Molly Malone’s voice will echo over the streets of Dublin as the Molly Malone statue on Suffolk Street becomes the latest addition to the Fáilte Ireland Talking Statues initiative for Dublin. The statue will be given a voice by US student Michaela McMahon, who won an open public competition to pen the words spoken by the Molly Malone statue, with her winning script subsequently narrated by actress and singer Maria Doyle Kennedy.
McMahon had just completed a semester at University College Cork as an exchange student when she won the competition. She returned from America this week to attend the Molly Malone Talking Statue's official launch.
Perfectly Captured
Speaking at the launch, head of Dublin at Fáilte Ireland Kevin Fagan said, “Last March we ran a competition in conjunction with the Abbey Theatre to let the public decide what Molly Malone would say from her perch in Dublin as she surveys the city and its people, and sees the changes which have occurred over the last 300 years. I think it’s wonderful that an Irish-American student in Ireland to study for a few months could capture so perfectly a sense of Molly Malone and what she means to Dublin and its people. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world visit the statue each year. Now we have brought Molly to life.”
"More Than The Girl In The Song"
Meanwhile, McMahon commented, “I had to try and solve different challenges with this project; how do you write from the perspective of a figure who is more of an amalgamation or symbol, and how do you do that in a way that catches the attention of the public? I thought that it would be an interesting piece to try and create. Most of the other statues involved in the project are commemorations of real people, which means that there is a wealth of information to draw upon. Molly, on the other hand, is more of a symbol. I had no idea what I thought she would say, and that was what really grabbed my attention. I was attracted to the originality of the project and the creative challenge it presented. The song 'Molly Malone' is really the only time that we picture her, so I tried to make her character a little more defined for people, to make her more than the girl in the song.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
