Fore actor promises evening of Gaeilge, laughter and teenage chaos

Connemarvellous, a one-woman play written and performed by Bláthnaid Daly from Fore, “is a fast-moving bilingual show that tells a story about a teenager’s first trip to the Gaeltacht”.

Directed by Gene Rooney and produced by Ois O’Donoghue, Connemarvellous explores how the protagonists’ parents abandon her to chase sunshine on a foreign holiday, and she finds herself trapped between céilís, cúpla focail and an unexpected enemy from home.

It explores the joys and mortifications of growing up Irish and learning to survive both the Irish language and your peers, packed with sharp observations with humour and playful code-switching.

Bláthnaid takes Connemarvellous in the Tuar Ard Arts Centre, in Moate, on Friday, April 24, a performance that follows the development of the show under the Arts Council Agility Award with mentor Clare Monnelly and a three-day run in The New Theatre, Dublin, earlier in April, where she performed it in full for the first time.

Bláthnaid, a former student of St Ernan’s NS, Delvin, Loreto College and Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin, said the idea for the piece had originally came to her in a classroom in the Gaiety school in 2021. Since then, she has been working on it and performed a shortened version at the ‘Seen and Heard’ festival.

With the feedback Bláthnaid collected from the audience, she went on to create the final version of the show.

Her love for performing began in her early years: “My mam, Catherine, is a speech and drama teacher as well as a primary school teacher. She would have me involved in Killallon Drama Group, so I was part of that for years,” she said.

Bláthnaid was also part of the school musical in her transition year in Loreto, and a member of the Lynn Singers with Dervilla Conlon Maloney.

“It was in my Leaving Cert year in 2018, when I was in a play with my mam based on Brinsley McNamara’s life and work in Delvin, which really made my love for theatre.”

Connemarvellous is the first show Bláthnaid has written. “In terms of what I’ve written, this is sort of my première. I’ve devoted so much time to it, and it’s been my baby for the last couple of years,” she said.

“My teacher in Gaiety School of Acting, Donal Courtney (RIP), really encouraged me to go with the idea because he said it’s very much me, he was like, if Bláthnaid Daly could be put into a piece of theatre, this is it and if you want to show the world who you are, this is the piece to do it.”

Bláthnaid also gave special thanks to Clare Monnelly, Gene Rooney, and Alan Howley, who creatively contributed to the piece.

“In terms of supporting me, my family have been so fabulous. My parents stand behind me 100%, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that. They know how much it matters to me and that it also matters to them as well.”

Bláthnaid’s siblings “both live abroad, and they’re both flying in to see it in Moate”, making the show in Tuar Ard Arts Centre extra special for the family.