In the lead up to this festive season, the Abbey Theatre has brought together 50 of Ireland’s leading actors to perform extracts of poetry, prose, playscripts and songs, from some of Ireland’s most esteemed writers. But in a pandemic-twist, the performances are delivered to ticket-holders over the phone. When booking, you can select one of 16 set texts available for performance. The event, Abbey Calling, is running in aid of Aware, a charity and support group that raises awareness and provides support for those suffering with depression and bipolar disorder.
His Soul Swooned Softly
In the midst of the end-of-term deadline haze, Abbey Calling brings the festive distraction of a phone call from one of Ireland’s most prominent actors. During this call, John Olohan performed “His Soul Swooned Softly”, an extract taken from James Joyce’s “The Dead”.
After a brief introductory chat with the actor, Olohan jumped into the reading. He rendered the emotive notes of the passage wonderfully, nailing its vivid tonality. Emphasising the gripping moments through his intonation, his performance culminated in the evocative closing line: “His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
The epiphany of the novella, also included in the performance as a chosen excerpt, ends on a hopeful note for the future of Ireland, promising a move away from its perceived paralysis. This reassuring tone extends its meaning to the unconventional festive season we are faced with this year, pledging the possibility of a brighter new year, albeit in connection with the melancholic and moving tone of the passage.
Despite the challenges faced by the arts throughout the pandemic, this innovative idea, and the chosen excerpt, aptly conveyed the resilience of the theatre sector. Notably, it also provided the opportunity for human connection through a chat with someone on the other end of the phone, simulating the experience of viewing a live performance but on a more intimate and ingenious level.
A Raindrop Each
Having come back to the UK for Christmas, these live readings of Seed by Paula Meehan, and Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin, by Patrick Kavanagh, over the phone will transport you back to Dublin, and offer the perfect way to reflect on 2020.
The feeling of intimacy communicated in live performance is difficult to recreate over the phone. The performer exchanges a few words with you before starting and again at the end of the performance, creating a sense of familiarity between performer and audience.
This was enhanced by the content of the poetry. As she read a line from Meehan’s Seed, “bless[ing] the power of seed, its casual useful persistence”, it became clear to me just how judiciously these pieces had been chosen. This year certainly has been one of persistence and resistance, but also community. This focus on the natural world operating as a community in the poem, as the “sun…conspir[es] with the underground”, felt incredibly relevant.
This was perfectly matched by Kavanagh’s Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin. This second poem praised the stillness of simply sitting with one’s own company, and appreciation for nature. As the performer read this poem, even down the telephone, I became nostalgic for my own time spent sitting in Dublin’s parks this year.
While poetry over the telephone could never replace the magic of live performance – crackly lines over the Irish sea meant that I somewhat was distracted – Abbey Calling is an invaluable experience for all of those missing live theatre. Especially as we “step out…from the gloom” and “tally the storm damage” of this turbulent year, we can hold on tight to this small but powerful reminder of the joy of live creative expression – at least until the “winter’s ended” anyway.
