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An interview with Mr. Michael Murphy
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What is
the 'Mysteries' as it relates to the coming show?
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Originally the Mystery Plays were large popular outdoor
re-enactments of the stories of the Christian Old and New Testaments through
drama.
They were short plays played on the backs of big street carts during a
day long celebration. They were the Medieval version of Carnival in some
ways. The members of the local crafts guilds took on the responsibility
of doing the plays. The Carpenters Guild would often do the crucifixion
of Jesus, the Water Drawers would perform Noah and The Flood for example.
Contrary to what we might think on first view the 'mysteries' referred
to are not necessarily those attached to the mystery of the holy bibles
and the Jesus story. 'The Mysteries' often refers to the level of skill
attained within a particular craft.
Someone who was what we today call a master craftsman or master craftswoman
was, in Medieval times, said to have obtained the mysteries of their craft.
This production is built around the medieval notion of the community coming
together to share skills to perform a piece of theatre. We're trying to
bring skills and strengths from within the company to the fore to do a
re-imagined version of the books of the bible. How is anyone's guess ...
it's a mystery!
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What
is the concept and how are you developing the story with this in mind?
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Our concept is based round the humanity of character
Jesus. We wanted to focus on the life of a man who was like all of us.
He journeys, like all of us and has certain things to face an deal with,
accept and see through. We begin with Jesus on the cross. His mind is
in turmoil.
Before he dies he reviews his life to satisfy himself
that it was a life well lived, that he had achieved something. The show
itself
visits what we assume were extraordinarily influential events in the life
of Jesus.
Jesus needs to remind himself how his life was and how
he discovered who he was, why he accepted his role and the conflict he
would have faced as he prepared to die for what he believed in. We are
using the Old Testament as a kind of 'backdrop' for the Jesus story.
We use the stories of Noah and Jonah as key influences
in the life of Jesus. His awareness of Noah and Jonah being men who obeyed
God and disobeyed God respectively allows us to examine the development
of Jesus hrough his own mission.
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What are
your inspirations related to the development of the show?
Kyran
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Our inspirations were many. Richard Michael Judith
and Helen have been collaborating for quite a while now. There were design
influences and ideas from Kieran, music and voice from Derek, Jackie and
Brendan, writing from Vincent and our producers Declan, Jane and Clare
are very creative also and have had a large input.
The crew and makers in both Coventry and Galway are
all participating and developing as we go. The cast working on the floor
have been inspirational. Ultimately the communities involved are the most
important. It is they who have something to say in this production. That
said if we talk about the narrative of the theatre piece itself we were
constantly inspired in other ways, always asking ourselves in relation
to Jesus 'when would he have been told that' or 'at what stage did he
realise who he was?'.
There have been many sources and questioners. Ultimately were making a
theatre piece. The central character in our piece works as a metaphor
for us, for those of us who are on a life's journey. We liked the storytelling
process used in Medieval times and want to look again at how people communicate
the most important things in their lives to one another on a large scale.
We began this process by examining again the original
text remaining of the Coventry Cycle. And then within the show we acknowledge
the Coventry cycle along with a Galway cycle. The latter created for the
piece based on the same storytelling ideas as we talked about above.
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Is the
use of a community cast an effort to save money and do something which
may otherwise be impossible?
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No!
The Mystery plays have always involved the community.
We were committed to continuing that tradition. Both The Belgrade and
Macnas have strong community traditions in their work. Both companies
would recognise the strength there is in producing large scale work. The
power of people to impact through theatre is enhanced by the numbers of
people in the cast. We wanted to continue the tradition of out door work
and invite large audiences to recreate that feeling of a populace creating
theatre for themselves of owning the theatre in many ways.
We hope that the impact of the community playing for
itself will strengthen the effect of the work. It is so much more about
who we involve and how we involve them than money.
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The
'Mysteries' is only relevant to Christians and an effort to persuade non-believers
of the one true faith.
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Galway and Coventry are two multi cultural multi ethnic cities. It
would be terribly sad if a major public work could not be accessable
to everyone.
In that sense we have focused more on the humanity of the character
of Jesus than the religious belief system that goes with christianity
in order that our theatre is available to all. We'd love to think that
the show is a reflection on how we all have to face certain things in
a lifetime regardless of colour or creed and that this fundemental act
of living is what we want to make a creative response to.
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The Belgrade
had a most successful show in the 'Mysteries 2000' therefore why risk
doing the show in Galway as well as Coventry with the many problems
this will create.
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Having a cast of almost 100 in each city and crews and producers,
two directors, two assistant directors, two costume houses, two
construction shops ... it's a bit like Noah's Ark. It's a logistical
monster.
Why take it on? Because theatre is about taking risks.
Why when you've been successful with one thing shouldn't you throw
yourself the challenge of another, yet bigger! The idea that two communities
one in Ireland and one in England would get it together to make a play
seemed like a good idea.
The Belgrade were looking for a company to co-produce with and approached
Macnas. It took off from there. Why not two cities? Play in both. Develop
a relationship between the two casts. The Coventry cast has already
visited Galway for a weekend of workshops. The project has always been
about much more than the piece of theatre.
There are 45,000 people of Irish descent in Coventry. And there are
many of them with direct links to the west and Galway in particular.
It's about forging links between the cities or reviving them. There
are lots of Coventry people discovering long lost relations in Galway
and visa versa!
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Are
the 'Mysteries' a series of such shows (passion plays) around the world
to which people travel to see?
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There are productions of Mystery Plays and Passion Plays world wide.
Some of them happen annually and are very well know and are attended
by people from all over the world. Traditionally York and Chester do
productions but Coventry is not far behind adn is looking to do a major
work based in the Mystery Plays every three years or so. This years
production is attracting attention from abroad s well as at home. People
travelling on holiday to England thie summer have already started booking
their places. Galway hosts a major arts festival annually and the Mysteries
2003 is one of this years highlights. The attraction ultimately is the
popular manner in which the plays are performed by the community. People
see themselves reflected in their peers.
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Mikel Murfi trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris where he studied with
Lecoq to become a certified teacher of the Lecoq method.
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Mikel is based in County Wicklow, Ireland. He is a founding member of
Barabbas ... the company, one of Ireland's foremost physical and visual
theatre companies, with whom, Mikel performed and directed over a period
of eight years. He has recently returned to the world of freelance work
and is now writing and directing almost as much as he performs.
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In theatre Mikel Murfi has appeared in all of the main Irish theatres
and with almost all of the main independent theatre companies in Ireland.
Most recently he appeared as James in Tom Murphy's, The Morning After
Optimism, and Christy Mahon, in Synge's The Playboy of the Western World,
at The Peacock Theatre. In the Abbey theatre Mikel has performed as Stefano
in The Tempest and Dromio of Syracuse, in The Comedy of Errors.
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With Barabbas ... the company, he appeared in eight shows. Most of this
was devised, original work such as Sick, Dying, Dead, Buried, Out, in
the role of Ultan and Liam in Strokehauling. Mikel played multiple roles
in the company's production of Macbeth. His last show with Barabbas saw
him play Jupiter in a version of Von Kliest's Amphitryon adapted for the
company by John Banville and entitled God's Gift.
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He played Martin Kriebal in The Increased Difficulty of Concentration
by Vaclav Havel with Druid Theatre Company multiple roles in the Rough
Magic Theatre Company production of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.
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Mikel has appeared in many film and television projects. These include
Butcher Boy directed by Neil Jordan, The Last September directed by Deborah
Warner and The Commitments directed by Alan Parker.
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As a writer and director his most recent work has been with Macnas in
Galway. Mikel Murfi has written and directed two theatre shows and a short
film with this company in the last four years. Theatre shows were Diamonds
in the Soil based on the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh and the award
winning The Lost Days of Ollie Deasy, based on Homer's Odyssey. The short
film is called Druma.
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Mikel has a feature length film in development with the Irish Film Board.
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He teaches regularly on Masters Degree theatre programmes in university
in Ireland.
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He is co-directing a show based on the Medieval Mystery Plays in Galway
and Coventry in summer 2003.
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Mikel Murfi is also researching a solo theatre show which takes place
entirely underwater.
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