In the sixth and final episode of the series, presenter Dónal Dineen meets one of Ireland’s most important contemporary theatre and performance artists, Olwen Fouéré, an artist known for her remarkable and often physical performances.

Fouéré - whose extensive practice navigates theatre, film, the visual arts, music, dance theatre and literature, speaks with Dónal about her multidisciplinary career and creative journey. He meets her at home in Dublin for an extended conversation on the extent of her singular voyage through a plethora of significant theatrical productions and different art forms across countries and continents.

We find out about her life before she found acting and the immediate impact that discovery had on her in the early days, through the innovative work of Focus Theatre and immersion in the fertile atmosphere of the Project Arts Centre. There are insights into how she expanded her practice and sated an ever-present thirst for experimentation by sharpening her acting tools and developing significant new strands through collaboration with composer Roger Doyle and the formation of the Operating Theatre company and music group.

We hear her thinking behind the subsequent formation of another artistic entity called TheEmergencyRoom for projects ‘in need of immediate attention’, in order to provide a virtual holding space for the development of art-based ideas, relationships and performance contexts.

One of the first projects to be developed by TheEmergencyRoom was Riverrun which was Olwen’s own adaptation and performance of the voice of the river ‘Life’ in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. We take a deep-dive into the genesis and development of this ground-breaking idea which captivated audiences and critics worldwide.

Along the way we find out about her love for dance and cinema and how she has carved a space for herself in both those worlds as well as hearing more philosophical thoughts of how theatre works and the nature of performance.

Born on the west coast of Ireland to Breton parents Yann Fouéré and Marie-Magdeleine Mauger, Olwen Fouéré is an artist whose extensive practice navigates theatre, film, the visual arts, music, dance theatre and literature. She has received international acclaim for her work and was performer and artistic collaborator in Jesse Jones’s Tremble, Tremble which represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 2017.

We Are The Makers is written and presented by Irish broadcaster Dónal Dineen and produced by Ian Cudmore. Original music by Ultan O’Brien. Commissioned by Solas Nua in Washington, D.C., bringing contemporary Irish art to U.S. audiences.

Photo by Barry McCall.

Kindly supported by Culture Ireland.

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Full episode streams on Saturday October 15th.

In the sixth and final episode of the series, presenter Dónal Dineen meets one of Ireland’s most important contemporary theatre and performance artists, Olwen Fouéré, an artist known for her remarkable and often physical performances. Fouéré - actor, writer, director and performance artist talks with Dónal about her multidisciplinary career and creative journey. Born on the west coast of Ireland to Breton parents Yann Fouéré and Marie-Magdeleine Mauger, Olwen Fouéré is an artist whose extensive practice navigates theatre, film, the visual arts, music, dance theatre and literature. She has received international acclaim for her work and was performer and artistic collaborator in Jesse Jones’s Tremble, Tremble which represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 2017.

Commissioned by Solas Nua, We Are The Makers is a long-form audio documentary series that focuses on the work of contemporary Irish artists and their practices. Built around extensive interviews with some of Ireland’s most eminent artists, these quarterly transmissions are part portrait, part diary, travelogue and soundscape. With the makers as our guide, these are deep-dives into back catalogues and entire bodies of work.

We Are The Makers is written and presented by Irish broadcaster Dónal Dineen and produced by Ian Cudmore. Original music by Ultan O’Brien. Commissioned by Solas Nua in Washington, D.C., bringing contemporary Irish art to U.S. audiences.

Dispatches from the eye of the hurricane and heart of the matter.

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Hot on the heels of The Dance, Pat Collins’ masterful documentary on the same subject, Episode Five of We Are The Makers takes a deep-dive into the making of a contemporary theatrical masterpiece, Mám, by choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan, which premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2019.

Our host Dónal Dineen travels to the West Kerry home of Keegan-Dolan’s company Teac Damsa (house of dance or a place for dancing) and the base for both the production and the origin of the story itself. ‘Mám is abstract and instinctive… it effectively plays out a story of modernity intruding on traditional life’ (the Guardian).

This episode traces the acclaimed choreographer’s singular creative journey on a passion project which has intricately woven classical music with contemporary dance practice into the rich tapestry of traditional culture out of which it emerges. We hear in detail about how the unique musical collaboration at the heart of the production between West Kerry concertina player Cormac Begley and Berlin classical collective Stargaze, evolved and achieved concord under Keegan-Dolan’s hand. We discover the origins of his belief in dance as the art of transformation and the evolution of his practice to this point of true expression.

The investigation is timely as Mám is set to return to the Irish stage for an autumn tour. The production was universally praised upon its debut at the 2019 Dublin Theatre Festival and has since been rapturously received at both Madrid’s Teatros Del Canal and Sadler’s Wells in London. A graduate of the Central Ballet School in London, Keegan-Dolan has overseen productions at the English National Opera, The National Theatre in London and the Bavarian State Opera as well as a string of ground-breaking shows as artistic director of the Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre.

Find Pat Collins’ film The Dance here: https://www.volta.ie/#!/browse/film/134638/the-dance

https://teacdamsa.com/

https://www.cormacbegley.com/

https://we-are-stargaze.com/

https://harvestfilms.ie/

We Are The Makers is written and presented by Irish broadcaster Dónal Dineen and produced by Ian Cudmore. Original music by Ultan O’Brien. Commissioned by Solas Nua in Washington, D.C., bringing contemporary Irish art to U.S. audiences.

Photo by Ros Kavanagh.

Kindly supported by Culture Ireland.

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