As part of the ninth edition of the COIL festival, Irish Arts Center in association with Baryshnikov Arts Center presents Have I No Mouth from the Dublin-based theater company Brokentalkers. In Have I No Mouth, Brokentalkers company director Feidlim Cannon and his real-life mother, Ann Cannon, take a brave, unflinching look at their past, in an attempt to piece together the truth in the aftermath of a family tragedy, the 2001 death of Cannon's father, which could have been prevented.
Performances of Have I No Mouth will take place January 14-26 (see schedule above) at Baryshnikov Arts Center's Jerome Robbins Theater. Critics are welcome as of Tuesday, January 14 for an official opening of Wednesday, January 15. The running time is 70 minutes with no intermission. The Baryshnikov Arts Center is located at 450 W. 37th Street in Manhattan. Tickets, which are $25 ($20 IAC members), are available online at www.irishartscenter.org and by phone at 866-811-4111.
In Have I No Mouth, Cannon and his mother are joined onstage by Dublin-based psychotherapist Erich Keller, who guides both the audience and the Cannon family on a journey of self-discovery: using a mixture of therapy and ritual, a mother and son explore old memories, childhood recollections, and the different ways we can heal ourselves. Have I No Mouth is a moving and astonishingly unvarnished portrait of grief, and a celebration of the ever-changing relationship between a mother and son.
Winner of the 2013 Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Have I No Mouth has garnered critically acclaim since its 2012 premiere. The Irish Times has called the show, "impressively honest. Profoundly engaging, riveting, utterly compelling. Brokentalkers most concentrated angry and discreetly political show yet, " while The Times (UK) noted, "raw and at times close to the knuckle...bold in its execution and refreshingly honest." After COIL, Have I No Mouth will travel to the PuSh Festival in Vancouver following previous engagements in Berlin, Hanover and Scotland.
Ireland has a rich theatrical tradition that is largely playwright driven, but in recent years a handful of young companies have challenged that title. Dublin-based Brokentalkers is a devised theater ensemble formed in 2001 by Feidlim Cannon, Damien Fenty, Gary Keegan, and Faye Munns upon graduation from De Montfort University, Leicester. For the past 10 years, under the artistic directorship of Cannon and Keegan, Brokentalkers's formally ambitious work has garnered them a reputation as one of Ireland's most innovative and original theater companies.
Their work has been presented in a variety of spaces, ranging from theaters to public spaces, disused sites, and the Internet. To date, Brokentalkers has performed in UK, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Romania, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.
True to their fiercely collaborative ethos, for each project that Brokentalkers embarks upon they assemble a unique team of collaborators pulling from across the artistic disciplines, and including non professional performers that add a sense of immediacy and authenticity to the work. Incorporating original writing, dance, found texts, film, interviews, found materials, and music, their work presents a vibrant portrait of contemporary life.
