13 minute read
Arts
SlaNey adSlaNey artS the third annual Eugene O'Neill International Festival of Theatre returns to St. Michael's Theatre New Ross, October 15th - 17th 2021
New Ross Drama Workshop presents Eugene O'Neill One Act Plays in Rehearsed Readings: Recklessness Where the Cross is Made A Wife for Life St Michael's Theatre, New Ross Friday 15th October 8.00pm Admission €12 The New Ross Drama Workshop will present a staged reading of three of Eugene O’ Neill’s plays at the opening night of the festival. Under the capable artistic direction of two of the group’s directorial protagonists Margaret Rossiter and Peggy Hussey, the members of the group will present rehearsed readings of ‘Recklessness’, ‘Where the Cross is Made’ & ‘A Wife for Life’. The plays, part of the author’s early work, allow the words of O’Neill to hold centre stage as themes of maritime adventures, prospecting in the wild west and the intricacies of love emerge. More Stately Mansions by Eugene O’Neill in a Staged Reading Directed by Ben Barnes Ireland’s first staging of this epic play in two parts St Michael's Theatre, New Ross Saturday October 16th 3.30pm and 8.00pm Admission €30 The play, as one commentator has put it, offers “a vision of American history which borrows from the past in order to create images of the present and future.” The play features the familial tensions, the jealousies and resentments that typify O’Neill’s work and surface so memorably in his play Long Day’s Journey into Night, composed as O’Neill’s interest in the eleven play cycle waned. The play also examines the great figure in O’Neill, “the possessor selfdispossessed” (as the subtitle of the eleven play cycle puts it) or the man who gains the world only to lose his soul, a tragic phenomenon O’Neill explored repeatedly through his work. Four Rivers presents The Beauty Queen of Leenane By Martin MacDonagh Directed by Ben Barnes St Michael's Theatre, New Ross Sunday 17th October 8.00pm Admission €23 A blackly comic modern Irish classic from renowned playwright and Golden Globewinning filmmaker Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri). It portrays the manipulative Mag and her virginal daughter Maureen as they play out a battle of mutual loathing against the beautiful but unforgiving backdrop of the Connemara hills. Ben Barnes directs a cast led by Irish stage legend Marion O’Dwyer (as Mag), with Sarah Madigan, Mark Fitzgerald and Tiernan Messitt-Greene. n
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A new collection of short stories set in County Wexford, and recorded as a podcast series, has been launched at Gorey Library. Where Three Waters Meet by writer Sylvia Cullen has been funded and supported by Wexford County Council in partnership with Creative Ireland. Based around the theme of survival, each of the four pieces explores a different aspect of what it can mean to survive in dire circumstances, with characters facing traumatic choices and having to dig deep to find ways to endure. The phrase ‘where three waters meet’ signifies the best place to draw water from, when seeking a cure for any disease that weakens or wastes the body. Cullen commented, ‘I am really delighted to have had the opportunity to create this new body of work. Stories may not provide a cure, but they can offer badly-needed sustenance for the imagination.’
The series was conceived in response to the Covid pandemic, drawing on Wexford’s past history, in order to illuminate our present. Each of the stories takes place in a different location across the county and they are all read by the author. You can access the series of podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you usually get your podcasts. County Librarian and Wexford Creative Ireland Co-ordinator Eileen Morrissey commented, “Creative Ireland is delighted to see the launch of Where Three Waters Meet. Sylvia was one of nine creatives who were the recipients of bursaries that spoke to the themes of place, heritage and wellbeing. The stories that Sylvia has written are beautifully crafted and allow us to reflect on adversity, endurance and resilience. Reading has been a haven for many people during this pandemic and I encourage everyone to listen to and enjoy Where Three Waters Meet through podcast.” The four stories are as follows:
Red Soldier - A fifteen-year-old girl is herding her father’s flock of sheep on Annagh Hill near Gorey, when she notices one ewe sick with swine plague. The Fever Wall - Clohamon 1741, the Year of Slaughter: Spotting symptoms of famine fever, a mother is forced to confine her teenage son alone in the family home, while she waits for the doctoring man to come, the boy’s fever burns. Little Miss Quill and Mister Sinnott - A macabre love story featuring an elderly pauper couple, set during the 1848 cholera epidemic in Wexford town. The Lanternist - May 1913: At the Enniscorthy Asylum, Dr. Travers is on the verge of despair after losing his seventeenth patient in a month, to influenza. n
Wexford Festival Opera opens 19th October
The 2021 WFO 13-day programme, celebrating Wexford’s 70th anniversary, looks forward to welcoming live audiences back into the National Opera House from 19th to 31st October 2021 to experience the magic that is Wexford Festival Opera. Full details of the operas, concerts, etc can be found on the website: https://www.wexfordopera.com
BOOK TICKETS NOW: Online at https://bit.ly/3DY1cMu By email: boxoffice@wexfordopera.com By telephone: +353 53 912 2144 / 1850 4 OPERA In person at National Opera House Box Office 9:30am to 5:00pm, Monday - Saturday n The Wexford Festival – The Early Years
An exhibition of rarely seen photographs of the early years of the Wexford Festival is on show at Wexford Town Library from September 20 to October 17, 2021.
The eighteen black and white photographs capture background scenes of the inaugural ‘The Wexford Festival’ in 1951, when Dr. Tom Walsh and his committee staged The Rose of Castile in the Georgian Theatre Royal. Among the photographs are stage designs and preparations for the William Balfe opera, and portraits of the very first Wexford volunteers. The exhibition, supported by Creative Ireland and curated by Tom Mooney, pays homage to the men and women who put their shoulder to the wheel in the early years of the 1950s, and helped the festival take root.
It is largely because of their vision and endeavour that Wexford is in a position to mark the seventieth anniversary of a festival which, many decades later, won the highly coveted Best Festival category at the International Opera Awards in 2016. After The Rose of Castile, the young Festival believed that its future lay in its ability to present little known operas, specifically Italian. In its first decade, Wexford would stage eleven works by five Italian composers: Donizetti, Bellini, Puccini, Rossini and Verdi.
Touching hands outside White’s Hotel are Halinka de Tarczynska and Nicola Monti, members of the cast of ‘La Sonnambula’ in 1954.
Na Cailleacha Film Screening & Panel Talk
Na Cailleacha Film Screening & Panel Talk 6 Oct 2021, 7pm. Free admission. Wexford Arts Centre is “delighted to welcome you all back... Things will look and feel a bit different, including our opening hours and access. Please read our Covid Protocol before visiting us. Please note that this event will take place under current social distancing measurements as per current Government guidelines. “Join us on Wednesday 6th October at 7pm for a screening of the documentary Dawn to Dusk by Therry Rudin followed by a panel talk with members of Na Cailleacha facilitated by Journalist Olivia O’Leary. This event coincides with The Age of Reason/Unreason (Part 3), a group show currently on view in Wexford Arts Centre with artists Helen Comerford, Barbara Freeman, Patricia Hurl, Maria Levinge, Therry Rudin, and Gerda Teljeur, art historian/curator Catherine Marshall, and composer Carole Nelson. Through painting, drawing, film and performance, the group collectively known as Na Cailleacha – the Irish word for witches – explore the nuanced process of growing older. The Collective, all, bar one, over 70 years of age, came together to explore issues around creativity, visibility, isolation,
ENNISCORTHY LIBRARY
Lymington Road - Phone: 053 9236055 enniscorthylib@wexfordcoco.ie https://www.wexfordcoco.ie/libraries https://www.facebook.com/enniscorthylibrary
health and collective practice from an older feminist perspective. They are committed to raising awareness and promoting public discussion about these issues, in keeping with Gloria Steinem’s assertion that ‘Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age’. Olivia O’Leary has presented current affairs programmes for the last three decades for both RTE and the British Channels, BBC and ITV. As a print journalist, she has written about politics for both the Sunday Tribune and the Irish Times. She is the presenter of RTE Radio 1’s The Poetry Programme. n
Olivia O’Leary
SUPPORT OUR LOCAL ARTS CENTRES Wexford Arts Centre: 053-9123764. The Presentation Centre, Enniscorthy: 053-9233000.
WEXFORD STUDENTS WIN TOP PRIZES IN TEXACO CHILDREN’S ART COMPETITION
Three Wexford students have won top prizes in this year’s 67th Texaco Children’s Art Competition, the results of which were delayed until now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
They were Ella Carley (15) from Loreto Secondary School, Wexford, for her work entitled ‘Thom Yorke (Fade out)’ and John (8) and Nina Redmond (6), both pupils at St. Kevin's National School, Gorey, for their works entitled ‘The Hairy Lion’ and ‘The Underwater Sea Adventure’.
All were winners of Special Merit Awards for artworks that Final Adjudicator, Professor Declan McGonagle, said “demonstrated high levels of skill and imagination”.
The Texaco Children’s Art Competition is popularly regarded as the longest-running sponsorship in the history of arts sponsoring in Ireland, with an unbroken history that dates back to the very first competition held in 1955. This year, as has been the case throughout its life, it has been a platform on which young artists from Wexford and counties throughout Ireland have had their talents recognised and their creativity commended. From September 14 to October 2, Drogheda’s Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of the top 126 winning paintings in this year’s Texaco Competition. Admission is free and further information is available at www.highlanes.ie n
Alan Dobbs (left) with Red Books owner and publisher, Wally O’Neill.
Enniscorthy musician and songwriter launches new book
A book of collected lyrics, poems and other bits of writing by ALAN DOBBS has been published by Red Books of Wexford. It was launched at Red Books in Peter's Square, Wexford, on September 11th with Alan doing some readings from the book and signing copies.
The hotly anticipated debut collection called Top Garden Afterlife is available now from the Red Books shop and from their online store: https://theirishbookshop.com/products/top-garden-afterlifecollected-lyrics-and-writing-alan-dobbs and Alan has some copies himself so you can order directly from him.
Alan says, “It excites and pleases me no end to announce that my first volume of collected lyrics, poems and other bits of writing has been published by the venerable Red Books and released on Saturday September 11th... Massive gratitude to my fellow Batenik and consigliere Zeff Ryder Wexford Batenik, Wally O’Neill and anyone else associated with Red Books.” n
Check out Alan’s music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5WF3JNRo TZ0WZCkkRk1ORJ
with Maria Nolan
Book Review: The Lake House at Lenashee by Sheila Forsey
This month I am delighted to review the latest work of yet another Wexford author – it must be something in the water here that keeps throwing them up.
For me, Sheila Forsey simply gets better and better, over a very short period of time she has honed her craft and is not just writing wonderful historical fiction, but has found a niche and a genre, almost within a genre, as she explores the hidden secrets of forgotten houses and those who lived in them.
And she doesn’t just leave it there either, in her latest work The Lake House at Lenashee, she manages to seamlessly blend historical fiction, with suspense thriller, with scary ghost story, creating a page-turning masterpiece that keeps the reader both intrigued and enthralled from beginning to end. The story is about a group of people brought together at an old lake house in the West of Ireland in 1967 who witness something that would change each of their lives forever and silently haunt them to the end of their days.
Moira Fitzpatrick, a successful chef has lived in Paris for over fifty years, without returning to her native Ireland, but in her dreams at night, she is transported back to a most beautiful house on the west coast of Clare, with a glittering lake and a terrible secret.
In 2019, when Julia Griffith’s father Desmond is dying, his rapidly deteriorating mind becomes obsessed with knowing what happened to a woman he once knew. A woman called Rosemary. Julia feels that finding this woman might bring some much-needed peace to her father’s tormented state. But as she tries to unravel who Rosemary is or was, her search leads her to an abandoned lake house in the West of Ireland which has been locked up for over fifty years. As each layer of the past is uncovered, Julia is drawn deeper and deeper into the dark recesses of her own mind tormented by the memory of something that happened at this house over fifty years before.
This is a novel that you won’t be able to put down, and Sheila Forsey’s best piece of work to date, her beautiful use of language along with her theatrical bent and descriptive flair make The Lake House at Lenashee a great story and a most compelling read, as Sheila breathes life not just into her characters but into the house they inhabit.
I love where Sheila’s writing has taken her, she has a real feel for these old buildings, magically weaving an intriguing tale into their bricks and mortar, and I simply can’t wait to read about the next one.
Sheila Forsey
– Maria Nolan
National tour of Skin Deep by visual artist Mary-Ruth Walsh. Commissioned by Wexford Arts Centre. Runs 18 October – 4 December 2021 in Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford Town. Gallery Hours: Mon – Fri 10am-5pm, Saturday 12pm – 4pm. Wexford Arts Centre is excited to present Skin Deep, a national touring exhibition by artist Mary Ruth Walsh. Through collage, film and sculpture/installation, Walsh extends her interest in architecture and explores skin as substance and metaphor. n
AIB Bank’s Bike-A-Thon in aid of The FORD Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre, Wexford, held outside the AIB Bank on North Main Street on 17th September. Left: From Hore’s, Colm Freeney and Declan Hore. Right: Aine Boland. Below left: Michael Dillon, Manager, FORD Centre. Below centre: Mary Rose Kelly had a go on the bike. Below right: Well known Wexford man Larry Browne (Browne Fire Protection) –a good supporter of the FORD centre.
On Your bike!
