Tallaght Community Arts CEO and Creative Director Sharon Devlin Photo Credit: Conor Keegan and Leo Kearney
Returning to the Tallaght of the 1970s, one story at a time
“I MOVED to Tallaght as a child in the 1970s when Tallaght was a very, very different place than the busy streets we know today,” explains Tallaght Community Arts CEO and Creative Director Sharon Devlin.
The Chronicles of Tallaght is a two-day time machine festival, produced by Tallaght Community Arts.
The initial concept for the project first came about several years ago, when Sharon decided that the community of Tallaght deserved to be celebrated in a way that reflects its “humble, beautiful, and varied beginnings”.
Sharon describes that when she first moved to Tallaght, there was much construction, new housing estates, much unknown, but also much promise.
“There wasn’t a lot to go around, and our communities worked together to create the resources that we needed.”
This free, two-day arts festival has been devised by the TCA to celebrate the people of Tallaght who worked to build the resources that we need as a community.
Sharon and her team called it The Chronicles of Tallaght because they wanted it to be a story about the people of Tallaght, “past, present and future”.
It is a celebration of humanity and the will to thrive, which is a “constant thread throughout all of our endeavours as a community”, according to Sharon.
The scope of the project was originally going to stem from 769 AD to the present day. It would be an exploration and celebration of the rich histories, stories, diversities, challenges and successes of the community of Tallaght and its people.
It quickly became apparent that such a big project spanning over twelve-hundred years might just be a “slight overreach”.
So, although the ethos remained, the decided to focus this, the first iteration of The Chronicles of Tallaght, on the Tallaght one might recognise from the 1970s and the 1980s.
The Two-Day Time Machine Festival begins at the Making Space in Mountain Park with an immersive bus tour of Tallaght with live performances by the group’s “brilliant” actors and an audiovisual presentation of their Chronicles film, ‘Wheeling In The Years’.
The last stop on the tour will be a 1980s-style street party back at the Making Space with music and laughter and joy.
The TCA hopes you can join them for one of their six free performances, at 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm on Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11.
Tickets are free, but booking is essential, as places are limited; tickets can be booked on Eventbrite by searching for ‘Chronicles of Tallaght’.
This event is sponsored by the Arts Council, SDCC Arts, and Creative Ireland.
