A Different View with Dave O’Connell

There can be a thin line between putting your best foot forward and bragging. It’s about finding the sweet spot between showing your talent and just showing off. And Galway’s Town Hall Theatre traversed that line perfectly on Sunday night as it marked 30 years at the centre of Galway’s cultural landscape in some style.

The history of this old building goes back so much further of course, even for those of us old enough to remember the Town Hall cinema – known to one and all as the fleapit for reasons that need no further explanation – but this 30-year chapter is also the story of Galway’s evolution into Ireland’s cultural capital.

The Town Hall has played a fundamental role in that, staging world premieres of Druid productions or mesmeric offerings from the Galway Arts Festival, putting on countless unforgettable nights of music, drama, pantomime, poetry – providing a platform for those already so well established and those just starting out.

This was a chance to reflect on three decades of artistic and cultural excellence, but that didn’t mean a night of self-indulgence or back-slapping; rather what Fergal McGrath and the THT team came up with was a perfect reflection of Galway in the best possible light.

It was a taster of Galway, through the talents of legendary Galwegians like Mary Coughlan, Rita-Ann Higgins and the wonderful duo of Padraig Stevens and Leo Moran, all backed and supported by the Whileaways.

Each brought a slice of Galway to the stage; Rita’s poetry which couldn’t be from anywhere else; Mary’s ode to Shantalla in the title track of her last album, Repeat Rewind, and her iconic version of Johnny Mulhearn’s Delaney’s Gone Back on the Wine; Leo and Padraig being just Leo and Padraig, painting beautiful pictures in words and music.

The Whileaways were wonderful; Noelie McDonnell, Noriana Kennedy, Nicola Joyce and Eimhim Craddock – augmented by a stellar cast that included the multi-talented Matthew Berrill – were both the star turn and the house band all at the same time.

Their own stories were our stories too; going there when it was a cinema to see ET; taking to the stage for the first time as teenagers aspiring to bigger things – weaving their tales into those of so many who found their home under the lights.

Many of those looking up at them had also known that euphoric feeling of finding their platform, or of producing events that allowed others to shine.