The Story
The Middle Yard is a story of family loyalty, love, ambition and corruption. The great hero Lugh Lamfhota is prophesised to be the only man capable of killing the people’s greatest foe – Balor, King of the Fomorians. Lugh returns to Ireland to take up the challenge for which he has been brought into the world, leading his people to war with the Fomorians. Parallel with his journey towards greatness, Lugh is drawn towards power and war as he tackles division amongst his people and confronts the murderous Sons of Tuirenn. A gripping story-within-the-story unfolds, telling of three son's magical quest to satisfy Lugh's demands, to win numerous treasures and, perhaps, to save their own lives, against a backdrop of rising tensions and a fight for Ireland itself.
The story which forms the source material for The Middle Yard is Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann (The Fate of the Sons of Tuirenn), one of three stories known traditionally as the ‘Three Sorrows of Storytelling’. It is one of numerous sagas based on the life and exploits of Lugh Lamfhota, one of Ireland’s greatest heroes.
Lugh (Lugos – possibly ‘The Shining One’) was one of the major Celtic gods of prehistoric Europe; many places, including Lyons, Leiden and Liegnitz, were named after him. Stories of Lugh have circulated orally for centuries, continually to the modern age. Some of these stories found their way into written texts in the 11th Century, in manuscripts created by Christian monks, now housed in various libraries in Ireland and elsewhere. Other tales were invented later, filling in gaps in the stories or adding layers on top of the ancient tales. The stories, and scholars’ responses to them, exist in an ever-evolving continuum of versions and interpretations, through which storytellers navigate fascinating and sometimes inventive pathways.
Scholars have debated for decades the apparent discontinuity between two, quite different aspects of this particular story: the first part, evoking Lugh’s role as leader-in-waiting of the legendary tribe of the Tuatha De Dannan and the later episodes concerning the travels of the sons of Tuirenn. Although there is evidence that these strands originated separately, scholars nowadays prefer to treat the story as a unified whole. Some believe that such stories functioned as ‘exemplary myths’; showing examples of heroism to be imitated or harmful acts and their consequences. Some also see pointed social-political comment within the material – in this case possibly a criticism of feuding among the Anglo-Norman rulers of 14th century Ireland.
In researching The Middle Yard Nick Hennessey and Simon Heywood spoke with scholars of Irish folklore and early literature, read numerous written versions and the creative team visited the main sites of the story in Ireland, including Tara and the Boyne Valley where much of the action takes place. While all this research helped inform the piece, the storytellers’ individual voices and perspectives have also informed the choices they have made, drawing on their longstanding relationship with this source material and the wider mythology from which it comes as well as their own take on the individual characters.
