Arán & Im

Arán & Im
(translated from the Irish as Bread & Butter)

by Manchán Magan
Sunday, March 20 at 3:00 pm
Tabor Stage
Limited Seating
70 minutes without intermission

The celebrated U.S. Tour from Ireland makes one stop in the Mid-South.

Made possible by Culture Ireland and by TSC’s
Nancy R. Copp and the Sims Family Charitable Trust.

Please join us for an interactive, surprising celebration of language, land, and Irish food with freshly-baked traditional sourdough bread for audience members to slice and spread with butter you may churn yourself from Irish cream.

Originally produced in association with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, Arán & Im explores the sublime beauty and oddness of potent 3,000-year-old words of landscape, terms of intuition and insight, and myriad phrases that bring to life the mysterious glory of our natural world.

“We are so pleased and honored to have this beautiful production in Memphis at TSC,” says Producing Artistic Director, Dan McCleary.  “The country of Ireland has invested in this international tour because Manchán uniquely creates a theatrical message of unity on stage, using the richness of Irish food practices and the otherwordly insights encoded in the Irish language.  It’s quite a spiritual revelation.  All the things we love here!”

What can the word for the lonesomeness of a cow bereft of her calf, “diadhánach,” teach us about our current methods of food production?
Why does one need to orient oneself to the sun to give directions in Irish?
To what degree is the Otherworld embedded in words for cancer?
What’s the word for the sound horses make when they meet after an absence?

Your knowledge of Irish is not required.  Only your curiosity!

Manchán Magan is a broadcaster, travel writer, and playwright who wrote the Magan’s World column for The Irish Times for six years, and has written for The Guardian, The LA Times, and Washington Post.  He has received commissions to write plays from The Abbey Theatre, BBC, and Project Art Centre.  His bilingual plays have been nominated for numerous awards, including two Irish Times Theatre Awards, Fishamble New Writing Award, and Bewleys Café Theatre Award. He won the Walter Macken Taibhdhearc Drama award in 2014, and the Stewart Parker Irish Language Theatre Award in 2009.  In 2013, he won the Screen Directors Guild’s Outstanding Achievement Award for the 70 television documentaries he has presented, written, and produced on issues of world culture for TG4, RTÉ, History Channel & Travel Channel, and 16 radio programmes for RTÉ 1.  No Béarla, his documentary series about traveling around Ireland speaking only Irish, sparked international debate.  More recent TV series include Crainn na hÉireann and Cé a Chónaigh I Mo Theachsa? for TG4.  He has written two novels and five travel books.  He lives in his oak forest in a self-made hovel in Westmeath. www.manchan.com