Hermit of Comeraghs takes centre stage at lake
For almost 40 years, one of these caves was the home of a man called Jim Fitzgerald. Born in 1883 in the village of Lackendarra on the western slopes of the Comeraghs, he went off to fight with the British forces in World War I.
On returning home in 1919, the shell-shocked Fitzgerald, like many of his comrades from the Great War, could no longer live in normal society and roamed the slopes of the Comeraghs in search of peace, living like a hermit in a cave until his death in February 1959.
Now his story is being retold by a Waterford voluntary arts group as part of the second Comeraghs Wild Festival. In a performance with a difference, Rigout productions will stage the play Lackendarra Jim – A Hermit of the Comeragh Mountains near Coumshingaun lake. The bilingual spoken word event will take place after the Harvest Moon Walk to the lake, which will be led by mountaineer Michael Whelan. There is the option of staying overnight in a tent with supper and storytelling.
The play, written by Joe Meagher, was initially staged to great success at the Central Hall in Waterford last March.
“Joe has been researching Lackendarra for years and is really passionate about it. It’s an amazing story,” says producer and founder of Rigout, Éadaoin Breathnach. “It went down really well when we performed it in March, and Michael Whelan from MountainZone happened to see it. He did the moonlit walk with the Comeragh Wilds Festival last year and wanted to do that again but he wanted to incorporate Lackendarra Jim.
“To take the piece out of a theatre atmosphere is very exciting. For the first performance, the artist Marie Lynch did some wonderful paintings that were projected on the back wall. Now we have the actual landscape. She will still be doing some artwork but that will be displayed on the trail on the way up to the performance. The mountains are the theatre.”
Performing in such an out-of-the-ordinary setting comes with its own set of challenges, however.
“It’s not practical for us to do full technical rehearsals up there. It’s not really feasible to bring everybody up,” says Breathnach. “I am the musical director as well as the producer, so I’ve had some sleepless nights. We are going to be 385m above sea level, which is over 1,000 ft. I have to get speakers up there.” Not to mention an eight-piece orchestra. “Luckily, it’s a mix of guitars, harmonicas and whistles. I don’t have to get anyone to bring a double bass up there, even though there was one originally in the score.”
Breathnach says there has been huge interest in the production and its subject. “The first time we put the production on, I met a lovely man who had known Lackendarra Jim when he was a child.
“A friend’s grandmother came and she knew him as well. They were really impressed by how we handled him as a character, they felt we had given him great dignity.
“There is massive interest from around the area, there are people there who knew him and want to see how we portray him.”
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