Posadh an Tinceara/Chun na Farraige Sios

AMHARCLANN de hIde's double bill consists of translations into Irish of Synge's The Tinker's Wedding and the powerful one act tragedy Riders to the Sea, which has not been translated since the 1930s and never into the Connemara Irish which provided the genesis of much of its poetic and dramatic impact. It comes as no surprise that Tom Saili O Flaithearta's translation shocks the ear with a sense of rightness, the feeling that, linguistically, the play has come home.

Posadh An Tinceara is directed as an entertaining romp in which irreligious tinkers pit their wits against the greedy priest. It rattles along at a fine pace, director Bairbre Ni Chaoimh choosing not to focus on the dark undercurrent of violence which underlies the comedy, nor on the ancient clash of a superstitious paganism and the puritanical bureaucracy of the Catholic church.

Nevertheless, the excellent Brid McCarthy did manage to bring moments of pathos as Maire, the drunken, irreverent old woman gradually cowed into submission by the astringent Sorcha, well played by Bernadette Ni Obain. Denis Conway was impeccable as the priest and Seamus O Scanlain was very funny as the gormless groom to be.

Performing Chun no Farraige Sios within the communities where it is most acutely understood is bound to deepen its resonance. Performing it in Irish shifts the dramatic focus quite unexpectedly: some of the most poetic passages in the original become quite conversational in the translation. This led to a somewhat uneven transition to the intense emotional pitch of Maire's final lament over the drowned body of her son. A more ritualised grief would have had greater power, although this scene was admirably rescued from the danger of melodrama by a magnificent performance by Brid McCarthy.