It will be staged at Clifden’s Station House Theatre on Saturday, November 14, at 8pm.
The Lahinch-based wildlife film maker wants to counter the narrative that sharks are a danger in Irish waters, and he is a long-time advocate for protection of the 40 species of sharks in Irish waters.
“The context is recent media reports presenting them as being highly dangerous, monsters from the deep; in particular the story about a man being ‘attacked’ by a shark off Waterford recently. The reality is very different: these animals are greatly misunderstood, and there is not a single record of a shark attacking anyone in the water in Ireland.
“Ireland’s west coast including Connemara, the Aran islands and Galway is a European hotspot for sharks. Our waters are hugely important summer and autumn feeding grounds for sharks, with a consequent vibrant shark angling community, and many foreign tourists coming to try and catch sharks,” says O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan’s show brings his audience on incredible adventures exploring the North Atlantic ocean surrounded by pods of sharks and orcas, swimming with thousands of dolphins and fin and blue whales.
The live show is a mix of film, stories and poetry from O’Sullivan’s 20-year career, in which he reveals a beauty of the natural world, and our emotional connection with it.
O’Sullivan has produced more than 20 natural history documentaries for RTÉ, TG4 and BBC. His NORTH ATLANTIC series was acquired by BBC and broadcast in over 30 countries, and he features alongside David Attenborough in some of BBC Earth’s underwater footage, racking up seven million views on Youtube.
O’Sullivan’s show pays homage to Ireland’s ancient maritime culture, and he references his family’s 250-year history on Fenit Island in Kerry.
Education and conservation have been at the heart of O’Sullivan’s work since 2005, long before it was popular to tell stories of damage and even devastation in natural history documentaries, and he interrogates challenges facing our marine animals and habitats.
O’Sullivan has donated his documentaries to education, where they now feature on the secondary school exam curriculum within the Junior cycle Geography and Business Studies courses.
His book Stories from the Deep is critically acclaimed for its lyrical writing and descriptions of nature and animal encounters, as well as Ken’s honesty about his life as a film maker.
Tickets €20 from https://ken-o-sullivan.sumupstore.com/
