‘Valley’ in the multi-media era

Valley of the Squinting Windows, the Irish Times Theatre Award nominated play that premièred at Mullingar Arts Centre in 2019 returns to the local stage before moving to The Gaiety, in November.

Based on the book by Brinsley MacNamara, ‘Valley’ is directed by Michael Scott. President Michael D Higgins attended its Mullingar première – after which the production, with it cast of local actors and professionals, was to run at the Gaiety Theatre – until Covid-19 hit.

Ahead of its return, Michael Scott has been speaking about why the story was a sore point for the people of Delvin, where the story is set, and why it is still relevant today.

The production uses digital video and audio technologies to place McNamara’s book firmly in the 21st century, while echoing life in “small town Ireland”.

“During the pandemic we kept everybody together on the WhatsApp group for Valley and everybody was dying to get back and do it, but it took so long that people’s lives moved on, schedules changed. People had babies, the kids who were in the show have grown up, people moved on, so we’ve had to do a huge amount of recasting on the show,” says Scott, who staged The Matchmaker in Mullingar, during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

Rehearsals start on October 9, and tickets are “selling well both in Mullingar and in the Gaiety”.

He explains that ‘Valley’ is really a tale of “two stories”.

“There’s the story of the book itself, and then there’s the story of Brinsley McNamara writing the book when he was a young man in Delvin. When the book was published in 1918, the village basically sat on the steps and decided to read the book, and they learned by page 20 that the book was based on them, they were all characters in it. A group of vigilantes chased Brinsley through three towns with petrol, guns, clubs and any sharp instruments they could lay their hands on. He escaped with his life that night,” said Scott.

“Then the local priest and the rest of the village took revenge on his remaining family. The father was the local school teacher, and at that time the teachers were paid by the number of pupils, and the priest dictated that no one was to send their children to school, and the shops were told not to serve the family. So the family was left destitute and starving, and were hunted out of the village. It paints a vicious picture of what rural Ireland was like at the time, but Brinsley was in good company.

“If you look at Synge – the Playboy [of the Western World] riots had just happened. O’Casey does The Plough and the Stars, and there’s riots, Beckett leaves the country, Joyce has to publish his work elsewhere to get acknowledged. Anybody who wanted to talk about real Ireland was persona non grata.

“The Irish, while creating a new state, wanted to dance at the crossroads and not actually face who they really were. I think that’s one of the prime reasons the book was such a controversial thing, Ireland didn’t want to see the warts, it only wanted to see the roses.

“The book was read at the Dáil, and it was redacted and it was considered a total disgrace, but ‘Valley’ won Brinsley an Olympic medal for Literature in 1924.”

Michael has been in touch with the family of Brinsley MacNamara, who initially worried about the reaction to a stage telling of the book, but gave the thumbs up once they heard of the positivity towards it from the people of Delvin.

“We’re in quite in close contact with Brinsley’s daughter-in-law, Mary Weldon, who is 90 now. From what she has told us, Brinsley left Delvin and never went back. He married a school teacher, and went on to became registrar of the National Gallery. He also became director of the Abbey Theatre and became a prolific playwright. In fact his play, Look at the Heffernans!, was put on at the Abbey any time business at the box office wasn’t good. It was such a hit, they used to put it on to keep the Abbey open.

“But Brinsley remained bitter over his treatment for the rest of his life. I mean Synge died young, but O’Casey, Beckett and Joyce all left the country, and Brinsley was the only one of that group who stayed. It remained a sore point for the people of Delvin for a very long time.

“We started our project in 2011 and the family were still afraid to let us do a stage version. We had a discussion with the Garradrimna Book Fair in Delvin, and we discussed staging parts of the book in different parts of the village. They started having little readings of the book and nobody burnt anybody or shot them or killed them, so we went back to the family and told them there was a good reaction to the book, let’s do it, and they agreed.”

Video wall

“We workshopped ‘Valley’ it in 2011 and in 2018 we started to plan a date for November in 2019, with huge success. It sold out the week before we did it and we were nominated for an Irish Time Theatre award. Everybody who came to see it was knocked out by it. It’s kind of an Irish play that should have a thatched cottage in it, but instead it has a video wall with four live cameras, and 24 radio microphones that all relay back to the video wall.

“You wonder should you watch the wall or the stage, and then you realise that the videos are showing you things that can’t see, they’re only available on the video wall, and they add to what you see on the stage, so it’s kind of like watching the television but you’re browsing your phone. We now, as modern people, multi-task as we’re doing things, so it’s sort of a hybrid theatre experience which makes you aware that you’re now in the world of TikTok and Instagram and Facebook. The video wall is also showing you the cast sitting at the side of the stage watching the show, so it’s also a show about people watching people, watching people, watching people.”

Music by 18th Century Irish composer John Field rounds off the production.

• Valley of the Squinting Windows, Mullingar Arts Centre, November 2-4; Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, November 7-11. Tickets mullingarartscentre.ie and gaietytheatre.ie.