Catherine Drea: Tales of the Estuary

There are small community groups all over the city and county documenting the heritage and stories from our past. From the Viking Triangle to the Blackwater Valley, from the Copper Coast to the Comeragh Mountains, we are spoiled for choice with activist communities working together to bring our landscape and history to life. 

One of my favourite storytelling projects has to be the output of the Minaun Community Theatre Group.

The Minaun Community Theatre Group was founded by Michael Cox, Glynis Currie and Jacq Power and was launched on October 26, 2021, at Park Rangers AFC. Their vision was that their productions would be written, performed, adapted, directed and produced by the local community. Then the wider community could attend as the audience at a nominal charge. Everyone could become involved in what they described as “theatre by the people for the people”. 

I have been lucky enough to be present for all their projects. Each piece has been a unique event, written and performed by the local community. If their original aim when formed was to revolutionise the way theatre and storytelling can be presented, they have really done it!

Their first show, Fernside, was about the Civil War. This was performed in Faithlegg at Park Rangers. Then I saw the second show, A Medical Woman, the Life and Times of Dr Mary Strangman in the Large Room in City Hall. Dr Mary was a celebrated activist and medic and since then that room has been named after her!

So here we were again, this time at the small harbour village of Passage East on the night of the Minaun Theatre Group’s third show, Tales of the Estuary. Myself and Himself rambled amongst the lobster pots and the fishing boats wondering what would be in store. To add to the atmosphere, the sun was setting, casting a pink glow over the village. It is really a magical spot.

The estuary is a world all to itself with its own identity and history. When you are standing there, you can feel that. Life along the river is beautiful today but some of the stories from the past illuminate the hardship and resilience of the local people through generations. I’m lucky enough to know some of their descendants and I am so proud of the way they have kept their fascinating heritage alive.

Passage in particular being somewhat surrounded by high cliffs has a timeless quality. Every little street and home must be full of stories and the writing of Breda Murphy and Andrew Doherty (tidesandtales.ie) unfurled some of these stories in a way that fully engaged the audience, most of whom knew the characters portrayed. 

Many of the actors are descendants of the characters in the play and this really brought these women and men to life. So much so that on the night in question those of us in the crowded hall were joining in with the script!

There were two main themes running through the play. The first was the lack of opportunity in the early 20th Century for children growing up in Ireland’s poor fishing communities. The opportunities were slight except for the big draw and adventure of America where many went. We followed the love story of two young people and the American Wake, which would have been a familiar occurrence, which finally separated them.

The second theme was focussed on the lives of the women who had to remain behind along the Estuary. Through all of the hardship of their men going off fishing or further afield to become merchant seamen, or even taking the boat to America, they bore the brunt and in many ways saved the day.

These women reared families and fed their community through cockle picking and selling in the streets of the city. The heart of the play is the courtroom scene where the cockle women fight for their right to sell in the streets of Waterford. Real transcripts of the case were used to form the script.

To say that Ellen O’Brien, Katty Dwyer, Ellen Robinson, Maggie Furlong and all of the other cockle women were legends understates their role in preserving their community. Having picked the cockles in their bare feet, washed and cooked them, they carried their full creels all the way to Waterford City. The money made there by these women fed not only their own hungry families but many other families in the area, who had no social welfare or HSE to support them in those days.

As we joined in the cheering at the end of the performance I was again reminded of my own grandmother who, at the time that this play was set, worked as a “shop girl” in Hearne's on the Quay. While the cockle women set up their stalls in Arundel Square she was learning about hats and gloves from the glamorous ladies of the City. Tonight I wondered if she ever went up there to buy a few cockles on her way home to her lodgings. These innovative women from our past survived and thrived and it was my generation who went on to live a more comfortable life as a result.

Creative and inclusive projects like the Minaun Theatre Group enrich us and remind us of what really matters. Friendship, family, community and working together to make something special.

I’m already looking forward to what they will do next.