Grace Herman
Student Production Dramaturg
Welcome to your Once Dramaturgy Resource!
You can use the menu to the left to navigate the content or just scroll through!
This is a live document where I will continue to add resources as we work through this production. With that, please reach out if you need help finding information, are particularly curious about something, or if there is anything I can do to help support you dramaturgically. I’ll be jumping in and out of rehearsal so if you don’t catch me my email is gherman@luc.edu, reach out anytime.
Table of Contents
Recently Added!
Hoover Fixer
In Scene D Guy fixes Girl’s broken vacuum. Here are some videos and an article to help you all understand how to fix a vacuum.
Fair City
Our Czech Family often makes references to the Irish soap opera Fair City. The soap follows the day-to-day dramas of the community who live and work in the fictional north Dublin suburb of Carrigstown. Read more about the plot, character breakdown, etc here and watch some to the right.
1 Minutes Sneak Peak
Full Episode: 2006 Christmas Special
Damien and Suzanne Fighting (Content Warning: Domestic Abuse
ONCE CREATVE TEAM
-
Enda Walsh
BOOK WRITER
Enda Walsh is an award-winning Irish Playwright based in London. Some of his other notable works include Ballyturk, Room 303, Misterman, Penelope, The New Electric Ballroom, and The Walworth Farce. His most well-known piece is his Tony-Winning stage adaption of Once, based on the film by John Carney. Walsh’s plays have been translated into over twenty languages and have been performed around the world since 1998. His film work includes Disco Pigs and Hunger.
-
Markéta Irglová
CO- LYRICIST & COMPOSER
Markéta Irglová is a Czech-Icelandic singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is known for co-starring and co-writing the music for the film and musical versions of Once alongside Glen Hansard. After working on the film Hansard and Irglová continued working together musically forming the duo The Swell Season. Irglová has won numerous awards for her music Markéta Irglová and continues to release more.
-
Glen Hansard
CO- LYRICIST & COMPOSER
Glen Hansard is an Irish singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Frames and is in a folk duo with Markéta Irglová called The Swell Season. Alongside Irglová, Hansard wrote the music and lyrics for the film Once, in which he starred as the character Guy. Later he worked with Irglová to adapt the film's music into a staged musical version. Hansard has released five solo albums and numerous EPs and will be touring Europe in the Fall of 2024.
-
John Carney
FILM’S SCREENWRITER & DIRECTOR
John Carney is a writer, director, and producer based in Dublin Ireland. He is best known for his work on the films Sing Street, Once, and Flore and Son. He was a bassist and vocalist on the Irish rock band The Frames where he worked with Glen Hansard. His acclaimed version of Once was filmed in only three weeks with two digital camcorders on a 100,000 euro budget.
Production History
The musical Once is based on the 2007 film of the same name written and directed by John Carney with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who originated the roles of Guy and Girl, respectively. After the film’s commercial success playwright, Enda Walsh wrote the book for the musical. Hansard and Irglová stayed on to adapt the film's music for the stage. In 2011, the musical premiered in a workshop at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge before making its Off-Broadway debut at the New York Theatre Workshop later that year. This production quickly transferred to Broadway in February of 2012. It ran at the Bernard B Jacobs Theatre for almost three years closing in January 2015 after 1,189 performances. While on Broadway, Once received eleven Tony nominations and won eight, including but not limited to Best Musical, Best Lead Actor, and Best Book. Its first international production was a two-week run at Dublin Giatey Theatre in the early spring of 2013. Later, in April 2013, Once opened on London’s West End at the Phoenix Theatre running until March 2015. To date, Once has had three U.S. national tours and has been produced all around the world, including Melbourne, Seoul, Toronto, Sydney, and Buenos Aires. More locally, Once was produced at Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois in the spring of 2023. In 2024, Once will open for a two-week run on April 4th at Loyola University Chicago.
Migration
Migration is an underlying theme throughout the musical Once. The characters confront it’s implications in varying ways. Girl, Andrej, Reza, Baruska, Svec, and Ivonka all immigrated to Ireland from the Czech Republic. While, Ex-girlfriend has immigrated to the United States, where Guy later follows her. The following sections describe the motivations for migration, the method, and the trends between the 1990s-2000s in Europe.
Velvet Divorce
“The Velvet Divorce refers to the division in 1992 of the former Soviet satellite state of Czechoslovakia into the separate countries of Slovakia and the Czech Republic (Czechia). It followed a period of widespread unrest known as the Velvet Revolution, during which the people of Czechoslovakia had elected their first non-communist president in over four decades, Václav Havel, in 1989. Already existing political tensions between the country’s two principal ethnic groups, the Slovaks and Czechs, mounted as the new government attempted to navigate the transition from communism to liberal democratic capitalism. Following Havel’s resignation in 1992, the state was permanently divided. Scholars point to several causes for the eventual breakup of Czechoslovakia, including ethnic differences, economic difficulties, and the failure of the federal system of government…”
Czech Republic Joins the EU
On 1 May 2004 ten new countries with a combined population of almost 75 million joined the EU. The 25-member EU now forms a political and economic area with 450 million citizens and includes three former Soviet republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), four former satellites of the USSR (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia), a former Yugoslav republic (Slovenia) and two Mediterranean islands (Cyprus and Malta).
This historic enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 members is the culmination of a long accession process leading to the reunification of a Europe that had been divided for half a century by the Iron Curtain and the Cold War.
Post May 2004 Migration
“The enlargement was the target of much controversy, as media estimates of the potential wave of economically motivated migration from the Central and Eastern European countries varied from 5 million to 40 million people. The rate of migration was estimated to be high because differences in income and the standard of living between the new Member States and the EU-15 were large: in 2003, the average wage in Latvia (the poorest among the new Member States) was just one-eighth of the average wage in the EU-15.”
Irish Immigration Trends
The recent history of Irish migration can be characterized as having had five phases (dates are approximate):
Generally net emigration prior to the early 1990s.
Increasing immigration from the mid-1990s to early 2000s, driven by returning Irish nationals. There were also dramatic increases in the number of asylum applicants.
New peaks in non-EU immigration flows and in numbers of asylum applications from 2001 to 2004.
A shift from non-EU immigration flows to EU flows after EU enlargement (2004 to 2007). The high levels of immigration from the new EU Member States brought immigration to unprecedented levels.
Reduced but still significant net immigration in 2007-2009, the fall largely resulting from decreased flows from new EU Member States.
Busking
The practice and culture of busking in Dublin is central to this musical. Busking is how Girl meets Guy and thus is the context for the inciting incident of this musical. A busker is “a person who entertains in a public place for donations” (Merriam Webster)
Dublin is famous for its busking culture. Particularly the tradition of busking tradition on Grafton Street. Grafton Street is a pedestrianized thoroughfare between St. Stephen’s Green and Trinity College where 9,000 pedestrians pass through every hour. It has been famous for its street performance since the 1980s and busking on Grafton Street has become a rite of passage for emerging artists. Many famous Irish musicians including, Glen Hansard, Damien Rice, Kodaline, and Rodrigo y Gabriela were former Graton Street Buskers. Read more here and/or watch examples of the iconic street performers below:
Irish Economy:
The Celtic Tiger
“Celtic Tiger is a nickname for Ireland during its boom years—between 1995 and 2007— when its economy was growing rapidly. The Irish economy grew at an average annual rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000, and between 1987 and 2007, Ireland’s GDP grew by 229%. Ireland had been one of Europe's poorest countries for more than two centuries prior to this period of rapid economic growth” The boom was followed by a bust in the property industry causing a serve economic recession.
The characters in this play mostly belong to the Irish working class, yet face different economic hardships based on their migration status. The following outlines context about the economy/job marketing these characters exist in.
Irish Employment in the 2000s
“Research shows that immigrants generally earn less than comparable natives and are less likely to be in high-skilled occupations. Migrants were also severely affected by the crisis. A study from 2012 shows that employment among immigrants fell by 20% between 2008 and 2009, compared with 7% for natives. The study also finds that this was not just a construction-industry effect; job losses were relatively higher for immigrants across most sectors. The Great Recession led to a reversal of net immigration of both Irish nationals and non-nationals starting in 2010. Following the recovery of the Irish economy, net emigration rates began to decline in 2013; by 2015 there was again a small amount of net immigration and net inflows have been increasing since.”
Music
Irish Music Culture
“The earliest evidence of music in Ireland can be traced back to the Celtic settlements in the Iron Age around 500 BC. They used instruments like the harp, pipe, bagpipes and skin drums, which are still played in Ireland today. The oral tradition of the Celts meant that music was not written down, but shared amongst villages and clans, like storytelling. The music sharing tradition is still thriving in Ireland’s pubs and venues today.”
Czech Music Culture
“Czech music has its roots in sacred music from more than a millenium ago. The Czech lands of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia have their own distinctive folk music alongside an established and world-famous tradition of classical music. In the 18th century, the English music critic, diarist and travel writer Charles Burney described Bohemia as being the "Conservatorium of Europe"
Musical References
Once is filled with references to famous musicians from across history. I’ve gathered all the references in a playlist so you can get a feel for what is being referenced.
Music Aesthetic
The musical world of Once lives within the Singer/Songwriter genre. Listen to this playlist for more songs by Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, and similar artists.
GEOGRAPHY
Key locations in Once
-
Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, is on Ireland’s east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey. Once is set in Dublin.
-
The Republic of Ireland occupies most of the island of Ireland, off the coast of England and Wales. It is sometimes referred to as the "Emerald Isle” and it is known for its lush landscape, pub culture, Guinness beer, arts and music culture, and medieval architecture.
-
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast.
-
In Song #14, Abandoned In Bandon, the Bank Manager gives the audience a national tour of Ireland referencing the following Irish cities and counties:
County Cork: Located in the south-central part of Ireland, County Cork is the largest county known for its coastline and its’ cities.
Bandon: Located in Cork Country, Bandon is a small fishing village.
Country Clare: Located in the province of Munster, western Ireland. It is an agricultural county famous for the Cliffs of Moher.
Castletown: A small Irish town in County Laois.
Use this Interactive Map to explore these cities!
WORD BANK
-
Inflammation or swelling of one or more joints.
-
British derogatory a musician, esp a pop musician, regarded as being overconcerned with technique rather than musical content or expression
-
A derogatory term referring to people from the Northside of Dublin. Dublin is divided by the River Liffey into its North and South sides, South Dublin being considerably more affluent.
-
Spanish for goodbye comrades
-
A lottery game similar to bingo.
-
Spanish for understand
-
When you copy music, pictures, and videos from your PC to a blank CD or DVD, it's called "burning”.
-
Irish soap opera based following the day-to-day dramas of the community who live and work in the fictional north Dublin suburb of Carrigstown.
Read more about the plot, character breakdown, etc here.
-
Pub from the soap opera Fair City.
-
Irish poet/dramatist, writer, one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature.
Read more here
-
Jonathan Swift - Irish satirist and author wrote Gulliver’s Travels
Read more here
-
Oscar Wilde Irish Poet, playwright, novelist, and playwright.
Read more here
-
Irish Novelist and dramatist known for the play Waiting for Godot.
Read more here
-
Irish novelist and poet
Read more here
-
An Irish slang interjection and alternative name for Jesus.
-
The Establishment describes the dominant social group, the elite who control a polity, an organization, or an institution.
-
A less serious alternative to the expletive "fuck" to express disbelief, surprise, pain, anger, or contempt.
-
A long wandering or voyage.
-
Irish slang meaning “to give something a go.”
-
A Scottish and Irish word for idiot
-
Irish slang for an outsider who pretends to be an insider.
-
A red or white wine, with a distinctive vanilla bouquet and flavor from Spain.