The Gab

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  • The September Gab Mixtape

    Pat Speight has been telling stories for more years than many of us can remember, and that skill and experience shines when he revels in the role of Fear an Tí (FAT). At the September Mixtape in Callanan’s, he started reeling us in with a story of a boy’s first day at school, the blacksmith’s cure, and a mighty breakfast the following day.

    Pat then introduced the first teller, the inimitable Terri Ryan, who gave us a new twist on her bachelors’ story and the arrival of dancehalls in rural Ireland. As Terri said, “the farmers took to these ballrooms like the tide took to the moon,” and continued with a romp of a story interacting with these bachelors, we were in stiches thanks to Terri.

    Fresh off the boat from the Cape Clear Storytelling Festival, Liam O’Shaughnessy gave us his own spin on a story he heard from Amy Douglas, about a man who was absolutely mad for the road and had the worn-out boots to prove it. His luck changed when a little man traded his resting spot for a new pair of yellow boots. A gorgeous story, told well by Liam.

    Our resident uilleann piper, Stevie O’Brien, started with a beautiful tribute to the recently deceased Paddy Keenan. Stevie told us Paddy was a huge influence on all pipers, and that he made the instrument popular, vibrant and valued, before playing us Sliabh na mBan, a tune he heard Finbarr Furey playing at Paddy Keenan’s funeral. Stevie finished the first half of the Mixtape with a trio of jigs, including Mrs. Geary’s and Paddy Keenan’s.

    Rob and Eileen were rushed off their feet behind the bar during the interval, but it was no bother to them. They got everyone watered before Deirdre O’Mahony started the second half of storytelling with her magical story about the midwife who was whisked off into the night by a tall, dark stranger. “We’re going far and we’re going fast, hold on tight,” and we all did, as we were transported to another world through Deirdre’s evocative telling.

    Colm Ryan was up next, to tell us an epic territorial battle story of one man versus the mighty Miny Minx. There was howling, blood, scratches, tears and the sobbing cry of a man in his 50s. There were dreamies, teasers, a catio and a garden hose. We can assure you, no cats were harmed in the telling of this story but we can’t say the same for the man!

    Pat was back to tell us a short tale to settle the crowd, about a Cork man sailing to an oil-rich city in the far east and getting the surprise of his life when he walked down the gangplank.

    To finish the music, Stevie introduced the low whistle and charmed us with “The Butterfly,” before reverting to the pipes for Henry Mac Dermot Roe, followed by two slip jigs and a lesson on how to distinguish between reels, jigs and slip jigs. You learn something new every day!

    Pat Speight closed the night of storytelling with a heartfelt one, set in Cromane near Glenbeigh, about a blind man and the efforts he went to for his wife. A beautiful ending to a great evening of stories.

    Thanks a million to Rob and Eileen in Callanan’s for providing the perfect setting for us. Thanks to Deirdre O’Mahony for putting the night together. Thanks to the tellers and musicians for the entertainment. And most of all, thank you to the generous listeners , we really appreciate your ears.

    Thanks to Colm Ryan for these photos

  • The Gab at FestiGeal

    Because of the glorious heat of summer 2026, we were sure we’d be telling stories at the ball wall, with an outdoor storytelling event to celebrate 40 years of the Whitechurch and Waterloo Community Association. But the weather had other ideas, and moved us inside to the small hall as the first evening of rain fell outside.

    Thankfully, the crowd welcomed the change of venue, and we even gained a few new listeners from John A. Mulcahy’s talk on the history of the community centre earlier in the evening. Despite the short-notice change in location, we managed to start on time, thanks to the steady hand of Caroline Foley, our Bean an Tí (BAT) for the evening.

    The first storyteller, Mary Walsh, began by reminiscing about the school next door, before continuing into a story of two very different boys in another school writing an essay about the swallow.

    Fresh from winning Scéalaíocht (storytelling in Irish) at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Brendan O’Sullivan told us his award-winning story. Most in the room caught the gist, but Brendan was kind enough to give a summary in English too. Congratulations again, Brendan!

    Pauline O’Grady-Noonan told us a gorgeous story about growing up on the family farm in Co. Clare, and the beautiful, spirited relationship between her brother Francis and her mother. And all the local news they shared when their mother was trying to make the evening phone calls. 

    We had been praying for rain all summer, and while it came that night, Trish Burke told a very appropriate story about a trip to town with her mother’s friend Gretta. Because of the rain they encountered a mysterious man and his umbrella and had to get to the bottom of the mystery. 

    “Once upon a time there was a midwife,” according to our next teller, Deirdre O’Mahony who transported us to another world of tall dark men, pudgy babies and bags of gold seen through the eyes of the midwife, magical stuff.  

    It was something special to hear Paul O’Sullivan honouring his mother Peggy, on home ground, with a story about her desert island discs. Paul had us singing along, laughing and crying in equal measure. 

    To end the stories, Sharon O’Neill enthralled us with Mis and Dubh Rois, a story of grief, madness, lust and love about a legendary woman who lives on to give Slieve Mish mountain range its name. Sharon delighted the Whitechurch audience with the term ‘tricking stick’, imaginations were running wild! 

    Mo O’Connor, from Conna, brought us his poem “The Tinkers at Tallow Fair,” along with a run through some beloved songs — The Galway Shawl, Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, Save the Last Dance, and The Candy Store on the Corner. After the thanks, Mo finished the night with another song, I’ll Fly Away, and a humorous poem he wrote after a five-word challenge. Excellent stuff as always from Mo. 

    Many congratulations to Whitechurch and Waterloo Community Association on an amazing 40 years. We can’t wait to see where you go next! 

    Special thank you to Blue Hat Drama for all the help in preparation and thank you to the organisers, the tellers, the singers and especially the audience. We were thrilled to be able to celebrate with some stories at FestiGeal.

  • The Gab celebrates 10 years in stories

    Thanks to Cork City Council’s Nighttime Economy, we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary at Elizabeth Fort. The event was sold out but thanks to Elizabeth fort for finding some more chairs for us! Please book your ticket now https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-gab-storytelling-celebrates-10-years-tickets-1990430456075 before they’re gone again!

  • November 2025 Mixtape in Callanan’s

    We’re a small bit behind schedule with photos and summaries of our recent Gabs but we’re getting back on track. Photos by the wonderful Max Bell are now available on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.944495297914060&type=3

    Our November Gab Mixtape in Callanan’s to a capacity crowd brought us many treasures. We had bees, boars and the beds of Diarmuid and Gráinne. We had polkas, poetry, parking fines, polo and poitín. We had rocks that wouldn’t shift, lakes that wouldn’t drain and favours that could never be repaid. We felt a sense of an ending, the beginning of new love lifting a stone and learned the importance of heeding a mother’s intuition. 

    Julie Crowley was the first storyteller of the night bringing us on a young man’s reluctant journey to several dances(he’d have rathered be at home farming), through fledgling relationships cut short by his father’s shaming of him but ultimately ending in his father’s words of wisdom. A simple love story with a message for us all in choosing a partner in life who can share the load. 

    Up next was Conor O Buachalla. Condensing any stories from the Tóraíocht into a version that listeners can connect with is never easy but Conor didn’t shy away from it, bringing us the highs and lows of Diarmuid and Gráinne and their ill fated love affair. As with all tales involving the Fianna we had beds, boars and of course plenty brutality. 

    Up next was Vince Kiely who brought us to the far East with a story was set in India. Our hero was a poitín maker called Patsy O’Halloran who  took the Queen’s Shilling and went with the British army to India. Patsy dealt in favors, he didn’t deal in money. By the time his service in India was up, every single person in India owed him a favour. Patsy’s efforts in trying to keep a polo game from being cancelled were successful and another few favours were owed to him in return! 

    Then we had Fanny and John up next. Gone for a Day, a self composed song of John’s inspired by his wife’s absence and an albatross was followed by a few tunes led by Fanny who played a series of Mazorkas on the fiddle, accompanied by John.

    First we had a Mazorka from the French tradition, Mazorka Des croissants followed by The Origins of the world. Fanny’s own husband composed the next number, The ballad of Judith Hoad, inspired by a documentary about a woman living off the land in Donegal. We then heard ‘Christmas in Spiddal’ and ‘Twelve to the bar’ by Liam O’Flanagan. 

    After the break, Fear an tí Liam O’Shaughnessy created an air of mystery when introducing the next teller – himself! The boy who wanted to live forever  met different characters on his quest and eventually ended up in inside a Mountain, living the life of his dreams until he got sick of it and he wanted to go home. The sound effects of the duck on a lead slurping the lake were evocative and hilarious. A traditional tale to start us back after the break. 

    Newcomer to the Gab Anna O’Sullivan was next up. She told a story that started with a harmless bit of dodgy parking on Patrick St and culminated in the guards arriving at the door of her parent’s house. A romp of a story charting the highs and lows of an adult parent child relationship. The moral was clear – pay your parking fines and remember that a mother’s intuition is never wrong. 

    Then to finish off the night, we had Diarmuid O Drisceoil with a beautiful story from Cape Clear. The images of men digging the grave of their friend and neighbour, the straight lines cut by their shovels, and the ‘perfect angle of repose’ of the dug out earth were brought poetically to life in Diarmuid’s telling.  A moving story to bring our evening of stories to a close before Fanny and John played us out.

    John Neville had us all buzzing along with his old ‘Honey Bee’, a beautiful love song between a bee and a flower before Fanny introduced a set of polkas. The first two composed by Séamus Creagh – Connie in the Pool, and the Gortnatubrid Polka. We then heard the P&O polka by Christy Leahy. Our Final polka of the night was ‘The Frenzy Polka by Cormac Begley. A gorgeous array of music to send us out into the November night. 

    Thanks a million to Rob and Eileen in Callanan’s for letting us take over, Paul Walsh on the door, Deirdre O’Mahony for putting it all together, all the tellers and musicians for the entertainment and most of all the listeners who turned up and played their part in making the magic.

  • October ’25 Mixtape in Callanans

    Image property of The Gab Storytelling and Max Bell. The Gab MIxtape October 2025, Callanan’s Pub, Cork City October 2025. Photo by Max Bell.

    Vince “all the way from Tipperary” Kiely launched straight into the October Mixtape in Callanan’s as Fear an Tí bang on time and kept us going at a great gallop all night. The first teller, Mary Walsh, took us to within a few miles of her native place and back to the penal times in the 1700s, the parish of Matehy and the notorious Captain Fox and his yeomen. 

    The next teller, Paul O’Sullivan, didn’t just give us an ode to Jim Mountjoy who founded the Jazz festival, he gave us an ode to Cork and its characters. Jim died earlier this year and Paul’s story paid tribute to the visionary man and his legacy for the city. 

    Julie Crowley’s folk tale introduced us to a poor man with a wife, 7 children and terrible misfortune one year when his crops failed. In search of work, he walked and he walked and he walked for 13 miles until he met a man who offered to solve his problems with gold and silver but at what cost?

    Cathal Ó’Loingsigh took us to the break with some fine playing on the banjo – the Groves (hornpipe), An siocán sneachta by Joe Carey, John Kimmel’s jig and Seán sa Cheo.

    Deirdre O’Mahony told us a story about Davy, a fierce nice fella but not great at anything and bad luck followed him wherever he went. Until one eventful day when he set a fish free, got fired and met a strange man who offered to turn his luck around. 

    Coppers and Brass on the tin whistle was how Meath man, Stevie O’Brien, introduced us to Patsy Harrington, a travelling piper from Mohill, Co. Leitrim. Patsy was a small little lad, who had the finest pipes and the finest horse in the country thanks to the widow O’Hara. The widow’s wake turned into quite the night for Patsy! 

    The final story of the night came from Vince Kiely himself. He took us back 1901 and all the way to the high north of Canada, Dawson town, south of the Klondike River and the little wooden church and the feast of St. Eustace, the patron saint of trappers and hunters. Then he brought us even further north and the unlikely pairing the Killer Kelly and the Reverend Russell taught us that despite all our coping skills in adversity ‘It’s the small things that get you’. 

    Cathal brought the night to a close with a slow air on the box, An Buachaill Caol Dubh followed by three polkas.

    Thanks a million to Max Bell for these excellent photos that captured the night so well, great to have him back. Thanks to Rob Crowley and Eileen Crowley for making us feel so at home in Callanan’s. Thanks to Paul for manning the door. Thanks to Deirdre for putting it all together. Thanks to the tellers and musicians and most of all thanks to the listeners for making the night extra special. 

  • The Gab presents Story Trio – Sharon O’Neill, Vincent Kiely and Brendan O’Sullivan with uilleann piper Stephen O’Brien

    Tickets €24 (including booking and venue fee) https://tickets.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/11176339

    Following on from our first 3 sold out nights in Coughlan’s in early 2025 we present three storytellers – Sharon O’Neill, Vincent Kiely and Brendan O’Sullivan. Music on the night will be from uilleann piper Stephen O’Brien. 

    Vincent Kiely is from Moyne near Thurles in Tipperary. He is a lover of what he calls “creative oral storytelling”. Vince’s stories are full of adventure, imagination and often a touch of madness. 

    Sharon O’Neill has a passion for traditional tales with a modern tongue-in-cheek twist. She brings great wit and energy to telling hilarious personal stories, epic myths and ancient legends. 

    Brendan O’Sullivan is an award winning storyteller. He draws much of his material from the rich local and family lore he experienced growing up in Kerry. He tells his stories in a unique and captivating style. 

    Music on the night will be played by piper Stephen O’Brien, who hails from Kells, Co. Meath. He has been playing the uilleann pipes and various whistles since he was a youngster. 

    Doors 7.30pm, Storytelling starts at 8pm
    Tickets €20 (plus €4 booking & venue fees)