| 6th May 2002 |
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| John Ryan @ The Abbey Theatre Dublin |
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Apollo Gallery artist John Ryan was once asked by Patrick Mason to create a 'behind the scenes' exhibition of his production of 'Wonderful Tennesse' by Brian Friel at The Abbey. The following is John Ryan's own account of that artistic experience.
"What started off quite by chance grew to take on a life of it's own. I had arranged with Kathleen Barrington to have an exhibition of water colours at the Peacock and wanted to include one or two interiors of the Abbey, so Kathleen got permission from Patrick Mason,(then) Artistic Director for me to sit in on rehearsals. Three weeks later I had thirty paintings of behind the scenes of a major production which included such actors as Donal McCann and John Kavanagh and the major people involved in the production including author Brian Friel and set designer Joe Vanek.
Working at the Abbey was a real thrill for me. Here I was in a room with some of the great names of Irish Theatre. Everytime I turned around I was looking at somebody I had seen on stage or had read about. I made sketches of the actors as they rehearsed getting used to their movements and personalities and the characters they were playing and finally each one sat for me in turn to have their portraits painted which I did during their lunch break. As Donal McCann said when I asked him to sit, 'OK, you can do me when I'm grabbing a sandwich'.
The atmosphere in the rehearsal room was electric. You can imagine six actors, Director Patrick Mason, Writer Brian Friel, Stage Manager Michael Higgins all working intensely together in a small room. The energy created was almost too much to get down on paper.
For the portraits of the characters I had to work quickly so I used water colour on hot pressed paper wet and wet which is high risk with faces especially. There's a sense of immediacy with the finished works and the depths of each character is etched into the faces.
When the rehearsals were over I had the freedom of the Abbey and sketched events as they were happening. The 'get in' with Trevor Dawson, the sewing room with Anne Cave, the control room with Dave Nolan, the property master, Stephen Molloy. These are all vital parts of a production the audience never gets a chance to see.
When I finished the paintings (pastels and water colours) I got them framed and rbough them to show Martin Fahy, General Manager of the Abbey. I asked him if I could exhbit them in the Abbey Foyer. He was gobsmacked but then he got permission for me to hang the exhibition after the opening night and for the run of the play. As far as I know I am the only artist to have had a full exhibition at the Abbey Theatre."
Below are two photographs with John Ryan and the cast of 'Wonderful Tenessee' including Catherine Byrne, John Kavanagh, Ingrid Craigie and the Late Donal McCann. |
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