A Rural View:

The Carnival at Kilnaleck

As I sat in that beautifully appointed theatre in Ballyconnell a couple of years ago watching Padraic McIntyre's hilarious play Carnival at Glenaduff I was reminded of my own carnival days and my direct involvement therein. My first impression was that McIntyre was right on the button - as he always is - in his interpretation, with a certain amount of theatrical licence of course - for obvious reasons. It would be extremely difficult to present on stage, for instance, a verbatim account of the vernacular in use in the gents toilets (a few sheets of galvanised iron standing upright or, nearly so) as some biological matters were being discussed or perhaps the blatant "stuckupness" of certain young ladies who had refused to dance with a couple of the young gentlemen.

See this week's Celt for the rest of Peadar's column and other great opinion pieces...