Fringe Talk: Maeve Stone

Maeve Stone

It’s a shame that Maeve Stone didn’t name her theatre company “Spilt Vodka”. Fringe sponsors ABSOLUT could have had a field day with the advertising potential. I’m more of a gin man myself, and Stone and James Hickson’s Spilt Gin are canvassing the theatre scene in spectacular fashion with the assistance of their friends alone. I caught up with her to talk about their house party site-specific You Can’t Just Leave – There’s Always Something.

Fringe Talk: Grace Dyas and Doireann Coady

I recently spoke to THEATREclub’s Grace Dyas (and eventually Doireann Coady) about their epic-sounding Twenty Ten. Read on to see what they had to say about the company’s Twenty Ten, Twenty Eleven (as well as a bit of Twenty Twelve), and why this will be the last time we’ll see their hands.

Fringe Talk: Meadhbh Haicéid

Among the boldest site-specific ideas at this year’s ABSOLUT Fringe is Waterdonkey’sHappening – a 12 hour ‘bed-in’ in a suite in the Gresham Hotel on Sunday Sept 18. Meadhbh Haicéid, the show’s director, was kind enough to shed some light on the event, the company’s recent fascination with John Lennon, and the escalating lightsaber violence in rehearsal.

Also: you may spot a wannabe impartial journalist sporting Lennon shades below. I’ve worked with Waterdonkey before and have on occasion lent my mug to their press images.

Fringe Talk: Oonagh Murphy and Shaun Dunne

Shaun Dunne and Talking Shop Ensemble are teaming up once again, this time to consider the revelations and disillusionments of contemporary Ireland. Dunne himself has been going to psychic mediums for answers, which we will learn all about at their ABSOLUT Fringe show Do You Read Me?. I talked to Dunne and TSE’s Oonagh Murphy about their friendship, their work, and my obvious despondency from pop cultural references.

Fringe Talk: Richard Walsh, Zita Monahan and Martin Sharry

In the first of two ABSOLUT Fringe interviews published today, Richard Walsh, Zita Monahan and Martin Sharry of Side-Show Productions discuss their melodramatic soap opera Dreams of Love, their favourite love stories, and whether or not “true love” exists.

Fringe Talk: Sinéad O'Loughlin

Next in a series of interviews: Sinéad O’Loughlin talks about setting up Rampant with her best friend Katie Holmes (not Mrs. Cruise), the assault on feminism that led to their ABSOLUT Fringe debut Amy, I want to make you hard, and stealing Brokentalkers' production crew. 

Fringe Talk: Nyree Yergainharsian

The countdown to ABSOLUT Fringe 2011 is on, and in anticipation of its arrival you can find a new interview with a featured artist posted here each day.

Today it is Nyree Yergainharsian, member of 21^st century theatre pioneers The Company and one of the country’s most charming performers, now running solo in search of her place in the world in Where Do I Start? (I reviewed an earlier incarnation of it –beware of spoilers! – here). I caught Nyree on the lunch hour of her nine-to-nine day where she was eating the most impressive sandwich I had ever seen.  

Yaysterday, Tomorrow, Today

In my write-up on Theatre Forum’s conference in June I mentioned briefly that I talked with social media guru Darragh Doyle, who being the hilarious gent that he is was kind enough to answer what blog-related queries I had. In the last few weeks I have been talking to Darragh again, and he has since asked me to write about theatre for his arts and culture site www.yay.ie.

Established by Doyle, Stephanie Francis and Niamh Smith six months ago, Yay.ie has become a comprehensive guide to contemporary Irish theatre, music, film, and visual arts events, as well as a variety of other things (if you haven’t already, check out Doyle’s interview with Neil Watkins here). Being part of that coverage is incredibly exciting for me.

This won’t change anything on Musings in Intermissions, which continues to grow and engage beyond what I expected. In fact, what I write for both sites will be practically identical, if not entirely in many cases (just in case you think a mimic is out there impersonating me). Though I will reserve most of my venting rights for Musings.

I set up this blog to stimulate discussion on Irish theatre, and now I have not one but two platforms for me to do so. Go check out www.yay.ie ! I’ll see you over there (once I figure out all their technical doohickies).

Musings Listings: September 2011

Strap in folks. We’re about to head into the busiest time of the Irish theatre calendar. And there is a LOT on offer.

September is Fringe month as ABSOLUT Fringe 2011 takes over Dublin city with 82 different shows. Won’t be going too much into that here (consult my guide), but suffice it to say that the three shows I’m most excited about are The Corn Exchange’s Man of Valour, THISISPOPBABY’s The Year of Magical Wanking (its beau poet pictured above), and José Miguel Jiménez’s Jumping Off The Earth (now confirmed with action man Brian Bennett attached). Shows I neglected in that post which deserve more mention than I gave them include Tim Watt’s The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer, now regarded a gem at last month’s Edinburgh Fringe; Junk Ensemble’s Bird With Boy in Kilmanham Jail (you’ll understand why when I post my interview with them); and Maurice Joseph Kelliher’s dance/theatre culprit Criminal Queers and Veronica Dyas’ site-specific In My Bed for their suspected daring and noble use of subject matter. For all information on ABSOLUT Fringe 2011 go to: http://www.fringefest.com/ .

Pan Pan, ‘All That Fall’: Picture Yourself On A Train In A Station

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Aug 23-Sept 2

My review of Pan Pan’s All That Fall by Samuel Beckett coming up just as soon as you shed light on my lifelong preoccupation with horses’ buttocks ...

Town Hall Theatre Galway, ‘Faith Healer’: Testimonies

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Aug 25-Sept 3


My review of the Town Hall’s production of Faith Healer by Brian Friel coming up just as soon as I measure my progress by the number of hours I sleep and the amount I drink and the number of cigarettes I smoke ...

A Guide to Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2011

Finally diving into the programme for this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival. Last year, as evidenced by the reviews I wrote, I took a particular interest in the postdramatic segment of the schedule, seeing Ontroerend Goed, Tim Crouch, Pan Pan.  It probably was a gamble on festival director Loughlin Deegan’s part to give weight to such unconventional theatre. Not only were many of these productions deemed popular and critical successes, but the gesture of programming them shows that Deegan would sooner overestimate the ‘performance’ of the Irish audience before underestimating, as members of the public were made sit and chat with neighbours and whisked away into booths with strangers.

What is of most interest to me in this year’s festival, and what you’ll see written about around here, is the strong Irish involvement. In his fifth and final instalment, Deegan is focusing on our home-grown artists. Many past participants of Theatre Forum’s ‘The Next Stage’ development programme, which runs in tangent to the festival, are now featured artists. If this year’s festival is to be remembered for anything it will probably be for opening the golden gates to the next wave of Irish theatre makers.

But for now let’s focus on the present and dive right in. Find below my thoughts on this year’s programme and observe as I – like in my guide to the Fringe – try to narrow these choices down to my six must-gos.

Mephisto, ‘The Honey Spike’: Signs

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Jul 9-13

I already wrote about Mephisto’s road to The Honey Spike. My review coming up just as soon as I show you the alphabet ...

Caroline Lynch talks ‘The Honey Spike’ and five years of Mephisto

Zita Monahan, Emma O’Grady and Emmet Bryne in Mephisto’s The Honey Spike

It isn’t surprising that there’s a lot of buzz about the revival of Bryan MacMahon’s The Honey Spike at the Town Hall Theatre Galway this week (Aug 9-13). The play in itself is very popular, its story of a tinker and his pregnant wife’s journey across the country to give birth in ‘the lucky hospital’ has lived unpublished throughout the years, kept alive as a favourite with amateur drama groups across the country. But what is also exciting is the story offstage. After five years of consistent producing, touring and reinventing, taking cues from an eclectic range of voices from David Mamet to Oscar Wilde to Tom Murphy as well as confiding in their own artistic impulses and originality, local theatre-makers Mephisto have come to the main stage of Galway’s Town Hall. 

Some may consider this rather significant – that a company of such size and age may take to that stage for five nights (some of you may remember Zelig’s Appointment In Limbo in 2008 or Truman Theatre’s Sunday Morning Coming Down earlier this year also getting this space. However Limbo only ran for three nights and Sunday Morning one). It is also worth considering that, based on my last crunch of the numbers, the Town Hall’s main auditorium is the sixth biggest theatre performance space in the country, trumping both The Gate and The Lyric. This is quite the sign of faith by the venue that Mephisto can provide the goods, and there is considerable evidence that they could do just that. 

Because Mephisto has had an extraordinary year, beginning with the success of company member Tara McKevitt, whose radio play Grenades won the P.J. O’Connor award and a Gold Award at the New York Festivals Radio Drama Awards. Colleagues Emma O’Grady and Caroline Lynch then turned Grenades into a very poignant stage drama, toured around the country, selling out runs at the Cuirt literary festival in the Town Hall’s studio space and in Glasgow’s Tron at Mayfesto.

      

Last week I interviewed Caroline Lynch, who’s directing The Honey Spike, about their latest production, political correctness, the last five years on the go, and what the future may hold.

Musings Listings: August 2011

August is seeming quite novel in terms of Irish theatre, as there is a strong bill of bold and adventurous acts on the table.

First: Pan Pan are back! With the Irish Times Theatre Awards Best Production 2010 trophy under their belt and never-ending acclaim for The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane (check out tour dates for October and November), the mavericks have returned for a date with Beckett (a first date, mind you. Considering their postmodern aesthetic I was surprised that Pan Pan had not engaged Beckett before). All That Fall is a radio play about a seventy year old woman and her laborious journey to the Boghill train station to meet her blind husband as a surprise for him on his birthday. The composition has been described as part black comedy, part murder mystery, part cryptic literary riddle, and part quasi-musical score. Furthermore, audiences will experience the play in a “listening chamber” in the upstairs space in the Project Arts Centre (Aug 23-Sept 2) architected by Aedín Cosgrove – who’s previous sets have been masterpieces in themselves. Gavin Quinn is on directing duties and Danes Andrew Bennett and Judith Roddy are among the cast.

Secondly: Una McKevitt is back with a new show. Those familiar with McKevitt’s work know its remarkable authenticity and issued quarrels between life and illusion, onstage and off, as very real people present themselves onstage with very real testimonies. Work such as Victor & Gord and 565+ have rewritten theatrical code in such a manner that the distance between spectator and performer has been joyously reduced. With The Big Deal (pictured above), McKevitt’s practice seems to have taken a whole new step. Described as an “extraordinary real life story of two women who knew from a very young age that they were born into the wrong bodies”, The Big Deal is based on these two friends and their individual journeys towards full transition from male to female bodies. Like McKevitt’s previous work, the subjects have composed the script themselves, supplying material such as journals, poems, songs, and interviews. Unlike her previous work, the individuals themselves will not be delivering the content. Instead, McKevitt has cast two actors to perform in the show. It will be interesting to see if the authentic nature which made her work so moving in the past will be present in the absence of those whose lives are ‘The Big Deal’ on this particular occasion. Catch the play at the Barnstorm theatre (Aug 10-14) as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

15th Oak Productions, ‘Minute After Midday’: Staging ‘The Troubles’

The New Theatre, 10 Days in Dublin

Jul 15-16

My review of Minute After Midday coming up just as soon as I decide to stay at home and watch the Tyrone game ...

A Guide to ABSOLUT Fringe 2011, ‘Brave New World’

Last week the line-up for this year’s ABSOLUT Fringe was revealed, which will take place in Dublin September 10-25. Sailing under the banner ‘Brave New World’ – this year’s festival intends to chart “a new course through a very changed Irish society”. Below are a few thoughts on the programme and a provisional strategy of what shows I’m going to attend.

Fishamble, ‘Silent’: Valentino

Druid Lane Theatre, Galway Arts Festival

Jul 11-16

A few thoughts on Pat Kinevane’s Silent coming up just as soon as I paint my nails immaculate blue ...

Landmark Productions, ‘Misterman’: To The Dogs Or Whoever

Black Box Theatre, Galway Arts Festival

July 11-24

My review (with spoilers) of Enda Walsh and Cillian Murphy’s excellent Misterman coming up just as soon as I feel the door shut gently behind me as I step out into Innisfree ...

Paines Plough, ‘Love, Love, Love’: Happily Ever After?

Town Hall Theatre, Galway Arts Festival

Jul 12-16

My review of Love, Love, Love coming up just as soon as my generation learns how to improvise wildly ...

Musings Listings: July 2011

There is something of a retrospective vibe to July. Brian Friel is seemingly the writer-in-residence at both the Abbey and the Gate this month. Molly Sweeney – “a humorous, compelling and moving drama, which tells the story of a woman, blind since infancy, who has the chance to regain her sight” – will run at the Gate while post-colonial masterpiece Translations – featuring a cast including Janet Moran (Freefall, Pineapple), Aaron Monaghan (Christ Deliver Us!, The Silver Tassie) and Denis Conway (The Gigli Concert, Penelope) – runs in the Abbey until mid August.

Also revisiting from the past is Enda Walsh’s Misterman (pictured above) – a highlight of this year’s Galway Arts Festival and also my pick of the month. This dark tale of a man on a self-appointed mission to “do the Lord’s work” in the small community of Inishfree was originally staged by Corcadorcha in 1999 starring Walsh himself. Now reworked and expanded, with Walsh on directing duties and Disco Pig Cillian Murphy cast in the role, it’s hard not to get excited about Misterman (Town Hall Theatre, Jul 7-24). This year’s festival does present a Disco Pigs reunion of sorts, as Eileen Walsh can be seen as the lone star of Corcadorcha’s arcane site-specific Request Programme (the Western Hotel, Jul 11-23). Combined, these three individuals once arrested expectations with a surrealist theatre that had little history and little inhibition. It will be interesting to catch up with them since their days tearing up ‘Pork City’.

Barabbas, ‘City of Clowns’: Back to Basics

Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise

Jun 15

Raymond Keane’s City of Clowns has been in production for some time now, and marks Barabbas’ return to the theatre scene since their core funding was cut last year. A considerable project grant has put the clowns back on their feet, allowing them to bring City of Clowns to the Clomnel Junction and Earagail Arts Festivals this month. The show opens in Clomnel this Sunday but Keane, as artist-in-residence at Dunamaise, premiered the show there two weeks ago.

Personally, the show is a winner. Keane has a presence that can replace the audience’s laughter with sympathetic silence instantly, and the Barabbas portrayal of ‘clowns’ as individuals not invincible to human loss and longing continues to be a very interesting psychology. The triumph of City of Clowns lies in a left turn in the performance that I won’t even dare to mention here, though I will discuss it in the comments section with people if they desire. Barabbas have gone back to the raw element of ‘theatre’ as a social art with this one, and it’s a very appropriate move considering the company’s recent battles for security and resource.

Check it out and discuss below. 

Fregoli, 'The Secret Life Of Me': My Fair Ladies

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Jun 28-Jul 2

My review of Fregoli’s The Secret Life of Me coming up just as soon as I remember every single thing Richard has ever said ...

NUIG Dramsoc, ‘The Hero Returns’: Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Bank of Ireland Theatre, Galway

Jun 27-Jul 1

My review of The Hero Returns coming up just as soon as I sell my shape ...

Fintan O’Toole, ‘Power Plays’: Sermons

I’ve been pacing back and forth the past week on to whether to publish my opinion on Power Plays or not. What I have to say seems more appropriate for a ‘letter to the editor’ as opposed to a post here. Then I read Luke Murphy’s sad but inspiring account on why he’s resigning from ‘theatre blogging’ in London. In his exiting remarks, he encourages writers to not focus solely on reviews but to also ignite conversation on the future of theatre, its innovation and problems, so that the industry can evolve.

So here we go ...

Theatre Forum, 'On With The Show': With Great Power Comes Great "Responsibility" (and No Funding)

“On With the Show” – a title aptly given by Theatre Forum Ireland to their conference this year. Over the course of two days, sessions took place in NUI Galway which discussed issues such as the development of ‘new media’ in theatre promotion and discourse, the current state of the theatre artist in his/her career sustainability and artistic responsibility, and the always pressing issue of funding.  

Loose Canon, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream?’: Making An Ass of You and Me

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

May 31-Jun 18

               

My review of Loose Canon’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? coming up just as soon as I have had a most rare vision ...