Our Productions

Nochtaithe (Unveiled) is an artistic response to the survivor testimonies gathered and archived as part of the Tuam Oral History Project, but is not a documentary or re-enactment of those testimonies. Instead, staff and students drew from the survivor testimonies as core material to devise a selection of scenes, further contextualised by the various institutional histories in Ireland. These scenes formed a type of hybrid performance that became filmed rather playing to a live audience due to COVID-19. Nochtaithe features performance, dance and movement, poetry, performance art, installation, music, digital media, audio extracts from survivors of the Tuam institution, interviews with TOHP PI-s Dr Sarah Anne Buckley and Dr John Cunningham, and archivist Dr Barry Houlihan. The sound design also includes a guest performance by acclaimed poet and novelist Elaine Feeney.

Nochtaithe was devised, performance and produced by Drama and Theatre Studies, led by Dr Miriam Haughton who collaborated with Dr El Putnam (Digital Media) as well as participating in workshops led by ANU Productions to develop skills for working with testimonies and archives in performance. A live performance of ‘Emer’s Dream’ by celebrated Irish musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire became a key feature of the performance, providing a visceral soundscape that captures the tragedy of the history, but also acknowledges the courage of survivors for sharing their most intimate and difficult memories. Nochtaithe hopes to achieve something similar; facilitating a site of intergenerational dialogue which acknowledges the harrowing experiences of survivors and their families, while also suggesting there is potential for social and cultural transformation through listening to others, through education and by carefully confronting a shared past fractured by trauma. Nochtaithe was made with the support of the Tuam Home Alliance, and we would like to acknowledge their generosity and courage in sharing their life stories with us.

Nochtaithe premiered in the Bealtaine Festival (May 2021) and Liverpool Irish Festival (October 2021). To view the performance,

click: https://vimeo.com/563839970/f974853535