Aiden O Reilly
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The Tinker’s Curse

Michael Harding’s play at Bewley’s Lunchtime Theatre

Integrity is the word that springs to mind after watching this play.

Michael presents the traveller Mikey on a visit to Croagh Patrick. He fumbles with his rosary beads and mass card, presses them into the hands of a member of the audience and tells her to mind that for a moment. His story is not a narrative, but is woven together from visionary moments, tales he has heard, and the occasional return to the present moment, there standing on Croagh Patrick.

This is not realism in the strict sense. It’s Mikey making sense of things. He shuffles about the stage, mixing memories, tales of ghostly horses and descriptions of a menacing band of travellers from somewhere up north: “You wouldn’t know where they were from,” he repeats. The threat from these mysterious strangers is more metaphysical than physical.

Michael plunges into the part with absolute authenticity. It’s not by chance he chose the name Mikey for his character. Michael has worked with travellers for years, knows their lore and their rhythms of speech. Rooted in close contact, authentic, faithful – yet charged with a vision that is needed to make sense of it all. This play will live for a long time.

Selected Posts

  • Backstory of a book
    2019-02-22
  • Stinging Fly Wheldon essay
    2017-07-24
  • The Blocks by Karl Parkinson
    2016-10-02
  • London Trip
    2016-09-05
  • Honest Ulsterman interview
    2016-02-29
  • Greetings, Hero launch Hodges Figgis
    2014-11-21

Selected pages

  • Debut Book
  • Publications
  • Writers' Workbench at Block T

Crucial

  • . .
  • Asylum books
  • Buy the book at Kennys
  • Daniel Seery
  • David Mohan
  • Djelloul Marbrook
  • Gorse magazine
  • Slava Nesterov Artist
  • The Penny Dreadful
  • The road to publication
  • The Short Review
  • The Short Review
  • Unthology

Other links

  • . .
  • Karl Parkinson's The Blocks
  • Unthology 4 review
  • Wandering minstrel Larry Beau

What I'm up to

  • Buy the book at Kennys
  • Examiner review
  • Irish Times / Ashley Stokes
  • Irish Times Q+A Irish Times Q+A
  • The road to publication

Recent posts

  • Writers’ Workbench at IWC
  • Irish Times classics revisited
  • Backstory of a book
  • Writers’ Workbench course with Keegan & myself Writers’ Workbench course with Keegan & myself
  • Winter Papers
  • Noel Duffy’s poetry collection Noel Duffy’s poetry collection

Quotation

The Tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction