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 ...

Fregoli, ‘A Life of Words’: All Together Now

Studio THT, Galway Theatre Festival

Oct 26-27

My review of A Life of Words coming up just as soon as I sit in the bar where Pablo Picasso met Salvador Dalí ...

Fregoli, 'Dorset Street Toys': Falling Hard and Fast

Smock Alley Theatre
Oct 24-26

My review of Dorset Street Toys by Rory O'Sullivan coming up just as soon as I drink something foreign ...

Fregoli, 'The Idiot Box': The Truman Show

Nun’s Island Theatre

Oct 25-26

Thoughts on The Idiot Box coming up just as soon as I alienate the blind …

Theatre Festival Season is Over but the Best May Still to Come

Production image of Blue Raincoat's upcoming production of First Cosmonaut by Jocelyn Clarke. The best Irish theatre of 2013 may still be on the way.

As usual, the combined mass of Dublin Fringe Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival may have exhausted many theatre goers. But not as normal is the fact that a certain benchmark feels yet to be achieved by this time of the year. The festival season usually produces some of the most powerful productions of the year. For example, at this point last year we had WillFredd's wonderful FARM, Have I No Mouth by Brokentalkers, ANU's The Boys of Foley Street, and the blistering Druid/Murphy cycle. 2013 feels yet to produce something on the same power levels as these works, though LIPPY, Thirteen, and the Gate's A Streetcar Named Desire are definitely up there.

The truth may be that the best plays of 2013 have yet to deliver. And over the next three months several of the country's most exciting companies put on their latest work. So get over your festival fatigue and mark these dates in your calendar:

JOLT, ‘Creative Quickies’: The Galway Machine Turns You On

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

May 27-28

As the first season of JOLT draws to a close this weekend, some of Galway’s indie theatre companies have come together to put on an evening of Creative Quickies – a line-up of 10 minute extracts from ‘works in progress’.  A few thoughts on the night coming up after the jump ...

Don't Say the 'C' Word: Irish Theatre Outside the Capital

Macnas's This Thunderous Heart tears down a street in Galway.

Last night an article written by Una Mullally was published on the Irish Times website. Entitled 'The 60 Most Creative People In Ireland Right Now', it lists a range of talented people involved in the arts.

I enjoyed the article but one can't ignore that it's a very Dublin-centered list, and it doesn't represent the overall output of creativity in the country. Mullally gives a disclaimer acknowledging this, fluffing her authority on the subject with the simple truth: "That's where I live".

There is a lot happening in Dublin but we can't take it to represent the nation. I ran into this problem last year. I began writing this blog while living in Galway, and when I moved to Dublin I felt a certain authority with my knowledge of theatricals outside the mainstream theatre in the capital. But in the comments section of my write-up on Irish theatre in 2012 it was pointed out that, with the exception of one act, all the performances I had discussed were from Dublin-based companies. Hence the addition of the subtitle: A blog about theatre in Dublin and elsewhere.

(note: I've been working on reducing my own Dublin-centered habbits. You can read my Cork Midsummer Festival coverage here and my Galway Arts Festival coverage here.)

Mullally should have readjusted her headline to reflect her local scope on things. But it doesn't hurt to have a list of the creative and productive theatre companies that are based outside the capital.

No doubt I have left out somebody so please add them in the comments section.

Musings Listings: June 2011

June marks the anticipated return of critically acclaimed companies who have been absent, some for months, some for over a year.

Brokentalkers, The Corn Exchange and THISISPOPBABY all head south for the Cork Midsummer Festival. Brokentalkers’ The Blue Boy – a piece that uses music and movement to look at the experiences of children incarcerated at Catholic residential care institutions (trailer: http://vimeo.com/21657110) – will be presented as a free-ticketed ‘work-in-progress’ at the Granary Theatre (Jun 24). The full shilling is expected to be staged at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October. The world premiere of Man of Valour (pictured above) – the newest show from The Corn Exchange – stars Paul Reid as an office drone who imagines heroic adventures. Annie Ryan and Michael West also lend their expertise as the company returns to its Commedia dell’Arte foundation in this latest outing. Catch the show at the Everyman Palace (Jun 21-26). THISISPOPBABY bring Neil Watkins’ spirited dynamo The Year of Magical Wanking to the Half Moon Theatre (Jun 23-25). Watkins’ story living as a 33-year-old homosexual with a Jesus complex is a “brave and heartbreaking exploration of porn addiction, destructive sexual behaviour, Catholic guilt, and family heartbreak” (trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUe2dJiSAM)

Summer Theatre Festivals and Holidays (specifically mine)

Off to party in America. Much like these gangsters in Drum Belly. Photo: Julien Bhal/PA Wire

A few things:

Philadelphia Portland, Here I Come!

I won't be writing here for the next two weeks as I will in the U.S. for a friend's wedding. But loads of things to look forward to when I get back ...

Cork Midsummer Festival

Tom Creed programmed a dynamic line-up for this year's Cork Midsummer, with much faith invested in local acts. A primetime spot is given to Raymond Scannell whose acting skills boast credits with Druid and Rough Magic, and whose wizardly intermingling of music with dramatic text was seen in Mimic and Alice in Funderland. His new play Deep is the story of a Deep House Junkie and Cork's first generation of ravers, and is directed by ANU's Louise Lowe (Question: has anyone ever seen anything Lowe has directed in an actual theatre and not site-specific?). 

Dancer Ruairí Donovan's Witches wakes us up at 4am for a "ritual exploring the forgotten female". Carmel Winter's new play Best Man, starring Derbhle Crotty and Bryan Murray, seems to be about a modern Irish family and how their relationships change in the years between economic boom to bust. Someone tell Fintan O'Toole, his Power Play might be here.

Lastly: one Cork company I am excited about is Conflicted Theatre. Their show last year, 18-35, had a strong visual flare and their adaptation of The Scarlet Letter in this year's festival could be truly something.

Galway Arts Festival

This year's line-up is spearheaded by Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre. Choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan re-imagines his Olivier-nominated The Rite of Spring, which is presented alongside a new interpretation of another Stravinsky number - Petrushka. A success at last year's festival, the U.S.A's Northlight Theatre Company are back with Bruce Graham's new play Stella and Lou. And the sublime Olwen Fouéré unveils her new work Riverrun celebrating the elemental journey of Anna Livia Plurabelle in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. 

New Director at Galway Theatre Festival

Producer Kate Costello has been announced as the new director of Galway Theatre Festival. The festival has been seen through its five years in existence by previous director Róisín Stack, who has given this integral platform to rising companies such as Mephisto, Moonfish, Fregoli, and Bluepatch Productions. Costello was the producer of the West End Cool season of work by Galway-based companies at last year's ABSOLUT Fringe, and produces for WillFredd and Moonfish. 

That's it from me folks. See you in two weeks for my review of HOWIE THE ROOKIE!!! (Did I mention that I'm excited it's back?)

One More Time With Feeling

The third annual Galway Theatre Festival got underway today. Unfortunately, the production of David Mamet’s Oleanna that I was working on with TrueWest Theatre Company was cancelled due to an illness issue. Needless to say, I wasn’t too enthused to start writing about the festival, but nonetheless: life moves on, and there’s a lot of theatre on.

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’.

Irish Theatre in 2011: When the Heroes are Gone

It’s that time when bloggers write their end-of-year contemplations, trying to count down the ‘Best of’ moments of whatever had them gushing into their keyboards for the past twelve months. You might recall that I did a ‘Best of’ list last year. It then became increasingly obvious to me that comparing performances and declaring a winner is a problematic and possibly fruitless exercise. For example, how do you measure something like Laundry against Misterman and decide which is the “best”? Also, some of my favourite shows this year such as Mimic and The Year of Magical Wanking had technically received their debuts before 2011, so would they be “qualified” for such a list?

Instead, I decided to write an impression of the year that was, of what we can say happened and the significance of such. And where is a more appropriate place to begin than Enda?