The magic of the Autumn Gathering is to bring people together from all corners of the world – to listen and learn, laugh and share, with academics and artists, locals, historians and literary figures; to meet descendants of Lady Gregory and William Butler Yeats, renew friendships and make new friends – all enjoying and celebrating the prominent role of Lady Gregory in shaping the theatrical, poetic and cultural life which thrives today.
Coole Park offered a source of enchantment and inspiration that shaped Lady Gregory and her fellow literary figures’ artistic responses to the times, such as WB Yeats’ Easter 1916. Celebrated amidst the rich and unrivalled landscape of the trees and beauty of south Galway, the Gathering includes lectures, discussions, theatre and social events.
This year’s Autumn Gathering (AG25) kick starts on Friday with an enchanted tour of Woodville House and Gardens, historic residence of Lady Gregory’s brother, Henry Persse. View rare photographs of the Persse family and their times. Friday evening brings us ’Lady Gregory in America’, a delightful operetta by Colm Tóibín with a modern score by Arturo Caruso. It tells the funny, alarming, historic tale of the Abbey Theatre players tour of the US in 1911 performing J.M Synge’s, ‘The Playboy of the Western World’. It promises riots, uproar and hysterics; all the ingredients for a memorable evening. Within Coole Park’s historic walled garden sits the famous ‘Autograph Tree’ where world-renowned authors such as Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, J.M. Synge and George Moore carved their initials, marking Coole Park as the centre of the Irish Literary Revival in the 20th century.
Lady Gregory’s family descendants will formally open the Gathering in Coole Park on Saturday at 10am, cutting the traditional Barm Brack. Ella Swift Redding, of Burly Mermaid Media, is Chair of this year’s Gathering. A writer, director and actress, Ella’s specialty is all things Lady Gregory. Chris Morash, Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing, Trinity College Dublin, will talk ‘merrily of books and theatre, discussing Coole Park as a writers’ retreat’. James Pethica, Professor of Irish Studies, Drama and Modernism at Williams College in Massachusetts, will present ‘Lady Gregory and the First Abbey Theatre Tour of America,1911-1912’. Cathy Leeney, adjunct researcher in Theatre & Drama Studies, UCD, school of English, Drama and Film, will speak about ‘Lady Gregory, Queens of Ireland: Thunderbolt & Lightening,Politics & Power’. Enjoy the Candlelight Dinner in Coole, complete with entertainment.
Sunday’s events take place in the mystical setting of 14th century Thoor Ballylee, described by the late Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney as ‘the most important public building in Ireland’. The wonderful Sr. Mary DeLourdes Fahy, local Kiltartan Historian frequently consulted by academics and writers world-wide, will be in conversation by a blazing autumnal fire with James Pethica. Followed by Jonathan Creasy, Writer, Filmmaker, Musician, Broadcaster and Publisher, will draw ‘Parallels between Augusta, Lady Gregory and Mary Manning’. A guided tour of the recently restored Thoor Ballylee Mill Wheel will also be available ahead of lunch. The Autumn Gathering looks forward to welcoming you all!
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