Photography by James Ireland

my "best" friend left me in the river with my uilleann pipes to die
Performed as part of Scene + Heard Festival, Dublin, 2025
Photography by James Ireland

About the play
Gig theatre meets its watery end
Through gig theatre and dark humour, this production explores themes of disability, burnout, and resilience, featuring live folk/trad-fusion music on uilleann pipes, bass guitar, synthesiser, and cello— and a mysterious Toad Man with an appetite for souls
From the winners of the 2022 Axis Green Arts Award, and 2022 VAULT x Staging Change Award, Bradán.
15 + 16 February, 6:30pm
Smock Alley Main Space, Dublin
Scene and Heard Festival 2025.
Follow our journey creating the show on instagram @bradantheatre

Image by Ste Murray
Production team
(Work-in-progress)
Performed by Kate Bauer and James Ireland
Written by Kate Bauer and James Ireland
Music by Kate Bauer and James Ireland
Costume by Kate Bauer
Produced by Orla Devlin and Bradán
Staged as a work-in-progress at Scene + Heard Festival, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.
15 + 16 February, 6:30pm.
About the music
Kate Bauer and have collaboratively composed original music for the show (and one re-arrangement of an old folk tune!), using uilleann pipes, cello, synthesiser, bass guitar, and vocal harmonies.
It's been great fun finding a musical language that fits these instruments together. What we've come up with is a blend of electro-folk that moves across the show from heartfelt acoustic songwriting to cavernous psychedelic trad fusion. Once the uilleann pipes are hooked up to the distortion, reverbs, and delays there's no going back! It should be a fun one!