***** (5 stars)
“Epic indeed!”
An outstanding evening in the company of five superb storytellers who brought alive one of the greatest of all Celtic story-cycles and kept their audience engrossed, enthralled, enchanted and engaged for the better part of five hours last Wednesday night.
Opening the evening, Donald Smith invited us to join himself, Gráinne Holland, David Hughes, Martin MacIntyre and Sinéad O’Brien in the Chamber of Stories, the magic Broch of Tales. Three Scots – Donald, David and Martin – and two Irish – Gráinne and Sinéad – took it in turns to contribute a part of the great saga common to both nations – Erin and Alba. The names may differ slightly in spelling and pronunciation, but the joys and sorrows, triumphs and tragedies that make up the rich tapestry that is the Ossian saga are the same in both nations.
Fionn and the Fianna, Finn’s wife Sadhbh, their son Ossian; Dairmaid and Gráinne; the faithful hounds Bran and Sceólang; the Salmon of Knowledge; the recurring treachery of Fear Doirich; the cup of healing; Aengus Òg, the Bodach and the Cailleach and many others play their parts in this Celtic saga.
Many of the tales must have been familiar to many in the audience, which was being told in its entirety for [possibly] the first time ever. I was new to just about all of it, but was held spellbound by the skill of these supreme storytellers. Any one of them would have drawn me in to their magic web: together, they were irresistible. Each one had their own style, their own way of painting pictures of the characters and their doings. Each one had chosen those parts of the tale with which they resonated most strongly and which they told to greatest effect: and each one was appreciated [especially when slipping in unplanned jokes!] just as much by their fellow-raconteurs as by those of us in the audience.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be continuously on stage watching the tale unfold and waiting for one’s next contribution. To be in the audience was both a delight and a challenge: appreciating the skilful performances while keeping paying attention through the dark, depressing parts of the story as well as the bright, joyful ones. I have to confess to growing weary of the endless slaughter towards the end of the second part of the evening, but I’m glad I didn’t give up at that point and go home. Part three, which had its moments of humour and yet more tragedy towards its close, nevertheless offered a gleam of hope as the very ending of the saga reached back to its very beginning.
The Ossian saga tells of the doings of real, flawed people who sometimes act with incredible generosity and noble self-sacrifice and at other times are prevented from doing so by their own feelings of hurt or desire for revenge. Whatever they do, they do it passionately: and their humanity speaks out loud and clear across the ages, calling us to love and rage and grieve and suffer with them as we listen to their story.
Truly, an epic evening!
Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Rewilding Scotland’s Epics: the Ossian Cycle, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, RUN Ended.
