An Klondike echoes what is happening in present-day America
GREED, violence, the pursuit of justice and the displacement of native peoples to exploit their resources. These are the themes that underscore the acclaimed TG4 drama An Klondike, which returns for a second season this week.
The bilingual western, produced by Connemara-based Abú Productions, follows the adventures of the Connolly brothers, Irish emigrants to the Yukon during the gold rush of the 1890s; but the echoes of what is happening in present-day America will not be lost on audiences.
“Even though it is a period piece, we are telling a contemporary story. When we were writing it, that was very much at the forefront of our minds, that this was a story that could be told any time,” says creator and director Dathaí Keane.
The inspiration for the drama came from a combination of a trip to north-western Canada when Keane was working on another programme for TG4 and the memoirs of an Irish immigrant who had lived there.
“I didn’t want to shoehorn the Irish language into a cop drama or something like that. It was about looking for opportunities where we could put the language in a natural context. One of the programmes I had done had brought me up to northern Ontario. I had also read a book [Rotha Mor an tSaoil] by Micí McGabhann, a Donegal emigrant who went to America in the 1890s and had gone to the Klondike. I was immediately gripped by the idea of setting something in that location and doing it as a western.”
While the first season was all about setting up the story of the Connolly brothers and getting them to the Klondike, the second season has given Keane and writer Marcus Fleming more freedom to explore their characters.
“We have more of an opportunity to get under their skin and really see what’s driving them. It gets a bit murkier as they are ascending to a position of power, and it becomes more about what they are prepared to do to hold onto that.”
The series is filmed entirely in the west of Ireland, with the set for the town of Dominion, where most of the action takes place, constructed at Glengowla mines in Co Galway.
“When I pitched the series to broadcasters, I had gone out and shot photographs of some locations, taken the colour out of them and put them besides shots of the Yukon. Immediately, everyone was able to see that visually, we could really do this,” says Keane. “The other thing about these gold rush towns is that they were shanty towns. There was a lot of carpentry work involved in building the set but at the same time, it was something we could achieve with the budget we had.”
The show won four awards at last year’s IFTAs, including best drama. Did this mean added pressure to raise the bar for season two?
“You do the first one and you are very much feeling your way through the material whereas we hit the ground running on this season; we knew exactly what we were about. The actors are coming back to characters they already know and can get into deeper work much quicker.”
The first series of the show has also been released on streaming service Netflix, with the title Dominion Creek. “It’s doing really well and we are getting great feedback internationally. Also, we cut a feature-film version of the first season which has travelled to festivals all over the world.”
Keane is hoping the continued success of the show will lead to a third season being commissioned so the story arc can reach a natural conclusion.
“The Klondike gold rush burned itself out in three quick years. If there is an opportunity there to come back and finish the story with a third series, we would be keen to do that.”
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