Abhainn

Abhainn (meaning river or tributary in Irish) explores authentic identity construction in Ireland through electronics, voice, fiddle, piano and double bass by loosely depicting the story of Éanna, a woman navigating Dublin in 2024. Fundamentally this piece seeks to explore the synchresis of audio and visual communication by presenting sonic, operatic and theatrical elements as a single entity, positing sound as a medium intrinsically tied to identity; an involuntary solvent of the self. Through seagull encounters, a series of pints, a show with a group of street performers and an altercation with 4 bikes, a bin truck and a trolley, the piece attempts to weave multiple tableaus/tributaries of the self in attempts to find the perfect Irish woman sonified (Cathleen Ni Houlihan of the modern day?).