Live Review: Ancient Rain (Dark Mofo)

Singer and actor Camille O'Sullivan describes poetry as a "living art form" in her home country of Ireland. Together with iconic Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly and pianist and composer Feargal Murray, they have created Ancient Rain, a moving tribute to one hundred years of Irish poetry, set to music works by Yeats, Heaney and Kavanagh along with more contemporary poets. The result is one part folk, one part theatre and one part rock opera.

Kelly's voice with its distinctively flat timbre is the perfect compliment to O'Sullivan, who whispers, rasps and passionately sings and acts her way through the repertoire. The highlight of her performance is the incredibly moving rendition of The Statue Of The Virgin At Granard Speaks, a poem by Paula Meehan that tells the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who dies giving birth at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Each musician on the stage adds to the flavour of the performance. From Kelly's trademark folk sounding electric-acoustic guitar, to his nephew Dan Kelly's lead guitar and effects pedals which add to the drama of the fuller numbers. Murray on piano and keyboard is masterful, as is percussionist Paul Byrne who plays his kit with flair and takes to the front of the stage with a traditional Irish Bodhran drum. A surprisingly lovely addition to the band is Sokol Koka on cello who stretches the limits of what his instrument can do, with dazzling pizzicato and playing so high on the fret board at times to sound more like a violin.

Ancient Rain played to a full house at the Hobart Federation Concert Hall on Saturday night to kick off the start of the Dark Mofo festival, and although the audience seemed enthusiastic, there was uncertainty whether most had been brought in by the big ticket name of Paul Kelly and were expecting something entirely different and more familiar. One thing about Dark Mofo attendees, however, is their willingness to embrace experimental art forms and Ancient Rain is definitely that, not fitting the mould of traditional theatre, and instead forging a new genre out of an unlikely combination of spoken word, musical theatre and a live band.

If you have an interest in Irish poets or history you will no doubt love Ancient Rain, if you're not familiar it can be hard to keep up at times, but an enjoyable show none the less.