On February 4, The Barnstorm venue at The Home Rule Club on John’s Quay will play host to a theatre production detailing the contribution made by Lady Ellen Cuffe to the city of Kilkenny.
Miss Ellen Bischoffsheim was the eldest daughter of a London Jewish banker and her marriage to William, the fourth Earl of Desart in 1881 was the notable event of the London season. It was rumoured that the bride to be brought a dowry of £15,000 with her, with a similar sum to come on the death of her father.
‘The Countess’ is being staged in association with the St. Brigid’s Festival.
Written and directed by Gillian Grattan it has been staged twice in Kilkenny – once at Desart Hall and more recently at The Home Rule Club.
Munster Express theatre critic Liam Murphy viewed the Home Rule production and wrote the following review.
First theatre review of 2024 was on Nollaig na mBan at Barnstorm theatre on John’s Quay, Kilkenny
This was a dramatised reading of The Countess, written and directed by Grattan.
Grattan runs a diverse stage school, TADA in Thomastown, and one of her plays was optioned by Red Kettle Theatre Company before its unfortunate demise.
Central Arts rescued that play and staged it in its venue up Andy Jordan’s Lane to general acclaim.
Last year, she was one of the resident creatives in Garter Lane’s experimental A Little Room.
Her work-in-progress was later filmed by Luke Corcoran into an audience and festival-pleasing short film.
The Countess celebrated the immense contribution of Lady Ellen Cuffe, born Ellen Odette Bischoffsheim in 1857.
This Jewish woman, daughter of wealthy bankers and investors, married an English Earl William Cuffe and came to live in Kilkenny in Cuffesgrange.
During her time, she supported the Gaelic League and established a series of philanthropic works in Kilkenny.
She established a Kilkenny Theatre in Patrick St, which was reputed to have a capacity for hundreds of patrons.
She was also instrumental in setting up a library, Talbot’s Inch village, Kilkenny Woollen Mills and Woodworkers.
In this production, funded by the Heritage Council, Susie Lamb played Lady Ellen and brought a complex character to vivid life.
Ger Cody, who ran the Watergate Theatre in its initial years, played the Narrator with a measured quality.
The success of Gillian Grattan’s script was the conflicting opinions of Anglo-Irish benefactors in an emerging Nationalist country, and despite Lady Ellen’s immense work, was often viewed with suspicion, and one of her houses was burned in the anti-English sentiments in the early days of the Rebellion and War Of Independence.
Lady Ellen did not support the Suffragette movement but espoused community and cooperative values.
On my way to the production, I walked over the new footbridge from Dunnes Stores carpark to John’s Quay. This bridge is festooned with padlocks proclaiming couple’s undying love. The bridge is dedicated to the memory of Lady Ellen Cuffe.
St. Brigids festival
The production of The Countess will be staged on February 4th at 6p.m at the Barnstorm theatre space at The Home Rule Club. The event is part of The St Brigids Music and Arts Festival being held in Kilkenny and will feature such names as Clara Tracey, Conchúr White , Niamh Regan, Paul Noonan , and Aoife Nessa Frances. The festival will conclude with a closing party at Billy Byrnes with Monosource who will be joined by DJ’s Neil Flynn and Jellypelt.
One further theatre piece taking to the boards will be a production of ‘Where Old Ghosts Meet’, a celebration of the life and times of Patrick Kavanagh. The piece is adapted and directed by Geoff Rose and performed by Jimmy Rhatigan.
Full details on the festival at: www.stbrigidsfestival.com
