What makes a hero? Is it lineage, personal achievement, a hot bod? Maybe all three combined?
Classical Ireland had a sure answer to this question. To be a hero meant perfection. Combat prowess to the extreme, personal beauty exactly fitting the codified colour system laid out in songs innumerable. Golden or pitch-black hair, white skin and blood red cheeks. They had to be adept poets, generous and hospitable. Worthy of praise poems, to be passed down the ages, singing your glory.
But when your dad, a suffering addict, is your hero- how do you find the words to praise him? How do you live up to his legacy, when you find out you never really knew him? These are questions Sinéad O’Brien grapples with in the glorious hour of storytelling that makes up Hero/Banlaoch.
Growing up a starry-eyed child in Ireland, Sinéad is no stranger to adventure. She is well versed in the classical myths and tales which effortlessly flow through her performance. The adventures of Oisín, Fionn mac Cumhaill, Gráinne, and Diarmaid intertwine with her own tales of a childhood caught between two adults with their own struggles to deal with.
Hero/Banlaoch beautifully sets her own O’Brien family against the storied O’Briens of ancient Ireland. Connected through name, the juxtaposition of the two mirrored worlds is expressed as gracefully and tragically as the original myths themselves.
Heady questions of legacy, family strife, and connection are considered deftly with a clear answer never forced. Sinéad’s knack for turning the old and awkward light and conversational is profound. The down to earth storytelling she gives to us is worth its weight in gold- the same precious gold that could only clad a hero.
Hero/Banlaoch, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 17:30, until August 25
