A Council-lead Galway City community outreach programme which was transformed into an international touring play has received a second run with its original cast – 15 years later. Here We Are Again Still, an important piece of community theatre by award winning playwright Christian O’Reilly, explores the themes of social isolation, community, and the power of friendship. The programme is being showcased as part of #YourCouncilDay on July 5, which is highlighting the role of county and city councils in supporting people in their daily lives.
Commissioned in 2008, by Megs Morley, Public Arts Officer at Galway City Council, the play was born out of storytelling workshops with the residents of Walter Macken Place in Mervue. Following its local debut, the play toured 17 venues in Ireland from Dublin to Kerry, and was also performed in the USA in Chicago, Portland, and in a women’s prison in Wilsonville, Oregon. The play, which was initially composed and performed in 2009 during major refurbishment work of the housing complex, comprises conversations on a bench outside Walter Macken Place, and touches upon issues raised during the storytelling workshops such as social isolation, mental illness, and the importance of community.
Walter Macken Place, the oldest social housing development in Galway City, largely comprised of single apartments, has a high demographic of elderly people and also houses many residents dealing with issues which require high levels of support. The read.
