Shaun Dunne and Talking Shop Ensemble, ‘I Am A Home Bird (It’s Very Hard)’: Hometown Glory

Project Arts centre, Dublin

Apr 6-16

My review of I’m A Home Bird (It’s Very Hard) coming up just as soon as I use pearl rice in my risotto ...

Musings Listings: April 2011

Where to start, where to start? The theme of April 2011 seems to be contemporary writing.

First off: there are four nationwide-touring productions written by acclaimed contemporary voices at the go at the moment. Fishamble bring Sebastian Barry’s award-winning The Pride of Parnell Street – “a series of intercutting monologues [in which] Janet and Joe chart the intimacies of their love and the rupturing of their relationship. An intimate, heroic tale of ordinary and extraordinary life on the streets of Dublin” – to Siamsa Tíre, Tralee (Apr 27-28); and Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise (Apr 30) before more dates next month. Fresh from a successful run in the Bush Theatre in London, Tall Tales Theatre bring Deirdre Kinahan’s Moment – a play about an Irish man’s homecoming to his family after serving a prison sentence – will be in Draíocht, Blanchardstown (Apr 6); Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray (Apr 8-9); Civic Theatre, Tallaght (Apr 12-16); Solstice Arts Centre, Navan (Apr 20-21); and Town Hall Theatre, Galway (Apr 26-30). Dermot Bolger’s new play The Parting Glass is a sequel to his 1990 play In High Germany, which told the story of three young Irish men and their decisions to emigrate. Bolger brings one of those men back in The Parting Glass, returning home to a post-boom Ireland. The play runs at the Project Arts Centre until Apr 16, and then heads to the Riverbank for Apr 21. Lastly, Decadent Theatre’s production of The Quare Land – “a hilarious Celtic Tiger parable” in which a man negotiates from his bathtub with a NAMA developer to sell his field – will be at the Riverbank Apr 17.

My pick of the month is the play reading of Thomas Kilroy’s Blake – a new play about romanticist William Blake – at the Samuel Beckett Theatre Apr 30. Personally, I think Kilroy is the best playwright in the country, capable of capturing the cultural consciousness of a given moment in history with sweet and brutal poetic sensitivity, as seen in the likes of Talbot’s Box and Christ Deliver Us!. Furthermore, his depictions of real life individuals such as wartime apostles Brendan Bracken and William Joyce (Double Cross), Oscar Wilde’s wife Constance (The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde) and his lover and poet Lord Alfred Douglas (My Scandalous Life) have been rather brilliant, and thus it is with great assurance that Blake should be something special. The reading takes place as part of a two day ‘Across the Boundaries: Talking about Thomas Kilroy’ event in Trinity College Dublin, Apr 29-30, where you can go to a few talks free admission. Irish veteran director Patrick Mason, who has brought to stage the greatest Irish plays of the last half a century, and who previously staged Kilroy’s Talbot’s Box and The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, is helming the reading. Tickets are available from the Abbey box office for a super reasonable 6 euro!  

 Lynne Parker of Rough Magic gusto brings Finegan Kruckemeyer’s acclaimed The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly (Apr 12-30, pictured above) to the Abbey’s Peacock stage (which has been home to some exciting productions as of late). Louis Lovett sings as the gloriously off-key Peggy O’Hegarty, who takes off on an imaginatively inventive adventure to save the day. Child-friendly and tickets available at the Abbey-cheap price of 15 euro (10 concession).

Meanwhile in the West, Galway ensemble Mephisto bring Tara McKevitt’s P.J. O’Connor winner Grenades (Apr 12-16) to the Town Hall as part of this year’s Cuirt Festival of Literature. McKevitt’s play about a young girl’s experiences living in Northern Ireland is not only incredibly funny and bittersweet, but also ascends political or retrospective pit-traps. Definitely worth a look.

Drogheda’s Calipo Theatre Company bring Philip McMahon’s (one half of the fantastic THISISPOPBABY) new play Pineapple to the Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda, Apr 29-May 1. The story about two Ballymun youths is described as a “tough and tender drama about love and survival” and is performed by an impressive cast including Janet Moran (Freefall, No Romance) and Nick Lee (Delirium, The Passing).

Talking Shop Ensemble present I Am a Homebird (It’s Very Hard) at the Project Arts Centre until Apr 16. The play’s focus is on the current rate of young Irish people having no choice but to emigrate. Along with The Parting Glass, the Project Arts Centre is currently a site of disposition about the trends of emigration going on in the present.

As for older texts: productions of Lorca’s Blood Wedding (Apr 18-20) and Peter Pan(s) (Apr 19-21) also take to the Project Arts Centre. Four of Beckett’s short plays (Beckett x4) come to the Focus Theatre, Dublin (Apr 11-23). An impressively-cast production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof celebrates the centenary of Tennessee Williams in the Gate all month. And finally, the Abbey present their first ever rendition of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (Apr 27-Jun 11). Is it strange that the Abbey have not done Pypmalion before now (they do describe it as Shaw’s “most popular play)? This comedy is a ‘Taming of the Shrew’-style story about a linguistics professors efforts to turn an impoverished flower girl into a lady under the pretence of a bet.

Also: if you are interested in donating to the Arts, toddle on to fundit.ie and give a couple of bob towards Brokentalkers’ The Blue Boy and THISISPOPBABY’s The Year of Magical Wanking.

What are you thinking of seeing this month?

Second Age, ‘Hamlet’: The Tale of the Two Princes

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Mar 29-Apr 1

My review of Hamlet coming up just as soon as I beseech you instantly to visit my too much changed son ...

Brokentalkers, ‘The Blue Boy’

Dublin duo Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan got off to a rough start. Their dedication to finding new theatrical forms started with a radical restaging of Philadelphia, Here I Come!, which landed them in a spot of trouble with Friel’s lawyers. The experience obviously didn’t discourage the Brokentalkers as they went on to make some of the most imaginative and emotionally resonant work in the past few years. Their back catalogue includes Track – an audio-guided tour of Dublin from an immigrant’s perspective; the Dublin Youth Theatre collaboration This Is Still Life, which implored the melodramatics of youth with sweet sentiment; the long-distance two-hander In Real Life – a moving portrait of human connection that was delicately intimate despite one of the leads skyping from Belgium; and the gorgeous Silver Stars, which featured a male choir that told of the real-life experiences of gay men in Ireland. Cannon and Keegan have honed a stagecraft that fantastically dances not only with our conventional expectations of ‘theatre’ but also with the experiences inherent in contemporary life. With The Blue Boy, the group are looking at the societal imprint of children’s experiences whilst incarcerated at Catholic residential care institutions.

Despite their portfolio, funding bodies are criminally negligent of supporting Brokentalkers, leaving the fate of The Blue Boy uncertain. Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival seem to want it as part of their programme in October, and thus both have launched an initiative with www.fundit.ie  appealing to the public for donations, where they hope to accomplish their 3,000euro target in five weeks. If the target isn’t reached, Brokentalkers cannot produce the show.

I do believe that The Blue Boy is a very important project. If you are wanting to support the arts in some capacity I would recommend starting here.

For more details –

http://www.fundit.ie/project/the-blue-boy-in-development

 Trailer for The Blue Boy –

http://vimeo.com/15835250

Excuses, excuses ... [Redux] and Musings Listings: March 2011

As happened in November, my self-disciplined ways suffered a bit of a setback this month. However, we’re back up and running and expect some regular postings here in the next few weeks as there are a few shows I am planning on going to. This month’s listings are astronomically late, but better late than never right?

There is a lot to admire in March 2011 as the month mainly pays its dues to original and new theatre. This is seen on the utmost funded level with the Abbey’s presentation of three new plays by two contemporary voices. The institution’s diluted commitment to original work is one of its sorest subjects, and rarely do we have the opportunity to see new Irish writing on its stage (Thomas Kilroy’s Christ Deliver Us!, Michael West’s Freefall, and Carmel Winters’ B for Baby are the only examples in 2010 I can think of). Nancy Harris’ Bad Romance (until Apr 2) is described as a “tender and funny tale about our secret selves [that] observes the search for connection in a fractured world”. Female authors and writing that is distinctively ‘female’ is extremely under-developed in this country, with Marina Carr the most notable author of recent times. The very circumstance of having Harris’ work on stage may be cause for celebration but let’s hope that she’s capable of a discourse that is engaging and insightful that will want us to keep her around. Also: Wayne Jordon (Ellamenope Jones) and Janet Moran (Freefall) are attached so it could be a nice show.

The other two plays in the Abbey come from scribe Paul Mercier. I am curious as to why Mac Chongail is investing this heavily in Mercier to supply the goods. His past writing for the company must have brought home the gold. First we have The Passing (Mar 11-Apr 16) which is a story about a woman revisiting her relationship with where she grew up when her parents’ house goes for sale. The East Pier (Mar 18-Apr 16) then is a two-hander with Andrea Irvine and Don Wycherley described as “a chance encounter between two stray souls who discover they are still as deeply connected as they are strangers to one another”.

I’d probably be more inclined to go to THEATREclub’s ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ winner Heroin (Mar 24-26, pictured above) at the Axis Theatre in Ballymun. The show is the product of co-founder Grace Dyas’ research into the social history of heroin-use in Dublin and society’s wilful ignorance of it. 

Night of the Danes: Irish Times Theatre Awards

The best of Irish theatre was celebrated last Sunday in Vicar St. I don't have much to add to my thoughts on the shortlist (link to that post below) other than it's fantastic to see Pan Pan win 'Best Production' for The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane and Aedín Cosgrove (pictured above) to pick up the 'Best Set' trophy. The judges showed an open mind with the 'Best Production' category this year, with Pan Pan and Anu Productions representing the postmodern practice that's growing in presence with the likes of The Company, THEATREclub and others who are finding new ways to engage with theatre space. Before all of them there was Pan Pan (who turn sixteen this year, I think), and Sunday was a historic win not just for them but the generation of artists their work has inspired over the years. It's exciting to be a theatre maker in this country right now.

I'm also happy to see:

• Laurence Kinlan pick up 'Best Supporting Actor' for his role as Christ Deliver Us! tragic son Mossy Lannigan. With an impressive range, Kinlan will be making crowds laugh or shed tears in the many years to come. 

• Olwen Fouéré comes out on top in a very competitive 'Best Actress' category for her performance in Rough Magic and The Emergency Room’s joint effort: Sodome, My Love.

• 'Judges Special Award' given to Project Brand New for their dedication and support to encourage innovative new work.

What does everybody else think?

My post on Shortlist:

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2011/01/wish-i-had-seen-medea-irish-times.html#more

Irish Times list of nominees :

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pursuedbyabear/2011/01/15/the-irish-times-theatre-awards-shortlist-december-2010/

Irish Times list of winners:

http://www.irishtimes.com/events/theatreawards/currentwinners/

Raymond Scannell, ‘MIMIC’: A Sweet Phenomenon

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Feb 22-26

My review of the wonderful Mimic coming up just as soon as I paint a masterpiece sorta thing …

Side-Show Productions, 'Dreams of Love': Buttercup, Baby

 

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Feb 24-26

Worth mentioning that tonight is the last night of Dreams of Love in the Town Hall. I wasn’t able to see the finished performance but did get to a dress rehearsal during the week. Very funny and surprising at times. Here’s the press release:    

... a girl, two guys, are locked in a revolving love triangle. The spectacle runs through various guises from Romeo and Juliet's amateur dramatics to Youtube melodrama and on to a scene where a King demands a sandwich ...

Feel free to share thoughts and impressions in the comments section.

Blue Raincoat, 'At Swim: Two Birds': Clown Nose

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Feb 21-Mar 5

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’d do a piece on Blue Raincoat’s stage adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s At Swim: Two Birds, which is now showing at the Project. The show has been on its feet since the winter of 2009, which is when I saw it in the Raincoat’s Factory Space in Sligo. Below is a review of that performance (written back when I first started writing reviews. This is the blogger equivalent of baby pictures). Feel free to use the comments section below to share your thoughts. 

Theatrecorp, ‘The Glass Menagerie’: Glass Slipper … anyone?

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Feb 15-19

My review of The Glass Menagerie at the Town Hall coming up just as soon as I renew my subscription to The Homemaker’s Companion …