HAPPY DAYS enniskillen international
BECKETT festival
P R O G R A M M E 23RD – 27TH AUGUST 2012
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Arlene Foster/Tourism Minister The outstanding lakeland scenery in Fermanagh already makes it a major destination for tourists. Linking tourism with culture can do more for local economies than promoting them separately, as by sharing our cultural heritage with visitors, we can reap the economic benefits of tourism. That is why The Enniskillen International Beckett Festival is so important – it’s providing opportunities for visitors as well as local communities both here in Fermanagh and right across Northern Ireland. It will help to raise the profile of Fermanagh as a destination and I have no doubt that the Beckett Festival has the capacity to grow to a level where it can attract overseas tourists.
Thomas O’Reilly/ Chairman of Fermanagh District Council As Chairman of Fermanagh District Council, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to ‘Happy Days’ – the Enniskillen International Beckett Festival. The world’s first annual Beckett Festival has an extraordinary programme that goes beyond the cultural, the literary and the artistic. We look forward to what can only be described as a wide spectrum of events – some international, some local, all of quality and all special. By using venues in and around the island town of Enniskillen, the Festival will showcase our waterways, landscape, buildings and streets as a hub for arts, culture and sport. Whether you are familiar with Enniskillen or not, you will find unique events in unique places and a warm welcome to all.
Roisín McDonough/ Chief Executive Arts Council of Northern Ireland Beckett famously said that, “every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness”. With due deference to the master dramatist’s economy of expression, then, I shall say only that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland is one of the principal funders of the Happy Days festival. It’s a great programme and we’re proud to be associated with it. It reminds us why Beckett continues to exert his singular influence on artists, audiences and readers around the world. I know you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.
Ruth McKenzie/ Director Cultural Olympiad The London2012 Festival is selecting once in a lifetime commissions as the finale to the Cultural Olympiad, celebrating the Olympic & Paralympic Games. We are proud to be working with the first ever Happy Days Enniskillen bringing world class artists to lead this new festival in a beautiful tourist hot spot, with a castle, cafes, theatre, music, comedy, even a fringe - look out Edinburgh!
www.Flive.org.uk October 4th-7th 2012 Ardal O’Hanlon, Steve Sykes, Donal Lunny and more
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SeÁn Doran
Founder & ARTISTIC Director WELCOME to the world’s first annual international multi-arts festival celebrating Nobel Prize writer Samuel Beckett, the man, his work and influences. Our Festival home, Enniskillen, is Ireland’s sole island town and lake district, an area layered with pasts from pre-christian, monastic, Ulster-Scots to the vital market town today. Our venues include castles, an 18th century grand house, a cathedral, churches and pubs as well as the Portora Royal School on the hill (1618) that
Beckett attended, as did Oscar Wilde before him. The Festival Centre is the Enniskillen Castle on the River Erne and the Festival Club is Blakes of the Hollow, ‘a cathedral of a pub’ writes Colm Toibin. Our programme is inspired by Samuel Beckett’s deep passion for many art forms. We hope you will be pleasantly surprised at the diversity of fare on offer as we seek to bring out the hugely humourous side of an extraordinary individual, in life and art. Happy Days - Laethanta Sona.
COME to Ireland’s new festival town & GO to see some of the world’s best artists. August bank holiday weekend August 23-27 2012 Enniskillen, Northern Ireland A tragicomic festival Thursday - Happy days! Friday - Oh, this is a happy day! Saturday - Oh, this is going to be another happy day Sunday - This will have been another happy day Monday - Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished
CONTENTS
Funders
Krapp’s Last Tape................................................ 4 Teatro Plastico. TheatreClastic.......................... 6 Pan Pan Theatre All That Fall. Lisa Dwan Not I.................................................... 8 Antony Gormley.AtomEgoyan........................ 10 Joseph Kosuth Texts for Nothing Exhibition..... 12
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Moonlight Free Opening Concert.................. 13 Five Evening Music Concerts........................... 14 The island town.................................................. 16 Classical Beckett............................................... 18 In other words @ Mt. Lourdes: Writers & Readings............................................ 20 Visual Arts-Sound Arts....................................... 24 Miss Fitt’s Comedy House................................. 26
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Bend it like Beckett Sports................................ 28 The Venue Hubs Listings.................................... 30 The Happy Fringe, other activities................... 32 The Festival Diary............................................... 34 Contact Info......................................Back Cover BOX OFFICE Online: www.happy-days-enniskillen.com In Person: Fermanagh Tourism Centre, Enniskillen
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Colebrooke house PRINCIPAL VENUE PARTNER
Portora Royal School
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HAPPY DAYS/THEATRE
ROBERT WILSON KRAPP’S LAST TAPE/ By Samuel Beckett / UK AND Irish Premiere
Ardhowen Theatre Opening night Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th August: 8.30pm Sunday 26th & Monday 27th August: 3pm £25 for Saturday / Sunday & Monday performances Friday 24th preview: Tickets £20
Krapp’s Last Tape has been described as Samuel Beckett’s most perfect play. An old man on his birthday sits down to make a recording about the past year of his life, as he has done every birthday since a young man. Now bitter, funny, ironic, he finds it hard to recognise himself in the brash, romantic, confident voice of his youth recorded 30 years earlier. Robert Wilson has often been compared to Samuel Beckett. Both are masters of stark and striking simplicity. In one radiant hour, Beckett and Wilson, in a few simple strokes, paint a vision of man and his world that is one of the
most poignant experiences in theatre. “I met Beckett in the early ‘70’s” says Robert Wilson. “He’s been a tremendous influence on my work. He suggested I do his work and in talking to him, I realised how many things we had in common. He came backstage (Wilson’s show A Letter for Queen Victoria 1974/75) and said ‘I like your text very much’. He asked to have a copy of it. We agreed the actors we both liked best were the old Vaudeville actors. He said how much he admired Buster Keaton – a favourite of mine” Robert Wilson is an extraordinary international cultural icon, arguably the
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most innovative and influential theatre director of the past 40 years. He has worked closely with artists as varied as Gianni Versace, David Bowie, Brad Pitt, Tom Waits, Philip Glass, Lou Reed and Jessye Norman. This production of ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ has been a major hit in Paris, Rome and Rio De Janero.
Photography by : © Lucie Jansch
Direction, Set Design and Lighting Concept Robert Wilson Costumes Design and Collaborator to Set Design Yashi Tabassomi Lighting Design A.J. Weissbard Sound Design Peter Cerone A project by Change Performing Arts commissioned by Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Spoleto52 Festival dei 2 Mondi produced by CRT Artificio, Milan
• Steenbeckett by Atom Egoyan, Clinton Centre, p 10 • The Peoples Monologue, Friday, McArthur Hall p14 • Paintings by Jason Sumray. Portora, p 24 • Krapp Above, Patrick Magee in Krapp’s Last Tape, Dormitories Portora. • Krapp Below, Beckett reading library courtesy Faber & Faber, Basement Portora • The Cot, the flatbottomed boat, Enniskillen Castle • Baby Cot Rides – romantic punting on the River Erne • The Krapp Café, Ardhowen Theatre by the water’s edge. • The Beckett Muckball Cup, Saturday, Enniskillen Rugby Club p 28 • Beckett-Lyte – Hymns from Becketts work, Sunday morning • Beckett Chess Set, Enniskillen Castle
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HAPPY DAYS/THEATRE
TEATRO PLASTICO
A Triple Bill (60mins) Rough for theatre II + What Where + What/ is the Word/ Portora Royal School Steele Hall Fri, Sat, Sun, August 24th, 25th, 26th 7pm £12 / £8 UK AND Irish Premiere These works of Samuel Beckett are little parables about the human struggle to understand and survive in an often confusing and changing world but aided with the power of Beckett’s laughter as a means to fill the pain of existence and the emptiness of waiting. Since 2007, Portugal’s Teatro Plástico has dedicated itself to the work of Samuel Beckett, recognising him as the most influential author of contemporary
theatre. Their cycle of work attempts to bring the dramatic, poetic and audiovisual potency of Samuel Beckett into a new context by confronting works of different genres and periods and exploring our inescapable universe as a mental and physical territory that remains fundamental to define an understanding of our reality and our humanity.
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THEATRE CLASTIC
ACT WITHOUT WORDS 1 by Samuel Beckett/ Portora Royal School, Steele Hall (60mins) Fri & Sat August 24th & 25th, 12pm £10 & £8, Special Family Ticket £20 UK and Irish Premiere Suitable for children of all ages Act without words 1 is a mimodrama written for a single character. It is interpreted here by a puppeteer and his puppet, faithfully rendering the movements and the repetitive gestures which Beckett recorded in eight pages of stage directions. Humourous, sad, oddly mesmerising and playful this is a
kind of stage animation that will appeal to all ages, children and adults. The Kafkaesque tale, punctuated by whistles, tells “ without words “ the temptations, the decisions, the actions and the resolutions of a character in the grip of the desire to wish, in the will to want...
Production Clastic Théâtre with the support of the City of Paris, the Grand Parquet and the Festival Paris Beckett. Clastic Théâtre is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, DGCA and DRAC Ile-de-France, the Region Ile-de-France, the General Council of the Hauts-de-Seine and the City of Clichy ; by the SACD for its action on the contemporary text.
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Photo by : François Lazaro
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HAPPY DAYS/THEATRE
Pan Pan Theatre Company All that fall/ Ireland
St. Macartins Hall (behind St. Macartins Cathedral) Wed August 22nd 6pm & 8pm Thur-Sun August 23-26th 4pm, 6pm, 8pm Mon 27th 10am, 12pm, 2pm £12 / £10 UK Premiere In All That Fall we encounter Maddy Rooney in her seventies – unsightly, ungainly and unwell – laboriously to-ing and fro-ing between her home and Boghill Railway Station. All That Fall is a multi-layered composition of voices that can be experienced as a black comedy, a murder mystery, a cryptic literary riddle or a quasi-musical score, but that gains from being experienced in Pan Pan’s uniquely atmospheric, theatrically tuned listening chamber.
‘Rocking chairs are set at apparently random angles to each other and to the walls. The cushions have an image of a skull on them. The chairs sit on a carpet whose pattern is a stylized grid of a small town. The wall to the front is covered in large yellow lights that dim and shine in complex patterns through the performance. The ceiling is hung with yellow bulbs like lemons on a radioactive tree…The speakers hang to the right…ingenious…perfectly judged” Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times
All That Fall won Best Sound Design & Best Lighting Design at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2011. Pan
• Miss Fitt’s Comedy House @ Blakes of the Hollow p26 • The Headhunters Railway Museum, Darling St. • View from Ardhowen Theatre of old railway ruins • The Beckett Skulls Rowing Race, Friday, p28
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Pan is represented by Sarah Ford / Quaternaire (www.quaternaire.org) Original broadcast 1957. The year the railway closed in Enniskillen.
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Written by Samuel Beckett Directed by Gavin Quinn Set and Lighting Design: Aedin Cosgrove Sound Design: Jimmy Eadie Dramaturg: Thomas Conway Design Assistant: Grace O’Hara Production Manager: Rob Usher Cast: Andrew Bennett, Phelim Drew, Sarah Greene, John Kavanagh, Nell Klemenic, Áine Ní Mhuiri, Robbie O’Connor, Joey O’Sullivan, David Pearse, Deaniel Reardon, Judith Roddy
NoT I A dramatic monologue by Samuel Beckett/
Actress Lisa Dwan (Ireland) Portora Royal School, Steele Hall Saturday, Sunday, Monday 4pm, £8 IRISH Premiere
The event begins with Lisa Dwan’s performance of NOT I (c.10 mins). This will be followed by a 10 minute documentary film, an interview with Billy Whitelaw. There will then be an after show discussion which Lisa joins as soon as she is out of make up and dressed! Billie Whitelaw, one of Beckett’s greatest long time interpreters said: “Not I came through the letter-box. I opened it, read it, and burst into tears, floods of tears. It had a tremendous emotional impact on me. I knew then that it had to go at great speed”.
• Siege in the room, Billie Whitelaw NOT I, The Keep, Enniskillen Castle.
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HAPPY DAYS/Visual
ATOM EGOYAN STEENBECKETT (2002)/
Clinton Centre Higher Bridges Gallery, August 9th - 29th IRISH Premiere
Film Director Atom Egoyan’s STEENBECKETT (2002) features an obsolete editing machine, 2000 feet of 35mm celluloid and a video projection of a solitary man musing on memory as he eavesdrops on his younger self. Produced by the Artangel commissioning agency, the project was conceived while Egoyan was directing the actor John Hurt in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. Shot on 35mm, the film was edited on a Steenbeck – now something of a dinosaur in the digital post-production age – and the last reel became the centrepiece for an installation world premiered at the Museum of Mankind in London.
Atom Egoyan, Steenbeckett (2002), The Artangel Collection ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Atom Egoyan’s Steenbeckett (2002) is part of The Artangel Collection, an initiative to bring outstanding film and video works, commissioned and produced by Artangel, to galleries and museums across the UK. The Artangel Collection has been developed in partnership with Tate and is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the John Ellerman Foundation.
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Antony Gormley Tree for Waiting for Godot/
The Grand Yard, Castle Coole Estate, July 16 – September 13 (60 days) National Trust entrance fee to Castle Coole Estate £3 / £2 World Premiere World renowned sculptor Antony Gormley has created a tree specially commissioned by the Happy Days Festival towards a future Australian Aboriginal-Irish co-production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Antony has kindly agreed for the Tree from this production to be displayed as part of our inaugural festival.
With thanks to Ocean Mims, Antony Gormley Studio and Paul Fletcher, HTF Stainless Steel Fabricator Ltd Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the National Trust’s custodianship of Castle Coole.© the artist Tree for Waiting for Godot 2012 2.9 x 2.8 x 2.9m Square section stainless steel © the artist
•Festival Opening Concert, Play it again for Sam, Thursday, St. Michael’s Church. p 13 •Paintings by Jeremy Henderson ‘A country road. A tree. Evening’. Waterways Ireland Building, p 24 •Good Godot: Beethoven’s The Ghost Trio, St. Michael’s Church, 3pm Saturday p 19 •Didi & Gogo’s Sunday Afternoon Crricket Match Artists vs Critics, Portora, p 29 •Beckett Chess Set, Enniskillen Castle
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HAPPY DAYS/Visual
JOSEPH Kosuth ‘Texts (Waiting for-) for Nothing’ Samuel Beckett, in play/
The Cooper Wilkinson Building (Floor 3 – behind Town Hall, entrance opposite Dollakis Restaurant) August 9-29 UK AND Irish Premiere Joseph Kosuth’s stunning installation delivers a sensory experience of great artistic assurance and playful reward for the spectator. Expect bright neon sculptural text amidst darkness and a
specially commissioned rubber flooring for the viewer to tread. This is a floating world where one artistic colossus (Kosuth) whose work questions the very nature of art pays homage to the writer (Beckett) who more than any other questioned the very existence of the word and meaning. A moving and mesmerizing initiation to the world of Beckett. Suitable for all ages. Why not take your shoes off for a heightened experience.
Joseph Kosuth ‘(Waiting for-) Texts for Nothing’ Samuel Beckett, in play, 2010 Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia Photo: Christian Capurro courtesy the artist
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HAPPY DAYS/ EVENING CONCERTS
Opening Concert
‘Play it again for Sam’
JOSEPH KOSUTH In recent years the world acclaimed American conceptual artist, Joseph Kosuth, has designed installations and façade work for The Bundestag German Parliament, the Musée de Louvre in Paris, the Council of State of the Netherlands and the National Library in Paris. He was awarded a Cassandra Foundation Grant in 1968, at the age of 23, as the choice of Marcel Duchamp one week before he died. In 1993, he received the Menzione d’Onore at the Venice Biennale and was named Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1999, in honour of his work, the French government issued a 3.00-franc postage stamp in Figeac. In 2001, he received the Laurea Honoris Causa doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from the University of Bologna. In 2003, Kosuth was awarded the Austrian Republic’s highest honour for accomplishments in science and culture, the Decoration of Honour in Gold.
THE MOONLIGHT SONATA by Ludwig Van Beethoven, played twice. LlŸr Williams, Piano St. Michael’s Church, Thursday, August 23rd 9pm SHORT & FREE! (Concert duration 30mins)
Our FREE opening concert to launch the Happy Days Classical Beckett programme is the ever popular Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata to be played twice, a wry nod to the ‘same again’ of Act 1 & 2 in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ and that play’s moontime. Llÿsr Williams has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and Mozarteum Orchestra, Salzburg. He appears regularly at the BBC Proms in London and the Edinburgh Festival. This is his Irish debut.
‘… Williams communes with the piano as if seeking new layers in a palimpsest. The results can be revelatory’ Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 21 August 2011 13 5261.001 HD Programme ART 2.indd 13
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HAPPY DAYS/
Evening concerts The Peoples Monologue FRIDAY
McArthur Hall, Wesley St. (behind Darling St. Methodist Church) Friday, August 24th 8.30pm £12 A native of St. Johnston, Donegal, and former member of the Kilfenora Ceili Band and Bothy Band in the 1970s, legendary Irish fiddler Tommy Peoples creates a special once-only evening for the Happy Days festival with his looking back to the recordings of c.30 years ago placed alongside his playing of now. This unique evening, mixing past and present, promises to be one of the great future memories of Happy Days 2012.
Duke Special SATURDAY
Darling St. Methodist Church Saturday 25th, 9pm £12.50 Dynamic, bracingly eccentric and with an inimitable stylish musicality, Duke Special is an artist aptly named. Hailing from Belfast with a sound that is self-confessed “hobo-chic”, Duke Special - AKA the endlessly inventive Peter Wilson - is once heard, never forgotten. Duke Special’s immense creative talents have seen him involved in projects as diverse as writing the theme tune for Sesame Tree (the Northern Ireland edition of Sesame Street where he also got to sing with The Muppets) to writing the music for and appearing in Deborah Warner’s critically acclaimed 2009 production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children at London’s National Theatre. Blissfully at home in his own alluring genre of beautifully bruised romanticism, Duke Special inhabits a world filled with vaudeville-esque sensibility, sing-a-longs and addictive melodies . “This is the music of magic and soul” Daily Telegraph
GAVIN BRYARS and ENSEMBLE SATURDAY
The Sinking of the Titanic – a memorial concert and The Beckett Songbook (world premiere). St. Macartin’s Cathedral, Saturday August 25th, seated 7pm for 7.12pm start £12.50 / £10 “At university I was so overwhelmed by having access to a very large library that I spent my first term reading nothing but complete collections of Irish plays - Shaw, Wilde, O’Casey, Synge, Behan, Beckett – rather than studying what I was supposed to.. Beckett is, of course, better known for his plays and novels, but his relatively small output of poetry is quite special. I have chosen six poems for the collection, four of which are performed here: My way is in the sand flowing, I would like my love to die, Song and Something There.” Gavin Bryars
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The Sinking of the Titanic (1969) is now a classic. It achieves that rarity of being a critical masterpiece as well as very popular with audiences. Bryars makes use of materials derived from both his own research and speculations about the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship. His starting point was
“Autumn”, the hymn tune the band was reportedly playing in the final moments of the disaster, which Bryars scores for string quartet and weaves into other musical and non-musical material, including fragments of interviews with survivors and sequences of Morse Code.
IAN BOSTRIDGE (tenor) and Julius Drake (Piano) SUNDAY
Preceded by a short reading of Samuel Beckett’s Texts for Nothing No. 12, read by actor Len Fenton. Samuel Beckett’s single favourite piece of music, Schubert’s Winterreise, is the Mount Everest of song cycles. It’s an immense work and one of the greatest masterpieces produced within the European musical tradition. Its narrative depicts the solitary walk of a despondent man, away from a town of his rejected love and toward another of ominous portent.
Winterreise by Franz Schubert. St. Macartin’s Cathedral, Sunday August 26th, 6.27pm £15 / £12.50 Ian Bostridge CBE is one of the world’s most highly acclaimed song interpreters. His concert engagements include the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. He has also worked with maestros Sir Colin Davis, Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim and James Levine among others. He has recorded Winterreise with Leif Ove Andnses,Mitsuko Uchida, and made an art-film version of it with Julius Drake his accompanist. Tasc is Tuarisc (Death and Account) Entrance Hall Castle Coole Sunday, August 26th, 3pm (concert duration 60mins)See p.18&19
RUBY PHILOGENE MBE (Mezzo Soprano) and Julius Drake (Piano) MONDAY
Happy Days Closing Concert - celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the National Trust at Castle Coole Entrance Hall, Castle Coole, Monday August 27th, 6pm, £15 (with glass of wine) She has recorded with EMI and Deutsche A winner of the Gramaphon. Kathleen Ferrier Award, Ruby has Franz Schubert four songs: An die Musik, sung on many Lied der Mignon (Nur wer die Sehnsucht of the world’s kennt), Sei mir gegrüsst, Heidenröslein. leading opera Johannes Brahms two songs: Immer leise stages and concert wird mein Schlummer, Das Mädchen halls including Richard Strauss three songs: Ich trage meine the Royal Opera Minne, Morgen, Cäcili Gabriel Fauré four House London, songs: Ici bas, Les Berceaux, Claire delune, Deutsche Oper Apres un rêve. Camille Saint Saens aria: Berlin, San Mon coeur s’ouvre (Samson et Delilah ) Francisco Opera and La Monnaie Opera Spirituals: Balmin Gilead, Nobody knows the House Brussels. She has given concerts with trouble I’ve seen, Gospel train. Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Ricardo Muti, Christophe Dochnanyi and Antony Pappano, and sung alongside colleagues Jose Van Dam, Ian Bostridge and Bryn Terfal. Ms Philogene was especially invited to sing for Princess Diana.
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HAPPY DAYS
FROM THE HAPPY DAYS TEAM Our Festival Director Sean Doran, before he took life too seriously, was the original co-author for the Rough Guide to Ireland (1989). So here’s Sean’s ‘quick and cheerful’ guide through Enniskillen’s serpentine single street of 4 names, up and over two little hillocks Town Hall & Cathedral/Churches, surprise, surprise. This is Enniskillen’s answer to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile (a wee mile) with its own busy hubbub of 14 restaurants (some bars), 12 bars, 10 cafes and 10 hairdressers! Also check out the shop window displays along the street. For August, come to the new Edinburgh and Ireland’s BECKETT TOWN. • F ermanagh Herald Offices. Pop in and tell them you have come all this way for the Beckett Festival. (If you’re a local, pretend you’re from Australia).
EAST • Start from just off the east bridge with the Horseshoe & Saddlers pub (good food upstairs), on corner at junction. Dunnes, Tesco, Asda and Erne Shopping Centre all nearby. • This end you’ll also find most of the town’s takeaways clustered together (great prices). • Molloy’s fish shop, a cracker for fresh fish and oysters from the Donegal coast. And O’Doherty’s famous Black Bacon shop (don’t leave without some in your suitcase) some of the best meat in town..
• You cross onto the island just by the Clinton Centre (the Hostel, nice café wifi for a small fee). The lovely orange building opposite is the old orange hall. They teach Irish language classes there now. The walls have ears… • Magee’s Spirit Store. And eerily established by a Patrick Magee namesake. Raise a glass to the great Northern Irish actor who world premiered Krapp’s Last Tape. • H ealth Food Store. Beckett’s wife Suzanne had a very health conscious regime for her husband. Feel free to follow suit…
• Uno’s cocktail bar in vicinity of Hepburn’s clothes shop! Think dolce vita.
• Flo’s Restuarant (piping hot hearty food). Have a rest and a whisper on the bench outside. Her younger friend Frou Frou just a few doors down (best cakes in town but see the dentist on Belmore St. after, best in UK we hear). • The Impartial Reporter – give them your very opinionated thumbs up for Happy Days. • The Bush Bar (free wifi), nice modern bar, its interior runs right to the back with lookout to the River Erne (where the baby cot ride on the back river might be). Corner Bar next it. • The Linen Hall (Weatherspoons). Your only chance for an English Ale. Cheapest hot food and beer prices in town. Free wifi at the back.
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CENTRE • Pat’s Bar (opp Town Hall), nice bar and free wifi available. • Down street by Town Hall it’s cosmopolitan Enniskillen – Three Greek, Indian and Italian restaurants. Look up from any of them and you’ll see the Joseph Kosuth Exhibition (the one with rubber floors and neon – children friendly!) • Buy a Beckett book in Eason’s, EK’s one serious lonely bookshop (not for long…). Newspapers here and Centra across road.
WEST • The Anglican Cathedral (St.Macartins) and Catholic Church (St.Michaels) stare each other down 20 paces apart. And the blushing pink Methodist Church a few doors away, a beauty inside. They all look back down on Blakes (likely where Beckett may have sipped his first whiskey and Guinness) and Charlies Bars (hosts literary meetings, so support it!) in the hollow below. • S tewart’s butchers. If you’ve had enough of the radishes, carrots and turnips. • Library on street down by Cathedral. Free computer use, if you join. • Absolutely do not miss Headhunters Railway Museum, nostalgia. Only barbers in the Ireland where bald people don’t feel out of place. • For the tiring (and retiring) thespians returning from
Portora, grab a coffee in the Darling St. coffee shops – Devenish (wifi), Aisling Centre, Russell & Donnelly’s (nice delicatessen, best wine store north of the border) and Jolly Sandwich. • Grab a cab taxis, bottom of Darling Street
And some other tips: • Don’t miss the amazing new Beckett outdoor chess set by local sculptor Alan Milligan at Enniskillen Castle. • Seek out local restaurants with new menus from Beckett ingredients in his works and vote for the most innovative and Beckettian one. • Go on a relaxing romantic gondola like punt on a baby Erne Cot on River Erne back river. • And don’t miss Chef Billy’s lunches in the Portora dining hall where Beckett fed. A Divine Comedy 3 course lunch (inferno, purgatorio, paradise), a cross between a 1920s canteen lunch and haute cuisine! All for only £13 • Watch out on Sunday mornings, mostly everything is closed except the churches. • There’s an amazing free conference by the grand Improbable Theatre, Devoted & Disgruntled, in the Clinton Centre to debate theatre. It’s FREE. You’d be mad not to join in if you like making theatre. Sat & Sun
That’s about it without mentioning all the car parks that have all the best views of the river. Apologies for any of Sean’s oversights to those he neglected to mention. Entirely his fault and not that of the rest of the team. You can track him down holding court in the Festival Club (Blakes) for the entire festival, not working like the rest of us. Signed The Happy Days Team
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HAPPY DAYS/Classical Beckett
MORNING MUSIC LlŸr Williams, Piano.
Friday 24 August Castle Coole, Entrance Hall, 10.30am. £12 & £10 Haydn: Piano Sonata in e minor No.34; Schubert: Piano Sonata in C major D840 Liszt: Petrarcha Sonnet No.104; Liszt: Tarantelle di bravura (from Venezia e Napoli)
The Vienna Piano Trio
Llÿr Williams read music at The Queen’s College, Oxford and went on to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he won every available prize and award. Most recently he was the recipient of the prestigious The South Bank Show award for his interpretation of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas cycle in Edinburgh last summer. Llÿr Williams is the subject of two films: one won a Welsh BAFTA for Best Music Programme, and the second featured his debut at Carnegie Hall
Darling St. Methodist Church, 10.30am. £15.00 & £12.50 Saturday August 25th Haydn.: Piano Trio in A-major Hob. XV/18 Schubert: Adagio “Notturno” D.897 Beethoven: Piano Trio in B-flat major op.97 “Archduke” One of the world’s great piano trios on their first visit to Ireland play the composers most loved by Samuel Beckett.
Sophie Daneman (soprano) & Julius Drake
Darling St. Methodist Church. 10.30am. £12& £10 Monday August 27th MENDELSSOHN “It seemed “Colloque sentimenal”. The Auf Flugeln to me that title “The lost Ones” originates des Gesanges (Heine) Die Liebende schreibt (Goethe) as a writer in Lamartine’s “Meditaions Neue Liebe (Heine) the texts of poetique” and in the story SCHUBERT songs would have been as “Fingal” from ‘More Pricks An den Mond (Goethe) important to Beckett as his than Kicks’ there is the line Erlkonig (Goethe) love for the music so I have “…bons vins et Lamartine, a SCHUMANN Liebeslied (Goethe) tried to bring together some champagne land for the sad Die Lotosblume (Heine) of the poets that influenced and serious…” Beckett also 2 songs from him. I found many references published an English translation Wilhelm Meister; (Goethe) Singet nicht to his huge admiration for of Apollinaire’s ‘Zone’. in Trauertonen Goethe. Erlkonig was used The poem Montparnasse Kennst du das Land in an unpublished short story is particularly poignant as it DEBUSSY “Echo’s bones”(1933). describes a young idealistic Fetes Galantes 1; (Verlaine) En sourdine Beckett’s poem “Gnome” poet coming to live in Paris Fantoches was inspired by reading and Beckett in fact lived in Clair de lune Goethe’s masterpiece “Wilhelm Montparnasse himself and FAURE Meister’s Apprenticeship”. is buried in the cemetery Mandoline (Verlaine) He was also a great admirer of there along with Heine. All GOUNOD Au rossignol (Lamartine) Heine. His debt to Verlaine is these connections led me evident and no more so than to present this programme POULENC Montparnasse (Appolinaire) in the fact that the title “Happy uniquely for the Happy Days 3 songs from Days” is a translation of “Oh les Festival” Sophie Daneman Banalites; beaux jours” from Verlaine’s Voyage a Paris
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Hotel Sanglots
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Dark At Its Full
Friday August 24th, 7.30pm Entrance Hall Castle Coole £12 / £10
An Evening of Music and Film on reflection of Beckett’s novella Mercier and Camier. Performed by Dr. Catherine Laws pianist and musicologist with a special focus on the musicality of the work of Samuel Beckett, Seamus Harahan an award winning artist, Ciarán Maher composer and installation artist whose principal interests are in pitch perception, tuning and simple perceptible processes, filmmaker David Prior and poet Larry Lynch. Prior has made a series of short films often characterized by their brevity and simplicity. On a number of these films, Prior has collaborated with poet Larry Lynch. Curated by Dr. Helen Sharp.
PRECIOUS LITTLE AFTERNOON RECITAL(15 mins) Free - 3 Short Afternoon Recitals Friday August 24th, St. Michael’s Church, 3pm
Ruby Philogene MBE, mezzo soprano. Piano Paul Plummer Gustav Mahler Ruckert Lieder, 3 songs Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world) Ichatmet’ einen linden Duft (I breathed a gentlefragrance) Um Mitternacht (At midnight) Former winner of the Kathleen FerrierPrize, Ruby Philogene, sings a precious tribute to the renowned contralto KathleenFerrier in the 100th Anniversary year of her birth (1912).
PRECIOUS LITTLE AFTERNOON RECITAL (20mins) Free Saturday August 25th, St. Michael’s Church, 3pm
The Vienna Piano Trio Ludwig Van Beethoven The Ghost Trio - Largo assai ed espressivo. Piano Trio in D Major ‘Ghost’ Op 70 No. 1. One of Samuel Beckett’s favourite works after which he named one of his own teleplays. The slow movement of Beethoven’s Ghost Trio (10mins) is played twice.
PRECIOUS LITTLE AFTERNOON RECITAL(15mins)
Free Monday August 27th St. Michael’s Church, 3pm
Sophie Daneman (Soprano) and Julius Drake(piano) Haydn’s Ariadne auf Naxos.
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Tasc is Tuairisc (Death and Account)
Entrance Hall Castle Coole, Sunday, 3pm (60mins) £8
Piano Trio of sean nos singer, fiddle and piano Performed by Lorcán Mac Mathúna, Daire Bracken, Paul Smyth Composed by Lorcán Mac Mathúna, Simon O’Connor, Daire Bracken. Inspired by Schubert’s Winterreise, Táscis Tuairisc explores the descent into madness on the most notorious expedition of the 19th century, the Franklin polar expedition.
Beckett Lyte
St. Macartin’s Cathedral, St. Michael’s Church and Enniskillen Methodist Church, Sunday August 26th
Spend a Sunday morning taking time out from the festival programme. Listen to some of the Hymns from Beckett’s prose and plays along with hymns written by another renowned Portora pupil Henry Francis Lyte (Abide with me) in one of Enniskillen’s three iconic churches atop the hill of its main street.
SPECIAL OFFER: ALL MORNING MUSIC FRI, SAT, SUN - £25 3 CLASSICAL MUSIC EVENTS - £30
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HAPPY DAYS/TALKS Official Festival Opening Event Edna O’Brien
in conversation with William Crawley, Thursday, August 23rd Ardhowen Theatre, 7.30pm £15 Edna O’Brien has written Pen Lifetime Achievement over twenty major works Award, the American of fiction and landmark National Arts Gold Medal biographies of Lord Byron and the Ulysses Medal. and James Joyce. Her debut In this unique ‘In novel, ‘The Country Girls’, Conversation’ event, Edna established her as one of O’Brien talks of her passion the world’s most significant for Beckett’s writing, their women writers and her friendship, their relationship popularity is undimmed to to Ireland and much more. this day. William Crawley is a BBC She is the recipient of many journalist and broadcaster. awards, including the Irish
‘Introducing Samuel BecketT with Beckett’s biographer James Knowlson
Friday, August 24th at 1.10pm Town Hall Committee Room £10 / £8 Samuel Beckett said of James Knowlson: he is ‘the one who knows my work best.’ They were friends for over twenty years and Knowlson’s biography of Beckett, Damned To Fame, is for many the definitive life of the man. Here, in conversation, James Knowlson examines the extraordinary role that Samuel Beckett played, and continues to play, in his life. James Knowlson is the founder of and advisor to the Beckett International Archive at the University of Reading
Will Self
Friday, August 24th, 4pm Mt Lourdes £10 / £8 The complex relationship between mind and body was an ongoing theme in Samuel Beckett’s work. It’s also present in Will Self’s writing, from non-fiction such as Walking to Hollywood to his most recent novel, Umbrella. Join one of the most acclaimed, provocative, challenging and entertaining writers at work today. ‘In these culturally straitened times few writers would have the artistic effrontery to offer us a novel as daring, exuberant and richly dense as Umbrella.’ John Banville.
Lady Antonia Fraser
Friday, August 24th 6pm, Mt Loudres £10 / £8 Lady Antonia Fraser and her husband, the late Harold Pinter, were friends for over a number of years with Samuel Beckett. Pinter freely acknowledged Beckett’s influence, particularly in his early plays; in later life, when they became friends, they would send each other drafts of their work in progress for comments. In this special festival event, Lady Antonia discusses Beckett’s influence on Pinter’s work and on the friendship the three of them shared. Antonia Fraser’s historical works have become international bestsellers, including Mary Queen of Scots (winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize), The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605.
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Maggi Hambling:
Saturday, August 25th 12pm, Mt Loudres A Lively Conversation With Death £10 / £8 Maggi Hambling, one of Britain’s most distinguished artists, discusses the background to her first encounter with Beckett’s work, the beginning of a life-long fascination. ‘Max Wall began to pose for me during Easter 1981. After the last sitting for ‘Max Wall and his Image’ (Tate Collection), we went through his lines for the role of Vladimir, which he was to play in Waiting for Godot at The Roundhouse, London, that summer. His performance was widely acclaimed and I went five times. This experience revealed the play I consider the most profound of the twentieth century. The resulting series of work formed part of my exhibition Max Wall by Maggi Hambling at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 1983. Beckett encouraged in me a more lively conversation with death. He has, from that time on, directly or indirectly, been an ever-present muse for my work.’ Maggi Hambling
Shivaun O’Casey and David Gothard Saturday 25th August, 6pm, Mt. Lourdes £10/£8 The plays of Beckett are renowned for the challenges they present to actors and directors. Shivaun O’Casey and David Gothard discuss their own experience of engaging with Beckett’s work.
Shivaun O’Casey is an actress, designer and director. Her father was the playwright, Sean O’Casey, and she has directed his plays around the world. She has also directed Beckett, who admired her father’s work. Though Beckett and her father never met, they corresponded and over the years, until her father’s death in 1964, she relayed messages between the two of them. David Gothard is a writer and director. When he was artistic director of the Riverside Studios in the 1980’s he brought pioneering visual theatre to London; during this time the Riverside hosted rehearsals, supervised by Beckett, for productions of two of his plays (Endgame and Waiting For Godot) by the San Quentin Theatre Workshop.
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IN OTHER WORDS @ Mt. Lourdes
Paul Muldoon and Alice Oswald:
Saturday, August 25th 4pm, Mt Loudres £10 / £8
Two of the world’s finest poets come together specially for the festival. They read from their own work and discuss the influence of Beckett on their life. Paul Muldoon poetry has been awarded the Pulitzer and the T. S. Eliot prizes for his work; Alice Owald has also been the recipient of the T. S. Eliot Prize as well as the Ted Hughes award. ‘The result is rather like watching a juggler add more and more flaming torches and chainsaws, until it seems impossible for him to keep everything up in the air.’ The Barnes and Noble Review on Paul Muldoon’s Maggot. ‘This beautiful, bleak poem comes down to the insanity of war……Oswald has achieved a miraculous feat.’ Daily Telegraph on Alice Oswald’s Memorial.
James Knowlson and Anne Atik Arikha
Saturday, August 25th 8.30pm, Mt Lourdes £10 / £8 James Knowlson and Anne Atik Arikha had the privilege of being close friends with Beckett. In their company he could relax and be himself. James Knowlson held many conversations with Beckett over the years in the course of writing his acclaimed biography. The poet Anne Atik’s memoir, How It Was, describes evenings Beckett spent with her and her husband, the painter Avigdor Arikha; it reveals, amongst much else, the profound importance that music and art played in Beckett’s life. They share a stage now to celebrate the man that they knew.
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HAPPY DAYS/TALKS Raja Shehadeh and Paul Farley
Sunday, August 26th 12 noon Portora Castle (by the water’s edge). 10min riverside walk from school or first right road turn after Portora by playing fields, weather permitting otherwise Portora Royal School £10 / £8
The theme of walking is everpresent in Beckett. Characters who walk the roads endlessly or those who bemoan their inability to walk at all. In his own life he tramped the streets of Paris and London and in earlier years roamed the Wicklow hills with his father. Raja Shehadeh and Paul Farley discuss the relationship between walking and landscape. For Raja Shehadeh, his walks in the hills around Ramallah also had powerful familial and ancestral connections as he
describes in Palestinian Walks: Forays Into A VanishingLandscape, which won the 2008 Orwell Prize. Raja Shehadeh is Palestine’s leading writer. Heis also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rightsorganisation AlHaq. His other acclaimed books include Strangersin the Houseand A Rift In Time. Paul Farley is an award-winning poet, whose non-fiction book,Edgelands (coauthored with Michael Symmons Roberts) is a journey into England’s overlooked wilderness and won the Royal Society of Literature’s Jerwood Award. His latest collection, The Dark Film, came out earlier this year.
John Banville and George Craig
Sunday, August 26th, 4pm Mt Lourdes £10 / £8
Samuel Beckett began writing in English, switched to French for ten years for the creation of new works, and then returned unexpectedly to English. John Banville and George Craig explore the impetus behind this movement between two languages and more broadly the challenges that translation presents. John Banville won the Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea and his latest novel, Ancient Light, has just been published. George Craig is one of the editors of The Letters of Samuel Beckett (the first two volumes of which have been published) and author of Writing Beckett’s Letters.
Stirrings Still
To be read by Adrian Dunbar, Saturday August 25th 6.00am, Inishmacsaint Church £10 round trip – Enniskillen Castle to Inishmacsaint and back
A dawn pilgrimage by land to Inishmacsaint back by water where two of our Festival artists will read from Beckett. Leaving from Enniskillen Castle at 5.30am, the ticket will include a Purgatorio breakfast!
Pauline McLynn , Tim Parks and Carlo Gebler Sunday, August 26th 8.30pm Mt Lourdes £10 /£8 Chaired by Nicholas Johnson
From amongst all the novels, plays, short prose and poetry, how do you go about selecting a favourite Beckett text? Novelists Tim Parks and Carlo Gebler and actres sand writer Pauline McLynn reveal their choices and explain why. Tim Parks is the author of the international best-seller, Teach Us to Sit Still; his latest novel is The Server. Pauline McLynn
is probably best known as the housekeeper, Mrs. Doyle, in Father Ted. Last year she played the role of Winnie in Happy Days at the Sheffield Crucible; she is also the author of five novels. Carlo Gebler’s books include How To Murder A Man and (written with Patrick Maguire) My Father’s Watch: The Story of A Child Prisoner in ‘70’s Britain. His latest novel is The Dead Eight.
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John Calder and John Minihan:
IN OTHER WORDS
Monday, August 27th 12noon, £10 /£8
In their respective careers as publisher and photographer, John Calder and John Minihan are probably most closely associated with one man, Samuel Beckett. They discuss what that association has meant to them, both personally and professionally. John Calder has published writers such as Henry Miller and William Borroughs and, in addition to Beckett, two other Nobel Laureates, Heinrich Böll and Claude Simon. Almost singlehandedly, Calder has been
@ Mt. Lourdes
responsible for introducing the French writers Alain RobbeGrillet and Marguerite Duras to Britain. In a café in Paris in 1985 John Minihan took what was probably the single most famous image of Beckett. They met originally in 1980 and John photographed him over a number of years, culminating in his book, Photographs: Samuel Beckett. John Minihan photograph’s will be on display in the Seale Room, Portora Royal School.
Claire Kilroy, Alba Arikha, and Adrian Dunbar Sunday, August 26th Time 6PM £10 /£8
Dublin, Paris and London were the three cities most closely associated with Beckett. The festival brings together three artists to explore their individual relationships with each city. Novelist Claire Kilroy considers the influence of Dublin on her work, Alba Arikha (daughter of the painter Avigdor Arikha and the poet Anne Arik Arikha, and Beckett’s god-daughter) discusses her memoir Major/ Minor about growing up in Paris in the 80’s, and actor Adrian Dunbar looks at the importance of London a a theatrical capital in his life.
Claire Kilroy’s new novel, The Devil I Know, is published in August. Alba Arikha’s other books include Muse and Walking On Ice; she is also a singer/songwriter. Adrian Dunbar co-wrote and starred in the film Hear My Song, Other film credits include The Crying Game and The General.
Adrian Dunbar Midnight Editions Late night short Beckett text readings (c.20mins) by guest readers St. Michael’s Crypt 11pm (1min from Blakes)
The Chess Scene from Murphy - To launch the specially commissioned outdoor Beckett Chess Set. Enniskillen Castle, Thursday 23rd, c.7.30pm, Free
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HAPPY DAYS/VISUAL ARTS AND SOUND
The Painters Krapp’s Last Tape: Paintings by Jason Sumray (2011) The Entrance Hall & Cloisters Gallery Portora Royal School, August 22nd-27th
The imagery in this striking series of large paintings arose from London based artist Jason Sumray’s experience of seeing Beckett’s one man play for the first time, ‘Krapp’s Last Tape, performed by Michael Gambon.
Paintings by Jeremy Henderson
A country road. A tree. Evening. THE GALLERY WATERWAYS IRELAND HEADQUARTERS, 2 Sligo Road Enniskillen. August 3rd-31st 10.00-5.00 weekdays, August 23rd-27th, 11.00-5.00 including weekend
In an uncanny way stepping into Jeremy Henderson’s paintings is almost parallel to entering the world of Samuel Beckett. Henderson’s use of titles for his work puts a specific slant on the
paintings, in as much they direct the viewer towards a particular way of seeing that is both intelligent and ironic. Art critic Aiden Dunne says: “There is an ironic
distance between artist and subject, a distance emphasised by whimsical, allegorical, portentous and variously discursive titles. The titles relate the paintings to the artist’s inner world. But the paintings are singularly oblique messengers. He is a painter of considerable talent and some achievement”. (1987). Jeremy Henderson was born 1952 and died 2009. He attended Portora Royal School as did Beckett, later painting between London and Fermanagh. He once described the painting of a tree as Paracelsus, the 15th Century philosopher, said “A tree throws out its meaning without the use of an alphabet”.
ROOM FOR BECKETT
The Lobby, Castle Coole House 10am – 5pm
A special room for Beckett of eminent painters the writer admired - Jack Yeats and Avigdor Arikha - and influenced, Maggi Hambling. The small collection of 8 paintings we have specially curated includes Jack Yeats’ Among the reeds, Water on its way and Return of the Wanderer.
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Beckett Basement
“... the whole thing’s coming out of the dark” Samuel Beckett – words / sounds & moving images Castle Coole Basement, 11.00am – 4.00pm daily FREE
Discover the extraordinary basement of Castle Coole - one of the National Trust’s treasures - through a sonic interpretation of selected Beckett works including ‘Company’ and ‘Molloy’. Walk through the historic kitchen, servant’s hall, wine cellar and the other restored rooms of Castle Coole’s basement listening to Barry McGovern and Natasha Parry’s renditions enhanced by sound worlds composed by John D’Arcy (Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast) and directed by Cathie Boyd (Cryptic) creating an immersive journey through Beckett’s texts and characters. Voice recordings taken from the album ‘… The Whole Thing’s Coming Out of the Dark’ : Voices - Barry McGovern and Natasha Parry. Instruments - Helicon, Trombone and Slide Trumpet - Uwe Dierksen. Directed by Klaus Buhlert. Produced by Intermedium (Bayerischer Rundfunk).
Lough Erne proud to sponsor the 2012 Happy Days Festival John Hansen and Stuart Irwin were appointed Joint Administrators of Castle Hume Leisure Limited on 12 May 2011. The Joint Administrators contract as agents of the company without personal liability.
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MISS FITT’S COMEDY HOUSE contributor to The Guardian, he also writes a weekly column ‘Fears of a Clown’ for Blokely.com.
Josh Howie’s comedy examines the human condition and his own neuroses with a fierce intelligence and erudtion.
Despite the bleakness of his outlook his yarns unravel with sparkling playfulness and impressive wit. Josh has had three highlyacclaimed Edinburgh Festival runs and has made frequent television appearances on Comedy Central and Sky Movies. A regular
sold out nights at London’s Soho Theatre.
Edward Aczel: Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. Fri 7.30pm
“Britain’s greatest entertainer” (★★★★★ Time Out) outlines a few brittle thoughts on ambition, failure and why he would’ve preferred to be an ambassador. Or in theory a rock star. Featuring: SWOT analysis, silence and repetition. Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better. completed a sellout run at the Edinburgh Festival 2011 ahead of four Stuart Silver presents his ‘Big Picture’ monologue on getting perspective. A philosophical almostnarrative of perilous received wisdoms and long-distance ambitions. With ukulele when you least expect it. And when you expect it.
Award-winning, Baftanominated collaboration (nobleandsilver), sees a technically stripped back, musical Stuart Silver.
Josh Howie: I think my stalker’s avoiding me. Thurs 7.30pm
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Following highly successful runs at Soho Theatre and The London Word Festival, this first solo show from co-founder of Perrier
“Terrifyingly funny. Howie is a charming, diffident, articulate man with a show that is as fascinating as it is funny. He is a terrific talent.” The Scotsman
“Edward Aczel is Britain’s greatest living anticomedian” The Guardian “Aczel turns unprofessionalism into an artform. A real attraction” The Times
“★★★★ Its lurches of logic keep your head buzzing long after it ends... It’s not like anything else… Dreamlike and forensic” The Times “A surreptitiously seductive experience.” The Guardian
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@ BLAKES OF THE HOLLOW/ CELEBRATING 125 YEARS
Phil Kay: Humour That Is Absurdly Positive. Sat 7.30pm
After twenty-two Edinburgh Festivals and eighteen Glastonburys, Phil Kay is still breaking ground as a touchy-feely, mad, zippy, euphoric, outrageous, true, ampheta-Kind, come-offthe-stage-and-cuddle-you, whispering-a-song-in-yourear-type-humour guy with stuff to offer that no other comedian can: his soul and a bare bum. Join the multi-award winning stand-up comedian
for an unruly and joyful hour of super-sharp and super-blunt material, topical thoughts, sensical whimsy, song, story and dance. “A freewheeling mind permanently stuck in fifth gear” The Scotsman “The real deal... treats every gig like a one-off event.” The Guardian
“Brilliant Solo Debut” The Independent
John-Luke Roberts: A Cogent Defence of Absurdity – LIVE! Sun 3.00pm John-Luke Roberts presents an hour of life-changing but ultimately pointless thinky comedy nonsense. A writer for Radio 4’s The News
Liz Bentley: AAA Rating Sun 7.30pm (1hr)
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Quiz, and seen on BBC3’s Live From the Edinburgh Festival.
In her 20s Liz was diagnosed with MS. She overcame the illness with psychoanalysis, which led her to train as a psychotherapist herself. In AAA Rating (Age, Alzheimers and Anxiety) she examines the absurdity of modern life and the frailty of the human body using poetry, comedy and a casio keyboard.
ALL TICKETS £7
“A fantastically ornate but deeply silly brand of comedy, dripping with absurd puns and utterly unexpected left turns” The Guardian “Structurally impressive, constantly inventive, and playfully mischievous” Time Out “We’ve yet to see an audience fail to be drawn in and love her... She is also, simply, hilarious.” The Londonist “Like a female Ivor Cutler” The Scotsman
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HAPPY DAYS/SPORTs
BEND IT LIKE BECKETT
At Portora Royal School (1920-23) Samuel Beckett excelled at sport representing the school’s 1st XI and XV in Cricket and Rugby respectively, playing alongside Irish Rugby International Alan Buchanan. He was well known for his highly competitive spirit and became the Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the school. He also won medals in swimming and rowing at Portora. He was passionate about sports all his life tuning in to international rugby on the radio, regularly attending Lords when rehearsing in London. And he can lay claim to being the only
Nobel Prize winner in Cricket’s Wisden Almanack.
The Beckett Skulls Rowing Race
River Erne at the Broadmeadow, Friday August 24th, 6pm (Free)
Observe, with drink and burnt offering in hand, from Belacqua’s Barbecue on the Enniskillen Castle Firing Range at The Festival Centre. In partnership with The Boat Club @ Portora Royal School.
The Beckett Bike-It: Pedal for Purgatory Family Cycling Challenge Colebrooke Estate (near Brookeborough). Saturday August 25th,10am.
A fun competitive event involving a cycle around the beautiful Colebrooke Estate completing small physical, mental and skill based teak challenges en route. Each team will be presented with a map,
route and series of challenges that they must undertake which will be scored throughout. The team completing the cycle challenge with the most points will be deemed the winner. Colebrooke Estate in association with Share Discovery Village. Cost £60 for a team of 4. Suitable for all ages. Equipment required: Bike and helmet, suitable loose clothing, sun cream, sun glasses and hat. Share have a range of bikes that are available for hire at a small extra cost. For more information or to participate contact: (W) www.sharevillage.org/ events(E) reception@sharevillage.org (T) 02867722122
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The Samuel Beckett Muckball Cup
Saturday August 25th 2012. Enniskillen Rugby Club (15mins out of town)1.30pm Old Timers Match – we doubt it will last more than15minutes. (free)
2.00pm Followed by a pre season match: Enniskillen Rugby Club vs. Visitors (The Perhaps Team?). Shuttle buses will leave the car park by the Festival Centre Enniskillen Castle between 12pm-1pm and return after the match from Enniskillen Rugby Club between 4pm & 5pm (10min drive/Free).In partnership with Enniskillen Rugby Club.
Seeking THE FASTEST ARTIST IN IRELAND - OPEN CHALLENGE August 24th-27th 2012. FINALS Monday August 27th (free)
Didi & Gogo’s Sunday Afternoon Crricket
Track Time Trials by the Lakeland Forum If you’re an artist, writer, painter, musician, even a comedian - come and compete for the inaugural title of The Fastest Artist in Ireland. Contact Festival Office for details.
(free) Artists vs. Crritics. Sunday August 26th, 2.00-5.00pm. Portora Royal School. (free)
Cricket Field Teams will be selected by invitation but if you are coming to Happy Days Festival and rate yourself as a cricketer who plays art or criticism (or vice versa!) enter your name to the Festival Office. You may just be Lucky. In partnership with Portora Old Boys Cricket Club To be chosen contact Festival Office.
THE RAINY DAY-CART BICYCLE RALLY An all weekend open invitation to our visitors to bring your bicycle to Enniskillen, vintage or state of the art, and be seen to cycle to all our venues in honour of Beckett’s cartesian love of the humble bicycle.
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The Island Town Venues The Festival Centre Enniskillen Castle
(between Broadmeadow and the west bridge) Noon to 10pm
•Outdoor Beckett Chess Set (free) •The French Lobster Tent – popular music from 6pm •The French Champagne Tent •Bonnelly’s Wine Bar •The Reel Inn – traditional music house (free) •Belacqua’s Barbecue on the Firing Range (free) •The Siege in the Room: NOT I Teleplay in The Keep (free) •Festival Information Office – Enniskillen Museum •The Maguire’s Whiskey Bar – Pot Stills •The Chatton & Windup Bookshop •Clown and Dance Stage •Bicycle Hires •Watertaxi stop off point (nearest Waterbus stop off The Lakeland Forum (2mins walk)
THE FESTIVAL CLUB @ Blakes of the Hollow (main street a few doors down from St. Michael’s Church) Noon to Midnight
•Café Inferno (Café Merlot) •The Quiet Bar (the front bar) •Miss Fitt’s Comedy House (Level 7) - ticketed •Private Members Alone Lounge (Level 6) •The Upper Bar – Festival Patrons Exclusive Bar (Just present a show ticket)
ISLAND CENTRE •Cooper Wilkinson Gallery – The Joseph Kosuth Exhibition (free) •Town Hall – Introducing Beckett Talk (Fri 24th 1.10pm/free)
THE MAIN STREET ISLAND EAST END In Other Words @ Mt Lourdes writers series 4pm, 6pm & 8.30pm The Clinton Centre : Atom Egoyen’s Steenbeckett (free) & Improbable Theatre D&D theatre workshops
ISLAND WEST END
St. Macartin’s Cathedral - Gavin Bryars Ensemble (Sat) and Winterreise (Sun) St. Macartin’s Hall (behind Cathedral) Beckett’s All That Fall St. Michael’s Church - The Precious Little Afternoon Concerts (3pm/free). The Late Night Crypt Readings (11.00pm/free, near festival club) Darling St. Methodist Church Morning Music :Vienna Piano Trio (Sat), The Peoples Monologue p14 The McArthur Hall (behind Methodist Church, entrance Wesley St.).
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ues
OFF The Island Venues
CASTLE COOLE (east of island town, Dublin Rd, entrance across road from Ardhowen)
•Grand Yard – Antony Gormley’s Godot Tree PORTORA ROYAL SCHOOL •Entrance Hall – Morning (west of island town, school gate entrance Music Llyr Williams 4min walk from west bridge, road to Donegal) (Fri), Tasc is Tuairisc 11am to 8pm (Sun) & Closing Recital •The Steele Hall - Not I, Theatre Ruby Philogene Clastic and Teatro Plastico (Mon) (ticketed) •Entrance Hall & Cloisters Gallery – •Morning Room – Beckett notebooks and school bible Paintings by Jason Sumray (free) •Servants Basement & Tunnel – •The Endgame Dining Hall - Chef Beckett sound installation (free) Billy’s Divine Comedy Canteen •Room for Beckett (Lobby 1st floor). Lunches Fri-Mon. Paintings (free) •Seale Room (old Library) - Beckett •French Paintings room Photographs by John Minihan – •Tea House and walled garden (free) •The Chapel – Beckett’s Nacht Und LOWER LOUGH - THE MIND IN Traume teleplay (free) RUINS venues •Krapp Above – Dormitory in (west of Portora, Shore Rd attic: Patrick Magee’s Krapp to Donegal. Waterbus from Round O) recording (free) •Krapp Below – Basement Common Devenish Island …but the clouds… teleplay Room: (free) installation (free) •The Sleeping Classroom – •MV Kestrel boat leaves Round O 10.30am, Company Scheduled recordings 12.15pm, 2.15pm and 4.15pm. Duration (ticketed) 1hr 45 min •The Valley Window – a still point, •Inishmacsaint Church – Awake for Sam (Sat a rocking chair, a view into Lower 6am reading of Beckett’s Stirrings Still) Lough Erne. Back of Portora (free) •Shore road (15mins), Tully Castle– The •Watertaxi stop off point (nearest Waterbus stop off is The Round O, Ghost Trio teleplay installation 1min walk to school gate entrance.
ARDHOWEN THEATRE by the water’s edge
ts ear
(east of island town, 10min walk from east bridge, Dublin Rd. Nr Killyhevlin and Belmore Court Hotels)
•Robert Wilson’s Krapp’s Last Tape (Fri-Mon) •The Krapp Café •Departure point for Castle Coole (15min walk). •Waterbus and Watertaxi stop off point
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HAPPY DAYS/
The Inaugural Happy Days Fringe We had no intention to have a fringe in our inaugural year! But, thankfully, we didn’t get our way. Here are some wonderful plucky events - diverse, contrasting, innovative - bringing another fresh impetus to Happy Days. Do support them and Happy Fringing.
*New Writing Shorts:
Open Mic Session. Saturday 25th August, 3-6pm. The Buttermarket All writers and participants welcome!
*Imagining Beckett’s Enniskillen.
*Crumble performed by MORA, New York.
23rd-27th August, 8pm. Maximum audience capacity: 15. Site-Specific Theatre direct from its New York run. Venue and time details available from Festival Office/Enniskillen Castle.
23rd-27th August, Enniskillen Library, A History of 1920s Enniskillen. In association with Headhunters Museum, Fermanagh Writers Group and Fermanagh Authors’ Association.
* Visual Arts Fermanagh: A Beckett themed show.
*Endgame performed by The Hacklers, Cavan.
*Beckett On Screen
24th-27th August, 2pm. Blakes of the Hollow- Miss Fitt’s Comedy House (Level 7).
In shop opposite the Festival Club @ Blakes of the hollow
with Cinema North West’s Mobile Cinema, Festival Centre, Enniskillen Castle Car Park. For the full programme of films see www.cinemanorthwest.com
For full and up-to date information on Fringe Festival Events check our website at www.happydays-enniskillen.com or the Festival Information desk at Enniskillen Castle. PLEASE NOTE: From 2013, the Beckett Fringe will accept work against two criteria only (1) works by Samuel Beckett or (2) world premieres of new work in any art form. Fringe entries will open early 2013.
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ge
py-
orks by
early
OTHER ACTIVITIES LUNCH cooked by William Gould The Endgame Dining Hall Portora Royal School Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon August 24-27th, Sittings 1.15pm (capacity 70) £13 for 3 courses
Beckett Bucket
Festival Centre, Enniskillen Castle, 23rd – 27th Aug
Edinburgh cook William Gould’s stewpendous set lunches of 3 courses rise out of the depths of Inferno (starter), through Purgatorio (main) and finish in Paradiso (dessert). A cross between 1920s canteen lunches and haute cuisine, these recipes are designed from ingredients dug up in the poetry, prose and plays of Mr. Beckett. Come and sit in this Hogwarts like dining hall of long wooden tables where young Samuel Beckett was once fed!
Floating World will make an artist’s book based upon peoples visual and verbalmemories of the work of Samuel Beckett. Members of the public were asked to describe their memories or knowledge of Beckett’s work and the artists Andy Parsons and Glenn Holman will transcribe them onto paper as images, texts or responses. This process started on the 23rd June at the Ulster Museum. The artworks that come out of this process will come together to form a compendium of peoples responses to Beckett’s work … a Beckett bucket.
Devoted and Disgruntled
floatingworldsprojects.blogspot.co.uk/
The Clinton Centre, Sat 25th Aug 14.00 – 19.00, Sunday 26th Aug 10.00 – 13.00
Do you love theatre? Do you feel audiences don’t get a voice? Do you feel like an outsider in your own profession? Are you looking to change things? In 2012 for the first time ever, you have the opportunity to take part in a unique nationwide conversation. “Devoted & Disgruntled: What are we going to do about theatre?” started first in 2006; this open and collaborative conference provided a chance to check in with the theatre community, to share the news about what was going well, talk about what could be done better and discuss action to improve things.
HAPPY DAYS TEAM
So if there are questions that you think should be asked, projects you want support on, things you want changed, join Improbable and the Devoted & Disgruntled 2012 Roadshow on Sat 14.00-19.00 and Sunday 10.00-13.00 in a conversation that could reshape the theatre landscape. This is a unique chance for your voice to be heard and for us to listen to each other, face to face and online, locally and nationally.
Sharon Curran Festival Launch Coordinator
Seán Doran Founder and Artistic Director Pádraig Ó Duinnín General Manager Cathie Boyd Associate Artistic Producer Liam Browne Associate Programming Director - Writers, Literature Caroline Mabey Programmer, Miss Fitts Comedy House Anna Vinegrad Press Officer (UK, International) Alison Knox Marketing Manager
Matt McFrederick Assistant to the Festival Director James McFetridge Technical Manager Susie Ramsay Festival Operations
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Diary Wed 22nd Aug
Event
Venue
Time
Visual Arts
Godot Tree, Antony Gormley (Opens July 16th)
Castle Coole
10am – 5pm
Page 10
Steenbeckett, Atom Egoyan (Opens Aug 10th)
The Clinton Centre
10am – 5pm
11
Texts (Waiting For-) For Nothing, Joseph Kosuth (Opens Aug 10th)
Cooper Wilkinson Gallery
11am – 5pm
12
Jason Sumray ‘Krapp’ Paintings
Portora Royal School
10am – 6pm
24
Jeremy Henderson (Opens Aug 3rd)
Waterways Ireland Gallery
10am – 5pm
24
Room for Beckett (Opens Aug)
Castle Coole
10am – 5pm
25
John Minihan Photographs
Seale Room, Portora
10am – 6pm
23
Sound Arts
“…the whole thing’s coming out of the dark”
Castle Coole Basement
11am – 4pm
25
Theatre
All That Fall
St. Macartin’s Hall
6pm, 8pm
8
Thurs 23rd Aug Visual + Sound Arts Same as Wednesday 22 Aug Theatre
All That Fall
St. Macartin’s Hall
4pm, 6pm, 8pm
8
In Other Words
Edna O’Brien
Ardhowen Theatre
7.30pm
20
Adrian Dunbar
Enniskillen Castle
7.30pm
23
Miss Fitt’s Comedy House
Josh Howie
Blakes of the Hollow
7.30pm
26
Classical Beckett
Llyr Williams, Play It Again for Sam
St. Michael’s Church
9pm
13
Beckett Lunch
William Gould
Portora Dining Hall
1.15pm
32
Fri 24th Aug Visual + Sound Arts Same as Wednesday 22 Aug Theatre (Family)
Act Without Words I
Steele Hall, Portora
12noon
7
Theatre
All That Fall
St. Macartin’s Hall
4pm, 6pm, 8pm
8
Teatro Plastico, Triple Bill
Steele Hall, Portora
7pm
6
Krapp’s Last Tape
Ardhowen Theatre
8.30pm (Preview)
4
Introducing Beckett: James Knowlson
Town Hall Committee Room
1.10pm
20
Will Self
Mt. Lourdes
4pm
20
Lady Antonia Fraser
Mt. Lourdes
6pm
20
Midnight Editions
St. Michael’s Crypt
11pm
23
Miss Fitt’s Comedy House
Ed Aczel
Blakes of the Hollow
7.30pm
26
Classical Beckett
Llyr Williams, Morning Music
Castle Coole
10.30am
18
Ruby Philogene, Precious Little
St. Michael’s Church
3pm
19
Dark at its Full (Music and Film)
Castle Coole
7.30pm
19
The Peoples Monologue
McArthur Hall
8.30pm
14
In Other Words
Evening Concerts
Bend It Like Beckett BECKETT SKULLS Rowing Race
River Erne at the Broadmeadow 6pm
28
Beckett Lunch
William Gould
Portora Dining Hall
32
Fringe
Various
1.15pm
32
Sat 25th Aug Visual + Sound Arts Same as Wednesday 22 Aug Theatre (Family)
Act Without Words I
Steele Hall, Portora
12noon
7
Theatre
Not I
Steele Hall Portora
4pm
9
All That Fall
St. Macartin’s Hall
4pm, 6pm, 8pm
8
Teatro Plastico, Triple Bill
Steele Hall, Portora
7pm
6
Krapp’s Last Tape
Ardhowen Theatre
8.30pm
4
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Theatre
Devoted & Disgruntled
Clinton Centre
10am – 3pm
33
In Other Words
Stirrings Still
Inishmacsaint Island
6am
22
Maggi Hambling
Mt. Lourdes
12noon
21
Paul Muldoon/Alice Oswald
Mt. Lourdes
4pm
21
Shivaun O’Casey/David Gothard
Mt. Lourdes
6pm
21
James Knowlson/Anne Atik
Mt. Lourdes
8.30pm
21
Midnight Editions
St. Michael’s Crypt
11pm
23
Page 10 11 12 24
Miss Fitt’s Comedy House
Stuart Silver
Blakes of the Hollow
5pm
26
Phil Kay
Blakes of the Hollow
7.30pm
27
Classical Beckett
Vienna Piano Trio, Morning Music
Darling St. Methodist Church
10.30am
18
Vienna Piano Trio, Precious Little
St. Michael’s Church
3pm
19
Gavin Bryars
St. Macartin’s Cathedral
7.12pm
14
Duke Special
Darling St. Methodist Church
9pm
14
Colebrooke Estate
10am
28
The Samuel Beckett Muckball Cup
Enniskillen Rugby Club
1.30pm
29
Beckett Lunch
William Gould
Portora Dining Hall
1.15pm
32
Fringe
Various
Sun 26th Aug
Event
Venue
Time
Page
Evening Concerts
24 25
Bend It Like Beckett The Beckett Bike-It
23 25 8
32
Visual + Sound Arts Same as Wednesday 22 Aug 8
Theatre
20 23 26 13
In Other Words
32
7 8 6 4 20 20 20 23 26 18 19 19
32 32
Steele Hall Portora
4pm
9
St. Macartin’s Hall
4pm, 6pm, 8pm
8
Teatro Plastico, Triple Bill
Steele Hall, Portora
7pm
6
Krapp’s Last Tape
Ardhowen Theatre
3pm, 8.30pm
4
Devoted & Disgruntled
Clinton Centre
2pm – 7pm
33
Raja Shehadeh/Paul Farley
Portora Castle
12noon
22
John Banville/George Craig
Mt. Lourdes
4pm
22
Claire Kilroy/Alba Arikha/Adrian Dunbar
Mt. Lourdes
6pm
23
Pauline McLynn/Tim Parks/Carlo Gebler
Mt. Lourdes
8.30pm
22
Midnight Editions
St. Michael’s Crypt
11pm
23
Miss Fitt’s Comedy House
John Luke Roberts
Blakes of the Hollow
3pm
27
Liz Bentley
Blakes of the Hollow
7.30pm
27
Classical Beckett
Beckett-Lyte Hymns
Island Town Churches
From 10am
19
Ian Bostridge
St. Macartin’s Cathedral
6.27pm
15
Tásc is Tuarisc
Castle Coole
3pm
15
Bend It Like Beckett Didi and Gogo’s Sunday Afternoon Crricket
Portora Royal School
2pm
29
Beckett Lunch
William Gould
Portora Dining Hall
1.15pm
32
Fringe
Various
Afternoon Concert
32
Mon 27th Aug Visual + Sound Arts Same as Wednesday 22 Aug Theatre
14 28
Not I All That Fall
In Other Words
Not I
Steele Hall Portora
4pm
9
All That Fall
St. Macartin’s Hall
10am, 12pm, 2pm
8
Krapp’s Last Tape
Ardhowen Theatre
3pm
4
John Calder/John Minihan
Mt. Lourdes
12noon
23
Beckett Lunch
William Gould
Portora Dining Hall
1.15pm
32
Classical Beckett
Sophie Daneman/Julius Drake, Morning Music
Darling St., Methodist Church
10.30am
18
Sophie Daneman/Julius Drake, Precious Little
St. Michael’s Church
3pm
18
Happy Days Closing Concert: Ruby Philogene/Julius Drake
Castle Coole
6pm
15
Lakeland Forum
From 2pm
29
7 9 8 6
Bend It Like Beckett The Fastest Artist in Ireland
4
Fringe
Various
32
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THE FESTIVAL HUBS A ARDHOWEN B BLAKES C CASTLE COOLE D DEVENISH E ENNISKILLEN CASTLE F PORTORA
DONEGAL
D
F
SLIGO / DUBLIN
(120mins)
E
B
ENNISKILLEN
OMAGH
Island Town
C
RIVER ERNE
SPECIAL COMBINED TICKET OFFERS In Other Words Writers Sat & Sun : Day Ticket to all 4 talks £25 WRITERS 5 ticket special Fri-Mon £35
A
BELFAST
(90mins)
Theatre Double Bill Krapp + 1 other theatre show £30 2 theatre events (not including Krapp) £18 FESTIVAL OFFICE PORTORA ROYAL SCHOOL DERRYGONNELLY ROAD enniskillen Bt74 7ha t. +44 (0) 28 6632 2658
ACCOMMODATION BOOKINGS Fermanagh Tourist Information / T. +44 (0) 28 6632 3110 info@fermanaghlakelands.com
www.happy-days-enniskillen.com
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