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Magpies on the pylon - traveller wagon wheel theater company

magpies on the pylon

A two-person drama exploring the life of the Irish Traveller community through the heartbreaking story of a father and son. Jim does everything for his family, but his greatest struggle begins when his son, Tommy, gradually withdraws from the world and ultimately takes his own life. Suicide rates among Irish Travellers are alarmingly high, and the play exposes the pain of social exclusion and loss. A performance that will make you laugh, cry, and reflect for days afterward.

"We did everything we could with that young fellow. We gave him everything we could. As he got a bit older I couldn’t talk to him. But I was the same with my father. My father wouldn’t talk to me. I think I was twenty one years of age, the father of two children before I had a real conversation with my father as an adult."

Creators

writer-performer:	Michael Collins, Johnny Collins
by:	Traveller Wagon Wheel Theater Company

teaser

Background

This two-person theatre performance offers a deeply moving insight into the life of an Irish Traveller family. On stage, Michael and Johnny Collins bring to life the father-son duo. Jim’s eldest child, Tommy, has been following his father to work since he was a young boy, helping with scrap metal collection, selling at markets, and doing whatever he can to earn a little money for the family. Their life is filled with adventure, experiences, humor, and love—but not all of these adventures are positive. As Travellers, they belong to a marginalized minority, living without a permanent home and without legal protection.

Reviews

‘The father's monologue guides us through the stages of grief, which the son also enters at a certain point—first reciting a poem he wrote himself for Mother's Day, then appearing in his father's dream and explaining what led to his suicide, since his father's greatest torment is that he cannot imagine what might have been going through his son's mind.’

Revizoronline.com

‘No matter how much he surrounds himself with holy images and prays every night—except when he falls into bed drunk—the images remain silent.’

Pótszékfoglaló.hu

Materials to read

excerpts from the play

In case you would like to request availability to the full play and/or the full video about the performance, write an email to info@romaheroes.org and describe the aim of your request!

IN ENGLISH