I read yesterday of the death of Bríd Mc Bride.
Cora Rice O Neill sent me her obituary from the Dundalk Democrat
Among her many accomplishments journalist , writer , art’ s judge and critic , she was director emeritus of the Dundalk Maytime International Theatre Festival. I met her in 2003 when she agreed to include the Amherst Ma Community Theatre in The Festival in May 2004. An outstanding production of Secret Garden written by the lessor known but still renowned composer Lucy Simon ,sister of the world famous Carly Simon was included that year.
I suspected that all might not be well with Bríd when I saw a recent posting of her on Face Book.
She was grinning from ear to ear beneath a cool perky spiked and shellacked- into - place pink coiff. She was also dressed in matching pink. The comments and encouragements were clues to her state of health - not good but a fighting spirit , strength and sartorial pink spunk were shining through the photograph..
I remembered Ann Steinhauser saying to me in Massachusetts in 2003 as we were working on the costumes for Secret Garden , wouldn’t it be great if we could take this show to Yorkshire?
Yorkshire is part of the backdrop where the story unfolds.
Forget Yorkshire I said - we don’t know anyone in Yorkshire !
We should take it to Ireland - to Dundalk.
But Yorkshire is where some of the story unfolds. The child heroine and orphan is sent from India where her parents have died of cholera to a gloomy Yorkshire manse , presided over by a depressed uncle and a formidable housekeeper. I played the housekeeper , my Irish accent not unlike Yorkshire to American ears. I almost always get cast as a housekeeper ,cheerful scullery maid or a cook serving cold toast and porridge to orphan children. There had been a precedent for the serendipitous switch from Yorkshire to Dundalk. Another theater group from Western Massachusetts had performed at the Dundalk Festival with Nunsense a few years before.
That sounds interesting, said Ann, converting a 19th century white petticoat into a party dress for Mary’s birthday party, at the opening of act two.
I’ll talk to Cora I said - she knows everyone in Dundalk - long time best time friend of my sister Jennifer and my mother’s lunch companion for 11 years after Jennifer ‘s death. She is our perfect cultural liaison.
Within a week I was on a plane to Ireland and had an appointment with Bríd at the Imperial Hotel.
So what’s on your mind asked Brīd - After the usual amount of Irish social interrogatives - de rigueur before getting down to business.
How was your flight?
Very smooth
Any delays ?
Aer Lingus has some competition now from Ryan air.
Unfortunately not on the Atlantic, I said.
Do you come home often ? asked Bríd
Indeed I do -sure I can’t be kept away from the place.
I couldn’t wait to shake the dust of Ardee off my feet when I was young but now I think it is Brigadoon.
We have a show -I ventured with a return to the mission at hand, which has been very well received in Amherst Massachusetts. I think it would work well at the festival.
Secret Garden, she knew it well and declared the music outstanding - almost operatic Bríd said. I wasn’t sure if that was a plus or a minus.
There are about 35 in the cast probably bigger than your usual straight plays. I said.
That’s OK said Bríd- more Band B business for Dundalk a town a bit off the tried and true American West and South of the Shannon tourist route.
Bríd continued
The festival starts on May 20 and goes for 10 days, plays are from all over Ireland.
Everything from the avant guard to the tried and true chestnuts of Irish drama. The Plough and The Stars , Juno and the Paycock, The Playboy of the Western World , Martin Mc Donagh and Marina Carr to mention just a few. We run the gamut here in Dundalk. The standard is very high , Bríd proudly declared.
I pressed on.
I had started to work on the musical Wilde Irish Women , a concept which took hold of me when a book of the same name - Wilde without the E landed in my mailbox.
I love that title. Could it be a show?
I wondered.
The essays included-
Queen Maeve of Cooley fame - a starting point with local context of Táin Bó Cooilnge
Gráinne Mhaol-a familiar character - my grandmother was an O’Malley, all of whom claim The Pirate Queen for themselves.
The sweet Sarah Curren - The beloved of Robert Emmett and whose portrait my siblings and I inherited that was included in the book. Donated for the purpose by my brother Brian.
Maude Gonne - the adored muse of the rejected William Butler Yeats.
The real or imagined but legendary Mollie Malone.
The investigative slain journalist- Veronica Guerin
I started in right away.
I took my first stab at songwriting. More than ably assisted initially by the poetry of WBYeats I made a melody for The Fiddler of Dooney. The music seemed to flow from the poetry into the harp strings ,as if by magic , without a lot of effort or much input from me. The songs were writing themselves. I never had so much fun. I was most reluctant to call myself a composer, not out of misplaced modesty but rather disbelief that I could write melodies at all at 52 years old.
By the time I met Bríd in Dundalk most of my characters had their own songs. No book as yet , my few songs could hardly be described as a show.
Yet , in meeting and talking to Bríd I saw the brass ring and grabbed it.
Bríd I actually have another piece underway which involves many of the same Secret Garden actors and musicians. On one intake of breath , I blathered out a thumbnail sketch and the question.
Would you be interested in this show as well for the Festival ?
It sounds like a good balance with Secret Garden - she said
I was so excited I almost forgot my Secret Garden and poor Mary in her white party dress.
The leading Wilde Irish Woman- Lady Jane Wilde - mother of Oscar was played with gender bending genius by Michael Haley recently retired from a storied 25 year career as Ist Assistant Director to film maker Mike Nichols.
I’ll take them both said brave Bríd, not really knowing what she was getting but trusting to the integrity of the seller which was as yet undeserved - unproven.
We’ll work out the details later after I am sure of sponsorship and other fundraising.
This is a very important Festival for us , the town has been demoralized by the border and recent political unrest. Have you seen how many empty shops there are on the Main Street ?
I will be glad to have a bunch of Yanks riding their bicycles to Carlingford and climbing the Cooley mountains.
140 actors their families musicians and support crew checked into Dundalk B and Bs for 5 days in May 2004. They are still talking about it.
Wilde Irish Women became a show despite itself and a stumbling start because of Bríd.
Standing ovations , full houses for both shows were more like Bríd ‘s success than ours.
I am incredibly grateful to her for taking a chance on us - unknowns from Western Massachusetts.
I had some wonderful times with her ,including taking my harp one afternoon to her favorite pub in Forkhill. I played for the locals who might have been happier to be left alone with their pints rather than listening to a Mother Plucker.
After I played ,Bríd and I had a glass of wine and she told me about losing her 12 year old son Cormac in an accident.
She brought me to the grave yard where he was buried , a pilgrimage she and her husband Peadar frequently endured.
Now that she has joined Cormac , her family will continue the sad tradition and together maintain the pilgrimage as they remember their love for Bríd and Cormac.