Vincent Woods

Life
1960- ; b. Tarmon, Co. Leitrim; ed. Lough Allen College, Drumkeeran, and College of Journalism, Rathmines; newscaster and ‘Morning Ireland’ current affairs presenter at RTÉ, 1983-89; resigned to travel in New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific; plays for Druid Theatre Company are John Hughdy / Tom John, double-bill produced by Druid Theatre Co., Galway (1991); At the Black Pig’s Dyke (Druid 1992) was winner of Stewart Parker award (1993) and the Belfast Telegraph EMA;

also The Leitrim Hotel (1992), radio play, winner of P. J. O’Connor Award; wrote Song of the Yellow Bittern (Druid Th. Co. 1994), based on a case of 1829 when Daniel O’Connell sucessfully defended Tom Maguire, a Catholic priest against a Protestant woman in a paternity suit; issued The Colour of Language (1995), poems, with a cover ill. by Nick Miller; wrote Fontamara (Vesuvius Th. Co./ Collins Barracks, Dublin, 1998) - a play adapted from novel of Ignazio Silone; elected to Aosdána, Dec. 2000; issued A Cry from Heaven (2005), a play. DIL2.

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Works
Poetry
  • The Colour of Language (Dublin: Dedalus Press 1995), 66pp.
  • Lives and Miracles (Galway: Arlen House, 2006; Syracuse UP 2006), ill. [drawings by Charles Cullen].
Drama,
  • “At the Black Pig’s Dyke”, in John Farleigh, ed., Far from the Land: Contemporary Irish Plays, with a foreword by Sebastian Barry (London: Methuen 1998), 340pp. [with others by Conall Morrison, Enda Walsh, Patrick McCabe, Daragh Carville, Donal O'Kelly].
  • A Cry from Heaven (London: Methuen Drama 2005), 114pp.
A Portuguese translation of A Cry from Heaven as Um Grito do Céu was made by Domingos Nunez in 2006 for CIA Ludens Theatre Co. in (See Domingos Nunez, ‘A Brief History Of Cia Ludens and its Productions of Irish Plays in Brazil’, in Ilha do Desterro Florianópolis, 58 (Jan./June 2010), pp.479-505; pdf version at online.)
Productions,
  • Winter (Projects Arts Centre, Dublin, 2005), a version of the play by Jon Fosse.
  • King Ubu (Galway, 2006), version of Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry.
Miscellaneous
  • compiled. & ed., with Colleen Z. Burke, The Turning Wave: Poems and Songs of Irish Australia (Armidale, NSW : Kardoorair Press, 2001), 304pp., ill. [ports.]

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Criticism
Kevin Barry [interview], in Theatre Talk: Voices of Irish Theatre Practitioners, ed. Lilian Chambers, Ger Fitzgibbon, Eamonn Jordan, et al. (Blackrock: Carysfort Press 2001), pp.481-95.

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Quotations
“The Road West”: ‘If we had gone north, as we often did, to camp/in the pace of sanctuary / We might have met the soldiers leaving / the ridge of the rowan tree / We might have gone as far as the hill / of the two air demons to warn someone. / But we went west, away from history, we were / not there as witnesses to change.’ (The Colour of Language; reviewed by Peter Denman, ILS, Fall 1995, p.9.)

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Notes
At The Black Pig’s Dyke (1992) depicts a group of mummers in the borderland between North and South, blending their rituals of death with the all-too-modern assassins going about their awful task (COPAC online.)

Song of the Yellow Bittern (1994) is based on a case of 1829 when Daniel O’Connell sucessfully defended Tom Maguire, a Catholic priest against a Protestant woman in a paternity suit.

A Cry from Heaven (2005): A Classic Irish myth of revenge and betrayal in poetic retelling The story of Deirdre and the Sons of Usna ... a story of love, hatred and revenge The story of the beautiful Deirdre and the Sons of Usna is one of the great tragedies of Irish myth. The birth of a girl heralded by omens of a vulture-shrouded sky begins the drama of a King's obsession and a land divided. When Deirdre unites with her lover Naoise and goes into exile with the Sons of Usna, the stage is set for betrayal and bloodthirsty revenge that will plunge all Ulster into darkness.Vincent Woods's poetic retelling of the myth of Deirdre transforms this timeless story into a compelling contemporary drama. Published to tie in with the world premiere at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in June 2005. (COPAC online.)

The Holland handerchief (2003): Woods has written the sleeve-notes to The Holland handkerchief by Mary McPartlan ([Ireland]: McP Productions 2003), a digital sound disc + booklet (col. ill., ports.) [CPRCD 001] which incls. arrangements of traditional songs and songs by named composers - performed variously by McPartlan (vocals), Shamie O'Dowd (guitars, electric bass, fiddles, harmonicas, vocals), Mairtín O’Connor (accordion), Paddy Keenan (Uilleann pipes), Liam Kelly (flutes, whistle), Tom Morrow (fiddle), Eddie Lynch (piano, keyboards), Cathal Hayden (banjo), Fergal Gallagher (string bass), Danny Byrt (drums, djembe, percussion), Mary Staunton (backing vocals), Martina Goggin (backing vocals). Contents: The Holland handkerchief (5:42); Rainy night in Soho (4:02); Johnny lovely Johnny (3:57); The tide full in (4:01); Ladybird (5:05); Lord Gregory (3:21); John Riley (3:31); Lovely sailor boy (3:59); As I roved out: Joe O'Dowd's barndance (3:23); Peat bog soldiers (3:33); Saw you running (3:50); [L]aura Lee (3:51); Slieve gallion braes (2:34).

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