While Dublin Fringe Festival may be coming to a close, the quality of theatre in these final days remains as high as ever. Seahorse, written and performed by TCD alumna Christiane O’Mahony, is a new, razor-sharp comedy about the anxiety of being a woman in modern Ireland. TN2’s Theatre Editor caught up with Christiane to learn about marine feminism, her time in Trinity, and what she is looking forward to at this year’s Fringe.
What does the Dublin Fringe Festival mean to you?
The Fringe is a fantastic opportunity for us to present our work. There is such a good creative energy around it. We are in our dream venue at Project Cube. Cian O Brien, also a Trinity graduate, and the team in Project have been so supportive to us. There is a collegiate feeling of support about being in a festival with lots of other makers. Ruth, Ewa and the team at HQ have been brilliant to work with.
SEAHORSE has a really interesting premise. What inspired you to create the piece?
I became fascinated by the idea of a woman wanting to be a seahorse. The marine world is miles ahead of us in terms of feminism. Seahorse males give birth and the females live independently in territories up to ten times larger than the males. They are basically womanspreaders!
Mara, our central character, finds herself in an aquarium in the middle of the night, face to face with a pregnant male seahorse and she promptly has an existential crisis. The life of a seahorse becomes very appealing to her. Mara is a bit of a failed feminist, she watches porn, memorizes Nigella recipes and browses Tinder recreationally despite being in a committed relationship.
How does it compare producing shows as Christiane O’Mahony, to your company For The Birds?
I co-founded For the Birds with Brian Mitchell, lighting and set designer and technician. Producing as a company is great because it feels so much more supported. Even though Seahorse has only one performer (me!) it feels very much like a team making it. We have an amazing group of people working with us including fellow Trinity alumnus Davey Kelleher as director and our company producer Naomi Daly.
You are a successful stand-up comedian. Is it important for you to include humour in your theatre-making? How does it compare to writing stand-up?
Yes, it is. I like to use what I have learned from both disciplines to make work – they really lend themselves to each other. Comedy has such immediacy. You have an idea five minutes beforehand, you walk out and talk about it on stage. There is great freedom in that. You gig constantly so you get to continuously hone your craft. You can really find your personality on stage. In theatre, the process is much more protected, you can develop your ideas for months, years even, before they see the light of day. Every word, punctuation mark, sentence is considered and the journey is usually a lot longer in terms of meeting your audience. Of course, comedians can be very rigorous too, but the material tends to be tested live on stage with your audience at a much earlier stage so stand-up is an extremely useful, if not often brutal, way of receiving swift feedback! This has made me a lot less precious about myself as a writer and performer which I think ultimately is a really good thing. It’s important to keep learning and to take risks with your work. Lately, I have also moved into screenwriting and Meitherhood, a short comedy I made with Maureen O Connell which will be premiere at Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival in October. I think my background in stand-up has stood me in good stead for experimenting across art-forms and trying new things.
How has attending Trinity influenced your career?
I loved Trinity. I made so many friends who have gone on to work in the creative industry and other fields. The time I spent there was really special. You don’t realise how lucky you are to be in this beautiful place in the heart of Dublin when you are 18 years old bopping in the front gate.
Trinity were super generous to me. I did a degree in psychology first and I was lucky enough to win a foundation scholarship which allowed me to live on campus for 5 years and also paid for my acting studies on the Bachelor of Acting Studies.
What are you most looking forward to seeing in this year’s Fringe lineup?
I would attend everything if I could. Pom Boyd’s Shame, Anna Shiels McNamees My Dad is Blind, Karen Cogan’s Dripfeed and Erica Murray’s The Cat’s Mother to name but a few.
Seahorse runs at Project Arts Centre from 19-22 September as part of Dublin Fringe Festival. It will also be performed at The Everyman, Cork in 6-8 March 2019. Meitherhood, written by and starring Christiane, will have its world premiere at Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival on 7 October 2018 and also screen at Kerry’s International Film Festival later in October.
