Deserved plaudits for ‘Where It All Began’

The play ‘Where It All Began’ staged at Áras an Mhuilinn on Saturday afternoon has received deserved plaudits, for the high standard of the acting, the writing and the costumes, and for directing attention to the origin of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

A central part of the 75-year anniversary celebration, the play is an “imaginative recreation staying loyal to the historical facts”, according to Tom Hunt, who wrote it in collaboration with producer and director Paul Curley.

The cast members who did such a fine job on the 25-minute play are: Neil Brady as Tom Rowsome of the Pipers Club; Paul Doolin as Fr Joseph Dermody; Bernie McHugh as Caitlín Bean Uí Mhuimhneacháin; Joe O’Hehir as Philip Mullally; Moe Heduan as Supt Philip O’Sullivan; Eamonn Moynihan as Éamonn Ó Muimhneacháin; John Nooney as William Mea, Pipers Club; Aidan O’Rourke as Paddy McElvaney, Pipers Club; Christy Cole as Bro Redmond; John Banjo Quinn as Dr CJ Harwood, Pipers Club; and Anthony Merrigan as James Fagan, Westmeath County Council.

Vonnie Nally and Eamonn Moynihan were the narrators, and working with Tom Hunt and Paul Curley as production assistant was Antoinette Ahearn.

They played to a full house at an Áras as they relayed the story of meetings in Tom Rowsome’s drapery shop on Thomas Street, Dublin, and later meetings in Mullingar, including the one at the Midlands Hotel on February 4, 1951, when, in the words of Caitlín Bean Uí Mhuimhneacháin, ‘it was from this meeting that the fledgling organisation Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann emerged’.