As summer swoons through its August swansong, Macnas has revealed plans for its Hallowe’en spectacle, An Treun – The Summoning of the Lost.
This shape-shifting parade on Sunday, October 26, will celebrate the haunting call of the vanishing treun, or corncrake, inspired by a long-lost tale by Dracula author Bram Stoker, with a Galway connexion.
Last year, Tuam-born Brian Cleary discovered an unknown short story by Dublin-born Stoker, called Gibbet Hill, buried within an 1890 Irish edition of the Daily Express, held in the National Library of Ireland.
Stoker’s forgotten story flickers with folklore, magic and mischief. At its heart and sonic essence is something small, strange and precious: the corncrake - once the summertime soundtrack of Ireland, now a ghost in our fields.
Macnas have hinted the parade will be part ecological fable, part dreamscape, part rebellion...
“For me, this is a work about holding on and letting go,” says 2025 parade director Louise Lowe. “It’s a reminder that culture and climate are not separate things. They’re intertwined, pulsing through each other like blood and birdsong. Grounded in Macnas' worldbuilding ethos, we’re generating a world for An Treun to return to, not as a nostalgic echo, but as a force. As protest. As hope.”
Lowe has been appointed parade director this year, alongside Owen Boss as Lead Designer, both of ANU Productions, a multidisciplinary production company from Dublin.
“We are delighted to welcome ANU’s Louise Lowe as Parade Director and Owen Boss as Lead Designer for this year’s parade,” said Johnny O’Reilly, CEO at Macnas. “These two incredible creative powerhouses and visionaries are currently conjuring up pure magic with the wonderful Macnas team in our workshop in Athenry. This year's parade is going to be one of our most exciting yet!”
Macnas’ Hallowe’en parade in Galway on Sunday, October 26, will be repeated at a later date in Dublin, at the Bram Stoker Festival celebrations.
