Just more proof of the old adage “Everything old is new again”: the upcoming Emerson College Irish Festival (January 27 to February 13), part of ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage. Three noteworthy plays and related film screenings make this programming a must-see series for lovers of Celtic drama.
The festival features the return of Ireland’s Abbey Theatre, founded in 1903 by W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, a century after their first appearance on these shores. The company’s US debut was here in Boston, in September, 1911, with John M. Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World.”
According to Abbey Theatre’s archivist, “The play was an instant success. The Abbey Company’s Boston engagement had been so successful that the season had been extended for a fortnight.” Mayor John F. Fitzgerald (“Honey Fitz”) came to welcome Yeats, and according to The Boston Sunday Herald “remained through the evening, applauding until he split his gloves.”
Fast forward a century, when similar kudos are expected.
Honey Fitz was the father of Rose Kennedy, the subject of “The Color of Rose,” the festival-opening world premiere play about the beloved matriarch reminiscing about her life (Paramount Black Box, Jan. 27 to Feb. 6).
The Abbey is returning with Mark O’Rowe’s “Terminus”, which a BBC Radio critic hailed as “the most exciting and exhilarating evening I’ve spent in a theatre for a long time.” This international hit production exposes “the raw and sometimes violent underside of Dublin life, using a rapid-fire and beautifully rhythmic poetry that contrasts with the gritty subject matter” (Paramount Mainstage, Feb. 2 to 6).
To top it all off, another world-famous Irish troupe, the Druid Theatre from Galway, comes with a revival of Martin McDonagh’s “The Cripple of Inishmaan” (Paramount Mainstage, Feb. 8 to 13). Emerson is pairing the Broadway hit, set during the1934 filming of the fictional documentary “Man of Aran,” with screenings of the Robert J. Flaherty trend-setting film and related documentaries.
ArtsEmerson’s Irish Festival is supported in part by Imagine Ireland, Culture Ireland’s year of Irish arts in America in 2011 and the American Ireland Fund. For all the details including info on the Festival Pass, visit www.bit.ly/IrishFestival.
