The gift of the gab Ciaran Gaffney, BA (2020), the creative force behind Seanchoíche (pronounced ‘ SHANNA-KEY-HA ’), discusses an innovative approach to Irish storytelling in the digital age with fellow graduate Luke Sheehan, BA (2005) In a world where portable screens encroach on every side, an alternative way of sharing is re-emerging. It is one that reaches back to the most elemental art, oral storytelling, with the twist that the live events invite inspired members of the audience to take to the stage. Ciaran Gaffney, a Trinity graduate still in his 20s, has blended the tradition of Irish storytelling with the dynamics of the present age, shaping a space for sharing that requires the intimacy that is removed in digital media by definition, but drawing on the directness and alertness that those formats have (by now) trained us all in. Having organised the format, Ciaran has got the word out so skilfully that the night has already migrated as far away as Melbourne and landed Guinness as a partner. In this interview, we look at the roots of Seanchoíche (from ‘Seanchaí’ for storyteller and ‘Oíche’ night) and have a glance at how it is evolving now – and where it is going next. DARING TO SPEAK IN EASTER WEEK Looking for a childhood moment that spurred him to celebrate stories, we find Ciaran – like many Irish kids at Easter – surrounded by family, with ‘cousins of all age groups, from different walks of life, cousins from different parts of the world. There would be big songs in early hours of the morning, a lot of convivial moments that involved a lot of people.’ Wanting to be part of that big family conversation, it seems, led to the idea of shaping a night where people would stand up and deliver in front of a crowd. ‘That experience allowed me to gravitate toward these environments and thrive in them,’ he says. At Trinity, he wasn’t involved in Players or a debating venue, but found a stage of sorts: sitting outside the Arts block, huddled around the wooden benches and tables, sharing anecdotes. ‘It was a house in Ranelagh where we were paying way too much to live in, and it was completely falling apart. One of the bathrooms jutted out from the ceiling. That was upstairs – and there was a crack in the roof of the ground floor that was underneath the shower base, getting bigger and bigger. So that crack was getting bigger, and meanwhile, there was a problem with the window. In a month like September, it was already cold and we could even tell it was going to get colder and colder. They eventually gave us a new window, and when we hired a builder to get it fitted in, it only took two blows of a hammer for the old one to come out of the bay, and the frame had loads of old newspaper stuffed in there. We read the newspapers, they were from when Pope John Paul II died.’ All the way back in 2005, in other words – when this writer had just graduated. At the same time, this was the house where he and his friends made some of their best memories. A precious place in the end, despite being referred to as ‘the Trainspotting house’ by some of the crew. After college, while pursuing a career initially in marketing, he travelled to Argentina and came across a live storytelling event, inspiring him to launch Seanchoíche back in Ireland with a simple online message: ‘Would you like to come to an event and hear people tell stories?’ He sold out the first night in no time to his online network of friends and by word of mouth, and expansion has continued over two years, with events in different cities hosted by guest hosts that he hires remotely. At this point, he explains, ‘I’m at a stage where I’ve been running it for two years on my own. I’ve had friends get involved, whether that’s photographers or videographers. Now though, I’ve just hired someone to work two days a week for me, which is really exciting because he has really good events experience, which will help us to expand because we’re in our expansion phase at the moment.’ FROM GUINNESS STOREHOUSE TO RURAL RESONANCE AND BEYOND In the summer of 2023, Seanchoíche did a tour of the west of Ireland in partnership with Guinness, with the collaboration starting in the Guinness Storehouse in July, then travelling to Donegal, moving all the way to Dingle via Westport and Matt Miller’s pub, ‘which was so special.’ Gaffney adds, ‘I think it’s really cool bringing it to the west of Ireland because that is where the traditional culture kind of comes from.’ Meanwhile, he adds, there is a drift of younger people back to the west, as people look for ways of settling in our too- centralised island, and that brings with it an opportunity to host an experimental night of the kind that might have been more heavily associated with Dublin. While oral storytelling may have deep and ancient roots, the confessional side of
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