Land as Lover

LAND AS LOVER – Land as it lives in the Celtic imagination,

through myth, story, poetry and song.

Ireland is the only nation in the world to be named after a Goddess. 

In pre-Christian Ireland and the Celtic Isles, the relationship to land was intimate, sensual and immediate. In their human-like form, the Goddesses of Eiru and Dana gave people a way to have a direct and personal connection with the spirit of the land. 

This connection survives Christian contact in the 5th Century AD, but takes on a new form in Irish Catholicism and the special place afforded to Mary, Máthair Dé, Mother of God. 

Irish Kings are no longer ceremonially wedded to the land. Failed kings no longer have their nipples removed (representing their failure to nourish their people the way a Monarch / Mother should) before being thrown in bogs. (True story, look it up.) However the idea of “Land as Goddess / Land as Lover” has had a lasting influence on Irish cultural expression. 

In this show we explore this influence through myth, music, story and song. We open with a Gaelic medicine song, retell the myth of when the Celtic people first encountered the Goddess Eiru through their bard Amergin, explore how the Gaelic language transforms the Hail Mary into a prayer for the Land, and see how the Goddess (and her female champions) become a focus of revolutionary rallying cries on the long road to independence. And more.

Your hosts for this journey will be Thomas Keily and Alice Night.

Thomas Keily is the Head Librarian at the Library of Love, a treasure stor of the world’s great love poems. He lives to make literature and lore accessible and current. With Irish ancestry on both his mother’s and father’s side, he has spent recent years collecting and memorising Irish song, in both English and Gaelic. He has now memorised over 300 poems and songs - Taliesin’s quota. https://www.libraryof.love/about-thomas 

Alice Night is, according to Thomas, one of the bravest performers and songstresses in the country. Across 4 studio albums and 100s of live performances, Alice has become famous for her unique blend of song-craft and improvised performance art. She makes sure there is life and electricity in every performance. www.alicenight.com 

With SPECIAL GUEST Rhiannon Power:

Rhiannon Power will be creating a live, collaborative and responsive visual piece as the night evolves. An amazing painter with a 40+-year fascination with the performing, visual and healing arts, alongside ritual and ceremony, Rhiannon’s work is a celebration of what is honest and natural - the naturalness of the human form, often in dance with the flowers of the Australian landscape. Listening closely to Thomas and Alice, and the land that underlies all creative expression, Rhiannon will improvise a new artistic work in real time.

Doors 7pm.

Performance starts 7:30pm.

Wine and tea available.