Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
WHAT IS IT to make your life in a particular landscape and community – to raise your children there, to watch them grow, until eventually it is your time to move on?
“Generations come, generations go… It’s about the passage of time,” says writer-director Veronica Coburn of her new theatrical work Ghost Hares.
The project is a public art commission from South Dublin County. Through spoken word and song, it sees local people (most who have never performed before) taking over the Civic Theatre stage for three nights in May.
The catch? They are performing their own stories.
“I’m working with a chorus of people,” she says. “And our opening proposition was: what is it to be from South Dublin County, to make your life in this territory, in this landscape both urban and natural?”
Most of the group of 27 participants are female, in their 50s, and have been living in the South Dublin County area for decades or more – each with their own story to tell.
Committing to Saturday practice since September, Coburn says they have been “working their socks off” and are passionate about the project.
She says when most people think of places like Tallaght and Clondalkin, the first thing that comes into your mind is motorways, roundabouts and the M50.
She says it was then interesting that many of people of the community spoke about the parks and mountains instead – as well as the fading of those green areas during their decades or more of living there.
The title – Ghost Hares – comes from a story one participant told during the early periods of shaping the performance.
“We were talking about where people walk,” Coburn says. “She says before the M50 was built there was all fields… She used to walk out there – it was all country lanes – and stand at the edge of the fields and just watch and wait.”
Because if you stood at the edge of the fields and watched, you would see the hares run… she then said, ‘but they’re not there anymore’. The fields are gone, hence the hares are gone.
The image struck, and became the first song the group worked on, as well as the title.
“What that encapsulates is the centre of the whole piece,” Coburn says. “Which is about the passing of time… what has gone before, what is here now.”
The piece is about the landscape, past and present… and really it’s also about people… people’s past.
Coburn says one song lyric states: “We’ve lived here all our lives… all our married lives. We’ve raised our kids here, buried our dead here… watched those we love come and go.”
She says it’s that thread of life being lived – from birth to death – that runs through the piece.
“That comes back to the sense that people have stories to tell, and that those stories are interesting.”
Opening Up
“Every time we meet, something happens that makes us feel okay,” says Elaine Peden (53), one of the participants in the project.
A working nurse and textile artist, and originally from Co Mayo, she had moved to Clondalkin over 20 years ago to raise her family.
She says, like many of the others, she is both nervous and excited. But she says the end result isn’t what matters most to her – it’s the process.
“As time went on, and we started to open up, a few things came out,” says Peden about the early stages of putting the work together.
Some people were every open and honest, it allowed other people who normally wouldn’t share to share.
“Nobody laughed,” she says. “Everybody received openly and respectfully and I think that helped people to trust. If there wasn’t trust and respect, I don’t think we could have done the project.”
She says she doesn’t care what happens on the nights of the performance – she knows that they will be okay.
“Five years ago I would have thought ‘oh my god, this is going to be so embarrassing, to be standing up there’ and really we’re not fantastic singers… none of us are not hugely talented. We’re just ordinary people.”
She says now she isn’t worried though. She trusts the process.
Barbara Kelly (57) is also a fan of Coburn’s, and her musical collaborator Debra Salem’s, way of doing things.
“I suffer from depression and when I said that out loud in the group… someone was listening and she said it really helped her understand people with depression and how they feel.”
She says you’ll be surprised what you’ll say in a group of people open and willing to listen. She says doing the project has made her a bit braver.
“There’s no way I could have spoken to you on the phone before,” she says. “To other people it might not mean much, but to me it means a lot.”
Ghost Hares was commission under In Context 4 – In Our Time and will be performed 1-3 May at the The Civic Theatre, 8pm.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
How about letting a few overpaid useless HSE “managers” ?
And a few labour . Fg . Tds
Christ, health, justice and education all in bits, local government broke and in a shambles and their idea of reform is cut hundreds of millions out of it. It’s not working, get your crap together and start spending what you do have in a smarter manner. Dropping over 14000 ambulance hours isn’t reform and isn’t a successful saving.
And the three FG you mentioned all backed Enda during their civil war.
Another politician who gets turned on by the sound of his own voice.
Would be right at home in a Carry on film….
Oh matron!
“Have to be made and will be made”? At the expense of how many lives, Minister Howlin?
Where has he been the last few months – now they can’t keep him off camera at all.
Why don’t they promise to resign if they don’t meet budget cuts. Lets see how certain he is that they will make the target!
Oh the joy in a few weeks time – I get a chance to put on my election boots and give labour a good kicking
You can’t meet targets if the targets are unrealistic. Enough people have suffered the health service cannot be cut anymore. My seriously ill daughter is being left to die because the hse cannot afford to send her to the uk for tests as they don’t have the facilities or expertise. For her rare condition. Meanwhile they just took her medical card off her so they can meet the savings target. Then politicians come to my door and act like it is nothing to do with them but the “fault of the heartless bureaucrats in the hse” ( direct qoute from labour candidate) as if they hadn’t ordered discretionary cards to be cut. Enough is enough cut else where not peoples lives and health.
Such a jokingly mismanaged organisation. Never worked for such a place with so many ‘managers’ in my life. A joke organisation who’s patients and ground staff pay for these over waged buffoons.
Exactly – blame one Michael Martin for that debacle.
This is not news, It’s political spin and comment.
Brendan Howlin seems to think that there is “optimism”, there are people getting back to work.
Thanks to this Govt (and the last) people have now got to do far more for far less.
The “fantasy” jobs being created by the Govt to get people off the dole are just that a “fantasy”.
Created to juggle numbers and give the illusion that the unemployment rate is dropping when really it is not.
Our Political System has totally let us down and failed to represent those that they serve i.e. the Irish People, not the EU, not the Banks and not those in Wealthy Golden Circles.
I wonder just how out of touch Minister Howlin is with reality if he thinks that there is a general “optimism” about the direction our Country is taking.
Ireland has become a terrible place to live for working class families, with no prospects of work for the young, which is why they are leaving in droves.
The only people that seem to be prospering in our Country these days are the Politicians. Well talk is cheap isn’t it? And we have become such a subservient people we don’t even punish those that blatantly break their promises to us or get caught in their lies.
Glad to see all the resources are being “pumped” back into frontline services. What was that name Father Jack had for politicians? That’s right, “a shower of ba$tards!”
There must be elections looming.
Wonder how many lies Labour will try to feed us this time? Crash and burn champagne socialists!
They will try every lie and bit of spin they can come up with but the real question is “will the electorate fall for it again”
labour are already discussing transfer votes from fg.
They know they are finished and people have no trust in them.
Surely all those highly paid managers and executives can figure it out?!
Basically our politions are executioners kill off all the public and have a continuous political piss up
Howlin telling Reilly off? That must be like being savaged by a dead sheep. Remind me again exactly how much has Howlin and his department saved the state with his “root and branch” review of expenses….
€2.5 BILLION is spent on HSE managers and administration annually (40,000 of them on an AVERAGE salary of €70,000 each). We have informed every TD in the country this has to be addressed but they ignore us.
We in the profession have told the government what the problems are and how to fix it but they ignore everything that is said. They ignore the Hanley report and every other objective expert group.
They decisions regarding public health are made by failed executive. The public health service is collapsing. The HSE are not fit to run these services – they would be fired a long time ago in the private services.
There is absolutely no leadership and politicians are firefighting, spending money on PR to cover up gross incompetence to the next election on the horizon.
No more money needs to be spent on health, the money needs to go where it is needed – efficient and cost effective services.
@Sean Ryan
So why don’t the IMO, IHCA and INMO join forces with Dr Reilly to fight both the section of the trade union movement that represent admin staff and its Labour supporters? Given that many of the admin staff don’t have much work, if any at all, to do, the public would barely notice if they went on strike. Such a strike wouldn’t stop the medical and nursing professions from doing their jobs. After all, Florence Nightingale managed without admin workers during the Crimean War and so did military doctors and nurses during the two World Wars.
You obviously don’t realise that the vast majority of these “managers” are clinical supervisors and specialists in clinical care they are not admin. Post such as clinical nurse managers senior ot physios etc. they manage clinical provision and supervise others practice to ensure safety and standards. You cannot have basic grade therapists without supervision.
I see them all the time – passing by with clip boards and going into meetings with hospital managers – managers who got the job because they were great GAA players – the hospital system falling down about them. Senior OT and Senior Physios are not managers they are front line clinical practitioners. Basic grade and less experienced clinical staff do not need €70,000 clip board holders and box tickers to get experience, senior clinicians do not need to stop doing their clinical job to co-ordinate a department – do surgeons stop surgery to manage junior doctors?
The IMO, IHCA and INMO have given up. The budget for their front line clinical representatives who actually do the work has been slashed while the administration side is to be untouched.
The above unions have given up writing letters to the DOH and Reilly – he seems to have some other agenda – I think it is to ram through universal health insurance – I wonder has he been influenced by suppliers? It’s the only thing that makes sense.
For whom the bell tolls…Howlin has suddenly woken up to the fact that he and his talentless buddies are for the high jump next election.This man makes Enda Kenny look almost intelligent!
thank god im leaving the HSE soon, couldnt face another pay cut…haddington road 2, its coming ! Or in whichever road/park/alley/dingy they decide to hold it in the next time
Denial is not a river in Egypt. Another example of a lack of accountabilty in the public service – and no prospect of anyone being held responsible or losing their permanent and pensionable jobs.
Really ! Well, what else would you expect him to say ? More Labour bluster !!!!
Lets cut the €650,000,000 a year we give to the Third World to zero.
What does the Dept of Health do?
there has been serious cuts in the health service, amounting to leaving every man woman and child in a precarious and dangerous situation, even life threatening, if this should happen them. the health service is in tatters, we do not have reform at all, we have cuts. they do not amount to the same thing and i am personally serioiusly worried about my safety now that i am a very ill woman with a neurodegenerative disorder plus, plus. my life is riddled with anxiety and stress…not from the illness, but from the way the cuts have impacted on my life as a sickie and how hard it is to strive for optimum health. you cannot get contact with a specialist here for love nor money and auxillary care is non existant which can amount to being more important. where is all this going, well for the likes of me to the tune of ‘Killing me softly.’ thats where its all going.
Obviously Howlin has not had to rely on the HSE recently or his optimism might just be replaced with the realism that the cuts are too much.
We don’t need another 3 bn in cuts ? Wait until after the elections and then the s….t will hit the fan. Don’t be fooled. Let’s get rid of this lot and be done with the liars and their spin doctors.
Europe and council elections. Vote independent all the way.
think u are roight . bou we had a chance to get rid of the Senate what did we do vote to keep it caus they are doing such a good job need i say more.?
Saying something long enough and loudly enough will not make it happen.
If the front line of the health service is not protected then innocent people die. The unions that represent surplus admin workers and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would be guilty of an act of genocide. Brian Cowen, who preceded Micheál Martin as Minister for Health, described the position as ‘like being in Angola’. Forget that. It’s more live being in Rwanda in 1994.
We will soon drop to “third world” status in all areas of service we provide….when we had very little we were the envy of many countries for the standard of education and healthcare we provided… attention to detail was drilled into us, accountability for all actions was mandatory and upheld, observation and recall were skills everyone possessed respect and kindness towards each other was a given but most of all common sense prevailed… its a race to the bottom now…and it breaks my heart to see such vital services as these crumble.. ones that not so long ago put us “right up there” amongst the best in the world… its a disgrace… continuous political interference over the last number of years has ensured that these “once” “working” services , where the welfare of patient and pupil were of paramount priority, slip rapidly into a irreversible decline where people have become a faceless number, where they now put profit before their people and children and have literally “stamped” us all with expiry dates…..what is yours?…
@Ciarán Masterson
I meant to say: It’s more like being in Rwanda in 1994.
have your say