Astonishingly - yet it shouldn't be astonishing at all - there are resonances of the Cuchulainn cycle in tales from the Reunion Islands in the Indian Ocean. While the water which would save his adversary-friend trickles through Cuchulainn's fingers three times, here lack of respect for the delicate ecological balance, of which water is a part, and lack of generosity in the sharing of it, makes the well run dry. Water is a scarcer resource in the Reunion Islands than it is in Galway, but still it would be hard to come up with a more universal theme - something which unites the people of the world both physically and spiritually, and is important to the consciously multicultural Theatre Talipot.
The actors, Bacari Ahmadi Abdouel Karimou, Fabrice Andiramilantonirinason, Thierry Moucazambo and Jean-Christophe Patin seem to have almost total fluidity of movement, changing from women gossiping around a well, to a family of monkeys clustering together, in the telling of their story. They sing in harmony and play a range of instruments, from didgeridoos to a strange kind of lyre.
This is by no means a down-home folk evening, however; the brightness of the tale has been revealed through the work of the French director, Philippe Pelen, and Savitry Nair, an Indian director who counts Peter Brook and Jean-Louis Barrault among previous work-mates. A small amount of discomfort must be felt about the fact that this folk tradition is being experienced through what was the colonial culture; but we would not see it at all otherwise, and one can only take the programme's boasts of multiculturalism at face value.
The Water Carriers needed a smaller venue than the Town Hall Theatre, and the players could not be heard properly in the balcony. Sit to the front of the stalls and enjoy a unique theatrical experience.
Plays today at 8 p.m. For bookings and further information, phone 1890 566577