THREE NUI Galway students - from Ireland, India, and Turkey - will this week launch their new documentary on one of Galway’s most remarkable women - Lady Augusta Gregory.
Queen of Coole, a documentary chronicling the life of Lady Gregory, particularly the major role she played in the foundation and development of the Abbey Theatre, will be launched on Tuesday May 25 and can be viewed at https://queenofcoole.com.
The film has been made by MARA Collective - Ananya Rajoo (India ), Merve Yillmaz (Turkey ), and Hugh Murphy (Galway ), who are students of the MA in Creative Practice at NUIG. The film is part of the university’s Festival of New Work.
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“We begin where the story of the Irish theatre began – Coole Park,” saus Hugh Murphy. “Filmed in the woods surrounding her beloved home and other locations that played a pivotal role in the history of the Abbey Theatre - a role that has rarely been fully recognised.”
Using accounts from her diaries and other works, the film focuses on her friendship with and influence on significant authors and dramatists who dominated not just Ireland, but the world’s stage. This film, which includes voices of the key figures in NUIG who were involved in developing the Abbey digital archives, will set out to establish her rightful place at the forefront of Irish literature.
NUIG’s Festival of New Work runs online until May 28. See https://festivalofnewwork.wordpress.com.
