A brand new performance around the life of St. Colmcille took place in Fanad on Saturday evening in the shadow of the Holy Well at Carryblagh in what was a fine piece of creative writing and an original production. The hour-long presentation was a story well told, beautifully composed and professionally paced amongst the eight main players. It embraced the legend of Colmcille who was born in around 521 and his lasting legacy is as evergreen today as it was fifteen hundred years ago. This was an open air theatrical event combining storytelling and the Fanad landscape, directed by John Britton and featuring members of the local community and friends. This was a performance for the ages given that it was written, created and produced in one week with a strong cast of characters and those who turned up became witness to a very important part of Fanad’s legacy. The script featured some of Colmcille’s curses, his blessings, prophecies, and prayers in what was a very special occasion in community participation in a bilingual presentation. The roadside locations allowed the cast to ‘step-off’ from the traffic and this is the first such venture of its kind in the Peninsula. It was an amazing creation and a great script, professionally presented and in one hour it gave us a deeper insight into this Holy Man of God and what his mission means all these years after he first set foot on Fanad’s soil. Colmcille is credited with amazing feats, from banishing salmon from Mulroy Bay after local women had a row on their way to retrieve their catch. Colmcille’s predictions are the stuff of oral traditions and he named one townland where there would always be a mad man. There is no doubt that he nailed that one. And he drove the rats from another townland after throwing a stone to mark the spot. However, the farmer then found another purpose for the stone and the rats returned and lived happily ever after, according to history.
