The Blue Boy: the Ireland we didn't know
Belgium has known appalling cases of sexual abuse within the Church. But in Catholic Ireland the situation in the past was, if possible, even worse. The Brokentalkers theatre company from Dublin has come up with a beautiful and intense production about this sensitive subject. The piece will be one of the highlights of the cultural programme celebrating the Irish EU presidency.
The Brokentalkers theatre company was founded by Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan in 2001. Since then the two have been writing and directing original work in Dublin, usually collaborating with a large group of actors, dancers, designers, and composers. The name Brokentalkers comes from a story about a tribe of Native Americans, who were called that by the tribes who lived around them, who couldn’t understand their dialect. Although the company is now very successful and tours internationally, the name says something about its position and its work in the context of Ireland’s theatrical tradition. The Blue Boy is an original work, partly based on interviews and research.
The play gives a voice to the thousands of victims of sexual abuse within the Church. What prompted you to take up the subject in your work?
Gary Keegan: In 2009 the Irish government published a report, which took ten years to complete, going into this abuse. When it came out the whole country was shocked by what they learned. The story of this systematic abuse under the care of the Church had a big impact. We researched the story ourselves, worked with the composer Séan Millar and seven dance artists, and interviewed survivors of the abuse. The survivors don’t feature live in the piece, but you do hear their voices. They provide it with a directness and authenticity and their words almost function as a score to the physical movements.
One of the things that we heard from them is that for so many years nobody believed their story. So this is also a way of countering that. The feedback we have got from some of them who saw the piece was that they were happy that their story was put out into the public domain in a different way than in newspaper or tabloid reports.
Weren’t you afraid that the performance would become too much to bear?
Keegan: We have seen examples of traditional drama, films, and news reports on this subject, but we set out to make something different. Something that wasn’t just concentrating on the explicit details of the abuse, which people had already heard enough about. We looked for a way to make it more abstract. To concentrate on creating atmosphere and suggestion. There is very little text in the performance, but once you understand the context you can read a lot from the staging.
As a narrator I also tell my own story. My grandfather was an undertaker who had to go to one of those Catholic institutions very near to where I grew up, on an occasion when a child had died. He told us the story and it affected me throughout my life. In the neighbourhood children also used to tell each other a story about a boy from the institution who died, and whose ghost would haunt the neighbourhood. That story was called “The Blue Boy” and is a metaphor for the bigger story that everybody in Ireland knew but didn’t speak about.
The Brokentalkers theatre company was founded by Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan in 2001. Since then the two have been writing and directing original work in Dublin, usually collaborating with a large group of actors, dancers, designers, and composers. The name Brokentalkers comes from a story about a tribe of Native Americans, who were called that by the tribes who lived around them, who couldn’t understand their dialect. Although the company is now very successful and tours internationally, the name says something about its position and its work in the context of Ireland’s theatrical tradition. The Blue Boy is an original work, partly based on interviews and research.
The play gives a voice to the thousands of victims of sexual abuse within the Church. What prompted you to take up the subject in your work?
Gary Keegan: In 2009 the Irish government published a report, which took ten years to complete, going into this abuse. When it came out the whole country was shocked by what they learned. The story of this systematic abuse under the care of the Church had a big impact. We researched the story ourselves, worked with the composer Séan Millar and seven dance artists, and interviewed survivors of the abuse. The survivors don’t feature live in the piece, but you do hear their voices. They provide it with a directness and authenticity and their words almost function as a score to the physical movements.
One of the things that we heard from them is that for so many years nobody believed their story. So this is also a way of countering that. The feedback we have got from some of them who saw the piece was that they were happy that their story was put out into the public domain in a different way than in newspaper or tabloid reports.
Weren’t you afraid that the performance would become too much to bear?
Keegan: We have seen examples of traditional drama, films, and news reports on this subject, but we set out to make something different. Something that wasn’t just concentrating on the explicit details of the abuse, which people had already heard enough about. We looked for a way to make it more abstract. To concentrate on creating atmosphere and suggestion. There is very little text in the performance, but once you understand the context you can read a lot from the staging.
As a narrator I also tell my own story. My grandfather was an undertaker who had to go to one of those Catholic institutions very near to where I grew up, on an occasion when a child had died. He told us the story and it affected me throughout my life. In the neighbourhood children also used to tell each other a story about a boy from the institution who died, and whose ghost would haunt the neighbourhood. That story was called “The Blue Boy” and is a metaphor for the bigger story that everybody in Ireland knew but didn’t speak about.
Is there some sort of catharsis, some redeeming element in the performance?
Keegan: Catharsis is not what we are looking for. I think we want the public to leave the theatre with a warning. We still need to be vigilant and continue to take care of other people. One of the motifs in the music is the idea of resonance and repetition. The composer chose this because we know that this story is ongoing and that the abuse can happen again.
I also feel that this is a story about Ireland and not just about the Catholic Church. The Irish people should realise that these terrible things could only happen because we live in a society that allowed them to happen for so many decades. When we take the show outside Ireland, the audiences learn a little bit about Ireland that they didn’t know before. It isn’t all about Guinness, music, and friendly people.
BROKENTALKERS: THE BLUE BOY • 1 & 2/2, 20.15, €11/16/20, EN (surtitré en FR), Théâtre National, boulevard É. Jacqmainlaan 111-115, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-203.53.03, location@theatrenational.be, www.theatrenational.be
Keegan: Catharsis is not what we are looking for. I think we want the public to leave the theatre with a warning. We still need to be vigilant and continue to take care of other people. One of the motifs in the music is the idea of resonance and repetition. The composer chose this because we know that this story is ongoing and that the abuse can happen again.
I also feel that this is a story about Ireland and not just about the Catholic Church. The Irish people should realise that these terrible things could only happen because we live in a society that allowed them to happen for so many decades. When we take the show outside Ireland, the audiences learn a little bit about Ireland that they didn’t know before. It isn’t all about Guinness, music, and friendly people.
BROKENTALKERS: THE BLUE BOY • 1 & 2/2, 20.15, €11/16/20, EN (surtitré en FR), Théâtre National, boulevard É. Jacqmainlaan 111-115, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-203.53.03, location@theatrenational.be, www.theatrenational.be
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