for a stage show that fuses stories with music, puppetry and lighting. Ionia Ní Chróinín of Moonfish and Oein tell JUDY MURPHY about its new life.

When Máiréad Ní Chróinín read Why the Moon Travels, Oein DeBhairduin’s beautiful folklore collection based on the storytelling tradition of the Travelling community, she was entranced. That was in 2020, when the world had shut down due to Covid.

Máiréad gave the book to her sister, Ionia, with an eye to the future and the result is a stage adaptation of the collection which will premiere at next month’s Galway International Arts Festival.

Máiréad and Ionia are directors of Galway’s Moonfish Theatre Company, which they founded in 2006 and which creates multi-media shows that mix tradition with contemporary technology.

Working with a core group of performers who are involved in devising each show, previous Moonfish productions for the festival have included Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls, both based on novels by Joseph O’Connor.

Their most recent show, The Crow’s Way, won Best Performer and Best Set & Costume Design at the 2023 Dublin Fringe Festival.

“Máiréad read Why the Moon Travels and gave it to me because she was so excited about it,” recalls Ionia of Oein’s collection, in which animals, plants and humans co-exist – sometimes amicably and sometimes not – and where traditional knowledge is understood and valued.

Why the Moon Travels won the Judges’ Special Award and the Eilís Dillon Award at the 2021 Children’s Books Ireland Awards, and, according to author Sebastian Barry, marked “the debut of a true writer”.

Having read “this really special book”, Máiréad and Ionia contacted Oein about the possibility of working with him on a stage adaptation.

Collaborating and devising are at the heart of the Moonfish philosophy, and the sisters had long wanted to collaborate with people from the Travelling community.

When they approached Oein, “he got it, straight off the bat,” says Ionia.

“We met over a cup of tea in Salthill and discussed if it was a match,” recalls Oein with a laugh. Once he realised they had a common vision, it was.

“We consider that stories are alive,” says Tuam man Oein about the way Traveller tales are handed from person to person and generation to generation.

“Stories are about connection and family, connection with people who are long gone but who are remembered because they are in the stories.”

There are rules involved.

“If you receive a story, you pass it on and recognise where it came from. Even if it’s fanciful, you tell it as something truthful, because it was that person’s truth. Certain parts will change and certain parts won’t, as you include yourself in it.

The teller’s presence in a story is part of why it’s a living thing, he says.

“It comes with your fears, biases, etc, and we acknowledge that.”

It’s an approach that requires fluidity, spontaneity and respect, qualities Moonfish has in abundance.

Máiréad and Ionia equally believe that each show is a “living, breathing organic thing. We drive our ensemble crazy and drive ourselves crazy because of that”, Ionia laughs.

“There’s a quote that  ‘art is never finished, it just stops in interesting places’.”

With Oein’s book they wanted to create a show based on the stories, while also exploring how he presented those stories. That’s what they’ve been doing with the three actors Catrina Connors, Ellen Doyle, Sarah McDonagh and singer, Rosie McCarthy, all Travellers.

Through his day job as a Traveller educator and activist, and his writing, Oein has an extensive network of creative connections in the community, including Dublin-based producer Mary McDonagh. She was invaluable when it came to linking them in with performers. For Ionia and Máiréad, the first step was to establish relationships.

“The way we work requires a high level of trust and we wanted to establish that level of trust with people who wanted to be part of the process,” Ionia explains.

They also wanted to act as facilitators for the performers.

“We started out without a fixed idea about the number of people who would be on stage, or even how many stories we would use,” says Ionia, adding that those decisions began to take shape once they sat down together.

“Everyone is involved; it’s a living thing,” she says of their approach.  “We took our time with rehearsals and spaced them out, to explore with the performers how to tell the stories.”

Pictured: Sarah McDonagh pictured with traditional shadow puppets in Why the Moon Travels.  PHOTO SEÁN T Ó MEALLAIGH.