Back Live in the Briery Gap
The inaugural concert at the Briery Gap, Macroom, 21st Sept 2024
Bernadette Gallagher, Author of The Risen Tree, (Revival Press 2024)
For the first live performance on 21st Sept 2024 in the new Briery Gap Theatre, the Lee Valley Entertainers, the brainchild of producer Ann Dunne reprised the variety show of thirty years ago broadcast LIVE on RTÉ One's Gay Byrne Hour, compered by Joe Duffy from the assembly hall of McEgan College, Macroom. The prize money for winning the Gay Byrne Hour/Quinnsworth/Crazy Prices nationwide competition was used as a starter for the campaign to have a purpose-built Theatre in Macroom, which became the Briery Gap.
The seed that sprouted into the audition began as a result of a phone call between Peggy Buckley & Ann Dunne after hearing the announcement on the Gay Byrne radio show about an all-Ireland variety competition. They decided very quickly to bring a show to fruition and to compete for the £10000 prize money.
The original broadcast in 1994 was around 45 minutes duration and was truly a variety show, including songs from the musicals, some opera, classical instrumental, light jazz, traditional Irish, and comedy. The 2024 performance was broadened to two hours to include a mood-setting repertoire of songs from the 1950's to a montage backdrop of photos of the Palace cinema built in 1954 on the site of which the Briery Gap Theatre now stands. It included comedy sketches and a tribute to the composer, singer, musician Jimmy McCarthy, part of the extraordinary McCarthy family living only a few doors down from the theatre.
The tickets for the concert on Sat night were booked out primarily by word of mouth. I knew the seriousness with which this concert was being planned through my husband, musician John Philip Murray. Weeks before rehearsals were called, he was, as is the form for all professional musicians, practising, practising, practising. No-one sees the work behind the scenes needed to get any production on stage whether amateur or professional.
Entering the theatre on the evening of Saturday 21st Sept 2024, there were smiles from one to another, friends and people unknown — there was a palpable feeling that ‘this is a very special night’. Personally, I don’t remember the concert 30 years ago as I was minding a three-year-old! John Philip got an audio recording of the 1994 broadcast from Ann Dunne in early Sept 2024. As I listened, I was amazed at the variety, the professionalism and the smooth transition between each number. It was easy to hear how they had won.
The concert on Sat 21st Sept 2024 was also a winner. There was a feeling of something in the air that seemed to hold fragments of the concert from 30 years ago. This was mainly due to the cast being practically the same as in 1994. The other ingredient was the audience — a number of whom would have been in attendance in 1994 at McEgan College and later at Cork Opera House. For those who missed this year’s concert, RTE Nationwide made recordings of the show and interviews with some members of the cast and audience to be broadcast before the end of the year.
The participants on the morning of Thursday 24th February 1994 at the Gay Byrne Hour/Quinnsworth/Crazy Prices Variety Competition included:
Ann Dunne, Ann Buckley, Martina Ring, Kevin Moynihan, Annette Dilworth, Yvonne Murphy, Ann Egan, Padraig O’Driscoll, Con Cronin, Michael Ring, Tony Buckley, Michelle Dunlea, Denis Keane, Jennifer Coughlan, Georgina Healy, Brendan O’Brien, Mary O’Keeffe, Dave Farrell, Kevin O’Brien, and John Philip Murray.
We all had our reasons to want the Briery Gap rebuilt and reopened. I was looking forward to meeting other writers of our First Friday writing group at the library, and pop in to have a chat with Lorraine or another librarian whilst borrowing or dropping back books. This library is also a social hub, one that we are privileged as a country to still value. For the rural community who have lost a lot of their post offices coming into the local town is an important event and having a permanent base for the library with such wonderfully supportive librarians is a most welcoming home from home. The library reopened in August and the books, librarians and readers are slowly settling in shoosh…quiet please!
Films are now back at the Briery Gap via the Irish Film Institute (IFI) starting with ‘That They May Face The Rising Sun’, an adaptation of the final novel from John McGahern. Having films back in the Briery Gap brings to mind dark evenings of autumn and winter at the Film Club and post film discussions over a drink in Gerard’s or standing not wanting to leave even if we were all frozen.
And the theatre? The old Briery Gap theatre also provided a myriad of shows over the years from comedy, drama, musicals, concerts and the now yearly transition year programme. I think of all the memorable theatrical productions I have seen there including Tom Hickey in ‘The Gallant John Joe’ by Tom Mac Intyre, Kevin McAleer’s drollery and the premiere of a Thomas Kilroy play. On the evening after the 2024 inaugural Lee Valley Entertainment concert, the Briery Gap held a musical evening by Ensemble Baroque de Rennes with a workshop on the following day. No doubt plans are cooking for further drama and musical fun in the months ahead.