Celebrating 40 Years of Macnas in Galway
By Thomas Corley
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Macnas, one of Galway’s most beloved cultural institutions. It’s put the company in a retrospective mood, with this new show reviving some stand-out characters from past parades, all under the theme ‘Fiáin,’ bringing light to the “wild elements of the West of Ireland”.
This is the company’s 11th Halloween parade in Galway, with each new spectacle attracting a wider audience, climbing higher into the tens of thousands. These displays enlist the talents of hundreds of artists, performers, and volunteers.
It’s undoubtedly a massive undertaking, one that asks a lot of its contributors. Macnas’ Executive Director, Johnny O’Reilly says: “What we do is huge. It takes loads of people, and it takes a really long time, and we ask people to go above and beyond, and they do.”
Planning began in January, with the outline being drawn up in April, and work continued from there. O’Reilly notes that owing to this being an anniversary year, they had “a little bit of grace time” to organise the parade, as it sees the return of several figures from past years, including the harrowed giant Crom.
While best known in Galway for their parades, the company has been gradually broadening their output and increasing their renown overseas. “We’ve started to tour more. We try to make work that can become individual shows, which provides work for artists.”
Indeed, Macnas has long served as a source of work for local artists, who are often pushed to emigrate in search of a steady stream of work, “anybody doing these creative modules in college is like, I have to move to London. But this is right here, just on your doorstep.”
The construction of the parade is a markedly complex process, to create just one puppet can take several weeks. Puppets are intricately designed, they are often illuminated from the inside, and are controlled with stilts, which are operated by a troupe of performers, following hours of rehearsals.
A wide range of talents are needed to prepare everything. There are garments to sew, dances to learn, creatures to create. The community element is highlighted by O’Reilly, “our costume supervisor has dragged her partner in. He’s outside dyeing shoes. My nephew is going to come and stage manage on Monday. It’s a community thing, absolutely.”
Of course, the entire operation is subject to the whims of Galway’s famously fickle weather. An important rehearsal just before the Galway parade was cancelled due to a weather warning, for a storm that never materialised. “It was crazy,” O’Reilly says, “everyone flurried around. It’s unpredictable.”
Weather permitting, October is shaping up to be a particularly busy month for Macnas. Following ‘Fiáin’ performances in Galway and Dublin on the 25-26 October, Kilkenny can expect a visit from ‘Cailleach’ on Halloween night.
