"It Seemed As If The Whole Town Had Died"
Séan O’Brien left his wife and son in County Tyrone to find work as a collier in the South Wales Valleys. Years later Naihm O’Brien is dying and sends her son Jack on a quest to find what became of his father.
Inspired by the great Mexican novel ‘Pedro Paramo’ by Juan Rulfo, this new play uses an original live music score, film footage and poetry to tell the story of Jack’s odyssey from child to man and from innocence to experience.
Please help us to raise important funds for touring and marketing Séan Tyrone.
Company of Sirens formed in 2010 to develop the play Séan Tyrone by Mark Ryan, directed by Chris Durnall. Due to tour Ireland and South Wales in 2011.
When we originally developed the play last year, the writer Mark Ryan was a huge part of that and also performed music live for the early development performances.
This year we are set to take this wonderfully humorous and dark play to Galway and to produce it fully for a four night run in Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. Sadly, Mark passed away earlier this year, so will not be able to see one of his final plays produced as he intended.
Mark's writing has been widely acclaimed in both children's theatre and mainstream theatre alike, with a fringe first award in Edinburgh, and many other accolades.
We are trying to raise funds to assist with the costs of getting the production to Ireland and for marketing costs for Cardiff.
"An intriguing, beautifully crafted, poetic play" - Theatre In Wales
Séan Tyrone will be performing at:
Town Hall Theatre, Galway : June 7th 2011
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff: June 15-18th 2011
But to make this happen we need your help!
Every pound pledged to support the project will be a great help and anything you are able to donate will ensure that this incredibly exciting piece (we feel) will get to Ireland and get the audiences it deserves both in Galway and Cardiff.
We need you wonderful people on WeFund to be a part of this journey and help us raise the £1000 towards to travel costs and marketing, to enable this project to happen! Please donate if you can!
Thank you for taking the time out to look at our project. And do come and see the show if you can, links for ticket booking will be added below when available.
Robert Harper
HOW THESE FUNDS WILL BE USED
Any donation made will go towards a number of things for the production. The priority for us is the costs for travel and accommodation for getting to Galway, we've six cast members, one musician and the director (who'll be our stage manager in Ireland too, thanks Chris). An important part of any production is the marketing, and whilst we love using the internet and social media to market our shows, some traditional printed media will be necessary, such as posters and fliers.
If we find ourselves raising more than a £1000, then funds will also go towards production expenses, insurance, and potentially artists fees. Though all performers believe so much in this play that they have agreed to take part on a profit share basis. (Meaning they are not guaranteed any income at all, so if anyone wants to donate more, you'll be making a few extra smiles and a guaranteed handshake in the bar after the show).
We are also being supported by Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; who have been kind enough to help us with rehearsal space and provide us a platform for performing the play.
Credits
Séan Tyrone - written by Mark Ryan
Performed by Liam James, Angharad Evans, Robert Harper, Lynn Hunter, Bethan Morgan & Dafydd Roberts
Musicians - Bethan Morgan & Philip Michell
Music by Mark Ryan, with arrangements by Bethan Morgan
Choreography - Kylie Ann Smith
Video - Andrew Pring
Director - Chris Durnall
Produced by Chris Durnall, Dafydd Roberts & Robert Harper
Photo Credits - Jane Jones
Woodcuts - Mark Ryan by kind permission of Seren Books, publishers of Mark's first Novelette (his word) Séan Tyrone, due to be published in September 2012
