Media Library

Speeches

Remarks at the launch of the digitisation of the Abbey Theatre’s Archives With The National University of Ireland

Galway, 22 October 2012

A chairde. Tá an-áthas orm a bheith anseo inniu. Im thimpeall tá taisce agus dlúthchairde ó shaol na hamharclainne. Táimid bailithe anseo inniu chun amharclann na hÉireann san aimsir atá thart agus sa todhchaí a cheiliúradh.

Gabhaim buíochas le hOllscoil na hÉireann Gaillimh agus le hAmharclann na Mainistreach as an gcuireadh chun an togra atá ar siúl ag Ollscoil na Gaillimhe chun cruth digiteach a chur ar.

Ladies and Gentlemen. I am delighted to have this opportunity to launch this exciting project, which sees the Abbey Theatre and NUI Galway make history by embracing and utilising digital technology to preserve the Abbey archive. I would like to thank Fiach MacConghail for his kind invitation to join you this evening, and all of you for that very kind welcome.

The Abbey Theatre is at the centre of Irish history, a project and image that precedes independence in the state. The Abbey Theatre, for over a hundred years, has been one of Ireland’s landmark cultural spaces, a theatre that has given us the genius of the greatest Irish actors and playwrights of the past century. It is here on the Abbey stage that audiences have seen actors bring seminal writing to life, which has seen the Abbey Theatre become witness to the narrative of a nation; a place which has lived up to the manifesto of its founders Yeats and Lady Gregory to “bring upon the stage the deeper emotions of Ireland”.

Here, through the works of Yeats, O’Casey, Beckett, John B. Keane, Hugh Leonard, Brian Friel, Marina Carr, Tom Murphy and many more gifted playwrights, we have encountered the changing social and political landscape of an Ireland moving from oppression to independence; from reticence to a central position on the European stage; and, of course, from poverty to an affluence not without its destructive hubris and back to a new and sobering economic wisdom. Here, through the works performed on the Abbey stage, we have followed the changing preoccupations of a nation during an era of radical change and have seen reflected back at us, in all its light and shade, the society which formed us and continues to shape us today. Indeed, apart from its productions, the rejection slips and correspondence of the Abbey and those who decided its production or artistic policy – not the same thing – are of the greatest historical importance.

The last one hundred years have been an interesting and exciting time for Irish playwrights and actors, and indeed for Irish audiences; a time of exploration, of controversy, of a defiant challenging of our traditional thoughts and assumptions and beliefs.

The Abbey Theatre and NUI Galway have archived that literary and social odyssey, that journey that tells us so much about ourselves, where we have come from and how we have arrived at where we are; and of how we can harness our past to our future, sustaining our cultural richness in all its identities and diversities as we navigate our way forward.

Today we mark an important step in celebrating the arts making a further contribution to our evolving, hopefully critically aware, society as we celebrate a great collaborative partnership and an embracing of new technology that allows us to mine our rich cultural heritage. As someone who has deep connections with both NUI Galway and the Abbey Theatre this partnership makes me proud of the shared vision and wisdom of two important national organisations. Both are leaders in their fields, who have come together to break new ground in the areas of digital technology and scholarship.

This blend of activities reminds us of the rich rewards that flow from recognising the complementary nature that exists between the disciplines of science and humanities; it reminds us that seeing creativity as the exclusive preserve of the artist or innovation as the exclusive preserve of the scientist is a great fallacy. As a people we take great pride in our international reputation for creativity. However, while we take great pride in that creative talent and the illustrious heritage that comes with it, we often fail to realise that our inventiveness and original thinking has not been confined to the arts but has had a significant impact on the world of science and on the shaping of the technological age that we live in today. Yet the division between science and arts both existing within a culture after all is a bad moment in the history of thought – even an aberration.

This project provides a valuable opportunity to highlight those two important features of contemporary Ireland: the richness of our cultural traditions and our capacity for surpassing and breaking moulds from the novel to pure mathematics. It reminds us that, as a nation, we must have the confidence to remember our proven aptitude for endless new departures and beginnings; our great ability to push the boundaries outwards, our restless, creative energy and curiosity that translates to a constant exploration of how things are and how they can be achieved in a more human more effective way. It also reminds us that we must aspire to turn the best of ideas into living realities for all of our people, realising our limitless possibilities, ones that can never be reduced to a neo-functionalism of the day. There can be no doubt that recognising and being open to new paradigms of thought and action can only release our social, cultural and economic possibilities and lead to a common shared future built on the spirit of co-operation, of high ethical standards and integrity, the collective will, real participation and an exciting sense of what might be possible. We should never forget that it is in the cultural area, in the arts and sciences too, rather than in our institutions or any borrowed versions of institutional thinking of the day, that our lives have encountered what is emancipatory.
In breadth and scale, the Abbey Theatre digital archive will be unique internationally, placing NUI Galway at the forefront of technological innovation in the arts and humanities. New technologies to be developed over the course of this project will make the NUI the home of one of the world’s most ambitious digitisation projects. As a full multimedia archive, the digital archive will provide researchers with access to the entire range of materials associated with the theatre performance: not just the scripts but also the visual materials, sound materials and the supporting materials and tell the story of what happened behind the scenes, giving a unique insight into the story of Irish theatre and of Irish society. Already in my recent visit to South America I encountered an avid interest to become immediately involved with this project.

Before I conclude I would like to acknowledge that the birth of the current Abbey archive was the result of a conversation between one of my predecessors as President –
Mary Robinson – and a man of the theatre whose philosophy and practice I have long admired – Patrick Mason.

Mar fhocal scoir ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le gach duine atá páirteach sa pháirtnéireacht seo agus comghairdeas a dhéanamh leo. Comhghairdeachas libh ar an ócáid speisialta stairiúil seo. Tá fhios againn go bhfuil beagnach dhá mhilliún mír i gcartlann Amharclann na Mainistreach. Tá fhios againn freisin go bhfuil drochbhail ar go leor di de dheasca na tine uafásaí ar an 18ú lá de Iúil 1951 nuair a scriosadh foirgneamh tosaigh Amharclann na Mainistreach. Trí dhigitiú a dhéanamh ar an ábhar cinnteofar go dtiocfaidh na míreanna seo ar fad slán don am atá le teacht, agus beidh slánú déanta ar scéal tábhachtach ceann de mhóramharclanna náisiúnta an domhain, áit ina bhfuil spás cruthaithe againn mar lucht freastail agus lucht éisteachta machnamhach ar mhaithe le smaointe dúshlánacha a chur chun cinn, spás do dhíospóireacht agus argóint, spás le ceisteanna misniúla a chur. Coinneoidh an chartlann dhigiteach seo an oidhreacht thábhachtach seo slán agus agus cuirfidh sí stair d’imagallamh leantach na Mainstreach ar taifead – an argóint leanúnach, go deimhin, faoi céard is Éire ann nó céard ar féidir a bheith inti.

[In conclusion I would like to thank, and congratulate, all those involved in this valuable partnership. We know that the Abbey Theatre archive consists of almost two million items. We also know that much of it is in a fragile condition following the terrible fire on the 18th July 1951 which destroyed the original Abbey Theatre building. Digitising the materials will ensure that all of these items can be preserved for the future, safeguarding the important story of one of the world's great national theatres; a place where we, as theatre makers and engaged audiences have created a space for the expression of challenging ideas; space for debate and argument; space for asking questions that require courage. This digital archive will protect that important legacy and will provide a history of the Abbey’s ongoing conversation – or indeed, its continuing argument – about what Ireland is and can become.]

I thank you all once again, I wish you every success with this valuable project and I am delighted to declare the partnership between the Abbey Theatre and the NUI Galway officially launched.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.