In only a few years, Gort became the most Brazilian town in Ireland. Now, it’s the inspiration behind a drama to be performed at the Cúirt International Literary Festival
IT IS 2006 and the west of Ireland is being buffeted by a hurricane of change. One rural town in particular, a town that has remained unchanged for generations, is witnessing dramatic transformations.
Everywhere you look, the familiar is being replaced by the exotic. The language tripping from people’s tongues is as likely to be Portuguese as it is English. In the shops, potatoes and cabbages sit alongside okra and pinto beans.
This is Gort in Co Galway, a town whose population swelled from 1,776 in 2002 to 2,646 in 2006. The vast majority of these newcomers were Brazilian, lured by the promise of work in Gort’s meat processing factories and building sites.
The influx started quietly, when a local meat producer advertised for skilled workers in the rural Brazilian state of Goiás. A trickle of young men began to arrive; a trickle that was soon augmented by wives, friends and family members.
“They dovetailed well with life here because they moved from one rural place to another,” recalls Frank Murray, a community worker with Gort Family Resource Centre. “And they were welcomed because they were seen as saviours of the local meat industry.”
In 2009, that situation has changed once more. “More than half of them have gone,” estimates Frank. “But some have remained. There will be a Brazilian aspect of life in Gort from now on.”
These Brazilians, who at one time made up almost half of the local community, have changed Gort forever. They have also inspired an unusual theatrical performance. Stories of a Yellow Town, which will be staged at this week's Cúirt International Literary Festival in Galway, captures a unique moment in the life of this town.
The performance is essentially a collaboration between the Gombeens and the people of Gort. The Gombeens are Irish-Spanish duo Jonathan Gunning and Miquel Barceló. They met at the Jacques le Coq School of Mime and Theatre in Paris and formed the Gombeens in 2005.
Their aim is to bring theatre to the streets of Ireland. As self-styled modern-day minstrels, they have performed at fair days and festivals all over the country. “We’re troubadours,” explains Gunning. “We go from village to village, bringing stories and news.”
They arrived in Gort last August. As artists in residence with Galway Co Council, they had been asked to create a performance based on life in the county. “Gort chose itself,” says Barceló. “As an intercultural duo, we’re attracted to that aspect of modern life and all the different stories that go with it – stories of arrival, departure, love and heartache.”
Gathering these stories was a challenge. The process of winning the community’s trust took months. But by attending local events and slowly getting to know the people, Gunning and Barceló were eventually able to delve deeper. People told them the stories of their lives.
Nineteen of these stories are interwoven in the finished performance. Some are told from the local community’s perspective; others from the Brazilians’. Some are positive; others negative; most mixed.
It’s a rounded tale of life in Gort at the height of the Celtic Tiger.
There’s laughter in the tale of the Brazilian woman trying to catch a bus to Gort from Galway. She asks a bus driver where she can find one and the curt response she receives is, “behind”. For the next 20 minutes, she searches frantically for the non-existent bus to “behind”.
There’s agony in the dilemma faced by the man who has to choose between spending the last of his money on his electricity bill at home in Brazil or on a passport that would allow him to move to Ireland.
There’s joy in the story of seeing snow for the first time. Brazilian adults and children take to the streets in wonderment as their Irish counterparts watch in astonishment from behind net curtains.
These locals have their say, too. “An old lady told us how she jumped out of her skin when she first saw so many dark-skinned people on the streets of Gort,” says Gunning.
An older man spoke with admiration of the Brazilians work ethic. “What he said was that they reminded him of the Irish of his generation,” adds Gunning.
Others were less impressed. Reflecting the inevitable backlash against the immigrant workforce following the downturn of the economy, some youngsters complained that Brazilians were taking all the jobs.
Gunning and Barceló have taken these diverse narratives and fashioned them into a subtle and understated performance. Using a sparse set consisting of little more than suitcases and hats, they reconstruct the stories simply, allowing them to speak for themselves.
Stories of a Yellow Town
will be performed tonight in the Spirit Centre, Galway, at 7pm and 9pm and tomorrow in the Róisín Dubh at 5pm and 8pm as part of the Cúirt International Literary Festival