ON THURSDAY February 4 at 10pm, TG4 screens the first episode of its offbeat new comedy drama series EIPIC, in which a group of small-town Irish teenagers take over an abandoned post office to kick off a musical rebellion. The six-part series was scripted by Mike O’Leary, one of the writers on the cult E4 drama Misfits, and made by Maga Media Productions.
Told with a mix of naturalistic drama and flights of musical magic realism, and filmed on location in Woodford, EIPIC is Galway’s answer to The Commitments - a bold story about escape, empowerment, and what it means to be a teenage “hero” in contemporary rural Ireland - all set against the backdrop of the 1916 centenary celebrations.
When misunderstood Sully gets wind of an online music video competition, he sees it as his means of escaping the grim begrudgery of his hometown, Dobhar. He assembles a local band of teenage oddballs and misfits in a rebellion against boredom, with the aim of leading them on an epic journey out of their rural town and onto a national stage. Why? Because a mysterious online friend who looks remarkably like Michael Collins told him to. Inspired by this mysterious online presence, the gang break into the abandoned local Post Office, their base of operations and their one beacon of hope as they start their own uprising - a musical revolution.
“Youth television - if we can even call it that anymore, has seen some groundbreaking and genre-defining work emerge in the last few years on the other side of the Irish Sea," says writer Mike O’Leary. "The canon was crying out for a show with a uniquely Irish twist on this most universal of stories - growing up. While authentic, real, and wild were the guiding principles in creating the world of EIPIC, I always had this one concept at the back of my mind: this should look like TV drama penned by Flann O'Brien on the Monday after Electric Picnic.”
At its heart EIPIC is a drama about growing up, breaking free, and finding your own identity. It’s an ensemble show about battling the hulking demons of everyday life through music. It is also about escaping the chains of history, the sludge of old cynicism, as well as fame, friends, and what it means to be young today - all set to a soundtrack of Irish language versions of The Jam’s 'Town Called Malice', The Smiths' 'Frankly Mr Shankly', and FKA Twigs' 'Video Girl'
The series is full of energy, inventiveness and, in the words of executive director, Paddy Hayes, “It's quirky, it's kooky and manages to be both hilarious and heartfelt at the same time.”
“We knew there was an outlet for an Irish teen drama,” Hayes tells me over an afternoon coffee as he relates how the series came together. “It hadn’t been done before in either English or Irish and we suspected if we did one in Irish we might get it made, which is a big consideration! And coming up to the 1916 centenary we also thought maybe if we could do a youth drama about 1916, we’d double our chances and that’s what happened! We approached Mike O’Leary, a Corkman who lives in London, his series Misfits was along the same lines as this and he seemed to have an ear for contemporary Ireland and then we put a team together.”
EIPIC has a post-watershed slot, unusual to say the least for a teen-centred series. “The initial brief was pre-watershed but then Mike started writing and he’s filthy!” Hayes replies with a hearty laughs. “So we went back to TG4 and said can we put it on after the watershed and they said fine. It makes it more interesting!”
While the 1916 hook in the storyline may have been conceived opportunistically, in the series it works very effectively as EIPIC raises sharp questions and observations on what it means to be a young person in today’s Irish Republic.
“Mike O’Leary’s writing leaps off the page,” says series director Louise Ní Fhiannachta, who helms EIPIC throughout with flair and sensitivity. “That 1916 parallel is very much there and is one of the main things that spoke to me when I came onboard. We’re in post-Proclamation Ireland and what does that mean, what does it mean to be a teenage hero in that context? I feel we’re in the middle of change in modern Ireland and this was a chance to give a voice to teenage heroes, and let’s not forget this is the generation who are going to own the future. What are their concerns, their wishes, desires? EIPIC poses all of those questions but, tonally, in a very different way. There is nothing banal about it, it’s all very exciting, it poses big questions and that to me was very appealing, to be involved in a project which gives a voice and a platform to Irish teenagers has been an honour.”
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There are many facets to EIPIC, the energy and pizzazz of pop music video, its strain of magic realism allied to its realistic portrayal of small town life and the relationships between the teenage characters themselves and also their home lives with their elders. Was it a challenge for Louise to keep all these elements in balance? “You have to look for the heart and find the truth,” she replies.
“Once you find that with the actors everything else falls into place, from a narrative perspective structurally things make sense, truth is the big thing, behind the comedy, the darkness, the music and everything else. The stylised element of the story was another huge appeal for me, those flights of magic realism. I dabbled in some of that with Lá Breá Chuige and I’m a huge fan of films like Emilie and A Very Long Engagement. That kind of sensibility was on the page already and I was very excited about it and getting the opportunity to explore that magical realism and explore their musical fantasies and I think people will enjoy that element.”
The title of EIPIC doffs a cap toward Patrick Kavanagh’s poem ‘Epic’ and its affirmation that smalltown stories can be the stuff of great art. ‘I made the Iliad from such a local row’ Homer’s ghost says to Kavanagh in the poem and the TV series creates compelling and affecting drama from its characters lives.
The cast are all new to Irish television; Fionn Foley (Sully ), Roísín Ni Cheallachair (Mona ), Fionuala Gygax (Bea ), Cian Ó Baoill (Oisin ), and Dasire Ó Muiri (Aodh ). “Our ambition was to cast fresh faces," says Louise. "We spent two and a half months last year looking for the right people, we did casting days here, Dublin and Limerick. It was a very interesting process – I love casting. The dynamic between the five actors is beautiful to watch, there’s such an understanding and respect, and great fun and camaraderie in the group.”
