Moving Statues - Our Irish Heritage

Thanks to staff and
students from all partner
organisations for their
support and guidance
with this project.
National Museum of Ireland
Lorraine Comer Head of Education
Helen Beaumont Education Officer
Natalie Katona Education Assistant
Seán Kelly Senior Attendant
All the staff from the Education and
Facilities Departments
National College of Art and Design
Dervil Jordan Coordinator of the
Postgraduate Diploma in Art and
Design Education
Poetry Ireland
Jane O’Hanlon Education Officer
Larkin Community College
Máire O’Higgins Assistant Principal
Brian Cheevers Art Teacher
Siobhán McKenzie Art Teacher
Localise
Derek Cleary Director
Harry Keogh Education
Integration Officer
Lourdes Day Care Centre
Bernie Pierce Manager
Curriculum Development
Unit, CDVEC
Aidan Clifford Director

PARTNERSHIP
IN ACTION
In 2010 first year students at Larkin
Community College worked with
Storyteller Clare Muireann Murphy from
Poetry Ireland and Museum staff, to
investigate the ‘Soldiers and Chiefs’
exhibition at the National Museum. The
students developed their own stories
around their favourite characters from
Irish history and shared their stories to a
group of older people from Lourdes Day
Care Centre, in north inner city Dublin.
These same students worked with
Localise on a service-learning programme
involving their local community.
Working with Localise, the students
created an exhibition of portrait
photographs with members of the Lourdes
Day Care Centre entitled ‘Local Heroes’,
which is on display in the Museum. The
success of this initiative resulted in a three
year partnership in education programme.
Year 2 is the ‘Moving Statues’ project
which you see here today. The project grew
because of the generosity and
volunteerism of all partners, as well as a
fundamental belief in the holistic
development of young people as active
participants in the cultural and civic life of
their community.
‘Moving Statues’ takes the six statues on
O’Connell Street and develops an exchange
of stories between the older residents in
the local community and students at
Larkin Community College. By directly
engaging with their local history, the
students discovered the living stories of
the older residents in their area through
independent research, drama,
storytelling, music and puppet-making.
As part of ‘Moving Statues,’ Localise and
staff worked with two first year classes
in Larkin Community College, Class Pine
and Class Maple. The students’ task was to
invite senior citizens, carers and members
of the wider community to the
performance and personally accompany
them around the Museum.
A number of new partners were
involved in this second phase of this
partnership-in-education programme.
Students from the National College of Art
and Design’s Postgraduate Diploma in
Education worked with Transition Year
students from Larkin Community College
in making the puppets for the
performance.
The National Theatre of Ireland also
supported the project through provision
of a voice coach to help the students with
their voice projection.
The National Museum of Ireland’s
Education Department provided the
project with resources and a space to
work.
Poetry Ireland and the Curriculum
Development Unit are documenting the
project through video so that the findings
can be shared among partners and others.

Work in Progress

WELCOME
By Mikel Murfi - Director & Writer
“ Welcome to ‘Moving Statues’. I’m
Mikel, the director of this project,
which is all about community in an
educational context.
Larkin Community College asked me
if I’d be interested in working with
students from their school and the
Lourdes Day Care Centre, to make a
creative work that would bring the
students together with older members
of their community to share an
experience and to acknowledge the
value of people and their communities.
The National Museum asked me to do a
history project with their local
communities. I was delighted to be
asked. We wanted to come up with an
idea that the students and their elders
could research together. Knowing that
the Museum would be our host venue
we began to think of ideas to do with
history. History in a national sense and
history in a community context.
We’ve had great fun along the way.
We’ve made a mini-pageant.
We decided to research the lives of
the statues on O’Connell Street, after
all they’re only around the corner
from Larkin Community College, the
Lourdes Day Care Centre and not far
from the Museum! Then we decided to
build our own versions of the statues
so we could interview the statues and
have them talk to you, the audience. It’s
bringing history to life!
The statues we built are quite big and
we were helped by the students of the
National College of Art and Design.
Peter Casby from Galway worked with
the students to design the statues.
Poetry Ireland has documented the
whole process as well as encouraged all
the participants to develop a
confidence about performance and
delivery of texts.
We’re delighted that you’re here at the
Museum to see the results of our work.
It’s keeping history alive and well in the
Museum. Thank you for coming and
please come back again – there’s a lot to
enjoy here. ”

Sir John Gray

OUR CAST OF
CHARACTERS
Students from Larkin Community
College, NCAD and the ‘Chislers’ from
Lourdes Day Care Centre researched
the historical context for the Moving
Statues and Maisie. The script was
then written by Mikel Murfi using this
research.
The drawings and designs for the
statues’ heads were done by
Transition Year students and NCAD
students based on information given to
them by Larkin students.
Maisie
While we were rehearsing our play, we
decided that the character of Maisie
was born in Rutland Street, Dublin 1.
We gave Maisie a job in the Rosary Bead
Factory on Waterford Street, where she
polished the cow’s horns which had
been turned into rosary beads.
During rehearsals we learned that
that three of our performers actually
worked in the Rosary Bead Factory.
We also learned that part of our school,
Larkin Community College, was built
on the site of the Rosary Bead Factory!
James Larkin
Larkin Community College was named
after that great man himself Mr. Jim
Larkin.
>>

One of the Chislers in the performance
today actually met Big Jim and she
attended some of the rallies he held in
O’Connell Street.
Jim Larkin was born in Liverpool in
1874. When he was a young boy he went
to school in the morning and went to
work in the afternoons so he could help
out his family because they were
very poor.
He was the founder, chief organiser and
general secretary of the Irish Transport
and General Workers’ Union. He died
in 1947. His O’Connell Street statue was
sculpted by Oisín Kelly who also
created the Children of Lír in the
Garden of Remembrance.
The Museum has papers and pamphlets
of Jim Larkin’s, as well as a wallet that
he owned.
Daniel O’Connell
Daniel O’Connell was born in Co. Kerry
in 1775. He was the first Catholic
person to be a member of the
British Parliament, an MP. Up until
then only Protestant people were able
to represent the Irish people and Daniel
O’Connell didn’t think that was fair.
O’Connell is famous for his Monster
Meetings where up to one hundred
thousand people attended to hear
him speak.
He is known as the Great Liberator
because he helped all Irish people
realise that they were equal whatever
religion they belong to. He died in
1847. The monument to O’Connell was
designed and sculpted by John Henry
Foley. The four winged figures at the
base of the monument were meant to
represent O’Connell’s defining features
of patriotism, courage, fidelity and
eloquence. Two of the angels still have
bullet holes from the Easter Rising
of 1916.
Did you know that Daniel O’Connell
once killed a man in a duel – you can
find out more about the duel in the
Museum’s exhibition all about duelling
in Ireland, called ‘Blaze Away’.
Charles Stewart
Parnell
Born in 1846 in Co. Wicklow, Parnell
was the founder and leader of the Irish
Parliamentary Party. He believed that
Ireland should be ruled by Irish people,
with its own parliament. The poet W.B.
Yeats admired Parnell so much that he
wrote a poem to him after his death
called ‘Parnell’s Funeral’.
Parnell died at the early age of 45 in
1891. Over 200,000 people attended
his funeral. He is buried in Glasnevin
Cemetery. Parnell Square and Parnell
Street in Dublin 1 are named after him.

The Museum has a lot of objects that
relate to Parnell, including a Freedom
Box that he was given when he was
awarded with the freedom of the City of
Drogheda in 1884.
You can see the Freedom Box in the
‘Out of Storage’ Gallery.
Sir John Gray
Sir John Gray was born in 1815 in Co.
Mayo. He was a doctor, surgeon,
politician, journalist and newspaper
owner. He was a supporter of Daniel
O’Connell, and later of Charles Stewart
Parnell.
His development of the Dublin Water
Works was particularly important in
the improvement of conditions in the
city, and to public health, as it
improved sanitation and helped reduce
outbreaks of cholera, typhus and other
diseases associated with contaminated
water.
He died in 1875. His statue is by
Thomas Farrell. Both plinth and statue
are carved of white Sicilian marble, and
it was unveiled in 1879.
Fr Theobald Mathew
Father Theobald Mathew was born in
Co. Kilkenny in 1790. He is most
famous for his work with the Total
Abstinence Society which encouraged
people not to drink alcohol and live a
sober life. This was called ‘taking the
Pledge’. He held rallies attended by
hundreds of thousands of people.
The Movement started in Cork and
spread to Dublin, and then to England
and the United States of America. Fr
Mathew died in 1875. His statue was
sculpted by Mary Redmond.
William Smith
O’Brien
Born in Co. Clare in 1803, William
Smith O’Brien was one of the leaders of
the Young Irelanders. Although he was
from a wealthy family, he felt strongly
that landlords should treat people
fairly. He was arrested and sent to
prison in Tasmania, an island off South
Australia.
On his release from prison, he was
presented with a gold cup, as he’d
become something of a hero to Irish
people living in Australia. He was
eventually allowed to come back to
Ireland, where he died in 1864. His
statue is sculpted by Thomas Farrell.
You can see the gold cup that was made
for him on display in the Museum’s
‘Curator’s Choice’ gallery.

MAKERS
The first year students of Pine and Maple
classes bring senior citizens and their
carers to the performance on Saturday 19th
November 2011, as part of their Localise
Service to the Community Action Project.
Performers &
Puppet Technicians
From Larkin Community College
Eoinlee Bley
Leletu Busakwe
Jordan Cahill
Karl Flood
Vincentas Glusinskas
Dylan Lyons
Antanas Luobikis
Adrian Maciaszek
Okiki Olusona
Patrick Omudubello
Keji Otemolu
Rafiat Otemolu
John Paynor
Greta Rošyišyte
Lucky Silinga
Lee Stafford
Lucas Stankaitis
Chislers
From Lourdes Day Care Centre
Peggy Bradley
Tessie Carroll
Maggie Fagan
Paddy Murdiff
Joan Mc Adams
Florence O’Neill
Bernie Pierce
Bridie Scanlon
Crew, Puppet
Makers & Designers
From Larkin Community College
Merabi Bendalini
Laura Bradley
Marvin Caacbay
Niall Cahill
Ryan Carey
David Corrigan
Wayne Corrigan
Conor Cullen
Brenda De Salles
James Fitzpatrick
Glen Fitzsimons
Aaron Godfrey
Sean Gorman
Craig Grogan
Jake Hyland
Tori Meehan
Gerry Marsella
Dylan O’Brien
Andrea Rooney
Daniel Sands
Eddie Vlas
Alisha Wall
Michael Williams
Alexis Villamiya
NCAD
Faculty of Education
Melissa Brennan
Keith Coady
Aisling Crudden
Philip Daly
Emma Farrelly
Deirdre Harrington
Niamh Healy
Lucy Jones
Lesley Kelly
Andrew Kington
Lorna Kincaid
Emer Maher Dowling
Rebecca Matthews
Regina Mc Evoy
Sarah Mc Evoy
Tanya O’Halloran
Wiiiam O’Kane
Tina Quinn
Catherine Rogers
Carol Wade

ARTISTIC
PERSONNEL
Our gracious thanks to the artists below for
their help, plus special thanks to the Voice
Coach from the Abbey Theatre, Andrea
Ainsworth.
Director & Writer
Mikel Murfi is from Sligo and is and
actor and director. He has worked in
nearly of Ireland’s main theatres and in
film and television. He has worked on a
number of community based projects,
mainly with Macnas Theatre Company
in Galway. He has recently directed
Edna O’Brien’s ‘The Country Girls’ and
the National Youth Theatre’s show, ‘It
Only Happens In The Movies’.
Puppeteer
Peter Casby is an artist, puppet-maker
and designer from Galway. He
specialises in designing and creating
large scale puppets and props for street
theatre and spectacle events. Peter
has worked extensively with Macnas
Theatre Company, St Patrick’s Festival
Dublin and Kilkenny Creative Arts
Talent (KCAT) over the past 12 years.
He also works on community events.
Cameraman
Peter Salisbury is a film-maker and
drama teacher. He has worked as a
cameraman for the BBC and Channel 4.
He has worked extensively as a drama
teacher throughout the UK and Ireland.
He has recently finished making ‘From
Little Seeds’ for Poetry Ireland, a short
film about the Laureate na nÓg,
Siobhán Parkinson.
Costume Designer
Helen Lane, from Galway, is at present
costume and set designer with the
Portuguese Theatre Group, Teatro ao
Largo. Her work in community arts
includes the large mosaic projects in
Diamond Park and Mountjoy Square,
built with young people from Dublin’s
inner city and settled Travellers from
Pavee Point.
Lighting Design
Catapult Ltd

“During this project we get to learn
about the history of Ireland and we get
to work as a team, but the best part is
when we get to show off our great work
and perform it to the people of Ireland”
- Student
“The talent and unity in the classroom
on Wednesdays is absolutely fabulous
and the experience has left me with a
very young at heart feeling”
- Chisler