The Midnight Court
By Brian Merriman translated by David Marcus
A one man show performed by GERARD HOWARD
Directed by PAUL BRENNAN
Costumes by PETRA BREATNACH
Sunday 4 June - 7pm
The Hall, Mountshannon
Running time: 55 minutes
(Not suitable for children)
€10/ €8 with wristband
Written around 1780, Brian Merriman’s comic poem set on the shores of Lough Graney is a classic of early modern Irish poetry.
Sex, the manifestation of a God and a great deal of slagging are all in the mix in Merriman’s headlong masterpiece. Merriman’s crime is that he never married. The women of Ireland have him up before a court in Feakle presided over by the Goddess Aoibheal to account for this outrageous oversight. It’s a tale of women taking their destiny into their own hands - long before referendums were ever heard of!
Join Gerard Howard, as he whirls from Poet to maiden, from Old Codger to Goddess, from harridan to eighteen foot-tall bailiff, exposing the shortcomings of the men of Ireland in David Marcus’s bawdy and hilarious English version! Not even the clergy escape his scabrous wit.
For the first time as a one-man show, the Midnight Court has been ingeniously re-invented.
Actor Gerry Howard is a native of Lisdoonvarna. His work with Decadent Theatre Company, Galway includes roles in a nationwide tour of Juno and the Paycock and Patrick McCabe’s The Adventures of Shay Mouse, and The Dead School. He worked previously with director Paul Brennan on his one-man show Hats Off to Clare and also The Spinning Heart for Verdant Productions.
Director Paul Brennan has worked as a professional actor, director, playwright, and acting teacher for over forty years. His adaptation and production of Donal Ryan’s novel The Spinning Heart at Smock Alley was revived at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, recently. He lives in East Clare.
Petra Breatnach has designed for Macnas, Galway and Decadent.