Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Hero/Banlaoch
Sinéad O’Brien
Genre: Storytelling
Venue: Scottish Storytelling Center
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Hero/Banlaoch effortlessly combines Irish folklore with tales of storyteller Sinéad O’Brien’s own experiences growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother coping with a mental illness. O’Brien’s soothing voice and convincing physicality bring the audience along on her various adventures, making it easy to remember the importance of storytelling in Irish, and indeed any, culture. This is one for lovers of folktales, feelings of connection, and plain old-fashioned storytelling from one of the best in the business.
Review
Sinéad O’Brien, also at the Fringe with her stunning show No One Is Coming, is something surprisingly rare. As soon as she starts talking, beginning with stories of her larger-than-life grandfather and his resemblance to Irish king Brian Boru, one feels a sort of primal pull to listen. This is one of the earliest forms of art in humanity, one that we go a long time without these days, so when a fabulous one comes along, it’s easy to spot.
We all mythologize our families, especially when we’re young, and Hero/Banlaoch does a beautiful job portraying the breaking down of those myths as one grows older. Through tales of the warrior Fionn, his poet son Oísin, and the beautiful princess Gráinne, O’Brien seamlessly weaves in her life’s own heroes, and asks of both whether or not they deserve the title. We get through a lot in a single hour, and yet the pacing never feels rushed. O’Brien has a wonderful facility for timing, both tragic and humorous. Only at the end does it feel somewhat abrupt, but I couldn’t tell if that was because it felt sudden, or I just wanted to listen to another hour of stories.
The difference between storytelling and theatre or stand-up is never more clear than in works such as these. The combination of imagery and physicality are all important, as is a rapport with the audience. O’Brien has all of these qualities in spades; she endeared herself to the audience immediately, taking our hands and bringing us on one of the adventures her father was so known for. Maybe it’ll be to a trash dump, maybe it’ll be to the river where the Salmon of Knowledge lives, but we’re going all the same. Because we are in such safe hands, when more difficult subject material comes up, such as O’Brien’s mother’s habit of having conversations with people who aren’t there, or her own misreading of her closeness with her father, the emotional impact is both gentle and real. In these moments, O’Brien is particularly brilliant in portraying what she herself felt as a child while simultaneously letting the audience come to the adult version’s conclusion. This is most obvious in moments where a young O’Brien recites the mantra she and her father share: “ God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. It is a perfect example of how O’Brien always leads her horse to water, and lets them decide whether or not to drink.
I left Hero/Banlaoch feeling the effects of a story well told: thoughtful, curious, and a nice sort of communal melancholy. I won’t underestimate its value again, especially when the story is of this caliber, and the storyteller is Sinéad O’Brien.
Hero/Banlaoch is at the Scottish Storytelling Center until 25th August at 17:30.
