Ar Snámh – a new play by Seán Mac Dhonnagáin

Ar Snámh by emerging Irish language writer Seán Mac Dhonnagáin was presented at The Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2, on Friday, 18 October and Saturday, 19 October, nightly at 7.30pm.  Each performance was followed by a post-show panel discussion with the artists and guest speakers on the theme of ‘The Irish Language and the Arts: Unique forms of expression to promote equality, human rights and diversity’. 

Ar Snámh was directed by Hilary Bowen-Walsh, performed by Bláthnaid Daly, and produced by Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality as part of the Aisling programme supporting emerging artists working in the Irish language with a focus on the arts for equality, human rights and diversity. Ar Snámh follows Jane, a young woman who moved away from Dublin as a child, as she returns to her home county by travelling up the Liffey in a dinghy she bought in Lidl. Along the way, Jane considers the moments that have led her to this journey, from the death of her father when she was a child to the budding relationship she is developing with a local lad, Stephen.

Along her journey, Jane speaks into a tape recorder her father left her and tries to fill him in what he’s missed over all these years, and the struggles she is encountering as a young person in a small village. Jane recalls conversations with various people in her life, playing the parts of friends and family members as she gives us a view of her past and tries to work out her future.