Theatre Review: Best Man in the @ProjectArts Theatre

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Performances in the Project Arts Theatre can be hit and miss. The very experimental nature of the space means that I’ve seen some amount of self-indulgent tripe mixed in with some brilliantly innovative, insightful plays. In the past two weeks, I’ve had a lot of luck. Last week, I finally caught Mark O’Rowe’s Howie the Rookie, a two-act two-monologue play of an urban Dublin odyssey. The Howie starts the story and the Rookie finishes it out. Both parts are played by Love/Hate’s Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and it truly was an acting masterclass. That’s how it’s supposed to be done. This week, the Project was transported to boomtime Ireland for Carmel Winters’ Best Man. Actually, it’s something of a cliched tale, where the suburbanite couple (one breadwinner, one stay-at-home spouse) bring in a hot, foreign nanny to look after their emotionally neglected children, leading to sexual tension and the re-evaluation of all … There’s more

‘Let’s See What Happens’ in 126 Gallery Galway

126, Artist run gallery is transforming its Queen Street gallery space into a hub of events for four days this March. Hosting a range of educational, unusual, fun and informative events the board aims to move away from it’s usual pattern of consecutive exhibitions and open up the space to different kinds of happenings. 126 is looking to explore new possibilities for the gallery and step beyond it’s usual comfort zone to ‘see what happens’ as a result. All are welcome and events are free. The full programme of events is here. If you’re around Galway check it out do.

‘Wishful Thinking’. An evening of 16mm film- 4th March, 126 Gallery, Galway

126 Gallery in association with the Glucksman Gallery, Cork, presents: ‘Wishful Thinking’ Wishful Thinking, curated by Matt Packer from The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, is a travelling programme of selected 16mm film by contemporary international artists: Luke Fowler, Jaki Irvine, Ursula Mayer, Rosalind Nashashibi, Roman Ondak, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Deborah Stratman, and Moira Tierney The event starts at 6pm in the 126 Gallery, Queen Street, Galway and finishes around 9. The gallery can be contacted on 091 569871.  

Kilkenny Arts Festival 6 – 15 August 2010

The Kilkenny Arts Festival is due to start on 6th August next in Kilkenny, marking the beginning of a 10 day festival of Bertie Bassetts – All Sorts! This is the 37th year of the festival and the maturity of the festival shows in the numerous, wide-ranging and quality acts they have lined up for 2010. To make things easier, the festival has been separated into 9 different strands – that’s nine varieties of ways in which you can be entertained! Wired – a musical exploration. According to curator Matthew Nolan, this strand features one of the best live acts performing in Ireland at the moment, And So I Watch You From Afar.

Get down here! Galway Arts Festival 12-25 July 2010

Summer heralds Galway at its most attractive: the city’s waterways achieve colours of an almost impossible intensity for the short duration of the warmest season. White swans swarm the Claddagh and Spanish Arch, blue dragonflies dance over the canals whose banks heave with explosions of flowers, and the daylight plays that golden trick that attracts painters and photographers west. Of course, there’s the Beijing-rivalling number of bikes that listlessly cake the canal beds, and the bobbing keg caught in the weir’s wake, but surely they only serve to remind the visitor of the playful high jinks that these heady days imbue in the imbiber. Thus is set the backdrop against which the Galway Arts Festival takes place, kicking off this year on the 12 July and running until the 25th. The full programme is available online here, and bookings can be made here. A few of the theatre highlights include: … There’s more

International Gay Theatre Festival

Yes I know, I know, I already posted about the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival – but guess what? There are two Dublin gay theatre festivals on at the same time every year. No doubt there is a complicated and interesting back story to that one so if anyone would like to enlighten me, please do The International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (IDGTF) is in it’s seventh year having first debuted in summer 2004 to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Oscar Wilde. The festival celebrates the contributions of gay people to theatre, past and present with performances and shows with broadly gay themes, relevance or by gay writers. Slightly less expensive than the other festival, tickets for IDGTF performances range in price from €8-€15 in venues such as The Teachers Club on Parnell Square, The Complex on Smithfield Square, James Joyce Centre and The Cobalt Café, both on … There’s more

Acting Classes for Adults in Galway

Galway based actor Sarah O’Toole will be running drama workshops in Galway in the coming weeks. Introduction to Acting – Wednesday Nights 7.00 – 9.00pm This course is aimed at adults from 16 upwards covers all the basics in approaching acting and theatre through a varied selection of games, exercises, improvisations and techniques, whilst sharing with the students all the fun to be had in the rehearsal room! Starts 7th April. Acting for Fun – Tuesday Nights 7.00 – 9.00pm This course is aimed at adults with some experience of acting and deepens the skills encountered in previous classes, moving towards working on scripted scenes. Starts 6th April. Price: €120/100 (students/unemployed). For any enquiries or to book a place call 087 237 3531. As there are only 12 places available to ensure quality tuition, it is advised to book as soon as possible! Fee payable in advance. or on first … There’s more

But is it Art final

School of Saatchi – Final (was on BBC2) They think it’s all over. It is now. But who won it? Well, let’s have a run-through of what we had. Six artists (Samuel Zealey, Eugenie Scrase, Matt Clark, Saad Qureshi, Ben Lowe and Suki Chan). Six art pieces in the Saatchi gallery. All keyed to win the prized slot of a piece in Saatchis exhibit in the Hermitage Gallery St. Petersburg. To win they need to do something bold, something daring, something unique. So what did they do? A painting, a ladder to nowhere and a log on a fence. WTF? Is this what passes for contemporary art? No wonder the general public think it’s the biggest con since NAMA. It’s so hard to separate the talented from the chancers and, sometimes, the best man doesn’t win.

The Seafarer at the Abbey Theatre

Wednesday night, with thanks to David McCadden at the Abbey I was lucky enough to see The Seafarer in the Abbey Theatre. It’s Christmas Eve and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after his irascible, ageing brother who’s recently gone blind. Old drinking buddies Ivan and Nicky are holed up at the house too, hoping to play some cards. With the arrival of a stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised ever higher. In fact, Sharky may be playing for his very soul… In the midst of this raucous tale of drinking, craic and card playing, there is a tender story of a family, and of redemption. So, pull up a chair alongside Sharky, Nicky, Ivan and co and enjoy a great story, well told. The Seafarer takes place in the home of Richie on Christmas Eve. His brother Sharky, played by the talented Liam Carney, as … There’s more

Not joyful abandonment, just looking abandoned.

(Cross-posted from Caricatures Ireland) I think this is very sad. Than you for visiting Macnas. We are currently taking time out to re-imagine and update our website and we will be back in the not too distant future! Please call again. I really hope that’s true, but when a company pulls all its contact details from its landing page it doesn’t bode well in my opinion.

A for Arts Masked Flash Mob

It seems like the National Campaign for the Arts are organising another flash mob in support of their campaign against any drastic cutting of arts funding in the upcoming budget. This time round the flash mob is to take place in Wexford town, next Saturday 21 November at 12pm. The exact location is not given and will probably remain a secret until the day. A pre A for Arts Masked Flash Mob meeting will be held at Bui Bolg premises Whitemill Industrial Estate Wexford 7.30pm Weds 18th November to discuss details and they are encouraging all art workers, practitioners and art lovers of all ages to participate or support the event. The NCFA are also hoping to collect at least 10,000 signatures on their online petition in support of the campaign to be presented to Minister Martin Cullen prior to December 9th Budget Day. The petition can be found and … There’s more

An important public forum happening this Wednesday

I’m told today of a public forum happening this Wednesday on the amalgamation of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. The event is being organised by IMMA both as a means of exploring further the possible impact of the decision on the Museum and in response to the many queries which IMMA has received on the subject from visitors, artists, collectors and other stakeholders. The forum aims to provide a cross section of perspectives on the amalgamation, both for and against, from a wide-ranging panel of speakers. In addition to drawing together the various strands of opinion on the issue, it will also make available the experience of international colleagues who have operated within, or been involved in setting up, an amalgamated structure and will give interested parties within Ireland the opportunity to contribute to the debate. This … There’s more

Terminus: review

Last night I was very lucky to be able to attend the opening night of Terminus, written and directed by Mark O’Rowe, in the Peacock Theatre. Thank you to David McCadden of The Abbey Theatre for arranging the tickets Darren and Lottie were also able to attend so I look forward to their reviews, but for now here’s mine Terminus is a vivid, imaginative, fast-paced, heart-breaking, inspiring, award-winning piece of theatre. I know that’s a lot of adjectives but if you can’t keep up with those few you’d never be able to keep up with the, at times, break-neck speed of monologues in Terminus.

Special Culture Night offer at The Abbey theatre

One of the wonderful things to happen on Culture Night tomorrow – one of the many, many things, is that our national theatre, The Abbey, is giving away some free tickets. The Abbey is a building full of history, excitement, drama, comedy and fun, originally founded by W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory in 1903 and opened in 1904. It was given a State subsidy in 1925 and became the first ever State-subsidised theatre in the English speaking world. To celebrate Culture Night, the Abbey Theatre are very kindly setting aside 25 FREE tickets for two events on the Peacock stage tomorrow night. 6.00 – 6.45pm The Abbey Talks with Enda Walsh: Enda Walsh is writer and director of the award-winning play The New Electric Ballroom. 8pm The New Electric Ballroom The Druid production of The New Electric Ballroom. This performance is actually part of the 2009 Ulster Bank Dublin … There’s more