Candlelit Tales – a once upon a time occasion not to be missed

It’s Wednesday night, I try to slip into the packed crowd. The atmosphere is brimming with excitement and Guinness perfume, some candles are weakly flickering against the deep red, rather kitschy, wallpaper in the upper room of the Stag’s Head.

I squeeze myself between an older gentleman and a girl whose suit suggests she’s come straight from work. Just behind me there’s an old mirror where people all look like shadows and an even older clock that is not working anymore. Time, it seems, is standing still.

The whispers quiet and all eyes turn to the back of the room where, framed by fairy lights, Sorcha and her brother Aron are going to bring life back to “the wondrous tales of old.”

I discovered them last December, when they were telling the Táin Bó Cúailnge. That was my first encounter with Cú Chulainn, something I certainly won’t forget. The pair charmed me to such an extent that I was delighted at the opportunity to see them a second time for a night dedicated to Goddesses and again for a special Easter Rising celebration. The latter focussed on stories that define what it is to be Irish, and which may in part have inspired have inspired the revolutionary leaders.

Whatever the tale, you’ll find the voices of Sorcha and Aron slamming the words with drama: Their hands wave in the air all around them, drawing up mythical landscapes for their audience to devour. It’s obvious that the public is captivated by the pair, each twist and turn of their tales is met with laughs, sighs and applause.

As the two weave narratives, their friends Ruari O’Shea (Mandolin) and Daragh Kenny (Guitar) provide a live soundtrack, slowing down for sentimental moments and upholding the beat during battles.

I wanted to know more about the creative process behind these events and what brought  the four into doing what they do, so I caught Aron after the show to sum it all up for me.

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