Very loosely based on the Anti-Jazz Movement in the 1930’s ‘JigJazz: The Show’ tells the story of 4 female jazz musicians namely Sandra Mitchell (based on Sandra Mitchell (Ireland’s first female Saxophonist), Irish Jazz singers Rosie Bagnal, Ottie Benson and Ronnie Fitzgerald) trying to survive during an era when “jazzing the soul of the nation” was immoral and illicit.
Jazz was seen as a “degenerate” art and women in Irish society at the time were particularly frowned upon for dancing, singing or playing anything other than traditional Irish music. Hence, The Dance Hall Act in 1935 was passed due to the moral panic about jazz undermining traditional Irish culture.
Driven to practice their passion elsewhere, many Irish musicians travelled to America during the 1940s settling into the home of All that Jazz!
Blending sounds and rhythms using similar instruments such as the bodhrán, piano and violin – the jig and the jazz collaborated throughout the coming decades. Meanwhile the dancers tapped in time to the spirit of tradition and modernity.
Market Place Theatre, Armagh
Friday June 2, 2023
8pm | £20.00 | restricted view £10.00
