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Welcome to the Children of Lir! Hear the story: See the Children of Lir, and listen to the narration by Marilyn McLaughlin.Read the Story: Read the story of the Children of Lir, in five movements:Read the Poem: Read the poem of the Children of Lir, written by Sam Burnside. Background The Children of Lir is one of the most interesting of the Irish legends connected with the Tuatha Dé Danann, a tale of the children of Lir that were changed into swans. It is one of the best known of the Irish romantic tales, and with 'The Fate of the Sons of Usnach' and 'The Fate of the Sons of Tuirenn' it has been grouped together as a triad of stories known as 'The Three Sorrows of Erin' Stories that were once told by word of mouth only were at different stages written into the manuscripts and annals of Ireland by monks and other writers. It is not known what parts of the stories are fact or fiction and as Mr Standish O Grady put it: "The ancient history of Ireland passed unceasingly into the realms of artistic representation, the history of one generation became the poetry of the next, till the whole island was illuminated and coloured by the poetry of the bards. Productions of mere fancy and imagination these songs and stories were not, though poetry and imagination may have shaped all their subject matter, but the names are names of men and women who once lived and died in Ireland, and over whom their people raised the swelling raths, and reared the rocky cromlach……." The story has been adapted many times by various writers and will continue to do so. Adaptations are ways of keeping old worlds illuminated in the context of our times. For this specific program Áinne Burke, program producer and director, asked the director Sam Burnside of the Verbal Arts Center in Northern Ireland to cast a writer and perfomer for another adaptation of the story. Marlyin McLaughlin was selected and was given a mere week to produce the story for our program. She was asked to work on the story in 5 parts : life before the spell, life during the three 100 years of the spell on Loch Davra, the Sea of Moyle and Inis Glora and finally their life's after the spell. Marylin' performance was directed by telephone in a studio in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland from Dublin, the Republic of Ireland as a result of the 'Foot and Mouth' disease movement restrictions. Maybe in years to come some other writer or mythologist will weave the events of our time into their adaptation of the story, who knows? The story is also available on CD which was produced by The Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry/Derry, Northern Ireland on behalf of Cultural Ireland. The CD is distributed by Cultural Ireland to nominated schools in the program. back to top |
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