*** Competition Closed ***
*** Winners are Catherine Egan and Richie Fitzgerald ***
*** Thank you to everyone who entered ***
There’s very little I can add to Darragh’s comprehensive piece on the Ulster Bank Theatre Festival except to say I am really looking forward to it. Each year the festival manages to up its game bringing fresh plays and shows from Ireland and abroad. With 26 shows from 12 countries in 16 venues all over Dublin, this year’s programme promises to be brilliant.
Aaron Monaghan in Tales of Ballycumber
Two shows that have grabbed my attention the most are Tales of Ballycumber in the Abbey Theatre and Three Sisters in the Gaiety.
Tales of Ballycumber is the new play by twice Booker nominated Sebastian Barry and features Aaron Monaghan and Oscar-nominated actor, Stephen Rea, in the leading roles. Young Evans Stafford (Monaghan) calls to the home of a friend and strong-minded traditionalist, Nicholas Farquhar (Rea), for advice on a budding love interest. The seemingly innocent words passed during this brief encounter have a horrific effect, leaving Farquhar struggling to understand what dark, unsettled history within him and his Ballycumber homeland may have pushed the younger man towards his violent actions. I haven’t seen Monaghan since his incredible performance in 2004′s I Do Not Like Thee Dr. Fell, so this will be a treat.
Surtitled and performed in Russian, Chekhov’s Three Sisters is an epic family saga of three sisters who live in a small provincial town, dreaming of a better life in Moscow. While dealing with the death of their father and the frustrations and dissatisfactions of the present, the arrival of the debonair officer Vershinin turns their world upside down. Brian Friel’s adaptation in The Abbey last year was a roaring success, so this one in the Gaiety should be interesting to catch.
Competition
We have a pair of tickets for each show up for grabs. Drop a comment below telling us which show you’d like to see and why you should win.
The Tales of Ballycumber tickets are for Saturday 3rd October at 7.30pm in the Abbey Theatre, while Three Sisters in on Wednesday 30th Septemeber at 7.30pm in The Gaiety.
Checkov?
Ahem…I don’t know what you mean…;)
Where the f**k is Ballycumber?
I’ve always wanted to learn Russian so Three Sisters for me.
puzhalsta - spasiba - puzhalsta
I’d love to see Tales Of Ballycumber. I think I should see it because I don’t speak Russian and so Three Sisters will be completely lost on me. And the subtitles are very hard to read in the theatre.
“I Do Not Like Thee Dr. Fell” was not 2004? Really?
It was a great show, really unforgettable.
I’d like to see ‘Chekhov’s Three Sisters’ because in Soviet Russia theatre watches you.
Also, the last thing I watched which was about three sisters wasn’t that cultured, sure it was educational but I’m not really sure they were sisters. In fact I really hope they weren’t.
I would love to see Tales of Ballycumber because I am a big Stephen Rea fan.
Would like to see the three sisters please, reckon I would be good company for the three of them
Hi
Well I would love tickets for Tales of Ballycumber as that is where I am from - Ballycumber
I could tell a few tales from Ballycumber but I wnat to hear them from Sebastian Barry who I adore
Catherine
Would like to see Tales of Ballycumber please
I should win because….. well…… em……. how about dashing good looks? No, that’s not right. A strong sense of nobility? No that’s not it either. Perhaps because of my important role in international diplomacy? Still not right.
Ok I got it, I should win because I’d be willing to write a first class review of the play for Culch!
Tales of Ballycumber
definitely the chance to see Stephen Rea
Three sisters for me purlease - I have three of my own and will be taking notes.
Hi,
For me it has to be Tales Of Ballycumber because with the combination of these two great actors and the writing of Sebastian Barry it promises to be excellent theatre indeed.
*** Competition Closed ***
*** Winners are Catherine Egan and Richie Fitzgerald ***
*** Thank you to everyone who entered ***
I saw three sisters yesterday and still feel excited. To be in Dublin and see Russian theatre in native language - i think i am lucky
espesially because the actors engaged in play are very famous in russia seen in loads of popular films
But i don’t think that people who doesn’t understand Russian would feel the spirit of life of aristocratic family, the English translation is quite approximate and there is impossible to enjoy the sound of 19th century languge which takes you to the past times ( many words are not in use nowadays)