Tales from the
Shadows
Storytelling and Shadow Puppetry
About Us
Once upon a time, a group of women gathered in the
shadows and began to tell each other stories…
Since then, The Shadow Gals haven't stopped storytelling.
We create performances that combine the visual art of
shadow puppetry with traditional oral storytelling.
We sew shadows into light, stitch sounds into silence,
and weave words into stories.
What We Do
A magician never gives away their secrets. But we'll give you a sneaky peek. Transporting you to a fantastical world of journeys and adventure, heroes and (often misunderstood) villains is a complex and intricate form of magic. It involves doggos, lots of tea, paper, pens, scribbles, and animated discussion.
Sounds from the Shadows
Think that fairies are cute little creatures who love to frolic in pretty flowers and pepper the world with sparkly, magical glitter?
Think again.
As children we often only hear the fluffy, happy side of myths and legends. But in this podcast we explore the dark, gory, political, sexy, and sometimes hilarious side of folklore from Ireland and around the world.
Please note: Sounds from the Shadows is suited for a more mature audience than our puppetry performances.
Who We Are
We are The Shadow Gals, the women behind the Tales from the Shadows
theatre company and the Sounds from the Shadows podcast.
Emily Collins
As a young child Emily fell into a dress-up box and never escaped the world of make believe. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (B.A, M.Phil Theatre and Performance Studies) and it was at Trinity that she first started experimenting with shadows. Emily is the founder of Tales from the Shadows and its sister podcast Sounds from the Shadows. She works as a storyteller (at the National Leprechaun Museum) and loves costume, fairytales, and her dogs.
Sionnán Ní Nualláin
Sionnán is a playwright and storyteller based in Belfast and Dublin. She holds a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin and studied playwriting at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast to MA level.
Sionnán is the overall winner of Scripts Playwriting Festival 2018, and received dramaturgical support from the Abbey Theatre. Druid Theatre Company have selected her play Caoimhe, Carl, and the Great Tapir in the Sky as a 2019 Druid Debut, and have optioned it for a year. She is also a regular contributor to The Mighty, an online mental health and disability publication.
Orla Devlin
Orla is a graduate of Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. Her previous roles include Chris in Down The Drain (Dublin Fringe Festival 2018), Orla in The WIN (Banbha Productions, National Tour), and Maud in The Believers (Samuel Beckett Theatre). She is currently a student of Bow St Screen Acting Academy and previously trained at The Actor's Space in Barcelona.
Deirdre Quinn
Deirdre tends to be lurking in basements around Dublin collecting stories to tell. A proud Maynoothian where she read english and history; she decided that is was so much fun she’d try it again. She has a taste for the delusional and non sensical, but always has time for a story.
Georgia Bealtaine
Georgia was never very good at reality. She discovered that she much preferred her imagination while acting and writing during her degree in Drama at Trinity. While trying to figure out how to balance reality and imagination she worked as a drama facilitator with vulnerable communities. She became passionate about the therapeutic aspect of storytelling; everyone is on their own journey and has a personal story worth listening to.
Georgia is now studying video game design and is fascinated by what the digital age holds for the craft of storytelling.
Mimi is the Grand Dame of the Doggos. Despite her refined attitude she had a wild youth but now contents herself with watching over the goings-on of the youths and providing soothing snores.
Bunbury (Bun to her friends) is named after an imaginary character in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Her main love is food and she will try to eat anything that fits in her mouth. A close second are cuddles and playing, but she's always on the look out for an extra biscuit.
Bun was hit by a car in July 2019 but has been making an excellent recovery!
Squire is a sweet little boy and expert cuddler. His teddy-bear appearance may fool you though, he will protect his friends and humans from any threat and is also a fearsome hunter of feathers and bubbles!
Support us on Patreon
Throughout history kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided support to artists such as musicians, painters, and sculptors in the form of patronage. But in the 1990s this mad idea called the internet caught on and has reshaped the world as we know it, including arts funding.
Patreon is a platform that facilitates our followers to volunteer to pay our company a monthly amount of their choice in exchange for exclusive access, extra content, or a closer look into our creative journey.
Very few artists manage to make a living from creative work alone. But we love what we are doing here at Tales from the Shadows. And we love our patrons for supporting us. Even a couple of quid a month helps us to fund vital resources; from puppet materials to tea and biscuits (Uh oh, I think Bunbury heard that).
By supporting us on Patreon you will be helping us find more stories, tell more tales, and make more shadows!
Want another way to
support us and our work?
We are also on Redbubble! You can purchase mugs, stickers, notebooks and more adorned with Emily's beautiful designs. More patterns coming soon!
Get in Touch
Have a story? Want to tell us what you think of our work?
Interested in working with us?
If you've listened to Sounds from the Shadows,
you'll know that we love to talk.
So talk to us!
Below are many ways you can get in touch through social media.
