User:Garvan/Project Proposal

Michael Colins' Flying Column

Project Proposal / Character Outline / Script & Notes

---

These performative sketches try to tackle the Irish condition from different historical standpoints. It is satirical. It is vaudeville. While the sketches and characters take place at different points in history, a common theme throughout is media. This work speaks to the visual and verbal language of Irish media and colonial media.

I don’t know how big this work will be, perhaps it will grow into many characters and timelines. There must be a greater question at stake, an Irish question. One train of thought that I am interested in is the Irish narrative, the narrative that makes up the Irish identity. Our events, our landmarks, our blunders, our disgraces. There is a disparity between Irish governmental policy and Ireland’s constructed identity. Ireland is meant to be a freedom loving, friendly, funny and artistic island, and sure these elements may be somewhat true but our governments waver between centre right and slightly more to right of centre. Perhaps through this work I am trying to create a muddier interpretation, to besmirch our national heritage. Sure we all tell ourselves that we had a family member who fought in the rising but I doubt many ever wanted to or would want to die for Ireland. Ireland’s collective consciousness is formed by colonial oppression. Terms like anti-treaty and pro-treaty created an Irish civil war but this division was created by our coloniser.

---

• De Mimsey

De MImsey is a mid ranking noble, he is assigned by the crown to counsel and advise Earls and Barons on the island of Ireland. De Mimsey is a self serving tool, he rarely brings good news, his solutions often are to the detriment to the serfdom. He is highly educated and warns the nobles of rebellion, cholera outbreaks and famine.

Takes place in a nobel’s hall.

• Brother Eamon

Brother Eamon is a high ranking Monk in an early christian ireland monastery. He works mostly in the scriptorium, producing holy texts that fuse Irish mythology and paganism into a new hiberno-christian narrative. He is highly superstitious, concerned with omens and prophecies. He is a pseudo-scientist. A quack. He synthesises meaning and myth from the mundane. He creates monsters in the margins of his manuscripts. He devines the health of the land by picking at bog cotton, from smelling the autumnal mushrooms. Brother Eamon is worried about vikings or messengers from Rome and a brewing noise coming from the Normans in England. Brother Eamon dictates orders to an off screen monk (perhaps will be on screen) Brother Ignatious, a lower, younger monk. Ignatious fetches Eamon’s vellum, his spirits (whiskey) and listens to brother eamons complaints. Brother Eamon and Brother Ignatious sit together in a darkened room at the top of the round tower of their monastery. Vikings raid and pillage the monastery below. Eamon looks out the window on the violent scenes and describes them to ignatious who records them though Eamon’s meaning is lost in Ignatious’ interpretation.

• E: We hid in the tower as soon as we noticed the birds flying, and the plumes of smoke rising from the direction of the estuary. They are violent, foaming at the mouth, blond-haired giants. And they are Horny

• I: Horny, Brother?

• E: Yes! Horny! Make sure you write that down, and illustrate it too, if you please Iggy

• I: But Brother, em, I’m not quite sure what you…

• E: I said write it down! You oaf! I should feed you to the norsemen, they would make a hearty stew from you, boy

• E: Alright Brother

Scene ends with an illuminated manuscript with pictures of horned vikings

This will be shot in a room with one window. The window will be masked to look like the window of a round tower. The scene takes place in a round tower.

• Mr. McGuire

Mr.McGuire is a servant employed by the aristocratic father of young william. McGuire has lost his children to poverty and famine and despite him having every reason to detest the little lord, McGuire cannot but love the innocent little toff. This plot will unfold from the perspective of William. He is awoken in the night be McGuire, the towns-folk have conspired against the landed gentry, they believe that they have poisoned the towns well with cholera. The town is half dead and half infected, they are making their way to william’s manor to seek vengeance.

This video is shot at night , in candle light, creepy atmosphere, gothic. The scene takes place in a country manor house or on a darkened country road.

References: Bram Stoker / The Heroes Quest

• No Surrender Splendour

Craig is an amateur baker from belfast, he finds himself in the semi final of the Great British Bake Off. Craig makes a multi layered cake that resembles a belfast bonfire in July. It is made with ginger, marmalade and turmeric. To represent his orange tendencies. The cake is covered with miniature irish flags and loyalist slogans such as “Michelle O’ Neil : Catholic Slag”

• The Time Traveling Revolutionary

Commandant Boyle, a low ranking member of an irish paramilitary during the Irish Civil finds himself at a shrine in the middle of nowhere. He has become separated from his flying column, he sees candle light coming from the shrine and he walks toward it hoping to gain some sense of direction. As he walks towards the shrine the light grows bigger and bigger and it envelops him. He is transported a hundred years into the future and across the irish sea. He awakens on a welsh country road. He stumbles down the road until he comes upon the Fron Goch Garden centre. A cute garden centre just miles from the infamous internment camp that imprisoned irish revolutionaries after easter rising.

---

• WHAT

a video work sketch show that discusses matters relating to Ireland and being Irish. Referenceing Irishi media and media about ireland. The sketch show will jump around history. Monks in early christian Ireland circa 500-800 a.d to 19th century protestant ruling class members to twentieth century revolutionaries and perhaps even further into the future. The work is both satirical and speculative. I want to play with nnational folk heroes. People like St.Patrick, William of Orange & Ned Kelly. The title is a reference to Monty Python's Flying Circus. The work will question national narratives, I will make some short sketches about museums in Ireland and how they construct a national narrative.

• How

Through short video sketches and simple sets & costume. Each sketch should not be more than five minutes and the entire exhibited body of work should not be more than 25 minutes. I need to write a script for each sketch, and design more sketches than I would actually need. I have written character outlines for several sketches and written the script for roughly two-three sketches. To develop the work I will engage in a process of improvisation as a for of character development. The process is based on play and having fun and letting my body loosen up and see where the character takes me.

• Why

This work was not a direction i intended to go but now that I have started the process I realise that this is perhaps the work I should have been making ages ago. It feels important and urgent to me and the process is rewarding and fun and I think there is great potential.

• 'Timetable
• Research more, it is an integral part of this artwork
• Write more scripts
• Low tech set and costume design
• Film Sketch - goal would be to have about three at least started before christmas
• Over the holidays I will be in ireland for 2 weeks I would like to do some filming there while I can. I am also considering going back in March for St.Patricks day

---

Bibliography

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbO4Peh5sg&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=15

Documentary about the crumbling leftovers of the protestant ascendancy class in Ireland

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mb8Mb0p808&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=1

An Irish poverty apologist attacks Frank McCourt for telling lies about Ireland

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eP-pg8vOfM&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=13

In 1985 Ireland experienced three different accounts of holy apparitions

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSsy-nm-sRI&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=9

19th Century Peasant faction fighting reenactment, I am interested in historical reenactments as this is essentially what some of my performances will be

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8syaS2BJKHo&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=11

Bone Setter, a quack for physical bodily ailments

• https://www.seanlynchinfo.com/artworks.html

Sean Lycnh, an Irish artist whose work I find very inspiring, though I think his work is of a drier nature, it is still quite humorous

• https://www.eva.ie/artist/eimear-walshe/

highly inspirational piece. Walshe's research seems very thorough and they present their work in an amusing yet to the point manner. would be interested in creating a dialogue with them.

---

HACKPACKT https://youtu.be/2tqfFAEKyco

---

Thesis Outline

My thesis will run parallel to the subject matter of my graduate research. In my artwork I am exploring and investigating characters and archetypes. I am making short sketches that satirise and speculate upon Ireland’s history and its potential future.

Media and national narratives are themes I want to explore. How do Irish museums construct our collective identity?

The form will be an essay, with perhaps the tone of an op-ed / long read article. I am telling a story of Ireland. Reference Adam Curtis/Atlanta.

My thesis and my artwork are two parallel arms that for into an interpretation of post-colonial irish media.

An example: Paddington 2 (2017) This is a film much loved by critics and audiences, it is loved for it’s cutesy british tone. There is a an arc in the plot, where paddington finds himself in prison, it’s all very funny and light hearted . however the filming location is Kilmainham Gaol, an historic prison in Dublin where serveral of our revolutionary leaders where executed by british soldiers after the Easter Rising of 1916. Did they die so a cute cgi bear can dance around with Hugh Grant?

Another example:

In Dublin Castle, a tourist attraction and landmark in the city centre is a very busy corner of the city. However in the basement of one of the old buildings is the little known Revenue Museum. The Revenue Museum has a collection ranging from postal stamps, bootleg football jerseys to a reproduction of the toilets used to examine the faeces of drug mules in Dublin Airport. Taxation, it’s an inevitability, what does The Revenue Museum omit in it’s collection if Ireland is a tax haven?

Another Example: Across Ireland there are towns with grand georgian era districts. Well preserved and handsome they are often preserved by Georgian Historical Societies. Some of these societies even go so far as to reenact aristocratic life in the georgian period. Is this love of the georgian era a fetishisation of our colonisers?

I would like to get into contact with some of these organisations and institutions and create a dialogue, which would serve as primary research for the thesis.

I would also like to investigate certain aspects of media, Irish media and media about Ireland esp British (english) media.

I do not know what the conclusion of this research will be. Though I think that the research may actually obfuscate rather than clarify, which, in a sense, illuminates how intricate and complex Britain’s colonisation of Ireland was and is. I imagine I will come across self colonial practices within these media structures and institutions.

References I need to gather some appropriate sources, ones that have similar post colonial approaches and alternative perspectives of irish statehood

Steve Notes

[Ahead of our meeting on Thursday. Rather than write notes I would prefer to discuss, what is already a strong proposal, in person. The thesis outline is also strong, and we can also discuss how that can be developed. There is a great documentary about LA locations: Los Angeles Plays Itself by Thom Andersen (2003), which follows a similar method to the one you follow in your thesis outline. I think you have enough to begin From Paddington to Kilmainham Gaol now. Aim for a 1000 word article-essay. Very rich territory you outline there.]