The Creative Process

Now is it coming together?

This is Jessie Keenan’s original dance improvisation to audio she recorded in response to the question ‘Now is it coming together?’, written by Brian Friel during the composition process for Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). When visiting the archive in February 2019, Jessie was inspired by Friel’s habit of asking himself questions during the composition process, and the feeling of presentness this evoked whilst reading his notes. This initial development phase was conducted at Dance House, Dublin in May 2019. This was one of several question-based improvisations, all of which were performed live during illustrated talks at the Belfast Book Festival in June 2019 and the UCD Humanities Institute in February 2020. One of these questioning phrases, ‘So what is surfacing’, forms the basis of Jessie’s film of the same name.

The Creative Process

Belfast Book Festival Trailer

A key phase in the development of ‘Don’t anticipate the ending’ was the showcasing of work-in-progress. This is a trailer for an illustrated talk at the Belfast Book Festival 2019, during which Friel scholar Zosia Kuczynska spoke about the process of creating new work by Jessie Keenan and Robbie Blake from creative encounters with the Brian Friel Papers. Keenan and Blake then performed early versions of ‘So what is surfacing’ and ‘Running the ending’ respectively. This trailer uses material from the first full recordings of Robbie Blake’s ‘Running the ending’, filmed in and around the UCD Humanities Institute in May 2019.

The Creative Process

So what is surfacing?, original improvisation

This is Jessie Keenan’s original dance improvisation to audio she recorded in response to the question ‘So what is surfacing?’, adapted from a phrase written by Brian Friel during the composition process for Dancing at Lughnasa (1990).

“Now is it coming together?” – Brian Friel

The Creative Process

Jessie Keenan's questions

Jessie Keenan compiled this list of phrases and questions after visiting Friel’s archives and sharing research with Friel scholar Zosia Kuczyńska.