My first time at Féile na Gaeilge, the daylong celebration of the Irish language that has run for many years at the Irish Arts Center? It was good craic.
Other Irish-born attendees evidently were enjoying a chance to use their cúpla focal (few words) of their native tongue—perhaps all that remained since their schooldays. Previously fluent, I hadn’t spoken so much Irish since a distant interview for the “Nuacht” (Irish news on RTÉ television).
Meanwhile, many of the reportedly 230 attendees at the IAC on last Saturday were Americans. Some have been learning Irish at the Manhattan center.
Other attendees came from afar. Among them was Jessie Leach, a British-born Irish dancing teacher who plans to learn Irish. There was also a group of students from the University of Galway, who traveled over for the screening of their short horror film, “Cailleach” (“Witch”).
Producer Lucy-May McManus said none are fluent in Irish but they wanted to make a film in Irish. “Ours is a college film and the only one that was unfunded so to be presented in that company is a great achievement,” she added.
The IAC presented seven shorts in partnership with Galway Film Fleadh. Filmed in Irish in Ireland, all had some intrinsic merit beyond their use of Irish.
Most attendees at Féile na Gaeilge were there for the mid-afternoon movie screening, rather than having purchased passes for the entire day.
The day’s program began with a series of concurrent workshops and ended with storytelling on stage. In between were breaks for the oh-so-Irish, "cupán tae agus comhrá" (a cup of tea and a chat).
A company called Seanchoíche presented the stories that concluded the day. Seanchoíche—a pun on seanchaí, meaning a traditional Irish storyteller— hosts events where participants tell a story to a gathering, occasionally in languages other than English. Founded several years ago by Ciaran Gaffney, a London-based Limerick native, Seanchoíche hosts events in multiple cities, including New York.
“One thing we do well as Irish people is manage tangents,” Gaffney said in his storytelling workshop (which was, did I say, go hiontach/great). So here goes…
In the interwoven stories of the Irish in New York, three of the IAC participants had performed earlier in the week in, “the first Irish language play on the main stage.” So said IAC storyteller, Joseph Jones (AKA Seosamh Mac Seáin) who, along with Caelinn Ní Bhroin, acted in “Tagann Godot.”
Related to Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” as one might guess “Tagann Godot” imagines a sequel in which Godot shows up. The performance, staged at the Irish Repertory Theatre, was co-directed by Caoimhe Nic Giollarnáith, who lead one of the IAC workshops.
Topping off the coincidences, Gaffney told the story of the Paris-based Beckett having helped his surgeon grandfather when Gaffney senior volunteered in France during World War II.
Another good story, if not in Irish, concerned an event held at the Rep during a recent break in the run of “Ulster American” (see a review here and an actor profile here). Unusually, the theatre screened a film.
Cabdriver-turned-actor John McDonagh plays a “crabby cabbie” in “Love New York,” a romantic comedy, which is expected to be shown at film festivals.
There was to be a question-and-answer after the film between Ciarán O’Reilly, The Rep’s cofounder, and film director Anthony DiMieri. “The director was late flying in from Rome so he did the Q&A on speakerphone in a cab heading into the city. It was surreal, him in a yellow cab talking about two yellow cabbies,” McDonagh said.
