BWW Reviews: THE CRAIC WITH DE STAIC Brought a Touch of Old Ireland to Adelaide

Reviewed Saturday 12th April 2014

The multi-award winning performer, Aindrias de Staic, became a regular visitor to the Adelaide Fringe but, unfortunately for us, his rapidly growing film career took him away from us after 2010. He is an Irish master storyteller and fiddle player who could be classed in a number of categories and, as his performance in Adelaide of The Craic with de Staic at our acknowledged centre for cabaret, the intimate La Bohème reminds us, his productions fit that genre beautifully. He could be classed as a comedian, a teller of tall tales, a social commentator, an Irish fiddler, and he could even be placed under the world music category because of his ability to perform music from the many countries that he has lived in.

It is not surprising that he has been missed by his Adelaide fans, and it is a pity that he could only fly in for this one night and fly out again, as he is currently shooting a film in Sydney. This performance was, in fact, a fund raiser for another film, currently being written by Adelaide playwright, Teni Burns, to be shot in South Australia.

This performance was a little different to his Adelaide Fringe performances, which had a single tale running from start to finish, with music chosen to suit. This time, it revolved around the music, with a series of anecdotes and asides to go with each group of tunes or songs. Aindrias de Staic was aided and abetted in all this by a very fine local guitarist, Chris Muldoon.

The musical focus was primarily of Irish dance tunes, jigs, reels, and hornpipes, and on songs, some humorous, some very poignant, but there were a few surprises, including an exciting Croatian tune. There was, of course, the craic, the conversation, in which the audience were expected and encourage to reply to questions or to make a comment. It was more of a social get together than a concert, the contact made with the audience being very much in keeping with cabaret, and also in the Irish tradition.

Hopefully, we will see a lot more live performances by Aindrias de Staic when he comes to Adelaide to shoot his new film, which will greatly please his many fans.

If you would like more information, or to donate towards, or invest in this South Australian film, contact the producer, Michael Clarkin at clarkinmichael@gmail.com

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