Galway International Arts Festival 2026: Pádraicín

Fionnuala Doyle-Wade in Pádraicín. Image Emilijah Jefremova

*****

Shussh. Might as well cut to the chase. Words fall short anyway. Pádraicín is a work of such staggering perfection the only appropriate response is awe. Created by Rodrigo Pardo and James Riordan, inspired by the life and writings of Galway native, Pádraic Ó Conaire (1882 – 1928), Pádraicín delivers an exquisitely composed love letter. To Galway, to theatre, to film, to life, to love, to humanity, to GIAF, to street performers, to singing Galway Bay, to dancing through the streets, to row boats signalling it's really the end, to a small man with a huge heart and a popular statue. Pádraicín strumming soul deep chords and sounding forgotten notes instantly recognisable. You won't know how they do it, hit you so hard and so deep. But Brú Theatre’s magnificent production overflows with joy, heart and tenderness. Like two, dear friends locked in a healing embrace.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Practically, Pádraicín is a 50 minute, gently guided stroll through the streets and back streets of Galway. Flesh and blood scenes unfolding before your eyes as dialogue gets relayed through comfortable headphones. In preparation you read the blurb about celebrating the much loved Ó Conaire who died young and in poverty, listen to soothing classical music, and feel the burden of culture. The notion this might be a tourist experience sending shudders down your spine. Till Eoin O Dubhghaill and Gerard Headley’s delightful pastiche of the 1968 RTÉ broadcast about Ó Conaire’s statue on Eyre Square is re-enacted before your eyes. A few manageable steps beneath the glorious Galway sun and Raymond Keane's reflective street performer enjoying a coffee break, his mask evoking the famed statue’s decapitation, reminisces on one of Ó Conaire’s tragic characters, Nora. Fionnuala Doyle-Wade appears in period costume. Nora bright and ready to set off through the city streets with her suitcase and ambitions. Galway transformed as past and present become an immersive whole. Lanes and alleyways hiding familiar terrors for a young woman in a strange city. Nora's body drawn backward, as if sucked into the city’s maelstrom, before swirling and disappearing. Reappearing transformed. Hunted. Preyed upon. We follow, watch, unable to help. Made voyeurs, or witnesses. There to recount, record. To never forget.

Eoin O Dubhghaill and Gerard Headley in Pádraicín. Image Emilijah Jefremova

Given vivid life by Bru Theatre's theatrical inventivness, O’Conaire's statue has other stories to share. High up in her ivory window Caitríona Ní Mhurchú sits, sultry, luxuriating in sensual memory, overlooking the city and its rich past. Sipping wine she recalls a silent dancer. Perfectly formed, overrating his ability to compose verse, but God, could he get her pulse racing. Their bodies igniting as her younger self, a divinely graceful Stephanie Dufresne, Charleston's through the streets with O Dubhghaill. Romance resolving into a moment on which entire lives, and illusions have been constructed. Lives that can end tragically short. Like O’Conaire’s. Like someone’s daughter run over in traffic. Like remembered friends and lovers. Life a flimsy and fragile thread. Pádraicín a poignant reminder to embrace those mad, wild moments whilst we can. Moments when we might enjoy Galway Bay sung by Bing Crosby, cover the shoulders of an old man’s statute, or hold one another to the bewilderment of strangers. Strangers who pass by, walk through, walk around, hurried, inconvenienced, ignorant, as in wilfully ignoring the art and beauty before their eyes.

Performed to perfection Pádraicín takes movement, mime, music, text, dance, image, costume, memory, the works of O’Conaire and the heart of Galway and transforms all into an unforgettably magical experience. Pádraicín proof positive that art does not solely reflect life back at us. It reminds us of what we are, were, and might be. What we’ve lost, forgotten or forsaken. What we see, fail to see and might aspire to. It could only take place in Galway. A city as cool as Patti Smith and as fun as singing Groovejet at a Sophie Ellis Baxter concert. Both to be found at GIAF 2026, which is already shaping up to be this year's outstanding arts festival. Before you walk life’s pier towards the the final horizon, remember: you only go round once and none of us get out alive. Life is found in the joy of living. Embrace it, before it’s gone. Begin with Pádraicín. One of the most cathartic theatrical experiences you’re ever likely to have. And don't be surprised if you get a hankering to search out O’Conaire’s delighful short stories.

Pádraicín, created by Rodrigo Pardo and James Riordan, presented by Brú Theatre, runs at Festival Garden, Meeting Point, as part of Galway International Arts Festival 2026 until July 26.

For more information visit Galway International Arts Festival or Brú Theatre