The Seanchaí
Éamon Kelly was born in 1914 and grew up in Sliabh Luachra, a part of East Kerry that is
steeped in music, song, dance and story. He left school at fourteen and was apprenticed to his
father a wheelwright and master craftsman. After attending night-schools he trained as a
vocational teacher. While working as a teacher in Listowel he became a member of the local
drama group. Later he and his wife Maura O'Sullivan won places with the Radio Éireann Repertory
Company. He joined the Abbey Theatre in 1967 and toured with them to London, Edinburgh,
New York, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Éamon also worked with the Gate Theatre and was in its production of Brian Friels' Philadelphia, Here I Come which went to the Westend and Broadway where he was nominated for a Tony award for his part as the father in the play. He is probably best known as the last great Seanchaí or traditional storyteller. The roots of his storytelling can be found in childhood memories of the neighbours talking at his father's fireside. His love of people, of dialect and local colour prompted him to tell the stories of the countryside on radio and television. In 1975 Éamon joined forces with Abbey director Michael Colgan to stage a one-man storytelling show, In My Fathers Time at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin. Its success exceeded all expectations and every June for seven years a new storytelling show by Éamon Kelly opened at the same theatre. These he toured in Ireland and America. He was also the author of six best-selling volumes of stories based his one man shows. In 1998 Éamon Kelly's stories were collected for the first time in the publication 'Ireland's Master Storyteller : The Collected Stories of Éamon Kelly. These stories are of the real Kerry and the magical past, the heartbreak of emigration, the station, the priests, the courting and dancing, the war between the sexes. He has also published two volumes of memoirs, 'The Apprentice' and 'The Journeyman'. Storytelling, he claims, is the oldest form of entertainment. It was practised before the written word. In ancient Ireland stories were handed down from generation to generation and the Seanchaí was held in such high esteem that he sat at the same table as the king. Like many great storytellers Éamon claims that storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment, an art that had been perfected long before the written word appeared. In North Kerry the rich oral tradition has been the foundation of the thriving literary tradition. Éamon never forgot his Kerry routes and returned regularly to perform throughout the County. One of his last performances was at the official opening of Seanchaí - Kerry Literary & Cultural Centre in Listowel in April, 2001. The Centre features a room dedicated to this great storyteller.
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