On Raftery’s Hill
One Raftery’s Hill
Abbey Theatre – Dublin
2018
Video Design – Daniel Denton
Production Design and Video Artwork – Joanna Parker
Director – Caitríona McLaughlin
Summary:
Red Raftery is a powerful man and used to getting what he wants. He owns 300 acres of the finest land this side of the Shannon and west of the Pale, where he lives with three generations of his family.
But there is something rotten on Raftery’s hill. The fields are full of animal carcasses and there is a stench in the air.
Set in a close-knit farming community, Marina Carr’s darkly comic and explosive play pushes a family to the limits.
The video design comprises of a series of figures floating in water and paint, filmed in collaboration with Artist and Designer Joanna Parker to create an implied landscape out of the the bodies of the three actresses
“Haunting video images of faces suffocating in sludge projected onto the rear wall. This cleverly explodes expectations of realism, shielding us from the grotesque animalism ahead.”
Fiona Charleton – The Irish Times