Michael Kane's account of a French play in An Taidhbhearc

Item

Title

Michael Kane's account of a French play in An Taidhbhearc

Format

Text

Identifier

VHD0004

Language

English
French
Irish

Bibliographic Citation

Michael Kane, 'Michael Kane's account of a French play in An Taibhdhearc', Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 13748, Archival Record Id VHRS

People mentioned

Gary Ansboro; David Burke; Proinnsias Mac Giollarnáth (Frank Ford); Claude Mouton; Colm Murray; Marie-Paule Péry

Places mentioned

An Taibhdhearc Theatre, Galway

Contributor

Publisher

University of Galway Library

Transcription

'Claude Mouton as producer and Marie-Paule [Péry] as director and their students put on a French play Le Bal des Voleurs in the Taibhdhearc on April 25, 1971.
One of their actors was later the well-known Irish broadcaster, Colm Murray, a student at the time, who talked about her and his memories of that play in an interview on RTE radio about 40 years later (see below). Unfortunately, I knew nothing about the play at the time and thus never saw it produced.
The photo shows the cast and the producer Claude (lower left) and the director Marie-Paule (lower right). The photo does not do justice to either of them. Colm Murray is to the right of the policeman.
Colm Murray talked about the play in an interview with Sean O’Rourke at https://soundcloud.com/rtesport/in-conversation-se-n-orourke
Claude is mentioned ~11-14 minutes in. This interview was first broadcast in January 2012, when Colm Murray looked back on his life and career in front of a live audience at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The text of the part of the interview relevant to Claude is as follows:
"I was doing French under a Professor – there was a professor there at the time, a Professor Mac Giollarnáth – Professor Forde – Proinnsias Mac Giollarnáth. Proinnsias ran a fish factory but as a sideline he was our professor of French in UCG. The one thing about Freddie or Proinnsias was, you rarely saw him, except for your oral French as part of your degree and the one thing I was tipped off about, was – now he had the most beautiful French accent I have to say and I only heard it at the oral exam but he did have, he did have a penchant for hiring as lectrices I suppose you could call them or for assistants if you like very very beautiful French ladies and one of them was a Mamzelle Mouton, who was there at the time and there was another girl called Dominique and this Mamzelle Mouton, I remember well, put on a play called Le Bal des Voleurs and somehow or another, and they must have been absolutely desperate on the night, rather as the NUIG Alumni Association must also be tonight, because I was drafted in to fill the role of Gaston or the young lover in the play and I worried because not only – I had done a bit of acting in the Carmelite you know – things like Arsenic and Old Lace and The Rising Generation straightforward sort of old style English comedy plays but this was different and this was in French but I did it and there were people in it like David Burke who subsequently became you know a sub-editor with the Tuam Herald. I think Gary Ansbro may have been in it as well – I’m trying to think of the people. But it was a great experience. I acted for a couple of nights on the Taibhdhearc theatre and loved it, absolutely loved it."'

Note: Michael Kane commented that Gary Ansboro was not in the cast of the play and this is clear from the programme for the play. Proinnsias Mac Giollarnáth (Frank Ford) was known as Frank, not Freddie, and did not actually run a fish factory. 

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Description
Title Alternate label Class
French play in An Taibhdhearc, 1971 Image
Relation
Title Alternate label Class
Programme for 'Le bal des voleurs', performed in 1971 Text