Gormlaith redux: New musical returns powerful woman to her place in Irish history

By MELISSA BREOR Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on July 03, 2009

Old Deerfield Productions will reclaim the story of a powerful woman whose remarkable life has been long lost to history with the world premiere musical "The Last High Queen of Ireland" next week.

Performances of the hour-plus show run July 9 through 12 and July 16 through 19 at the intimate Reid Theatre at Deerfield Academy. Shows on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m.

The musical is based on the life of Gormlaith, the wife of the last High King of Ireland, Brian Boru, during the 11th century. She was a strong, ambitious woman who married three times for power and, according to one legend, ended up plotting the assassination of Boru, her third husband, after he thwarted her dreams for the future.

Never heard of Gormlaith? You're not alone - neither had the people who eventually conceived of the production, when Michael Ryan of Northampton, first brought Gormlaith to their attention, said the show's director and co-creator Linda McInerney. Ryan, a longtime judge who retired his post last year, is the region's unofficial Irish scholar.

In Irish history, Gormlaith is basically absent from accounts save for her mention in "The Wild Queen" by George Brandon Saul, a 66-page booklet published in the 1960s.

"In 11th-century Ireland, there wasn't a vehicle for woman to rule," McInerney said. "The one avenue she had for fulfilling her power, her potential was through marriage. And she did it three times."

Reclaiming the past

"High Queen" is an extremely collaborative, original production that brings together an area director, composer and established playwright, along with a host of Valley actors.

McInerney, who founded and has served as the artistic director of Old Deerfield Productions since 1986, believes that theater connects a community. About her role in the show, she said, "I build the piece & dream the style." McInerney has directed four other original shows with Old Deerfield in the past five years, including "Still Life with Toe Shoes" and the opera "The Captivation of Eunice Williams."

Rosemary Caine of Greenfield, who lived in Ardee in County Louth, Ireland, until her mid-20s, composed the music and helped envision the work after receiving the tip from Ryan about Gormlaith's role in Irish history. Caine has been involved with other cultural-remembrance productions in the area such as "Wilde Irish Women" and "Women in Arms." She said historical productions are important because they exhume characters from oblivion.

"I wanted to enliven them further by giving them a stage presence," Caine said.

Talaya Delaney who lives in New York, where she is a professor of drama at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, wrote the script. She is a young playwright who received her doctorate in the history of American civilization from Harvard University in 2007. Her credits include "The Proposal," which was performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Every voice matters

Collaboration does not stop with the creators, though. At rehearsal last week at the Reid Theatre, it was clear that every voice matters in the development of "High Queen," as McInerney took suggestions from several cast members and incorporated them into the show.

"The show would not be the same if any one person had not contributed," McInerney said.

Caine describes the music for "High Queen" as Irish traditional music meets Broadway. Live music will accompany the show, including Caine on the harp. "Any time you're telling a powerful story, music elevates it," McInerney said. Further, Caine said there is nothing like music to give depth to a complex character like Gormlaith.

In addition to the historical roles, a chorus of eight women supports the action of the show. The chorus, which will both sing and speak its words, helps take the audience back and forth through time and comments on the action, much like a traditional Greek chorus.

The set and effects take the audience back to 11th-century Ireland, a time when people believed in magic and spirits, according to McInerney. She said she loves creating a dream world through theater. The musical will include various magical elements, like Balinese shadow puppets and a symbolic cloth crow that characters will grab from the air and manipulate into about a dozen different objects.

"It's all integrated in a way that will create a full-body theatrical experience," McInerney said.

No longer forgotten

In "High Queen," the stunningly beautiful Gormlaith has just been divorced by Brian Boru because, McInerney said, he was not willing to run the country the way she wanted to or look on her as an equal. "She was furious at that," McInerney said.

Gormlaith wants Boru dead for his denial of her. The story weaves time and memory, as in Scene 3, when Gormlaith sees her younger self meeting Olaf, her first husband and a Viking king. Her trips back in time reveal what led her to plot Boru's death and ultimately to see it carried out.

Stephanie Carlson of Easthampton plays the lead role of Gormlaith.

"She is a very smart, sexy woman who's in a time that does not support that strength," Carlson said. "This is a woman that's going to be a challenge for men."

Other actors sent back to old Ireland include Thom Griffin of Colrain as Brian Boru, Maureen McElligott of Northampton as the sorceress Aval and Molly Kelly-Gorham, 15, of Northampton, as the young Gormlaith.

Gormlaith lived at a time when Christianity was taking center stage and old religions in which women had power were disappearing. With the change, women were expected to stay in their place. Gormlaith saw her place as the center of power. "[She[']s] a character who has a deep, personal power and fierceness," Delaney said.

McInerney said Gormlaith did her best to carve her name in Ireland's past, but, ultimately, did not succeed.

"I hope [the audiences] will feel outraged about having a woman erased from history," she said.