Land ownership has ‘led to violence' in Irish families

Agriland

02-06-2025

When it comes to land, there is an edge to how Irish people think about what is theirs, or maybe what they believe is theirs which seems to come up in different forms again and again.
That is according to Luke Murphy, dance artist and choreographer of Attic Projects, who has created a large-scale dance 'Scorched Earth', which will be staged at the Black Box Theatre, Galway city, from July 15-19 as part of Galway International Arts Festival.
Murphy told Agriland: 'Of course the country has a history where defending what's yours became a really powerful and important message, but that fear and that steeliness can get romanticised too.
'Wanting, owning, and keeping land has led to violence in families and communities over and over again, so you have to question the cost.'
Inspired by John B Keane's seminal work, The Field, 'Scorched Earth' is Murphy's biggest work to date.
It invites the audience into the stark world of an interrogation room in a garda station as a detective and suspect dredge through the ghosts of an unsolved murder, long thought forgotten.
Part crime drama, part psychological thriller, the fast-paced show mixes spoken word, theatre, dance, and music, to pierce into a dark but fundamental part of the Irish psyche.
Reopening a cold case 12 years after the incident, stories are revisited and old wounds are opened as the detective and suspect fall into a world of memory, fantasy, ambition, and resentment.
'Scorched Earth' by Luke Murphy. Source: Marcin Lewandowski, soundofphotography.
The show blurs the lines of dance and theatre, where Murphy weaves a tapestry of story, striking visuals, and visceral movement through which the cast of international performers sear a picture of wanting, striving, deserving, and resenting.
Murphy, whose family have a house and land at Sheep's Head peninsula in West Cork, has created and produced over 12 dance theatre works for stage, film, installation and site-specific/immersive contexts.
His pieces have been presented throughout Ireland, the UK, the US, and Germany.
According to Murphy, this production of 'Scorched Earth' is a key turning point in both his and Attic Projects' careers, being their biggest show to date.
Having premiered on the Abbey Theatre's main stage in May. 'Scorched Earth' is brought to life by the same team that created Murphy's multi award-winning production 'Volcano' in 2021.
Murphy said: 'Today's Ireland is ever more concerned with development and progress, and this progress is ever more defined as built infrastructure.
'While the pandemic upended common expectations around where Irish citizens work, live, and interact, how the land is used retains its almost gravitational significance.'