Last Updated on November 5, 2025
For two performances only, a stirring fusion of Irish music, memory & myth narrated by Stephen Rea
This weekend, I am greatly looking forward to seeing the London premiere of Ocean Child at the Irish Cultural Centre (ICC) in Hammersmith. It’s a relatively new concert by Neil Martin, one of Ireland’s leading contemporary composers, performed by a collection of highly regarded traditional Irish musicians alongside an Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning actor. It’ll be on for only two very special performances – the evening of Saturday, 8th November and the afternoon of Sunday, 9th November – as part of the ICC’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
Ocean Child is about the tragic sinking of the RMS Tayleur (known by some as Ireland’s version of The Titanic) off Lambay Island in the Irish Sea in 1854, in which over 370 people were estimated to have died. The piece is written and composed for a narrator, string quartet, uilleann pipes, harp, and boy treble, with the spoken word based on contemporaneous newspaper reports and witness accounts.
The narrator for these performances is the legendary actor Stephen Rea. It’s because of him that I was initially drawn to the production. Like many people, I first came across Rea due to his mesmerising performance in the 1982 cult film The Crying Game. It’d be hard to think of someone whose voice would be more fitted to providing a haunting and poetic accompaniment to an Irish musical lament about loss.
Rea has just finished starring in a short run off-Broadway in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, and apparently is coming over to London this week, especially to give voice to the mysterious ‘Ocean Child,’ a figure that apparently embodies the soul of the sea and the stories it keeps.
The musical performances promise to be equally compelling, with leading Irish musicians The West Ocean String Quartet – Neil Martin himself will be on cello – and renowned sisters Louise and Michelle Mulcahy on the uilleann pipes and harp respectively. Having never seen uilleann pipes being played live, I’m intrigued to do so. The identity of the ‘boy treble’ at the moment remains a mystery.
Initially commissioned by Temple Bar TradFest and supported by Fingal County Council, Ocean Child is the flagship production in a year-long anniversary programme being put on by the ICC, celebrating three decades of Irish culture in London. The Irish have, of course, had a significant cultural influence on the music scene in London (and Britain generally), with Irish immigrants establishing pub sessions in London after World War II, and many major British musicians and bands having Irish roots.
Since opening its doors in 1995, the ICC has become the UK’s leading hub for Irish arts, community, and education. It hosts a variety of productions across all art forms, concerts, exhibitions, literary readings, films, and open-mic poetry nights, and many famous Irish actors and musicians have performed there.
“Ocean Child encapsulates everything the ICC stands for: artistic excellence, cross-cultural dialogue, and a commitment to work that transcends boundaries,” says William Foote, Director of the Irish Cultural Centre. “We are immensely excited to bring this to Hammersmith as part of our 30th anniversary celebrations.”
Having never been to the ICC, I’m excited to go. Ocean Child promises to be a moving combination of contemporary classical music, Irish traditional motifs, and storytelling.
These performances of Ocean Child will be the only London dates.
8pm Saturday 8th November & 2.30pm Sunday 9th November 2025
Tickets are £30 and you can buy them here
Irish Cultural Centre
5 Black’s Road
Hammersmith
W6 9DT
Looking for something different? We also recommend Dead Man Walking from ENO, currently showing at the London Coliseum
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