Writer & Director: Sinéad O’Brien and Naomi Namutebi
Just what is the National Leprechaun Museum? Is it a tourist trap of which we should be profoundly ashamed? Or a city centre oasis from the hustle and bustle that allows us to learn about our rich cultural heritage? As a local, I obviously had no idea about the answer to any of these questions until about 7 o’clock last night, but if their programming in any way resembles Hungry Grass/Stray Sod outside the confines of the Fringe, it is very much the latter, and I will find myself returning in the near future.
The show is a multi-room tour through folklore and migration, with the themes weaved around each other by a succession of storytellers: Sinéad O’Brien, Tatiana Santos, Dr Senem Donatan Mohan, and Naomi Namutebi, with the latter relaying her story over video recording. The piece is gentle and whimsical when it wants to be, and brutal and affecting when it needs to be. O’Brien begins by discussing Ireland’s lack of a foundational myth; we are all migrants, so goes the story, and the land chooses to reject or accept us. The messaging is clear, and very much needed, given the context of the current poisonous nonsensical media debate around flag-waving in this part of the world.
We move from room to dark room in the Museum, variously designed to look like a traditional cottage or the Giant’s Causeway. It could be garish, but it’s not; the panache, sincerity, and fondness of the performers win it at every stage, from Santos telling cow-related myths from Ireland and Brazil, to Mohan recounting her search for the mythological Grave of Fintan, and the deer-themed dream that inspired it.
The exception is Namutebi, who recounts her brutal story of homophobic persecution and human trafficking. At these moments the humour vanishes, and we are confronted with the reality of forced migration, and the deeply disturbing human stories that are being disregarded in the current political climate. She is a wonderful, spare storyteller, entirely unsentimental and devoid of self-pity, and though it is a recording projected onto a wall, it does not suffer for it. This is a powerful, yet joyful work that showcases the best of Ireland’s increasingly multicultural and diverse society
Runs Until 17th Sept 2025.
