DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Thank you for coming to One Moment Now at Eaton D.C., presented by Solas Nua.
One Moment Now is Murmuration’s fourth piece to date, originally commissioned for Bewley’s historic café on Grafton Street in Dublin, as part of Bewley’s Café Theatre’s inaugural Artist-In-Residence programme last year.
Bewley’s Café has a long connection with the arts in Ireland. The iconic building formerly hosted Whyte’s Academy (1758 - 1824), whose students included playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, writer Thomas Moore, revolutionary Robert Emmett, and the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesly. The Bewleys, a prominent Quaker family who had begun importing tea to Ireland in 1835, occupied the site in 1927; in the century that has passed since, Bewley’s café has had many notable artists scribbling in its nooks and crannies such as James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Bob Geldof, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan and Maeve Binchy. To this day the beloved landmark delights customers with a distinctive Egyptian Revival Mosaic on its facade, an intimate boutique theatre on the top floor, and several renowned stained glass pieces by Harry Clarke and Jim Fitzpatrick.
As for our gang, Murmuration is a Dublin-based collective of theatre artists, making live, narrative sound installations in public and semi-public spaces. Our work is all about big-hearted close listening. We seek to reposition audiences in relation to their surroundings, offering vivid imaginary worlds. We have performed in bars, shopfronts, glass-walled galleries and public squares, without physically augmenting any of those spaces; aiming to find the extraordinary in ordinary and unlikely locations. We believe this approach to be particularly urgent when cultural spaces are disappearing and becoming less accessible. We remain resolutely optimistic about our home city of Dublin, and are committed to finding performative potential in its existing spaces, through the transformative power of sound and live performance.
Murmuration formed in 2018 to present Summertime at Dublin Fringe Festival where it was nominated for a Judges Choice Award, before being shown at Drogheda Arts Festival and at the Abbey Young Curators’ Festival the following year. In 2020 our second production, Will I See You There, premiered at the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar as part of Dublin Fringe Festival. The Irish Times, in a four-star review, described the experience as “eavesdropping on speed”, and subsequently listed director John King amongst its ‘50 People to Watch’ in Ireland. In 2021 we were commissioned to make our third show You’re Still Here at Dublin Castle, co-presented by Dublin Fringe and the Abbey, Ireland’s National Theatre.
One Moment Now represents a departure for Murmuration. Our previous work has involved live actors, and has invited audiences to listen in on private, funny, moving moments between people struggling to connect with one another, amidst the bustle of everyday urban life. With One Moment Now, the theatrical event is carefully pared back: to just you, what’s in front of you and, ultimately, what’s all around you. You are invited to co-author the work yourself - tell the story, set the scene, create the imagery. Every version is unique, built by an audience of one. We hope you enjoy this meditative moment to listen, imagine, create, and reflect. Thank you for taking a punt on this experience.
Le meas,
John King & Finbarr Doyle
July 2023
This presentation has been generously supported by Culture Ireland.
One Moment Now
by Murmuration
Performed by Helen Roche, Bairbre Ní Chaoimh and Austin Casey
Written by John King and Finbarr Doyle
Sound Concept by Jenny O’Malley
Sound Design by Leon Henry
Produced by Tilly Taylor
Developed by Ellen Kirk, Jenny O’Malley, John King, Finbarr Doyle and Tilly Taylor
ABOUT THE COFFEE
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