“THERE ONCE was a man in the middle of his life and he lived in the middle of a small town. He had a grand wee business for himself...moving people's lives from one place to another. He was a removals man.”
This is In MiddleTown, a new theatre show created by and performed by Mikel Murfi (The Man In The Woman's Shoes, I Hear You and Rejoice ), which will be performed at the Black Box Theatre car park on Tuesday July 27 at 8pm. It is being staged by the Gate Theatre, in partnership with Town Hall Theatre.
“It’s great to be getting back to Galway to perform,” said Mikel Murfi. “We’re back on the road, literally, in our truck. After so much time away from live performance it seems perfect that our first round-the-country venue is the 'City of my Tribe'.
"I’ve such a fondness for the place. I’ve worked with Macnas and Druid and others there down the years and have played the Town Hall on numerous occasions with my one man shows, so I’m looking forward to it all.”
We’re back on the road, literally, in our truck. After so much time away from live performance it seems perfect that our first round-the-country venue is the City of my Tribe.
The play centres on the removals man, who, one day, packs his 'life' (and his bees ) onto the back of his truck, pulls the door behind him, and never looks back. The truck becomes his world, bringing him to places he thought he would never see. It is, above all, about the search for solitude, simplicity, and the things that make us truly happy.
Murfi was commissioned by the Gate Theatre in 2020 to create an original piece that would work with the ongoing restrictions, and with the emphasis on an ‘outdoor summer’, the Gate was determined to find a way to mount an accessible and dynamic production for summer 2021.
The performance will take place on The Gate Truck, a large vehicle with a full-scale production staged and stored on its flatbed. This will allow the Gate and its partners to bring communities together in towns across Ireland.
Tickets are available from www.tht.ie The audience is limited to 100 tickets per show, under current guidelines. The tour will operate with a reduced, Covid-compliant team, including a driver, the performer, and a small technical crew.
