Brokentalkers presents Bellows

Bellow tells the extraordinary real-life story of one of Ireland’s foremost accordionists, Danny O’Mahony, a man who has dedicated his life to the preservation of traditional Irish music and to the mastery of his craft.

Bellow takes the audience on a raw, intimate, deeply personal journey of self-reflection, passion, and the pursuit of artistic purpose. Bellow weaves together past and present as Danny revisits pivotal moments in his life, his first taste of music as a child, the mentors who shaped him and the unrelenting pursuit of mastery that left room for little else.

Alongside Danny’s sublime live playing, Bellow features an original electronic composition by Valgier Siggurdson, new writing and contemporary dance, heightening the tension between past and present.

Bellow is a unique and astonishingly beautiful theatre performance exploring what it means to be an artist.

Credits:

Written & Created by Feidlim Cannon, Gary Keegan & Danny O’Mahony

Performed by: Danny O’Mahony, Gary Keegan & Emily Kilkenny Roddy

Movement Director: Eddie Kay

Sound Design & Composition: Valgeir Sigurðsson

Set Design: Sabine Dargent

Lighting Design: Sarah Jane Shiels

Costume Design: Sarah Foley

Dramaturg: Bjarni Jonsson

Mask Design & Construction: Ger Clancy

Creative Producer: Rachel Bergin

Bellow is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland.

Co-Produced by The Everyman, Droichead Arts Centre, Mermaid Arts Centre and Town Hall Theatre Galway.

Supported by Dublin Theatre Festivals Futures Award.

Touring is kindly supported by the Arts Council 

Brokentalkers

Brokentalkers are a multi-award winning Dublin based theatre company, led by Co-Artistic Directors Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan with Creative Producer Rachel Bergin. Brokentalkers was founded in 2001 by Cannon and Keegan after graduating from De Montfort University in Leicester. For over 2 decades Brokentalkers have been making formally ambitious work that defies categorization and have built a reputation both at home and internationally as one of Ireland's most innovative and original theatre companies.

Their working method is founded on a collaborative process that draws on the skills and experiences of a large and diverse group of contributors from different disciplines and backgrounds. Some are professional artists, performers, designers and writers and others are people who do not usually work in the theatre but who bring an authenticity to the work that is compelling.

They make work that responds to the contemporary world, using elements such as original writing, dance, classic texts, film, interviews, found materials and music to represent that world in performance.

Their notable work includes: Everything Falls (Project Arts Centre, Town Hall Theatre), Bellow (Project Arts Centre, Droichead Arts Centre & The Everyman, 2024) Manifest (Project Arts Centre, 2023) The Boy Who Never Was (Dublin Theatre Festival 2022), MASTERCLASS (Winner: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 2022, Premiered at Project Arts Centre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2021), The Examination (Premiered at Project Arts Centre 2019, followed by a run in both Edinburgh and Dublin Fringe Festival 2019; Winner of Best Production & Best Soundscape Irish Times Theatre Awards 2020, Winner of Best Production and Best Performer, Dublin Fringe Festival 2019), Woman Undone (Premiered at Project Arts Centre & Mermaid Arts Centre 2018, followed by National Tour 2019 & 2020), The Circus Animals’ Desertion (Dublin Theatre Festival 2016), This Beach (Munich Kammerspiele, Dublin Fringe Festival 2016, followed by National Tour 2017), Have I No Mouth (Dublin Fringe Festival 2012, followed by National & International Tour; winner of Total Theatre Award, Edinburgh 2013) and The Blue Boy (Grand Prix winner, Kontakt Festival, Torun, Poland, 2014).

As well as touring their work regularly throughout Ireland, Brokentalkers have presented their work in Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, New Zealand and the USA.

Their work has been performed at prestigious venues and festivals including: Sydney Opera House,

Théâtre de la Ville, Festival de Liège, The Malthouse, Irish Arts Centre, Brighton Festival and Southbank Centre.

Brokentalkers are Project Artists, an initiative of Project Arts Centre.

Brokentalkers are Associate Artists field:arts, Dublin

Brokentalkers are Associate Artists LOKAL Performing Arts, Reykjavik.

www.brokentalkers.ie

Danny O’Mahony Bio.

Danny O’Mahony is a traditional musician from Ballyduff in North County Kerry. He grew up playing music with the older generation of musicians in his locality. His late father Mick had a very positive influence on Danny as a young child and nurtured his keen ear and interest in traditional Irish music. Both imaginative and fearless in his interpretation, Danny’s musical style is expressive and deeply personal, and reflects his affinity with the music of past masters. His performance abilities have been acknowledged through winning Junior & Senior All-Ireland titles and graduating from the University of Limerick with a Masters in Performance. 

In 2013 Danny was awarded Top Button Accordionist (US, IRE, EU, UK) by the Irish Music Association in America. 2011 saw the release of Danny’s long awaited and critically acclaimed debut solo recording ‘In Retrospect‘ accompanied by Patsy Broderick on piano, Cyril O’Donoghue on bouzouki and Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh on percussion.He collaborated with concertina maestro Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh in 2012 and released their duet album, aptly titled ‘As it Happened’. This features Danny & Mícheál playing unaccompanied in the comfort of Mícheál’s kitchen. ‘As it Happened’ was awarded Instrumental Album of the year by LiveIreland Music Awards.

In recent years Danny has been collaborating with leading Irish theatre company Brokentalkers on a new theatre production that features his personal story and his music. Bellow was presented in Project Arts Centre, Droichead Arts Centre and The Everyman in 2024 and begins touring nationally and internationally in 2025.

Bellow is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland.

Co-Produced by The Everyman, Droichead Arts Centre, Mermaid Arts Centre and Town Hall Theatre Galway.

Supported by Dublin Theatre Festivals Futures Award.

This tour is kindly supported by the Arts Council