Firdt Fortnight 2013 Programme

2013 ice ealth Prejud g Mental H ive Ar ts at re C h ug Thro

Challengin

Ireland’s Mental Health Arts Festival Dublin, Jan 2nd to 12th 2013

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First Fortnight 2013

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First Fortnight Who We Are What happens when you change the space? What happens when you create a different environment in which to tackle a difficult issue?

Since its inception in 2009, First Fortnight’s key aim has been to challenge mental health stigma and prejudice through the W creative arts. We believe the arts allow us to create a space where people can talk about mental health issues in a very non-scripted manner and help to change people’s perceptions about an issue that effects us all.

We are an arts-based mental health organisation, a festival and, from December 2012, a mental health service provider with the exciting launch of the First Fortnight Centre for Creative Therapies.

A charity-based organisation, First Fortnight is run entirely by seven volunteers.

Volunteers We’re Going To Need Some Help With This...

At the heart of First Fortnight is a small group of seven people who dedicate all their spare time to making this happen. But when it comes to the running of the festival itself we are going to need a hand. In fact, we are going to need several hands.

If you would like to volunteer and be a part of First Fortnight 2013 we’d love to hear from you. We need people from all backgrounds, so please get in touch if you can help at all. Visit www.firstfortnight.ie/volunteer for more info.

VOLUNTEER TO BE A PART OF

FIRST FORTNIGHT

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Need To Talk?

There are always people out there to talk to if you need to.

If you don’t feel you can talk to your friends and family there are people there to listen. We have compiled a list of helpful organisations and helplines which can be found at www. firstfortnight.ie/findhelp.

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The New Theatre Wed 2 - Sat 5 Jan, 7.30pm, €12

Solpadeine is My Boyfriend is about change. It’s more than a haircut or going to college. It’s the changes you can’t control, can’t come back from, like growing up, emigrating, and that moment you realise: you’re not who you thought you were going to be when you wrote about it in 3rd class. Described

by Irish Theatre Magazine as an “unflinching confrontation with both depression and the psychic paralysis of postboom Ireland”, Stefanie Preissner’s touching, thoughtful and humorous one-woman play was one of the standout hits at the 2012 Dublin Fringe Festival.

“In Solpadeine Is My Boyfriend, Stefanie Preissner shows herself to be a serious talent well on the road to becoming a major one.” - Irish Examiner

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Theatre

Solpadeine Is My Boyfriend

Music & Spoken Word

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The Therapy Sessions The Workman’s Club Wed 2, Fri 4 & Fri 11 Jan, 8.30pm, €5

From music to poetry to literature, anything will go as some of Ireland’s brightest musicians, poets and writers gather in an intimate space to get whatever it might be off their chests. Expect surprise guests and sets from acclaimed singersongwriter Róisín O, intricate, sun-drenched melodies and a huge sense of fun from This Club, epic and emotive anthems from dREA, brilliant baroque folk songs from The Man Whom and Belfast-based singer-songwriter Chris Campbell.

There’s also the chance to catch Dylan Tighe – one of the stars of the Dublin Theatre Festival – perform songs from ‘Record’, his raw and immediate take on his personal history of mental health diagnoses, as well as the brilliant VerseChorusVerse who will preview songs from his forthcoming debut album and recent covers EP, ‘Six Songs’.

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Also, expect a huge range of surprise guests to be added to the ever-evolving Therapy Sessions line-up with last year’s surprises including We Cut Corners, Delorentos, Julie Feeney, Mark Geary, Tieranniesaur and Pugwash. All for just €5.

Unmissable!

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Music & Spoken Word

Aside from music, there’ll also be thoughtful, insightful and humorous poetry peppered throughout the night from some of the city’s most assured wordsmiths. Curated by the great Stephen James Smith, that distinguished line-up consists of Elaine Feeney, Sarah Clancy, Derry-based Abby Oliveira, the wildly funny Kalle Ryan, acclaimed poet Colm Keegan, John Cummins, Eddie Keegan, Come Rhyme With Me’s Una Mullally & Vickey Curtis and playwright and poet Stefanie Preissner.

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Film

Tarnation (with post-show discussion) Irish Film Institute Sat 5 Jan, 4pm, Standard IFI Prices

Praised as “a film of remarkable power” by esteemed US film critic Roger Ebert, Jonathan Caouette’s documentary on growing up with a mother with schizophrenia has earned huge acclaim since its release in 2003. Culled together from 19 years of snapshots, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more, this riveting one-of-a-kind documentary receives a rare Irish screening, which will be followed by a post-show discussion.

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ShortSpace: Irish Short Films Thur 3 Jan, 7.30pm, €5

Aimed at inspiring discussion around the difficulties of living with mental illness, this series of shorts will include works by a number of international directors including ‘Jeudi 19’ by Raphael Holt; ‘Africa’ by Matti Harju; and Kealan O’Rourke’s IFTA-winning short, ‘The Boy In The Bubble’. The programme also includes a preview of filmmaker Ann-Marie Kelly’s riveting documentary, ‘Wally’, which charts a young Irish rapper’s struggle with depression and helps to demonstrate the healing power of creative communication.

Lunchtime Lift Filmbase Tue 8 - Fri 11 Jan, 1.15pm, FREE Looking for a bit of a lift as the Christmas holidays fade into the past? Look no further! First Fortnight will screen a series of short films to enjoy your lunch-break too. What’s more, they’re completely free!

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Film

Filmbase

Visual & Street Art

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Visual Art - DE:Tox Filmbase Fri 4 - Sat 12 Jan, FREE

From twisting your head into Glen Neath’s large wooden ‘body’, to taking a glimpse through Lee Barry’s grandmother’s grief, First Fortnight’s 2013 ‘DE-TOX’ exhibitions aim to challenge perceptions.

With ‘The Pale Glass Star’, Sinead McDonald draws on her 2012 First Fortnight work as she uses a series of single word stories and light based pieces to look at the duality of light and darkness and its relationship to mental health.

‘Vanishing Point’ sees Melissa Lavender re-work an early photo of her great-grandmother who was taken to an asylum in the 1930s, suffering from post-natal depression, and thought to have died there.

However, 60 years later, it was discovered that she was alive, recovered, and still living at the asylum.

There are no photographs of her during those lost years. Viewed close up, the large image is an unreadable pattern of marks. As you move away from the work, the marks change into a recognisable person.

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Street Art Various Locations Wed 2 - Sat 12 Jan, FREE From Maser’s beautiful ‘Always Read the Small Print’ artwork on Grantham Street below, to ADW’s eye-catching ‘Labelz Are for Jars, Not For People’ slogan on Wellington Quay, chances are you’ve already seen the work of these talented street artists etched on a number of walls across Dublin city centre.

Continuing to play a key role in helping challenge perceptions around mental health, look out for fresh new creations by the country’s very best street artists over the course of the 2013 festival.

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Visual & Street Art

Sarah Flynn’s ‘Spinnet’ sees the artist transform familiar objects, disrupt the idea of their representation and question our presumptions that things are, as they appear. Her concise and contained minimal installations are aimed at engaging the viewer in sometimes conflicting emotions of our preconceived ideas as to what we consider the norm, drawing attention to social and institutional relations.

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Noise For... Mental Health Lecture Theatre, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 Wed 9 Jan, 7pm

Too often, mental health is an issue which is silenced. It is kept behind closed doors and people are discouraged from talking about it. Our debate will reverse that trend by shining a spotlight on the topic and encouraging people to make as much noise as possible to help end the prejudice and discrimination that engulfs mental health issues.

Amnesty International and First Fortnight have put together a panel of high profile speakers all with personal experience in relation to mental health. These top class orators will bring their own unique and lively perspective to the issue of mental health prejudice and discrimination.

Following the introduction, a debate will open up between the speakers and with the audience, chaired by Amnesty International Ireland’s executive director, Colm O’Gorman. To maximise the audience and create even more ‘noise’, the event will be live-streamed by other mental health organisations in this country and around the world. As well as questions from the audience we will be taking tweet questions to ensure that we make as much noise as possible and take a step towards ending mental health prejudice and discrimination.

Keep an eye on www.firstfortnight.ie for full details on speakers.

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Discussion

Please Can You Make Some

Theatre

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Silent Smock Alley Theatre Thur 10 - Sat 12 Jan, 8pm, €12

“Hopeless, helpless, in-the-way person”.

Homeless Tino McGoldrig once had splendid things. But he has lost it all - including his mind. He now dives into the wonderful wounds of his past through the romantic world of Rudolph Valentino, in this brave, bold, beautiful production. Winner of the Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011 and Argus Angel at Brighton Festival 2012, Pat Kinevane’s internationally acclaimed one-man production, produced by Fishamble: The New Play Company, has wowed audiences across the world and offers a multi-faceted insight into homelessness and the stigma surrounding mental health problems.

Join us for a post-show discussion on January 10 on the issues faced by people living with a mental health difficulty on the margins of society. With: Pat Kinevane, writer and actor of ‘Silent’; Orla Barry, director at Mental Health Reform; Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, Social Innovator.

In Association With

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The Mill Theatre, Dundrum Fri 11 Jan, 8pm, â‚Ź12

Combining music, comedy sketches and stories, Box of Frogs is a revue around the subject of mental health problems.

Seeking to de-mystify, debunk and ultimately have a laugh with what really goes on inside our heads, the play features a well-known cast of actors and comedians who share their stories in a work written in collaboration with talented actress and playwright Isobel Mahon. An audience is invited in to be entertained by the thoughts of a cast featuring much-loved actress and TV star Mary McEvoy; stand-up comedian, journalist and Newstalk presenter Dil Wickremasinghe; and writer, comedian and frequent media contributor, John Moynes.

Caroline FitzGerald (White Woman Street) once again directs an unmissable project following a well-received run at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre earlier this year.

In Association With

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Theatre

Box of Frogs

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Music

Le Galaxie, We Cut Corners, Kopek & Vann The Button Factory Sat 12 Jan, 8pm, €12

The first unmissable gig of the year, First Fortnight closes with another diverse bill of some of the country’s finest musical talent – and few are greater than Dublin electro-pop outfit Le Galaxie. Stepping up a gear in 2012, the four-piece were behind one of the releases of the year in their acclaimed ‘Fade 2 Forever’ EP. Joining them on the bill this year are Dublin rock band Kopek, who have made waves internationally, attracting plaudits from Classic Rock Magazine, Metal Hammer and Kerrang following the release of their debut album, ‘White Collar Lies’. Similarly making in-roads in the UK are We Cut Corners with their critically acclaimed debut ‘Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards’ recently receiving a UK release.

Opening on the night are ones-to-watch Vann, who’ll hope to put an early mark on 2013 with their pulsating and melodic electro-rock.

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See www.firstfortnight.ie for more Wednesday 2 Jan Solpadeine is My Boyfriend The Therapy Sessions

New Theatre 7.30pm Workman’s Club 8.30pm

Thursday 3 Jan Solpadeine is My Boyfriend Shortspace

New Theatre Filmbase

7.30pm 7.30pm

Friday 4 Jan Visual Arts Launch Solpadeine is My Boyfriend The Therapy Sessions

Filmbase 6.30pm New Theatre 7.30pm Workman’s Club 8.30pm

Saturday 5 Jan Tarnation Solpadeine is My Boyfriend

IFI New Theatre

4.00pm 7.30pm

Filmbase

1.15pm

Tuesday 8 Jan Lunchtime Lift

Wednesday 9 Jan Lunchtime Lift Make Some Noise...

Filmbase 1.15pm Earlsfort Terrace TBC

Thursday 10 Jan Lunchtime Lift Silent

Filmbase Smock Alley

1.15pm 8.00pm

Filmbase Smock Alley The Mill Theatre Workman’s Club

1.15pm 8.00pm 8.00pm 8.30pm

Smock Alley Button Factory

8.00pm 8.30pm

Friday 11 Jan Lunchtime Lift Silent Box of Frogs The Therapy Sessions

Saturday 12 Jan Silent The Big Gig

Music

Discussion

Theatre

Visual Arts

Film

Spoken Word

For tickets visit firstfortnight.ie

Event Calendar

Event Calendar

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