The brilliant and bizarre idea of a tribute article came in a flash after reading the enchanting stories beautifully written by Mrs. CLODAGH FINN ( Irish Examiner columnist, author and collector of stories). Actually she tweets daily about women from history…According to me, that’s a great chance for all of us to know and appreciate the experiences of intrepid women every day.
That’s why our purpose is the celebration of the precious moral virtues and art skills of important and famous women : THROUGH THEIR EYES WE CAN DISCOVER THEIR STRONG TENACITY AND DETERMINATION. In short, if you look at the pretty and clever woman portrayed in the previous painting (that’s a gift by the art group Fontana Shelter we support) ,you can glimpse a lady obscured by the fog in the middle of New York City. Well, she represents the symbol of BEAUTY AND MORAL VIRTUES. And obviously the fog embodies all her enemies and obstacles to be overcome. Nevertheless, the great lady resists and becomes an emblem of RESILIENCE , RESISTS WHAT CANNOT CHANGE AND WANTS TO FIND WHAT CAN’T BE FOUND.
ART IS THE MOST SUITABLE WAY FOR OVERCOMING PAIN AND SUFFERING.
FOR EXAMPLE: Pilkington, Ellice (1869–1936), women’s activist and artist studied art in Rome . She saw the development of a national identity as an important issue. She herself painted scenes around Ireland and exhibited with the Dublin Sketching Club (1914–15) and more regularly (1921–36) with the Watercolour Society of Ireland, of which she was secretary for a period . Pilkington became the first volunteer organiser and a leading figure in the early stages of the society of the United Irishwomen. She focused on the role of the United Irishwomen in teaching and encouraging the rural housewife to set up home industries, to keep the home clean and tidy and provide a healthy diet for her family, and finally to take an active role in public and intellectual life. (FROM DICTIONARY OF IRISH BIOGRAPHIES; woman mentioned by Clodagh Finn in Through Her Eyes on Twitter).
AND OBVIOUSLY WE CANNOT FORGET THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN MUSIC AND THEATRE PLANET…SO LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ENCHANTING WOMEN OF THE WEIR PRODUCTION 2023 AT ABBEY THEATRE IN DUBLIN (we ‘ve already dedicated two articles to The Weir in our previous Posts).
AND HERE’S A SHORT BIO ABOUT JOLLY 😀
Jolly Abraham had been a member of The Pearl Theatre Company for 9 years. Her favorite roles include Ophelia from Hamlet, Mrs. Martin from The Bald Soprano, Inez from No Exit and Hermione from The Winter’s Tale. She has also appeared on Broadway in Coram Boy and Bombay Dreams. Off-Broadway: Massacre, a new play by Jose Rivera at Rattlestick, Twelfth Night as Viola (Sonnet Rep), McReele (Roundabout), Cost of Living a new play by Martyna Majok at Manhattan Theater Club, included in New York Times as one of the best shows of 2017. Regional: Frankenstein (Dallas Theater Center), Sense and Sensibility (Guthrie), Swimmers a new play by Rachel Bonds (Marine Theatre Company) The Wolfe Twins (The Studio Theatre in DC), Scorched (Wilma Theater, Barrymore Nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Loves Labours Lost (The Shakespeare Theatre DC and RSC), and Pentecost (Old Globe), O’Neill Conference and Chautauqua. Numerous Lincoln Center Directors Lab. TV: “Elementary,” recurring “Law and Order SVU,” “Wallflowers” (webseries), “Untitled Onion News” (Amazon Pilot), “Unforgettable,” “Smash” “Lights Out,” “Gossip Girl,” “Sex and the City,” “Ed,” “Law and Order: CI,” ”Bedford Diaries,” “White Collar,” “Smash,” and “Nurse Jackie.” Film: “A Walk Among the Tombstones” with Liam Neeson, “The Adderall Diaries,” “Stay,” “Loving Leah,” and “After You Left.” Jolly has been a teacher of the classics with The Pearl Theatre for many years. She is also an adjunct professor at The New Studio at NYU. She has a BFA from The University of The North Carolina School of the Arts. Just filmed a co-star on new AMC/RTE show Sisters with brilliant Sarah Goldberg and Susan Stanley. Season 1 ep 4-role of Karen Closed my first International gig at The national theatre of Ireland The Abbey with Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins play An Octoroon. I played 3 roles, when I am ever going to play an Old Black man again! Skilled: Dance (general), Freestyle Dance, Freestyle Disco, Indian Dance, Jazz Dancing, Kathak, Laban, Lyrical Dance, Mezzo-Soprano, Modern Dance, Period Dancing, Salsa Dancing, Singing .
And a brief summary of The Weir from our previous Post
A BREATHTAKING MASTERPIECE“The best plays come in a flash. An image, a feeling, and that’s it. You know these ideas because they are the undeniable ones that won’t let go. They pull you in and compel you to start scribbling notes. If you are a playwright and you have one of these on the go, you know you have a responsibility. To what? Something that doesn’t exist? But the good ideas feel like they DO EXIST. THEY ARE JUST BEYOND VIEW, AND YOU ARE TRYING TO CAPTURE THEM WITH GLIMPSES THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE ACCURATE. “ (Foreword by Conor McPherson, Plays: Three- Nick Hern Books). Well, The Weir can be considered a masterpiece: perfectly written by a genius, wonderfully directed and majestically performed by sublime actors. In short, a Production that wrings out our tired hearts, the best end-of-year treat, a surprise that gives great pleasure.THAT’S WHAT ART IS: SONG“A play of mine is a picture of the world as I perceive it. The Theatre, like all art, is about communication. It’s like when birds sings sitting on a branch. That’s what art is : song. Even more that trying to tell a story, I ‘m trying to sing. “(from an interview to Conor McPherson)In fact we can easily describe the writing and production of plays as a genuine symphony, I mean, an elaborate musical composition for a full orchestra. And we should remember that all the components must work connected in order to create the perfect HARMONY. Every part of the whole collaborates in the combination of chords with a pleasing effect. Well, make no mistake about The Weir: this is a melodic and harmonius composition, pleasingly arranged and pleasant-sounding symphony.Every involved part has obviously given a fundamental support: from the important location ABBEY THEATRE to the Director, the impressive Cast, the Musicians.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ENERGY“When you put people in a room before a show, there is already a huge amount of ENERGY. If you are going to be mad enough to try to get everybody facing the same way and look at your work, you have to RESPECT those people. And those people want to like what they are going to see. They don’t want to hate it. And that ENERGY humming in the room, before anything happens, is LOVE. And you have to give your work to them with love and I hope I do. Once the show starts, you have to keep the love flowing. “( Afterword from Conor McPherson, Plays: Two, NHB )
THE MARVELLOUS INFLUENCE OF GRANDFATHERSReading the author’s Programme Note, we learn that Mr. Conor McPherson, in the 1980s, regularly visited his grandfather JACK who lived near Jamestown in Leitrim. Beside his little house, in the middle of a world so different from Conor’s one, there was a FAIRY FORT. In the evenings, Jack told fantastic stories from his living memory and described how his “magic” house grew up in had been built on a fairy road and had become so mysterious and infested by ghosts in a fairy mix of fact, fiction, history, religion and hearsey. Therefore this amazing and impressive kind of stories has turned into The Weir .In conclusion, Jack (whose name has been chosen for one of The Weir ‘s characters, probably not a coincidence ) never saw any of Conor’s plays and his success because he passed away before he managed to get going as a writer. Nevertheless, something of those precious times and memories is inside his work and I believe that’s the real and true success. As the most valuable and esteemed thing is the time we share and spend with people we love, we must remember that the acquisition of memories is the most important business of life.And “having gone through lockdown after lockdown and being reminded what HOME meant, what being Irish meant, in every sinew of your being you were reminded why you love what you live” as Mr. Peter Coonan said. “The Weir is like a Whistle, just one of those plays that if you get the chance to do it, you grab it “(interview, The Irish Times)
THE “MAGIC” BAR“ Jack : Have you got any plans or that, for…here ?Valerie : Not really,I’m just going to try and have some…Jack: PEACE AND QUIET . You’re in the right place, so,ha?Brendan: Sure, you can always stick the head in here. Or Jack, or me or whatever, be able to sort you out for anything. “ ( THE WEIR, Plays Two, NHB)This play is set in a rural part of Ireland, Northwest Leitrim or Sligo. The stage setting is a small rural bar: old stories, old places, old expectations. The attempt to try and make these supernatural stories realistic .That’s such a strange setting in literature, but it represents the most suitable place where bringing together the feelings of loneliness, illusion, the spiritual part of women and men, the delirious (really really funny and balanced between realistic dialogues /supernatural stories), the deep humanity . Perhaps that’s the ideal and perfect place where a” lonely shepherd “ (mentioning the title of a poignant melody composed by James Last )can easily find his PEACE,QUIET,SAFETY AND CONFIDENCE about the desire of hope and a better future. In short, the home of HUMANITY, I mean, sympathy and kindness, care and concern, affect and protection. According to me, even the music of a radio in the bar and a kind word of the barman may help to alleviate loneliness and sadness . Moreover storytelling is surely the most amazing ,moving and touching way to demonstrate and clearly show our SOLIDARITY to other people who find help (and it’s just the most extraordinary entertainment like the stories of Canterbury Tales…)
MOREOVER, DEAR READER, REMEMBER OF ADMIRING THE IMPRESSIVE AND AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHS AND PAINTINGS DESCRIBING THE SPECTACULAR IRISH LANDSCAPE BY THE FANTASTIC VAL ROBUS, PHOTOGRAPER, BLOGGER AND WRITER ( please visit her majestic 🍀website🍀 MagnumLady🍀)
And finally, here’s the last emblem of our article: EMER REYNOLDS and her JOYRIDE
The story of the film is about friendship, trust, forgiveness, family, and found family, and I think the ideas of the film brought that to our experience, too.” She was such a wonderful director and she just she helped me so much. You meet a lot of directors who sort of force the character dynamic, but Emer just let me do what I wanted to do with the character, that’s what I find most magical about her. It was the same way with Lochlann and Olivia, they helped me settle in so easily. It was amazing. You know, it was such a great experience for me […] There wasn’t one day when one person was gloomy. There was always a happy vibe on site, which was the best thing” ( from Movieweb)
SO, WE WISH ALL THE READERS A SHINING RAINBOW FULL OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE!
This photograph has been posted on Twitter by Brendan Coyle, actor and colleague of Jolly Abraham. She posted on Instagram a rainbow picture too, you can see it in the video The Weir ‘ s women. WE CONSIDER THESE RAINBOWS AS THE EMBLEM OF RESILIENCE AND COURAGE IN SEEKING HARMONY AND HAPPINESS AND OVERCOMING ALL THE OBSTACLES THAT WOMEN FIND ON THEIR WAY. “FEAR NOT FOR THE FUTURE WEEP NOT FOR THE PAST “(P.B.SHELLEY)
