The Epic of Mael Duin

Summer 1998 Written and Directed by David Anderson

The Epic of Mael duin is a play of vengeance, fear, forgetfulness and forgiveness. Like many Clay and paper Theatre productions, The Epic of Mael Duin is a play for reticent adults, performed in parks and public spaces and thinly disguised as a play suitable for children. The Epic of Mael Duin is told with a large cast of rod puppets, lolli-puppets, hand puppets, actors and musicians. The Epic of Mael Duin is an ancient Irish tale from the ninth century told by Aed the Fair, chief sage of Ireland. It tells the story of the young, handsome, loved and pampered Mael Duin, son of a Prioress and an invading warrior. When Mael Duin learns that his warrior father was himself killed by the vicious Marauders of Liex, he goes on an Odyssey-like voyage of vengeance. Its long. Its strange. Its surprising. And in the end Mael Duin meets an ancient wise man, the hermit of Torach, who tells him to abandon his journey "for God has saved you from manifold great perils and you are all men deserving of death". Mael Duin quickly leaves the hermit, forgives his enemies as the hermit advised, and returns home to Ireland. And why do we tell this story? For the same reason that Aed told it to the people of Ireland. We tell it to you, the people of Toronto, to give you pleasure.