CLEITE
Cleite Premiered at the Galway Theatre Festival May 2018.
Cleite Production Information
Overview
INot She Waits. The Sun Sets. A sailor breathes his last.
A piece of mask theatre inspired by the Claddagh in the west of Ireland, Cleite tells the story of a Fisherwoman waiting for her husband to return from sea.
Featuring live Sean Nós songs and based on superstitions of the old fishing communities of the West of Ireland, this piece was devised in Katie’s Cottage, Claddagh, a restored cottage and museum.
Cleite Premiered at the Galway Theatre Festival May 2018. It sold out three runs including a reimagined version for young audiences at Baboró International Festival for Children where it also toured to Teach Uí Phiarsaigh, Rosmuc. Cleite was presented at Traidphicnic and Cairde arts festivals in summer 2019.
Production Team
Created by James Riordan.
Produced by Jill Murray.
Mask by Orla Clogher.
Costume by Cherie White.
Performed by Philippa Hambly.
Sean Nós Sung Live by Cáitlíln Ní Chualáin.
Stage Managed by Catherine Denning.
Supported by: Galway City Council, Creative Ireland and Baboró.
CLEITE VIDEO
CLEITE REVIEWS
Connacht Tribune
May 18, 2018
Simplicity the key to success in moving drama set in Claddagh
Cleite, a deceptively simple story, told beautifully and wordlessly by Philippa Hambly, backed by stunning sean-nós songs, in Irish and English from Caitlín Ní Chualáin was among the highlights of this year’s Galway Theatre Festival.
An Áit Eile
2018
This play, if not carried out as carefully and earnestly as it was by Riordan, could have taken some wrong turns, however each element of this piece came together with seemless elegance.
The setting, the Claddagh Cottage, was not gimmicky or kitsch, but truly the only option for this intense and understated story to be displayed.