Ulysses Opera Theatre, 'HARP | A River Cantata': Bridging Centuries

Reclaiming the Harp of Daghda becomes a spectacular celebration in Ulysses' opera. 

Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin Fringe Festival

Sept 6

My review of HARP | A River Contata coming up after the jump ...

City Bridge Transforms Into Harp as Fringe Festival Invokes Classical Myths

Dublin Fringe opens with Ulysses Opera Company's HARP | A River Cantata - an outdoor performance about the Harp of Dagda.

Painted up in new stripes, Dublin Fringe Festival (running Sept 5-20) went into their programme launch this week with an image and line-up of events that felt refreshingly new. Ahead of his first festival as director, Kris Nelson - formerly a Montreal-based producer - secured the organisation with a new sponsor in Tiger Beer, instilling his confidence in the role. In terms of vision, you'd wonder if he'd continue in the same strain as previous director Roise Goan, who in the years of economic collapse shaped the festival into an important site of theatrical activism. With an emphasis on exploring the city, turning it into a backdrop for Irish and Canadian histories and revisiting ancient mythologies in hopes of claiming something new, it seems that Nelson's adventurous spirit as a recent-arrival in Dublin is set to be infectious.