There is probably no better way to finish the Christmas celebrations, than heading along to Kirk Michael to celebrate Oie’ll Verree.
Inside the small, packed Ebeneezer Hall, a line up of talented musicians, magicians, poets, actors and young dancers performed, delighted, cheered and put on a wonderful night’s entertainment, expertly compered by Zoe Cannell.
First on the stage were the young dancers from Skeddan Jiarg. They ranged from as young as four years old and performed some well known classic Manx dances, including a remarkably confident performance of ‘Gorse Sticks’, by seven year old Frank Joughin. He also played the fiddle, alongside his father, accordionist Jamie Smith.
There was music from young folk group ‘Scran’, and classical musicians Lucas and Samuel Fields, who played violin and cello.
Proving that not all the entertainment had to be traditional-based, Lexi Watterson, 15, treated the crowd to a well-received display of magic tricks and illusions.
A large part of the night was given to the performance of dialect players and poems. Jennifer Draskau-Kewley and Jackie Faragher performed a hilarious version of a short comedy sketch, ‘The Choir Practice’, and the night was ended by another dialect play, ‘The Charm’.
This was superbly played by the two central actors, Rebecca Traynor and Simon Clarke, who both showed fabulous comic timing with their portrayal of a bickering couple who, with the aide of a bit of witchcraft, find their roles reversed. Nicola Curphy played ‘Pye’, the wonderfully haggard pipe-smoking crone.
This will be performed again this weekend at the Peel Centenary Centre, and is well worth watching.
In between the plays, there were some terrific readings of poetry, one by John Kaighin and two self-penned verses by the Manx Bard, John ‘Dog’ Callister, including a very funny poem called ‘Boat In The Morning.’
The evening was organised by Michael Heritage Trust, who also awarded their annual ‘Yn Gligyr’ trophy, given for services to Kirk Michael Heritage, to Rob Cubbon.
