Arán & Im

Sun, November 6, 2022

20:00 - 21:10

St James Hall, Dublin Rd, Kilbeggan, Westmeath, N91 XA3

Manchán Magan is a writer and documentary-maker. Known for his environmental activism and love of the Irish language, recent publications include “Listen to the Land Speak” (2022) and Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature (2021). In 2016 he ran for general election candidate for the Green Party in Longford/Westmeath with a focus on the potential of small-scale, sustainable development in the area.

Arán & Im celebrates the Irish language in an engaging, accessible bilingual way, through sourdough bread and home-churned butter.

Arán & Im is a theatrical performance in which Manchán Magan bakes sourdough bread for 70 minutes while offering insights into the wonders of the Irish language – exploring potent words of landscape, terms of intuition and insight, and the many phrases that bring to life the mysterious glory of our natural world.

The show is a celebration of language, land and local Irish food, with freshly-baked traditional sourdough bread for the audience to slice and spread with butter they churn themselves from Irish cream. (Knowledge of Irish is not required.)

Arán & Im had a nationwide tour with the Abbey Theatre in 2018. In Autumn 2019 it toured widely again. In Spring 2022 it toured 16 cities, 13 states and 2 provinces in USA and Canada. It will tour the west coast of North American in 2023.

Written & presented by Manchán Magan. Set by Tom de Paor. Originally produced by the Abbey Theatre. Production assistance from Once Off Productions.

Image credit: Michael McLoughlin