Moonfish Theatre’s Star of the Sea returns to Galway

Moonfish Theatre is an award-winning theatre ensemble. Based in Galway, they create work in English and Irish, for young people and adults.  In 2013 Moonfish was awarded the Stewart Parker Trust / BBC Northern Ireland Irish Language Theatre award for its acclaimed production of Pinocchio – A Nightmare.

 

“A lesson in theatre magic … captures an extraordinary and devastating story ” Irish Daily Mail  | “Vital theatre” Sunday Business Post  | “This emotional tour de force honours the author, and, most of all, the victims of The Famine and the coffin ships”  Irish Independent  | “Truly sensuous, ebullient, and multifaceted” Irish Times  | “Unquestionably an exquisite piece of theatre ” Examiner.com  | “Gorgeously assembled theatre ” Irish Times

Moonfish Theatre’s critically-acclaimed, sell-out success Star of the Sea will be touring Ireland and the US this autumn. Based on Joseph O’Connor‘s epic best-selling novel, this story of love, murder, revenge and forgiveness in the time of the Famine is back by popular demand. An unmissable piece of Irish theatre, Star of the Sea was a sell-out hit of the Galway International Arts Festival 2014, which was followed by a packed tour across Ireland in 2015.

 

Star of the Sea tells the story of a famine ship sailing from Cobh to the promised land of New York in the winter of 1847.  On board are passengers with secrets to hide –  a silent maidservant, a ruined lord, and a murderer on the run – characters whose lives and fates are far more intertwined than they realise. Moving between the wild landscape of Connemara, grimy London streets, and the claustrophobic confines of the famine ship, this sweeping production from the award-winning Moonfish Theatre charts the lives of the three characters, from the childhoods that shaped them to their final, fateful journey.

 

O’Connor’s novel  combines elements of thriller, mystery, romance, and Gothic suspense tale, and this innovative and much-loved theatrical re-telling has been adapted from his work by Moonfish’s ensemble cast. The company’s Star of the Sea sees language, movement, imagery, live sound effects, song, traditional music and six performers conjure the worlds of the characters.  One of the remarkable things about the stage adaptation of the novel is the fact that Moonfish using their signature style of bi-lingual theatre have given voice to the characters whose first language would have been Irish. Audiences are invited to experience Irish as a theatrical language, translated continuously through subtitles, movement and song.

 
“I found their version of (the story) and their presentation of the adaptation just so moving and very emotional, and to hear those words spoken in the Irish language, was really something that I’ll never forget.” Joseph O’Connor

 

DEVISED & PERFORMED BY:

Mairead Ni Chroinin, Ionia Ni Chroinin, Grace Kiely , Zita Monahan, Morgan Cooke, Sean T O’Mealleigh

 

TOUR DATES – IRELAND

• Town Hall Theatre, Galway | 1^st & 2^nd September 8pm | W: ie | T: 091 569 777 | €20/18
• The Everyman, Cork | 7^th, 8^th & 9^th November 8pm Post show talk 8^th November | W: com| T: 021 450 1673 |  €27/€25/students €9
• Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda | 16^th November 8.30pm | W: com| T: 041 983 3946 | €16/14
• Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge | 18^th November 8pm | W: ie| T: 045 448 327
• An Grianán, Letterkenny, Donegal | 21^st November 8pm | W: com | T: 074 912 0777 | €18/€15/school groups €10
• Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo | 23^rd November 8pm | W: com| T: 071 916 1518 | €18/16
• Backstage Theatre, Longford | 29^th November 8pm | W: ie | T: 043 334 7888| €18/16
• Roscommon Arts Centre | 1^st December 8pm | W: ie| T: 090 662 5824 | €18/16

 

TOUR DATES – INTERNATIONAL

Redfern Arts Center, Keene, New Hampshire | 28^th September

Umass, Amherst, Massachusetts | 3^rd & 4^th October

Pinkerton Academy, Derry, New Hampshire | 6^th October

University of St Joseph, Hartford, Connecticut | 11^th & 12^th October

 

Suitable for audiences aged 15+.

 

 

To find out more: W: moonfishtheatre.com | Facebook: Moonfish TheatreGalway | Twitter: @MoonfishTheatre | Instagram: Moonfish Theatre

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With thanks to: Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Galway City Council, Foras Na Gaeilge, Culture Ireland and New England Foundation for the Arts.