18/05/2026
This should be very interesting
Curlew Theatre presents HUNGER / An Gorta Mór
Date/Time: Monday, 18 May 7.30pm
Venue: Workhouse, Portumna
A dramatic play for two voices, performed by Tegolin Knowland and Seán Coyne, and devised and directed by Eamon Grennan.
This powerful work responds to the Great Famine as a long unspeakable subject in Irish life. The piece is structured as an ‘audio quilt’ of voices drawn from those who lived through, witnessed or were connected to the catastrophe. A historical prologue traces voices from the 16th to the late
18th century, including excerpts from writers such as Spenser, Swift and Goldsmith, leading into the events of the Great Famine itself.
Through text and voice, the performance seeks to give immediate, human expression to the Famine experience and to bring these ‘living dead’ voices into close contact with the audience. Curlew Theatre Company, based in Connemara, Co. Galway, specialises in Plays for Voices, focusing on Irish history, literature and culture. Their work relies almost entirely on text and voice, with minimal props, creating an intimate and direct relationship between performers and audience. HUNGER / An Gorta Mór has been performed at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut.
“In Hunger, Knowland and Coyne briefly and evocatively made that catastrophic time live for our audience … it was one of the highlights of our year.”
— Joseph Lennon, Director, Irish Studies Programme, Villanova International Summer School, University of Galway
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