The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley is a collection of local stories and superstitions as told by children from The Island and Moyross areas of Limerick City. The compilation is derived from a larger collection which was recorded by Michael Fortune and Aileen Lambert as part of Young EV+A and The Cuisle Poetry Festival in 2004 and 2005.

Recordings took place in three local national schools and as a result of this process they uncovered stories which revealed a remarkable knowledge and wealth of folklore, ancient and contemporary. In this work Fortune and Lambert use the camera to collect and re-present folkloric superstitions and beliefs. They do not use folklore to service nostalgia, but instead attempt to highlight how folklore is constantly added to, and how it is intrinsically linked to both memory and occasion, fiction and interpretation.

This is evident in this work, as the urban environment in which these children live is negotiated and charted by a mixture of ancient folkloric stories which have been intertwined with personal accounts and contemporary urban myths. Ultimately, this work is a celebration of the storyteller and how folklore is constantly added to by boundless imagination of the storytellers themselves.

Recordings took place in three local national schools and as a result of this process they uncovered stories which revealed a remarkable knowledge and wealth of folklore, ancient and contemporary.

On the evening of Saturday March 12th 2005, The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley was launched at a screening event in a handball alley on Kings Island, a site which features prominently in the children’s stories.

The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley was then screened continuously in the City Library, Limerick City, from Monday the 14th of March to Saturday the 21st of May 2005. Since then, the film has been screened at various festivals and events throughout Ireland and abroad. The Banshee Lives in the Handball project is dedicated to the memory of Stuart O’Connell

Above: Excerpt of The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley

Above: Images from the making of The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley

The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley DVD features the following volumes:

Banshee Volume One

St Munchin’s Boys School and St Mary’s Girls School.

Duration: 45 minutes

Banshee Volume Two

St Mary’s Boys School.

Duration: 20 minutes

Compilation

25 minutes

Young ev+a is the education and outreach project of ev+a,

Ireland’s premier exhibition of contemporary art held annually in Limerick.

Above: Video Stills from The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley

Above: Launch of collection on Saturday the 12th of March, 2005. Launch photographs by Maurice Gunning

Above: DVD cover from The Banshee Lives in the Handball Alley

The Banshee Lives in the Handball project is dedicated to the memory of Stuart O’Connell

Folklore Collection, various durations, 2005