Tag Archives: Theatre

The Seafarer at the Abbey Theatre

  By Niamh | December 11, 2009 - 6:11 pm | The Arts, Theatre
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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 →

Accidental Death of an Anarchist: review

  By Niamh | December 7, 2009 - 3:15 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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Devious Theatre put on a run of Dario Fo’s ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’ this past weekend in Kilkenny’s new Set Theatre. It was my first time to be inside the Set Theatre so I was looking forward to seeing that as much as seeing the play. And I wasn’t disappointed with either one The stage was small and intimate, the set an office environment which was the office of Inspector Bertozzo (played by John Morton) on the second floor of the police headquarters in Milan, Italy and later transformed into the office of Inspector Pisani (Alan Butler) in the same building on the fourth floor.

Idir Mná presents Glengarry Glen Ross 23-28th November

  By twistedlilkitty | November 25, 2009 - 4:27 pm | The Arts, Theatre
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Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning 1984 play by David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross is the story of the cutthroat competition between real estate agents at a Chicago firm, after they’ve been pitted against each other in a competition scheme by their management. An innovative production of this play is injecting the bitch into the cut-throat. Many years ago when theatre was in its infancy men played the roles of women, now it’s all grown up women are taking their roles back and then some. Yvonne Ussher the artistic director (who plays Joan Williamson) of Idir Mná which translates as “Amongst Women” clarified that ‘before people think it is a lesbian feminist thing - it’s not! And it is not in any way a male bashing machine. Idir Mná aims to address the imbalance in our profession on the lack of decent female roles in a way that doesn’t involve women sitting around complaining about … There’s more →

Twelve Days in May

  By Sharon | November 25, 2009 - 2:24 pm | The Arts, Theatre
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A Play by Frank Allen Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 at 8pm nightly Tickets 20euro, runs til November 28th Only 3 days left of Twelve Days in May It was recommended to me to go see this before it closed. So I checked it out last night. Going on a day when public sector strikes were happening all over the country seemed most appropriate because this play was about James Connolly during, you guessed it, 12 days in may of 1916.

Terminus: review

  By Niamh | November 12, 2009 - 11:33 pm | Featured Post, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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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.

Tommy and Hector, kicking and starting

  By Niamh | November 12, 2009 - 10:53 pm | Comedy, Events, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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Tommy Tiernan and Hector Ó h’Eochagáin are to host a fundraising evening in Vicar Street on 22 November in aid of ‘The Complex’. You may have heard them perform together on their own radio show on i102104.ie - imaginatively called The Tommy and Hector Show - but this is a chance to see them on stage together. The night promises a host of Irish comedians and musicians such as Jarlath Regan, Après Match, David O’Doherty, Jape, Jeremy Hickey (RSAG), Maria Doyle Kennedy, the North Strand Kontra Band and others.

Adolf Hitler, Alive and Well in the Tivoli Theatre

  By Darren Byrne | November 5, 2009 - 11:58 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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Let me start by saying I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing Adolf tonight. The brief description I had read lead me to believe I was going to see a one man psychobabble drama about Hitler’s final hours. I was dubious to say the least, but I was pleasantly surprised at the range of emotions Pip Utton’s play dragged me through. Writer and actor Pip Utton has been performing his one man play Adolf for over ten years. It’s travelled the globe to great reviews and some controversy along the way. The opening half is an angry, engaging rant from Hitler’s bunker as he says his final goodbyes and talks about his lasting legacy. Though it drags at times, repeating itself and contradicting itself in places, it is a gripping piece of theatre, performed by an eerily Hitler-like Utton. As this portion of the play concludes, there is some applause, … There’s more →

Devious Theatre: Shakespeare In Bits

  By Niamh | October 13, 2009 - 11:36 am | Performance Art, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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Never ones to rest on their laurels or to do one production at a time when they could be doing two, Devious Theatre have announced that they will do a special production as part of the Rockfall Festival. The Rockfall Festival is taking place in Kilkenny over the October Bank Holiday weekend and Devious Theatre have chosen to perform Shakespeare In Bits. They performed Shakespeare In Bits earlier this year at Rothe House as part of the Shakespeare In The House festival in June. Unfortunately I didn’t see it so I can’t tell you how great it probably was This is a new version of the production with some brand new sketches, scenes, cast members and musical interludes.

Review: Tales of Ballycumber by Sebastian Barry at the Abbey Theatre

  By darraghdoyle | October 12, 2009 - 2:38 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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You may remember me talking about the stage. You may remember the playwright talking about the play. You may have entered to win tickets. You may have seen it mentioned as we talked about the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2009. What you should do though is go see The Tales of Ballycumber by Sebastian Barry and starring Stephen Rea at the Abbey Theatre, playing until November 7 2009. I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening night last Wednesday and one of the most gratifying things was to hear the gasp of amazement and impressed silence as people saw Mike Britton‘s set for the first time. I realise the irony of course of including the photo above but you really have to know that the set without actors, without lighting, without that expectant hum of the audience, without the opening strains of the song at the start … There’s more →

KAMP at the Samuel Beckett Theatre - an amazing piece of drama with no dialogue

  By darraghdoyle | September 30, 2009 - 4:57 pm | The Culch
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I attended the opening night of KAMP, part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2009 last night. This is what they say it’s about: An enormous model of Auschwitz takes up the whole stage with crowded huts, a railway line, and a gate with the slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei”. The model of the camp comes to life with thousands of 8cm high hand-made puppets, representing the prisoners and their executioners. The actors, like colossal war correspondents, weave through the scene with hand-held cameras. They film the atrocities. The audience becomes witness. Not a word is spoken, the audience only experiences the sights and sounds, which transcend the powerlessness of the figures into much more than a mere reporting of events. It is, quite simply, amazing. Performed by Herman Helle, Pauline Kalker and Arlène Hoornweg has three amazing attributes that make it worth seeing: The camera angles The sounds The … There’s more →

The Manganiyar Seduction at the Dublin Theatre Festival

  By darraghdoyle | September 28, 2009 - 6:31 pm | The Culch
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Direct from the deserts of Rajasthan, the Festival is delighted to welcome the most colourful, joyous and inspiring show likely to be seen this year. To be honest, if you’d told me what The Manganiyar Seduction at the Gaiety Theatre was going to be - or had tried to describe it to me - I’d have said “Ah, no, thanks very much though.” So I’ll describe it for you. It’s over 40 Indian males sitting in a big grid lit by light bulbs, some playing stringed instruments, some beating drums, none of them really dancing and a lot of them singing and chanting. For two hours. In Indian. What do you think? Sound like your sort of thing? I’ll tell you though - it’s fantastically brilliant. It started so so simply and basically and rises to this huge celebration of passion, of words, of music and of rhythm. Just magical.

My First Time

  By Niamh | September 27, 2009 - 6:00 pm | Comedy, The Culch, Theatre
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What do Keith Duffy, Claire Tully, Leigh Arnold and Alan Shortt all have in common? They are all cast members in a new play to hit Ireland next month called My First Time. And just as you would think, it is about their first sexual experiences. And yours In 1998 a website was set up to allow people to anonymously post a story about their first time and it was an instant and huge success. To date they have collected over 70,000 stories from around the world. Some [were] silly, some sweet, some absurd, some funny, some heterosexual, some homosexual, some shy, some sexy and some downright illegal! The show will feature the four actors telling hysterical and sometimes heartbreaking stories about the first sexual experiences of various real people . . .not just themselves. They’ll bring to life some of the true stories submitted on the site. Sounds interesting, … There’s more →

Special Culture Night offer at The Abbey theatre

  By Niamh | September 24, 2009 - 3:42 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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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 →

National Campaign for the Arts launched

  By Niamh | September 24, 2009 - 3:04 pm | Events, Performance Art, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre, Tourism
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Yesterday 23 September saw the launch of the National Campaign for the Arts at The Ark Cultural Centre for Children. There were faces from all walks of Irelands cultural scene there to show their support for the cause, to talk to anyone who would listen about how the cuts proposed by the McCarthy Report and the possible cuts in the next Budget would affect them as artists, their work, the work of future artists and current struggling artists. Here is what some of the attendees had to say about National Campaign for the Arts:

Culture Night 2009: Cork

  By Will | September 23, 2009 - 9:01 am | Events, Gigs, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre, Tourism
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On September 25 towns and cities across Ireland are celebrating a night of culture. Of course culture means different things to different people. In Cork there is a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and a Lord Mayor’s Tea Dance (probably unrelated). There is opera in the docks and electronic beats in an electricity sub-station. Galleries and museums (and for some reason the English Market) are open late and theatres are opening their backstages. Culture Night was first launched in Dublin in 2006 by Temple Bar Cultural Trust, with the aim of organising an event that would provide access to people who may not otherwise be able to enjoy the rich cultural offering of the country’s cultural venues. Last year over 100,000 people came into Dublin City for Culture Night and the event has now expanded nationally to a total of 11 cities including Cork and towns across Ireland. Over fifty organisations … There’s more →