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The New Theatre: Dublin presents
THE TAILOR AND ANSTY
By Eric Cross
Adapted for the stage by P.J. O’Connor
Starring Ronan Wilmot and Nuala Hayes
Directed by Nuala Hayes
Old Red Lion Theatre
8 July – 3 August 08
 ary Couzen
A review by Alan Taylor for EXTRA! EXTRA!
The Tailor and Ansty by Eric Cross was first published as in a booking 1942 and banned shortly afterwards. It was adapted for the stage at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 1967 by P.J. O’Connor and has its London premiere at The Old Red Lion, London from 8 July.
The banning on the grounds of alleged indecency and obscenity was to lay bare once again the absurdity that was Irish censorship. In the ensuing four-day debate in The Irish Senate, one Senator who claimed to have read all authors “from Rabelais down”, said he had never read a “finer collection of smut”. Priests descended on the cottage the couple owned and terrorised them into burning a copy of the book on their own fire.
The tailor, Timothy Buckley, was a great storyteller (Seanchi) and he and his wife Ansty used to hold court in their cottage near Gougane Barra in West Cork, Ireland, welcoming all to their fireside. Eric Cross recreated the conversations and seanchas of the tailor along with the bawdy anarchic interruptions of his wife. The tailor never travelled further than Scotland, yet the breadth of the world could not contain the wealth of his humour and fantasy. His stories on marriages, inquests, matchmaking, wakes and their black cow were told nightly to a packed cottage.
The Tailor and Ansty is a fictionalized, even romanticized account of a lost world. It is a celebration of life, full of flurry and gaiety. It would never have been Cross’s intention or expectation to hurt anybody, least of all the old couple, who, delighted with the book itself, must have been terribly hurt by what followed, however much they might pretend otherwise to spare the author’s feelings.
When the ban was lifted in 1963, Cross’s novel about their life became a classic of folkloric literature and was adapted for stage by P.J. O’Connor and was performed at The Abbey Theatre with Eamon Kelly and Brig Lynch in the title roles. This latest production by The New Theatre: Dublin with Ronan Wilmot and Nuala Hayes as the eponymous couple first opened in the summer of 2005 in Gougana Barra, West Cork where the couple lived.
The Tailor (1860-1945) and his wife Ansty (1862-1947) are buried in the graveyard by the lake in a beautiful called of the Gougane Barra, West Cork.
Ronan Wilmot has acted with the RSC, The Royal Court, The Young Vic, Liverpool Playhouse and 7:84 in the UK; in Ireland he has appeared with The Abbey, The Peacock, The Gate, The Project, The Focus and Dublin Stage One. He set up Portrait Theatre Co. to co-direct with Cicely Berry OBE ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ by T.S. Eliot in Christ Church Cathedral in 1991. He formed Dublin Theatre Company and is a fellow director of The New Theatre Dublin.
Nuala Hayes was a member of the Abbey Company for five years. During her time there she became involved with Theatre in Education and subsequently set up Ireland’s first touring theatre for children. Nuala has appeared with most of Ireland’s foremost companies and most recently toured Ireland as Winnie in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’ Nuala founded and was director of Scealta Shamhna, the Dublin Storytelling Festival for 10 years.
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The Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 St John Street, London, EC1 4NJ
Dates and Times: 8 July – 3 August 2008
Tuesday – Saturday at 7.30pm
Sunday at 6pm
Tickets £12 (concessions £10)
Friday and Saturday – all tickets £12
Box Office 020 7833 3053
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