Artists – Sharon Dipity & Fiona Kelleher

Sí Gaoithe

Dunmanway Community Hospital

Using the cultural tradition of shadow theatre the composer and visual artist worked together to adding layers of richness to their collaboration with residents at Dunmanway Community Hospital. It seemed like a good idea to try a new way of articulating our songs stories and visual work. Sharon and Fiona worked closely to create a script and props and background landscapes to portray the story of summer and winter winds as residents shared with us in the sessions. They hoped to create a performance featuring participation from the staff and patients as well.

Over the course of the project the artists collected ideas, stories, remarks and responses and created new songs and poetry about the summer wind (Si Gaoithe) and the winter wind. Sharon created a great collection of props and backgrounds for the Shadow Theatre . The Shadow Theatre itself is on loan to Fiona from Graffiti Theatre Cork and forms part of her performances and theatre work for Early Years Arts. Together they created a script and worked with the hospital staff to narrate. The work was showcased and filmed by Aoise Tutty in January 2019.

Timeframe

September 2018 continuing
Si Gaoithe will be leaving Dunmanway Community Hospital and going on tour to two more hospitals: Schull Community Hospital on 31 October and 7 November and Bantry General Hospital, St. Joseph’s Ward  on 14 and 21 November

Testimonies

‘The use of props and stories to create a Shadow Puppet Theatre has been a wonderful experience for residents and artists alike’ 

Image Credits: Sharon Dipity