WOMAN UNDONE
Directed by Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan, co artistic directors of Brokentalkers.
A show with and about Mary Coughlan, beloved irish singer.
Set Design : Sabine Dargent,
Lighting design: Sarah Jane Shields,
Costume design Sarah Foley;
Composeur Valgeir Sigurdsson and Mary Coughlan;
Movement director Eddie Kay
Assistant Designer: Caroline Menassol
Film and photos Luca Truffarelli; Simone Rudolphi
Woman undone is a show written and performed by Mary Coughlan, in collaboration with Brokentalkers, creators of the show.
Mary revisits her tormented life through herself and her double, her child self (performed by dancer Erin…), alongside musicians who take the caricatural appearances of key men in Mary’s life.
Brokentalkers theatre is particulary interesting to me as it is both contemporary and remains people-based, thus speaks to everyone. “Woman undone” tells the story of a major musical figure in Ireland, Mary Coughlan. The company Brokentalkers explores her tortured past through the eyes of a child, Mary’s innocent and curious double. It mixes real and surreal characters from her own life through theatre, music, dance and multimedia. I designed a stage which was too high, like a child’s drawing, and the colours were too vivid to express properly Mary’s piercing cry.