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Ballads - 1997
'…a powerful expression of human strength and frailty, Ballads dramatically evokes the complex nuances of the human lives' The Tribune Magazine
'…the use of symbols and multi-purpose props, combined wit highly-imaginative choreography, results in excitement and catharsis' Irish Times
- Director & Choreographer:
- David Bolger
- Lighting Designer:
- Paul Keogan
- Music & Sound Design:
- Bell Helicopter
- Cello Music & Improvisations:
- Diane O'Keeffe
- Costume Designer:
- Helen McCusker
- Hair & Makeup Designer:
- Val Sherlock
- Technical Manager:
- Eamon Fox
- Stage Manager:
- Catherine Nealon
- Original Cast:
- Ella Clarke, James Hosty, Diane O'Keeffe, Simone Litchfield, Kevin Murphy, Liz Roche
- Subsequent Cast:
- Muirne Bloomer, Benjamin Dunks, Anne Gilpin, Robert Jackson, Simone Litchfield, Martin Nolan, Diane O'Keeffe
- Premiere Date:
- 24 November 1997
- Premiere Venue:
- Project at The Mint, Dublin
- No of Perfs:
- 31
- Other Perfs:
- Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick (2 Dec '97)
- Garter Lane Arts Centre (4 Dec '97)
- Waterford (4 Dec '97)
- Town Hall Theatre, Galway (6 Dec '97)
- Firkin Crane, Cork (11 Dec '97)
- Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin (28-30 Jun '00)
- Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, MA, USA (6-9 Jul ' 00)
- Samuel Beckett Studio, Dublin (20-22 Mar '01)
- Ten Days on the Island Festival, Theatre Royal, Hobart, Tasmania (30 Mar - 02 Apr '01)
- Synopsis:
- David Bolger has developed BALLADS out of a desire to come to terms with the emotional aspect the great Irish Famine of 1845. Using the power of dance to articulate beyond the spoken word, it captures the emotion of the real people who were caught up in this natural calamity and political holocaust which even today historians are keen to ignore. BALLADS sets out to explore defining emotional moments in the psyche of the Irish people. Tangible key objects are presented to us on this journey - a pair of boots, a mound of earth, the log books of ships that record our connection with the greater world beyond Ireland. We witness the manipulation of objects as symbols which transform themselves - a plank of wood becoming a door - an empty table - a platform to perform on- a gangplank.