REFUGE is Here! From Mainz to Dún Laoghaire
After months of waiting, REFUGE has finally arrived. Just as the Palatines once travelled from Germany to Ireland, this remarkable production has now landed from Mainz, to Limerick and now to Dún Laoghaire, where it will have its Irish premiere this week as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. For those that don't already know this will be the last chance to see REFUGE, as after its Dublin run, the production will return to Germany where after it's journey will come to an end. And what a journey its been for this coproduction which is presented as part of Ireland's EU Presidency culture programme, this magnificent collaboration between Fishamble: The New Play Company and Staatstheater Mainz has been an incredible feat, bringing two theatre institutions from different countries together to create a truly unique, one-of-a-kind work.
This Weeks Set Build
This week, it’s been all go in our auditorium, as the set build began on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s opening performance. The Fishamble team have been working hard to bring this huge set to life. See the work that’s gone into it in this timelapse video:
Pavilion Theatre Attend REFUGE Premiere at Staatstheatre Mainz
This summer, Ronan and Dónal from Pavilion Theatre's travelled to Staatstheater Mainz to be there for the premiere of this production. Here is what Dónal had to say about the trip:
On sweltering June day in Mainz, a beautiful city on the banks of the Rhine, my colleague Ronan and I shared schnitzel and marvelled at the long odds of finding ourselves there to attend the first-ever public performance of REFUGE. The story connects a group of Palatines fleeing persecution, and a lone Afghan man, with those living in Rathkeale, Co. Limerick in both 1710 and the present day.
We had been invited by our old friends in Fishamble to see what they’d been working on for months: an ambitious co-production with an Irish writer (Deirdre Kinahan), Irish director (Jim Culleton) and a mixed Irish and German creative team and cast, getting its world premiere in the state theatre for Rhineland-Palatinate. These kind of cross-border collaborations are small miracles in their own right, and what felt even more miraculous was us having the chance to see the show three months before its Dublin Theatre Festival debut in Dún Laoghaire.
It was with no small degree of envy that we indulged in fresh pretzels as resident dramaturg Jörg Vorhaben gave us the grand tour of Staatstheater Mainz, from its architecturally stunning foyer and opulent auditorium, to its cosy canteen, tucked-away rehearsal spaces and cavernous set fabrication facility. The differences between Germany and Ireland’s theatre infrastructure are vast, but there is surely a lesson to be learned from the value Germany places on theatres as centres of cultural life for its cities and towns.
REFUGE arrives on our stage after an emotional homecoming to Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick - just a short drive from Rahthkeale. We are immensely proud to be hosting such a significant piece of theatre, which reminds us of the power of art to transcend time, borders and prejudice. Through the hard work and dedication of everyone involved, and the support of many organisations from both countries, Irish audiences will get to experience this hidden history before it returns to Germany for one final run, and then becomes history itself.
Every live performance is to some extent unique and never to be repeated, but that is especially true for REFUGE. This immensely talented group of individuals will never get a chance to tell you this story again. I hope you’ll be there to experience it.
Jim Culleton on Sunday Miscellany: Soufflage at the Staatstheater, by Jim Culleton
There have been lots of exciting things happening around this production recently. Jim Culleton was on RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany, where he talked about the process of working with the German team and the differences between the Irish and German approaches to putting a production together:
"Working in a German State Theatre was an extraordinary experience, and opportunity to work differently to how we do in Ireland. The most striking difference is in the level of government funding that our German colleagues receive. We were told that the Staatstheater Mainz is a mid-scale State theatre, so their funding is only €38 million per year. Despite recent improvements in funding for the arts in Ireland, this is still more than a quarter of Ireland’s entire annual Arts Council budget, to cover every artform throughout the country!"
"A few months before rehearsals began, the Chief Dramaturg Jörg Vorhaben emailed me to ask would I like a soufflage in rehearsals. I had no idea what this meant so I looked it up. I discovered it might be linked to the word soufflé, and I thought ‘well it would be lovely to have a baked egg dish in rehearsals, but I doubt that’s what they mean’. I also found a suggestion that it might be connected to the French word souffleur, a glass-blower. Again, I thought how lovely that is, but hardly much use to us in rehearsals. I responded saying I would love to have a soufflage in rehearsals, it sounded gorgeous, but please let me know what it is! It turns out it is a ‘prompter’ - blowing the lines to the actors, I suppose - and was a wonderful addition to rehearsals."
Listen back to the full interview here:
What Audiences in Limerick had to Say:
Deirdre Kinahan’s REFUGE focuses on the Palatine community, who travelled to Rathkeale, County Limerick, in 1710 in search of somewhere to live. But when they arrived, the local community had other ideas. Sound familiar?
There are many strands of this old story of the Palatines that remain relevant today, as you’ll see throughout this powerful play, and as the audience reactions clearly show, including from the Palatine community in Limerick today.
Weaving together the past, present and future, REFUGE follows interconnected stories unfolding across different timelines, exploring themes of belonging, displacement and what it means to find a place to call home.
Don’t miss your last chance to see REFUGE as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. Previews begin tomorrow, with the official opening on Thursday.