September 27th – 29th this year marks the 30th Annual Autumn Gathering.
The magic of the Autumn Gathering is to bring people together from all corners of the world – to listen and learn, laugh and share, with academics and artists, locals, historians and literary figures; to meet descendants of Lady Gregory and Yeats, renew friendships and make new friends – all enjoying and celebrating the prominent role of Lady Gregory in shaping the theatrical, poetic and cultural life which thrives today.
In Coole Park, Lady Gregory provided the space and support needed by the literary giants of the time to shape the nation’s artistic and literary response to the times, e.g. W. B. Yeats’ Easter 1916. Celebrated amidst the rich and unrivalled landscape of the trees and beauty of south Galway, the Gathering includes lectures, discussions, theatre, social events, a guided walk through Duras House Gardens on Friday where the Abbey Theatre was founded and the special experience of Thoor Ballylee, described by the late Nobel laureate, Seamus Heaney, as ‘the most important public building in Ireland’. Within Coole Park’s historic walled garden, sits the famous ‘Autograph Tree’ where world-renowned authors such as Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, John Millington Synge and George Moore, carved their initials, marking Coole Park as the centre of the Irish Literary Revival in the 20th century.
Jane Murray Brown, Great-Granddaughter of Lady Gregory, will formally open the Gathering in Coole Park on Saturday at 10.00. Melissa Sihra, Associate Professor of Drama and Theatre at Trinity College Dublin, will Chair the Gathering. Adrian Paterson, Lecturer in English, School of English and the Creative Arts University of Galway, will speak on ‘Music had driven their wits astray’: Raftery, Yeats, and Galway’s applied arts. Dr. Cecily O’Neill, writer and dramaturg and the author of several books on drama education, will present “No peace for my mind, no rest for my pen”. A dramatic reading of Lady Gregory’s last reflections on Coole with actor, Anna O’Donnell. Garry Hynes, Druid Theatre’s Co-Founder and Artistic Director, will talk about “DruidGregory: Words in the Coole air” and lead the Gathering to the Walled Garden for the inauguration of a New Autograph Tree and planting a sapling dedicated to Ronnie O’Gorman, the late Director of the Autumn Gathering.
In Thoor Ballylee on Sunday at 10.00, Lelia Doolan, Irish theatre & film director and producer, will host Caitríona McLaughlin, Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre, to discuss her new production of Lady Gregory’s groundbreaking 1912 play Grania. Opening on September 27, this staging marks the first ever production of the play at the Abbey Theatre. Imelda May, Irish singer, songwriter, television presenter and multi-instrumentalist, will present a special screening of Lilly and Lolly Yeats: The Forgotten Sisters.
Participants can continue to enjoy the Open Forum discussion, Candlelit Dinner plus entertainment and the famous Barm Brack! This year, the National Parks and Wildlife Service have partnered with Irish Natural Stone for a unique exhibition of carved limestone sculptures in Coole Park during the Gathering, with the opening presentation on Friday at 11:00.
For further information and booking, please go to:
www.eventbrite.ie/e/lady-gregory-yeats-autumn-gathering-2024-tickets-980046103277
email: monaleen@msn.com and www.autumngathering.com. Tel: 086-8053917.
You can also contact Marion Cox, 1 Kiltiernan East, Kilcolgan, Co. Galway H91 YH1F.
