View from the Green Room: Unfinished business on The Ribbon Road
The cast of The Ribbon Road at Halla Colmáin in an tSean Phobail.
Aisteoirí an tSean-Phobail bounces us back to the sixties with “The Ribbon Road”, a folk-drama of Travellers and local folk at the parish hall in Old Parish.
There’s a full house for the rural drama written and directed by local, Declan Terry, a native of the parish with numerous performances and scripts to his credit.
Tonight’s drama centres on the disappearance of local girl Mary Brophy, who eloped with one of the Carley Tinkers, known as the Cuckoo, from her home in Glenaroon two decades earlier in the forties. Rosie (Neela Power) and Jo Jo Carley (Naoise Power Whelan) arrive to beg from the home of the Brophys and are rewarded with a small sum of money despite some hostility towards them from Mary’s father Tom (Maurice Power), son Joe (Jason Power) and daughter Siobhán (Erica Kiely).
The open door tradition in the country of the family home is continued, however, by Mary’s mother Kate (Geraldine Veale), who, like her husband, still grieves the loss of the beautiful young daughter who took to the roads with The Cuckoo Carley (Declan Terry) after listening to his sweet and lyrical words.
The question “where is Mary” echoes through the wordy script from start to finish. The Carley Tinker clan don’t know either and it is the dramatic hook on which the drama is based. Unfortunately, while the question and its consequences are well and truly thrashed out, Mary’s disappearance is never resolved and leaves an empty feeling with the audience as the curtain falls.
Numerous kitchen and campfire scenes play out the drama of Mary’s disappearance but never resolve it. The Cuckoo is at a loss to explain it and has returned each year to the Glenaroon in the hope of finding Mary.
There is, however, an egg in The Cuckoo’s nest that is directly connected to Mary – her daughter Rosie. All Rosie’s pleas to her father regarding the disappearance and whereabouts of her mother fall on deaf ears and The Cuckoo never shares his secret that Rosie’s grandparents are Tom and Kate Brophy.
With the tinkers camped on the Brophy’s land a couple of hundred yards from the house, it’s a secret that cannot be contained.
The weakness of the drama is that everyone in the script seems to know just exactly who Rosie is, including Rosie, and just who her relations are. Despite all this, no one wants to discuss it, however. Especially with Rosie. The final discussion between The Cuckoo and Tom is a long time coming and leaves the matter of just where Mary is unresolved.
Declan Terry’s rich, lyrical and folksy language is a delight and gives a musical feel to the script.
The success of the drama lies in the range and appeal of all the minor characters. Declan’s gift lies in using a mere handful of lines to define characters and direct performances. Aunt Lena’s (Norah Terry) joy in gossip…Cass Carley’s (Jackie Ryan) brooding presence that looms over the story warning of bad endings…the excellent Jo Jo (Naoise Power Whelan) as the feisty and colourful pal to Rosie.
Áthas an domhain orm go bhfacas an dráma seo I Halla Colmáin agus comhgháirdeachas d’Aisteoirí an tSean Phobail as ucht ard-oíche drámaíochta a thabhairt duinn.
