Tn2 October 2017

OCTOBER 2017

ART/ FASHION/ FILM/ FOOD/ GAMES/ LITERATURE/ MUSIC/ THEATRE/ TV

1

2

CONTENTS 04 Jumble

Tn2 Magazine Team

HEAD EDITOR Lee Jones DEPUTY PRINT Sorcha Kelly ASSISTANT EDITOR Alexandra Day ONLINE EDITOR Alden Mathieu DEPUTY ONLINE David Donovan ART Alexandra Day Stacey Wrenn FASHION Caroline O’ Connor Christopher Cash FILM Robyn Mitchell | Alice Whelan Graham Kelly FOOD Enya O’Connell Hussey Mary Hartnett GAMES & TECH Sean Clerkin Sam Cox | Sam Hayes LITERATURE Sarah Upton | Mia Colleran MUSIC Aine Palmer | Cliona Lynskey THEATRE Amyrose Forder | Lauren Boland TV Roxane Von Hurter Lily Casson Copyedited by: Hazel MacMahon Enya O’Connell Hussey Alexandra Day Katy Poole

Features 07 Literature

07 Features

24 Reviews

08 Music

Mia Colleran picks out the perfect Aine Palmer & Cliona Lynskey autumnal book to chill out with investigate the five solo careers of in Cake Café One Direction

34 Sex

10 Theatre

Lauren Boland looks back on the past 60 years of the Dublin Theatre Festival

12 Film

14 Art / Lit

16 TV

Robyn Mitchell charts the evolution of the horror genre in film

Arianne Dunne talks to Tangleweed & Brine author Deirdre Sullivan and illustrator Karen Vaughan

Roxane Von Hurter looks at Philip K. Dick and recent television adaptations of his dystopic literary works

18 Games

20 Food

22 Fashion

Cover: Katie Murnane Printed by Grehans’s Printers

Enya O’Connell Hussey explores Sam Cox shares his tips and tricks the food traditions of Mexico’s for beginner gamers.

Day of the Dead

Alice Whelan celebrates the macabre in fashion show runways

| CONTENTS

Layout & Design: Lee Jones | Sorcha Kelly Caroline O’ Connor Holly Moore | Amyrose Forder Alexandra Day

3

FOOD Worth the hype?

Chia Seeds

Quinoa, chia, amaranth… you would be forgiven for being overwhelmed by the onslaught of seeds pouring into your health store with names that sound like characters from a bad YA novel.

Dubbed ‘ancient grains’ by the food industry’s marketing team, chia seeds are one of the more popular members of the club. A staple food of many Aztec cultures, they claim to be high in protein, omega-3 fatty acid and fibre. They also have a mesmerising ability to expand into gel balls, which I theorise is 95 percent of the reason people like them.

Whilst chia seeds do contain omega-3 fatty acid, it is in the form least beneficial to cardiovascular health. Chia seeds are 17 percent protein, so 2 tablespoons will give you about 4 grams of ‘complete’ protein, which contains the amino

Walking Through Autumn Leaves and Thinking About Stuff

LIT | JUMBLE

the sun and her flowers

by Rupi Kaur

4

Rupi Kaur’s highly anticipated new collection, the sun and her flowers (2017), was published

by Simon & Schuster at the beginning of the month. Kaur documents, in characteristically sparse free verse, journeys of wilting, falling, rooting, rising and blooming. The poems are illustrated by Kaur herself with line drawings of sunflowers, bodies, and insects, rendering her message multidimensional and complex, despite its apparent simplicity.

Fans of Kaur’s debut collection milk and honey (2014) will find much to be familiar in her new book. Themes of abuse, love, grief and healing remain central, as do symbols like fruit, honey, and celestial objects. Kaur sends roots not only inwards, but outwards and downwards in this new collection. One striking sequence takes

However, if your diet is already well-balanced then increasing your protein intake is unnecessary.

The same cannot be said for fibre. Most people’s diets are abysmally fibre-deficient, with few reaching the recommended 30g per day. Chia seeds are a clear winner in fibre content, not just in the grains category but in food as a whole.

They are 34 percent fibre, compared to white rice at 0.4 percent. Slipping two tablespoons of chia into porridge or a smoothie gives you a third of your daily fibre allowance.

However, they are pricey, so if you are not willing to pay for Aztec-approved colon health, opt for cheaper sources of fibre and omega-3 like lentils and oily fish.

Ah, autumn. That time of year when we don polo necks, wrap scarves a little tighter, break out the berets to warm our chilly ears, and indulge in the joy of kicking through multicoloured leaves.

Of course, as young, intellectual students, this inevitably leads us to think about the important stuff — politics, philosophy, the rising price of flat whites, whether or not red wine is worth the hangover. But how to soundtrack such pensive moments of stomping through the city, gazing moodily about with headphones in?

If you like Camus or the Amelie soundtrack, look no further than Barbara. A two-disc homage to the eponymous French chanteuse twenty years after her death, a range of Gallic singers and musicians collaborate on this charming gem.

Delightful arrangements by pianist Alexandre Tharaud feature minimalist piano, accordion, and handclaps. The husky vocals of ‘Septembre’ and the gentle scatting of the opening bars of ‘Pierre’ are perfect for crisp autumnal weather.

WORDS BY ENYA O’CONNELL HUSSEY ‘Au bois de Saint-Armand’ fits a more whimsical mood — skipping across Front Square, perhaps, your overcoat trailing poetically in the breeze behind you.

This writer doesn’t even speak French (I know, how did I even get here), but the songs are a pleasure to listen to, regardless of lyrical comprehension. Plus, if you’re reading Tn2 you’re probably preparing yourself for a future of pseudo-intellectualism, so get used to a bit of bluffing. If anyone asks you about the lyrics, just say an English translation doesn’t really do the originals justice.

Kaur’s mother as its subject, focusing on the difficulties she faced after emigrating to Canada, and the sacrifices she made for her daughters.

Kaur’s poetry is often disparaged as shallow or superficial, but this has plenty to do with the origin of her fame on Instagram and popularity among young women - a category that has long been synonymous with literary inferiority.

The discomfort of both a poetry-reading intelligentsia and internet trolls with terms like ‘consent’ or ‘rape culture’ in poetry may also be a contributing factor. While not every poem in the sun and her flowers is a winner, the collection glitters with gems reminiscent of Sappho or Matsuo Bashō. Kaur’s true strength lies in her honest descriptions of what it is like to inhabit her female body.

WORDS BY SARAH UPTON

WORDS BY AINE PALMER

October Reading

acids our bodies cannot synthesise.

MUSIC

Music For...

J U M B L E

Some days, it all feels like too much. Tiny things, otherwise insignificant, build up just long enough to cause the mother of all meltdowns.

As the college term picks up pace, it’s very easy to collapse in a big way. Deadlines, essays, and study all catch up with each other, and it can take the smallest inconvenience to cause a breakdown. Twin Peaks: The Return features an unnamed woman played by character actress Laura Kenny who perfectly encapsulates just this.

Though she appears only fleetingly, Road Rage Lady (as the character has become known) is someone students can relate to. When her car gets stuck in a traffic jam caused by an errant gunshot, all she wants to do is get home for dinner on time. Bad-boy-turned-good-cop Bobby Briggs comes to the car asking her to cease beeping the horn, but it just leads to a disintegration of Plinian proportions. No matter how hard she shouts, and how much she

WORDS BY NAOISE OSBORNE

ART Initially a model for famed surrealist Man Ray, Lee Miller became an established photographer whose innovative works were both inspired by and in conflict with surrealism, a movement which has long been criticised for its objectification of women. The fact that Miller does not stand as part of the artistic canon of surrealists is, I think, testament to the sexism of the movement, and the erasure of female artists as people of agency and talent.

Miller’s ‘Untitled (Severed Breast from Radical Mastectomy)’ (1930) takes issue with this approach to women. Using juxtaposition, she satirises those who call themselves surrealists. A breast following mastectomy is placed on a plate, arranged with fork and spoon. Miller is clear in her message; we are not just a piece of meat.

gesticulates, Briggs just doesn’t get her struggle.

Add a vomiting zombie of a child to the mix, and it’s possibly the worst traffic delay on television.

Road Rage Lady reminds us that it’s okay to freak out sometimes. It doesn’t help the situation much, but sometimes it’s just what you need.

Most likely to say: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WE’RE TRYING TO GET HOME… WHY IS THIS HAPPENING????”

Least likely to say: This is a minor inconvenience, but I’ll work through it as best I can.

WORDS BY ALEXANDRA DAY

Artists on the Margins: Lee Miller

Portrait of Space’ (1937) is a piece which shows Miller at the heart of the surrealists. The composition and subject matter recall both Salvador Dalí’s paintings of the desert, and Man Ray’s ‘The Lovers’. The tone and contrast create something simultaneously playful and disturbing, evoking a characteristically surrealist unsettling presence. Furthermore, the photograph is said to have inspired Magritte’s ‘The Kiss’ in 1938.

Despite being a successful photographer, with a vast portfolio (surrealist and otherwise), Miller’s name rarely appears unless sidelined by those of Ray, Picasso, Penrose and more. Her own achievements were repeatedly eclipsed by the presence of the men in her life - men who, all too often, the artistic canon seems predisposed to favour.

GAMES Dublin’s Best Geeky Spots: Token

In May this year, Dublin saw the opening of its first true combination of bar and arcade. Token, in Smithfield, follows a recent trend from the US - so called barcades have been popping up in most major cities across the pond. I visited Token this summer and was delighted by the experience.

With almost 30 retro arcade cabinets and 11 pinball machines, you won’t be stuck for activities. The machines themselves are astonishingly cheap by comparison to other arcades, as five euro will get you ten tokens (most machines only require one) and another four euro will get you a bottomless soft drink.

Token also offers a reasonably-priced menu, with gourmet takes on classic foods like burgers, nachos and hot dogs.

The atmosphere is what cements Token as one of Dublin’s best geeky spots. Everything is a reminder of gaming nostalgia. If you book a table, menus are given in the form of old gaming magazines. Your bill will also come in the box of a retro era game - in our case, it was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on PS1. Even the wet floor signs resemble the bananas from MarioKart.

Token is an absolute must-visit for any nostalgia-prone twenty-something in Dublin.

Great prices, a wide selection of machines and the second-to-none atmosphere make Token a place where you can easily spend a few hours.

Token can be found in Smithfield, Dublin 7 WORDS BY SEAN CLERKIN

WORDS BY SEÁN CLERKIN

| JUMBLE

TV Relatable Character of the Month: Road Rage Lady

5

Who They Are: The Corn Exchange, founded by celebrated actress and director Annie Ryan over twenty years ago, are a group which “combines strong physical theatre practice with dynamic text”. The loyal ensemble promotes ground-breaking pieces of theatre, most notably their adaptations and collaborations with writer Michael West (Dublin By Lamplight, Lolita), whilst paying homage to the history of their craft. A common feature of such plays is mime-like face paint, which they often utilised to emphasise emotion and perhaps disturb the audience. The company uses global content as inspiration but mixes it with specific national issues, rooting themselves absolute in the Dublin scene.

| JUMBLE

Front Square Fashion: A/W Trends

SF History of Art and Italian student Alyssa Delahan Meade braves the double denim trend of autumn-winter. The former fashion faux pas has transformed itself in recent years and has been spotted on a number of catwalks this season, from Christian Dior and Stella McCartney to Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs. Alyssa’s oversized jacket was given to her by her grandfather while the rippedat-the-knee jeans are from H&M. The variation in shades between the denim is a clever choice to help avoid the overly matchy-matchy feel which puts many off the trend.

The classic denim blue is matched perfectly with its complementary orange in a self-made Repeal T-shirt. Politically-charged slogan T-shirts have been no strangers to the runways themselves this season, particularly at Prabal Gurung’s show which featured statement lettering like ‘Revolution has no borders’ and ‘Our minds, our bodies, our power’.

To complete the look, Alyssa adds a pair of black Adidas trainers, tying in a relaxed and comfortable feel.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY CAROLINE O’CONNOR

FILM The Power of the Catchphrase: “Houston, we have a problem” This famous catchphrase hails from the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the moon, brought to the silver screen in the thrilling 1995 adaptation from Ron Howard.

Two days into the voyage, an equipment failure crippled the vessel and plunged the crew’s lives into peril. Fortunately for us, it also led to the coining of a now-famous catchphrase. Well, almost. “Houston, we’ve had a problem”, were the words originally spoken by astronaut Jack Swigert.

In the film, they are delivered by Tom Hanks (as Jim Lovell) in a dramatic mid-film scene. As the thunderous shockwaves rip through the the body of the vessel, tossing the pilots around like toys, Mission Control look on in disbelief at the data on their computer screens flickering nonsensically.

With that interplanetary silence only punctuated by the buzzing of alarm systems, Tom Hanks delivers the chilling, immortal message: “Houston, we have a problem”. The action suddenly blasts off, so to speak, the score kicks in, master warning lights flash, dials and gauges go positively berserk.

This phrase clearly marks the turning point of the film — no longer is it a mission to the moon, but a cosmic struggle to engineer a return to Earth.

That the iconic phrase is slightly different to the original is generally overlooked by an audience who are still trying to work out exactly how Forrest Gump ended up in space. Nonetheless, it has entered into the extraterrestrial expanse that is colloquial English, a testament to this Oscar-winning film’s unbounded legacy.

WORDS BY GRAHAM KELLY

6

The Corn Exchange’s DTF17 effort once again offers their interpretation of a classic playwright, this year taking inspiration from Henrik Ibsen’s Leaving Certificate favourite A Doll’s House.In an exciting collaboration with author Belinda McKeon, the world of perfect fronts and imperfect marriages comes to life in a near-dystopian ‘post-truth world’. Nora runs at Project Arts Centre this October, starring Annie Ryan herself.

Why We <3 Them: The Corn Exchange are perhaps the best example of a company that masters the art of balancing wonderful original productions with exciting adaptations of canonical pieces and modern classics. For the last number of years, their Dublin Theatre Festival (DTF) production has been a consistent audience highlight, including James Joyce’s Dubliners and Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. They offer colourful performances where the skill of great acting is at the forefront, and the professionalism of the production stands testament to Annie Ryan’s repertoire.

FASHION

WORDS BY AMYROSE FORDER

THEATRE Dublin Theatre Companies: The Corn Exchange

The book has been likened to a twenty-first-century version of Catcher in the Rye, and it’s easy to see why. The characters are sharp yet the narrator herself leaves a lot unsaid, creating a real sense of two-dimensional knowledge of what takes place. On the one hand we have Frances’ external narration of events, and on the other, her internal monologue detailing her thoughts and hopes — often never expressed to any other character.

“

I devoured pages whenever I could; a chapter between lectures here and there, a rushed glance over breakfast. It’s the kind of book you just have to get to the end of immediately

Conversation with Friends is a novel about growing up and approaching the brink of adulthood. Rooney skillfully articulates the fear and bewilderment that come with being in your twenties, raising questions about one’s personality, monogamy and family obligations — at one point Frances says, “I felt sorry for all of us, like we were just little children pretending to be adults”.

This book could easily be read in one sitting. I devoured pages whenever I could; a chapter between lectures here and there, a rushed glance over breakfast … it’s the kind of book you just have to get to the end of immediately. I cannot say the ending was completely satisfactory however, and as the book progressed I lost faith in many of the characters. My advice would be to find a good nook and curl up with this book for a few hours. Afterwards, find a friend who’s read it and have a good old conversation about it, because there are many plot points to discuss.

Many people don’t know about the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin (aptly coined ‘Dublin’s Secret Garden’), which lies nestled between Clonmel Street and Upper Hatch Street, opposite Diceys on Harcourt Street. The gardens are only a thirteen minute walk from college, and are far nicer than Stephen’s Green, boasting a waterfall and a rose garden smack in the middle of the city centre. With a huge array of lunch takeaway options on Camden Street — Listons, The Cracked Nut and The Bretzel Bakery to name a few — it’s simple to buy lunch and sit by the

The Nook

waterfall with a good book. Escape the city without trekking out to the Phoenix Park with your book, and wrap up warm with a hat, a scarf and a takeaway drink or a flask of tea. The gardens close at 4pm, so it’s best to get there early in the afternoon to guarantee prime reading time and a good spot by the waterfall.

My chosen cup for autumnal days is a big cup of warm honey, lemon, ginger and mint tea from The Cake Café on Camden Street (also another lovely indoor reading nook to escape autumn in Dublin).

They don’t advertise the addition of mint to the drink on the menu, but I would recommend asking for it because it gives the drink a nice fresh aftertaste. This warm cup is perfect for fending off a winter cold and placating overeager coffee drinkers who want to cut back on their caffeine consumption. The Cake Café has been a long-time favourite of mine in Dublin and a hidden gem. Access to the café is a little confusing — the entrance is parallel to Camden Street on Pleasant’s Place, just up the road from the café Meet Me In The Morning, which also offers great coffee and a homemade chocolate nut butter, cleverly called ‘nut eile’.

The Cup

The café itself is tiny and eclectic, with mismatched cups and saucers and a brightly decorated leafy courtyard, complete with bike racks and dog bowls. Their specialty is of course cakes, although they also serve a delicious chicken sandwich at lunchtime for €5.80 and brunch at the weekends. The cake selection changes daily, and you can see everything being made while you have your coffee or honey, lemon, ginger and mint tea, thanks to the open plan inside the café.

The Cake Café has a wide selection of teas and their own Italian hot chocolate, so don’t worry if you want something stronger than tea. Favourite cakes include their homemade lemon slices, decadent chocolate cake and gluten-free lemon and yogurt cake. The café also run a series of baking and bread-making classes in the evenings and cakes can be ordered for special occasions. Also worth a visit is their sister café Slice in Stoneybatter. ■

| FEATURES

For a thought-provoking and fast read, look no further than Trinity alumna Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends. The book follows 21-year-old Frances, an English student at Trinity College who has an affair with an older married man. It offers highly detailed and realistic portraits of contemporary characters that students will recognise in themselves. Frances and Bobbi, her best friend and former girlfriend, perform spoken-word poetry, through which they meet Melissa and Nick, a couple in their thirties who have a lasting impact on Frances and Bobbi’s lives.

The Book

ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA CLIFF WORDS BY MIA COLLERAN

A Book, A Nook, A Cup: Autumn in Dublin

Read a good book with the cup of choice in your favourite reading nook

7

FIVE DIRECTIONS? “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” n late 2015, one of the cornerstones of teenybop culture collapsed, scattering its debris across the global pop stratosphere. This, my friends, was the announcement that One Direction were parting ways and going on hiatus for an undetermined amount of time, confirming the greatest fear of dedicated Directioners.

Since then, their teenage-girl dominated fan demographic have not been the only ones eagerly awaiting their return. The pop world held its breath as these five boys branched out in their own respective directions to solo projects.

“ ONE DIRECTION HAVE SHOWN A UNIQUE OUTCOME IN WHICH ALL FIVE SEEM TO HAVE THE BEGINNINGS OF RELATIVELY SUCCESSFUL SOLO CAREERS

FEATURES | 8

”

Traditionally, the individual careers of boyband members which emerge after the initial breakup are constructed from a series of clichés, originating in the ghosts of 90s boybands past. To cite but one example — the trope of the rebel breaking up the band to go on to have a largely successful solo career neatly parallels the paths of veteran boybanders Justin Timberlake and Robbie Williams. In both of these cases, Williams and Timberlake remain the most memorable stars of their respective former groups — Take That and N*Sync. However, let us admit that Take That are an incredible act who deserve all of our respect and admiration. One Direction, on the other hand, have shown a unique outcome in which all five seem to have the beginnings of relatively successful solo careers, even two years after their hiatus.

Whether you can’t shake your 14-year-old Directioner days, are listening to ‘Slow Hands’ on repeat as a guilty pleasure, or are simply a full blown Directioner, loud and proud, we can all surely see the value of a full cultural evaluation of the careers of these doe-eyed young men.

ILLUSTRATION BY KATIE MURNANE

I

W.B Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’

LOUIS TOMLINSON Tomlinson’s work still feels like it has yet to take off. To this date he has only released two solo tracks, and even then they are both collaborations with other well-established artists. His debut single ‘Just Hold On’, produced by Stephen Aoki, and his most recent single ‘Back to You’ heavily features Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals.

Perhaps it is simply a lack of confidence that is holding him back.

These various collaborations cushion him from potential failure as he takes his first, tentative, toddler-like steps into his own career.

It’s obvious that he is not prepared to stand on his own two feet, a confidence that his ex-bandmates seem to have retained from their glory days. Tomlinson dubbed himself the “forgettable” member of the band, and if he continues in this direction the comment will become a self fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps his best is still yet to come.

HARRY STYLES

Harry Styles is the second of the boys to release a full-length album. After a small break, he released his debut chart-topping single ‘Sign of the Times’w in April of this year. Styles shows a sense of conviction with the development of his solo work. The confidently self-titled album, released earlier this year, takes notable influences from the classic rock genre. It’s actually quite good.

Malik and Styles have been compared to John Lennon and Paul McCartney before. Like Lennon, Malik is perceived as a sometimes difficult artiste, publicly lambasting the band.

Styles, on the other hand, has shown no bitterness towards his time with One Direction. Like McCartney, Styles remains a firm fan favourite. His boyish charm and humble demeanour keep his public persona sparkling clean. Plus, he’s so dreamy.

labels all took a gamble; any of these charming men “ record could have (and, indeed, still can) end up as a one hit wonder.

L I A M PAY N E

“ THE

RAUNCHY THEMES EXPLORED IN ZAYN’S WORK FURTHER CEMENTED HIS IMAGE AS ONE DIRECTION’S ERSTWHILE ‘BAD BOY’

”

Showing a sense of agency (and sheer fickleness with his haircuts) that can sometimes be lacking in the mainstream pop world, he made efforts to break away from what he labelled the ‘generic’ sound of his One Direction days. With a dramatic change of style, Malik dived into a distinctly new direction, which is heavily influenced by the sound of R’n’B. The raunchy themes explored in his work further cemented his image as One Direction’s erstwhile ‘bad boy’. His debut album Mind of Mine landed in 2016 with a thematic bang, following lead single ‘Pillowtalk’. It debuted at No.1 across the album charts. There’s no doubt about it — ZAYN’s solo work is a far cry from the old Direction days. Edgy doesn’t even begin to describe it.

The only thing that seems to have hindered his continued success as a solo artist is Zayn himself, who opened up about problems with his mental health and anxiety, which affect his live performances. However, this in itself has created a new and badly needed dialogue on mental health in the music industry. Malik has, whether intentionally or not, created a platform in which pop stars can open up about their mental health and struggles as artists.

NIALL HORAN

Niall Horan was next to delve into the uncharted waters of solo stardom when his debut single ‘This Town’ was released this time last year. The cutsey acoustic number failed to stray from One Direction’s sound, and could have easily been one of their early releases. However, after a brief break from the rat race, Horan has made a dramatic return this year.

‘Slow Hands’ was the summer hit of 2017, and ‘Too Much To Ask’ hints at what is to come in his forthcoming album. It’s a promising preview — Horan appears to be the dark horse of the group. Never perceived as especially talented within the folds of the band, he could blossom by himself. Horan has released a full set of 2018 tour dates, including a performance at the 3 Arena on March 12 2018.

EACH MEMBER has manifested some form of success in the charts, on their own terms. However, there

is only so much One Direction that the music industry can take, and since their beginnings in 2012, they have been saturating the global pop market. Their various record labels all took a gamble; any of these charming men could have (and, indeed, still can) end up as a one hit wonder. The fact that there has been the market appetite thus far for all five to enjoy relative success in their solo careers, and well into the band’s so-called hiatus, not only demands a degree of respect for them as pop stars (and the legions of help they have behind them), but also should give massive credit to their empire of fans. Somehow it seems that, dividing, they are only getting stronger.

STILL CAN’T WAIT FOR THE REUNION TOUR THOUGH — WE’RE GIVING IT FIVE YEARS.

| FEATURES

WORDS BY AINE PALMER & CLIONA LYNSKEY

Last to hop on the “Hey Fans I’m Just As Good On My Own” train was Liam Payne, the sensible glue that seemed to hold the band together, from their early X-Factor days to the fateful final days. His debut single, ‘Strip that Down’, featured Quavo of Migos and lyrically reeks of collaborator Ed Sheeran. The overproduced sounds of this club pleaser, featuring the cringe-inducing line “I used to be in 1D / But now I’m free”, was met with mixed reviews by his fan base. However, it still managed to achieve substantial chart success, remaining in the Spotify Global Top 50 since its release back in May. Its premier on the Graham Norton Show was notable only for its dreadful dance routine. Payne’s work so far leaves a lot to be desired, and if he continues to produce safe, generic pop, his solo trajectory will be short lived.

ZAYN MALIK

Following a premature and downright bitter departure from the band in March 2015, Zayn Malik was the first former member who emerged from the stalls to establish himself as a solo artist in the race to success. Refining himself to the mononym ZAYN (10/10 for originality), he signed with RCA records shortly after the schism.

”

9

60 Years: The Dublin Theatre Festival

A

nother day, another dawn in Dublin city. The evening’s fog has dissipated under the sun’s warmth, residual puddles are trampled under busy feet en route to work, school, and most importantly, to the Box Office Opening of the first ever Dublin Theatre Festival (DTF); 1 April, 1957. Long enough ago that the Arts Council of Ireland is only slowly beginning its theatre-funding endeavours, but not so long enough ago that Irish people from Dublin and beyond aren’t abuzz with excitement at the prospect of taking in critically-acclaimed theatre on their own doorsteps. The inaugural DTF, originally named “Dublin International Theatre Festival”, features a tantalising line-up of theatre. The programme ranges from well-known Irish plays like Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Seán O’Casey’s Juno and The Paycock and John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, to musical delights from the Irish Festival Singers and Dublin Grand Opera Society, to the highlyanticipated Royal Ballet’s touring repertoire, among which Le Lac Des Cygnes, Ballet Imperial and Les Sylphides are brought to the Theatre Royal.

Predating the days of ticket selection with a few clicks and taps online, hundreds of people queue in the rain outside the Box Office to nab coveted tickets. Sales for the Royal Ballet prove particularly popular, as for many it is their first opportunity to witness the work of the world-renowned company. Dubliners wait for hours to secure tickets to their favourite shows in bustling queues, the likes of which haven’t been seen for theatre productions in the last couple of decades until the Abbey’s recent series of free previews, which have attracted queues meandering around and all the way down Abbey Street.

FEATURES | 10

DTF begins as the brainchild of Brendan Smith, a theatre enthusiast who runs the Olympia Theatre and the Brendan Smith Academy of Acting. In a typical capitalist twist, the Festival arises less out of artistic reasons and more from economic ones. As urban Ireland is pulled further and further away from the agricultural West, its economy is increasingly reliant on the services sector, of which the most profitable is tourism. But the Irish Tourist Board isn’t content. Tourism consistently drops in the “shoulder months” of May, June, September and October. What’s the remedy?

Finance projects that will attract tourists! And so, Dublin International Theatre Festival is born. Smith applies for funding from the Tourist Board, who see the potential longevity of an annual festival that will attract theatre-goers from around the world.

The popularity and success of DTF’s maiden foray establishes an exciting new tradition, but one that is by no means lacking in disturbances and controversies. Arrests, enraged playwrights, Knights and Bishops – DTF’s behind-the-scenes scandals rival the on-stage melodrama. In 1957, the English-language premiere of Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo at the Pike Theatre ends with the dubious arrest of theatre owner Alan Simpson on the grounds of “producing for gain an indecent and profane performance.” For the preceding week of its run, the performance receives glowing critical acclaim, even dubbed a “surprisingly wholesome play”

by Trinity News. The censorship case is brought to the Supreme Court before it is thrown out after lengthy proceedings. In classic, ‘sweep-itunder-the-rug’ Irish fashion, no official resolution is established – that is, until co-owner Carolyn Swift and Irish writer Gerald Whelan develop an intriguing theory in their book Spiked.

“

Arrests, enraged playwrights, Knights and Bishops – DTF’s behind-the-scenes scandals rival the on-stage melodrama

”

The Knights of Columbanus, a society of conservative Catholics allied with Archbishop Charles McQuaid, effectively controlled the Censorship board from 1949 to 1954, banning almost twice as many books as were banned between 1930 and 1945 (you know times are troubling when censorship skyrockets after a war rather than during it). A new censorship board had begun to tentatively ease the Knights out, but fearing backlash from the Church for the State’s interference, the Eamon De Valera government anxiously attempted to prove it would take hard action on censorship – and thus, the case of The Rose Tattoo became uncomfortably thorny.

Ever the crowd pleaser, Archbishop McQuaid stirs the pot again in 1958 when he condemns the planned inclusion of O’Casey’s play The Drums of Father Ned and an adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses by Alan McClelland.

McQuaid refuses to give his blessing to the “obscene” and “objectionable” material. Samuel Beckett responds by withdrawing his proposed mime piece in protest and O’Casey bans the performance of his plays in Ireland (until he relents in 1964). Under director Brendan Smith, the Festival is

Lauren Boland tells the tale of Dublin Theatre Festival in honour of its landmark birthday

“ 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of Europe’s longest running theatre festival

”

“

DTF is an international celebration of outstanding, innovative art that resonates with audiences from across the world while keeping Dublin’s vibrant stories and people at the heart of everything it does

”

Aside from the occasional scandal, DTF grows from strength to strength since its conception in 1957. In 1985, DTF returns after a two-year break with a record-smashing 58 shows. Working harder than ever to attract international tourists to DTF, visitors can (and do) seize the incredible opportunity to avail of a “stay six days and see six plays” offer (I’d like to know where I can find one of those!) from booking offices in Spain, Japan, the US and Germany. In 1990, the Festival opens with a parade through Dublin City, winding from the Gaiety Theatre, through the autumnal Stephen’s Green, and arriving at the Mansion House on Dawson Street.

The 31st Festival includes 12 overseas productions tumbling onto the Irish stage from four continents, as well as featuring a record number of Irish shows. As the Festival fosters a reputation for excellent theatre, demand for tickets remains consistently high. The Box Office opening in 2002 sees over €40,000 worth of tickets purchased on the first day of sales, in addition to €70,000 advance postal bookings and a further €70,000 priority ‘Friends of the Festival’ bookings. Popularity leans towards international shows that are unaccustomed to the Irish stage, showing the persisting enthusiasm amongst audiences to experience theatre beyond the realm of familiarity.

In 2002, one of the heaviest bookings is for The Mysteries, a history of the world set to music based on traditional African folk songs and using the

language diversity of modern South Africa, produced by the Broomhill Opera company of South Africa.

2017 marks the 60th anniversary of Europe’s longest running theatre festival. DTF is an international celebration of outstanding, innovative art that resonates with audiences from across the world while keeping Dublin’s vibrant stories and people at the heart of everything it does. Its mission to “present a programme of exceptional theatrical experiences that will appeal to the diverse communities that make up our city” has succeeded in enlivening the cultural and social life of Ireland’s energetic capital. The Festival has been funded by a multitude of sponsors, from Aer Lingus to Ulster Bank, but ultimately has been a 60-year success because of the passion and engagement of audiences from Ireland and beyond.

“ The festival has defied doubts and overcome disasters ”

This year, the Festival is presenting a programme as rich and eclectic as its audiences have come to expect and excitedly await throughout the summer. The eighteen days feature live performances supplemented by critical talks, artist development programmes, and industry events. Highly anticipated shows include Nora in the Project Arts Centre, The Suppliant Women in the Gaiety Theatre and Ulysses in the Abbey Theatre. In association with The Ark, this year’s line-up also includes a programme for children’s theatre, which is sure to engage and delight its young audiences while fostering a new generation of theatre lovers.

At the close of the first DTF in 1957, one critic asked: “Having used up Yeats, and the cream of O’Casey and Synge, what on earth is Dublin going to serve up next year?”. The festival has defied doubts and overcome disasters to establish itself as a pinnacle of Irish culture. With programmes that showcase talent from all over the world, Dublin Theatre Festival has put the Irish theatre scene on the map for the last 60 years and promises to continue to do so for many more. ■

WORDS BY LAUREN BOLAND

| FEATURES

officially and indefinitely “postponed” following the controversies. The Festival is held in 1959 without notable opposition, but does not feature the works of O’Casey, Beckett, or Joyce, three of Ireland’s most influential writers.

11

E H O R R O R

VOLUTION OF

SLASHERS, FILMS, AND WHY WE LOVE BEING SCARED

H

orror films are a strange phenomenon, aren’t they? Why on earth would anyone spend an hour or so of their life watching a film with the express intention of making themselves terrified?

From its emergence in the 1890s, the horror film genre has remained hugely popular and although what scared audiences then may make us laugh now, one thing remains curiously certain; we love to be scared, and we willingly pay for the privilege.

It’s not easy to put your finger on what exactly is so alluring about horror films, but the thrill and fear that engulfs your body during peak panicinducing scenes is undeniably addictive. The adrenalin rush that is triggered by this fear is exciting because it is a controlled fear. We know that nothing bad is going to happen to us but we still get to experience the primal reaction to danger that is otherwise rare in our modern lives.

The tension that is generated by the terror, shock, and mystery in horror, combined with the knowledge that what we are watching is fictional creates the psychological space where we can enjoy the rush and wait in anticipation for the next zombie to jump out when we least expect it.

Our fascination with horror stretches back as long as stories have been told. Horror storytelling was (and remains) an art form. Instilling fear from a story that may be illogical or surreal whilst simultaneously making a bold comment on how society functions is a theme that has stood the test of time. Even if we no longer sit around a fire listening to the masterminds with their gory tales, horror has made itself right at home since the advent of film. Since their beginning, they have evolved immensely, and with every new decade comes a new wave of horror film fanatics looking for something original to scare them witless. In the words of Stephen King, one of the greatest horror storytellers of all time, “If movies are the dreams of the mass culture… horror movies are the nightmares”.

“

If movies are the dreams of the mass culture, horror movies are the nightmares - Stephen King

”

FEATURES | 12

George Méliès, a French director, is awarded with having made the first ever horror film, complete with the devil, a bat, a skeleton and a cauldron. The House of the Devil was released in 1896 and lasts just over three minutes, which was considered very ambitious for the time!

Undoubtedly, literary horror tales greatly influenced the formative years of the genre, with Frankenstein hitting the screen in 1910 and The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923. Two of the first and most notable films born from Germany’s expressionist movement were the silent horror films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Nosferatu (1922). The latter, although silent, premiered with a darkly romantic live orchestral score by Hans Erdmann. They not only explored dark and forbidden themes, but also offered parallel anxieties that contemporary society experienced. Nosferatu was not simply a scary story about vampires that wreaked havoc in a town, but also provided a reflection on the constant worries of premature death, the Great War and the Great Flu.

The quality of films in the 1930s and 1940s benefitted greatly from special effects and increased investment in the genre. Monsters took cinema by storm during these years and in 1933 audiences were shocked to see an enormous monkey atop the newly built Empire State building in King Kong. Universal Studios then took it upon themselves to bring the classics of Frankenstein and Dracula onto the big screen. They didn’t stop there, however, but went on to turn them into franchises. They weren’t satisfied with Son of Dracula (1943), House of Dracula (1945), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) or even The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and even developed crossover films. Following the success of Werewolf of London (1935), they conceived Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and even mixed well known faces from comedy with horror, creating Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Unsurprisingly, audiences grew tired of these rehashed classics.

The post-war period changed the game completely. No longer did people fear vampires or werewolves, and themes relying on the supernatural just didn’t cut it anymore. Instead, contemporary uncertainties were the perfect source for horror films. This innovative period saw a rise in scientific

“ Perhaps

the biggest and deadliest concern during the 1950s was the rise of mighty feminism, which undoubtedly shaped the bizarre horror that was The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

”

discoveries, a greater understanding of the mysteries of Earth and even exploration of outer space. Horror responded with invading aliens from space - War of the Worlds (1953), sea monsters - The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), and radioactively mutated creatures - Tarantula (1955).

Nuclear energy was also evoking widespread concern, hence the arrival of Godzilla in 1954. In the US, the fear of foreign invasion spread like wildfire as the Cold War trudged on. Subsequently, reflections of these fears can be seen in The Blob (1958). Perhaps the biggest and deadliest concern during the 1950s was the rise of mighty feminism, which undoubtedly shaped the bizarre horror that was The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958).

The following decade experienced a kind of horror film boom. People started going to the cinema so often that in order to meet the demand for fresh horror thrills, a huge amount of low budget films were produced.

However, a fantastic few did stand out, most notably Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George A. Romero, which initiated the zombie trend. It begins with the corpses of a graveyard reawakening in search of human flesh, soon surrounding an abandoned house with people seeking refuge.

One by one, those inside are picked off as the zombies break in. The film scared audiences galore. With a simple plot it cost a mere $100,000 to make, but grossed in $30 million, both nationally and internationally. The social revolution of the time inspired directors to push boundaries with more violence and sexuality on screen than had previously been tolerated, the shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) being an icon of this evolution.

The supernatural came back in full swing during the 1970s and 1980s, but this time round horror themes were notably much darker than those of the 1930s and 1940s. The Exorcist was hailed as the scariest movie of all time, and was the second most popular film in 1973, reflecting the eager appetite for horror. It was one of the first films to feature a ouija board which later became a common tool in paranormal horror. Involving a possessed girl who performs obscene and vulgar acts that can’t be stopped even after two priests attempt an exorcism to rid her of the demon, The Exorcist was considered the pinnacle of pure cinematic terror.

Psychological horror came into its own in the 1990s, with unnerving characters and disquieting plots. Rather than stone-cold fear, audiences were engulfed with constant uncertainty. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is a disturbing entry into this movement. Manipulation is rife as imprisoned cannibal and former psychologist, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), uses his eerie power of persuasion over FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), offering information on a separate case in return for her deep and disturbing memories. The most unsettling aspect is that the viewer, to a certain point, likes Lecter. He is intriguing, smart and amusing, and this multifaceted persona replacing the unequivocal bad guy/monster in horror films was an unnerving evolution.

Misery (1990) contains a similarly unsettling relationship between the protagonists. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), self-professed “number 1 fan” of author Paul Sheldon (James Caan), finds herself nursing him back to health after discovering him in a car accident near her secluded home.

She is one of the most terrifying and confusing characters I’ve witnessed on screen. In an instant she jumps from anger and torturous violence to sincere kindness and concern in an attempt to keep the revered author in her company.

Sheldon must also resort to mind games in a desperate bid to escape.

One thing I do lament in our era, however, is the decline of the zombie genre. Zombie apocalypse mixed with comedy seems to be popular with the emergence of Zombieland (2009) and Warm Bodies (2013), the latter being so positively ridiculous that I have to recommend it. There are some great new horror films released this year that put those who say horror is dead to shame. As we approach Halloween, get into the festive spirit by taking a look at IT, Get Out, Annabelle: Creation and It Comes at Night and don’t forget to head to the IFI Horrorthon 26-30 October.

Horror films are constantly evolving, each decade bringing new ideas, themes and trends, ranging from downright bizarre to utterly terrifying.

Who knows what novel frights are waiting for us... ■

WORDS BY ROBYN MITCHELL

ILLUSTRATION BY EIMEAR JOHNSON

The 2000s have brought horror films to a new level of terror, thanks to a great development in special effects. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) brought a wide array of monsters to life to torment a group of college students in a lake-side forest. The monsters that grace the film would not have been possible in previous decades, they are utterly terrifying and include a ballerina with a menacingly mutated mouth for a face and an enormous bat-like creature with an insatiable thirst for blood.

13

TALL & TWISTED TALES:

Creating Deirdre Sullivan’s Tangleweed & Brine with the art of Karen Vaughan

F

airytales remain one of the most enduring forms of human storytelling.

Having emerged long before the blockbuster reboot, they have provided centuries’ worth of spoken, written and artistic material ripe for reinterpretation according to the needs or beliefs of the day. They have given rise to works as familiar as Edvard Eriksen’s ‘Statue of The Little Mermaid’ in Copenhagen and now as new as Tangleweed and Brine, a collection of thirteen strange and lyrical short stories from Irish writer Deirdre Sullivan, complete with striking artwork from illustrator Karen Vaughan.

Sullivan – who also works as a teacher and won Children’s Books Ireland’s

“ The book is a shared work... ” FEATURES | 14

Honour Award for Fiction for 2016’s Needlework – acknowledges her debt to this fairytale wellspring. “I’m joining a long tradition,” she says, “of stories that I have loved, and that have shaped me as a reader and as a writer. Tangleweed is a book that grew from other books – these stories would not work without other stories. You can’t reshape a thing that isn’t there.”

She cites Angela Carter, Tanith Lee and Emma Donoghue as writers whose reclamation of fairytales and approach to female characters has influenced her. Young adult fiction (YA) is a particular hub of fairytale

retellings, from Gail Carson Levine’s classic Ella Enchanted to Marissa Meyer’s futuristic saga The Lunar Chronicles. Sullivan, who primarily writes contemporary fiction for teens, has long wanted to join their ranks: “‘The Woodcutter’s Bride’ is a story [now in Tangleweed and Brine] that pre-dates my first novel, Prim Improper, so the seeds of the book have been there for a long time.”

It is very unusual, however, for YA fiction to be fully illustrated. Shelves overflow with accessible and beautiful picture books for younger readers, but there is some stigma attached to books with ‘too many pictures’ for older children or teens, as if by making space for artistic expression the story must somehow be less emotionally complex. Notable successes like Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell’s Coraline or Patrick Ness and Jim Kay’s award-winning A Monster Calls, both of which have spawned film adaptations, indicate that older readers may be more open to illustration than once thought. The artwork here reflects the often-dark contents of Sullivan’s fairytales, from morally ambiguous witches and sea-struck mermaids to maternal relationships and questions of bodily autonomy.

Vaughan also drew on the fairytale aesthetic as a whole. “Some of Karen’s illustrations are retellings of my retellings. She’ll find an image that reflects the mood of the story more perfectly than a scene lifted from the text. It is lovely to be privy to what someone pictures when they read your work.”

Tangleweed and Brine is available now. An exhibition of its illustrations will run at DLR Lexicon from 23 October.

Vaughan was “absolutely thrilled” to be approached for the book. “As someone who specialised in illustration for children’s books at university, and someone who adores fairytales in general, being asked to illustrate a book of retold fairytales was my dream project.” She puts her collaboration with Sullivan down to the “awesome” Gráinne Clear, publishing manager and art director at Little Island, who recommended her illustrations after being introduced to them through a mutual friend. “Gráinne is extremely engaged with art and design. She had seen Karen’s work and thought of her as a possible collaborator,” adds Sullivan.

“Her work is very nuanced and detailed. I’m always catching little moments I’ve missed out on. At the moment I really love the illustration for ‘Doing Well’, but the first one I felt that for was with the illustration of ‘Come Live Here and Be Loved’. I literally gasped when I first saw it.”

‘Come Here and Be Loved’ comes up when Vaughan is discussing her favourite parts of the project, too.

“It’s the closest I’ve ever come to

Sullivan’s Inspirations: Tangleweed and Brine grew “in a feminist brain, and I live in a woman’s body” realizing on paper what exists in my head.

I also love ‘Ash Pale’ because it was the second illustration I created and the one that convinced my anxious brain that maybe I could actually pull off illustrating an entire book.” Sullivan adds that “The book is a shared work... it’s wonderful to share the experience of launching a book with someone who cares as much about the project as much as I do. I’ve not had that before and I’m very glad of it. Karen’s sister also made book-cake which was both beautiful and delicious, so I would work with her again for that alone!”

“ The twists may be magical, but the internal experience of these women is the truth

”

While reworking tales including ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Snow White’, Vaughan and Sullivan often question traditional narratives and tropes, or at least those of the fairytales altered by the likes of Charles Perrault or Walt Disney.

Sullivan alludes to Ireland’s issues regarding women, agency, and power,

and notes that while “it would kill a young adult book to write it with a moral or a message in mind”, Tangleweed and Brine grew “in a feminist brain, and I live in a woman’s body... The twists may be magical, but the internal experience of these women is the truth. Or how I see the truth.”

Something which is clear on seeing the illustrations and stories next to each other is the importance and depth of the artistic process. Throughout the project, Sullivan was working full-time and studying part-time; she says, “these stories were an escape from those responsibilities. I’ve always found writing to be a refuge. I try to figure out ways the world hurts people in my writing… when I get something down that makes sense to me, it’s such a relief. I suppose that is quite visceral! It was a book that was ready to be written. Every story in it is deeply felt, but the process was cathartic and satisfying and everything you want writing to be.”

Vaughan was more pragmatic: “I read through the text and highlight anything I think could help shape the look of the characters and setting. I research clothing, furniture and surroundings that might be appropriate for the story and begin sketching ideas down as thumbnails. I try to generate as many compositions as possible before choosing some to scale up. After the rough sketches are whittled down, the final rough is drawn in pencil, adding in any changes that might have been requested, before I use a lightbox to help ink the drawing on another sheet of paper.”

The illustrations can be seen, of course, in the thorny, ruby-red hardbacks of Tangleweed and Brine. But for a few weeks this autumn, the originals were on exhibition at one of Dublin’s best-known independent bookshops, Books Upstairs, where they lined its characteristic stairwells and glared down on customers as they perused blurbs or drank tea in the shop’s café. “There was an incredibly positive reaction to the illustrations,”

Vaughan’s Inspirations: Illustration for Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’

by Katharine Beverley and Elizabeth Ellender (1929) says Vaughan. “We felt they could stand alone as their own pieces as well as part of the book.”

Though the small exhibition space had been repurposed for the project in an already crammed bookshop (Vaughan says that this dual potential made it “the perfect fit”), it provided an opportunity to take a closer look at mesmerising patterns and eye-catching designs. You could see the very press of the pen and ink on the page behind the glass. They also “jumped at” the chance to follow this with a six-week run at DLR Lexicon in Dún Laoghaire. Asked how a display – an even rarer feat for a YA novel than illustration - based on the book sprang up, Sullivan says: “It came about because Karen is so ridiculously talented! Her work is so intricate, and seeing them on walls in a larger size really brings that home. Those pieces couldn’t hide in a shed or studio (though I have no idea where artists keep things when they are not exhibited) - they need to be seen and celebrated.”

And for Sullivan’s next project? She is ever so slightly coy. “I can say that I’m not done with witches, fairytales or mermaids yet, and I’ve been writing a lot of short stories for older readers about ghosts…” ■

WORDS BY ARIANNE DUNNE PHOTO BY ROBYN MITCHELL

| FEATURES

Vaughan, a freelance illustrator trained at the North Wales School of Art and Design, has often been inspired by fairy and folktales. After finishing this project, she turned her hand to art inspired by the Russian folktale Baba Yaga. Not the first artist to turn her hand to the field even pop artist David Hockney illustrated six of Grimms’ fairytales for publication in the early 1970s - her illustrations owe much to Aubrey Beardsley and Harry Clarke’s elaborate patterns and busy visuals. The Golden Age of Illustration of the first decades of the twentieth century has also left an arguable mark on the collection. Traces of Katharine Beverley, Elizabeth Ellender and Kay Nielsen - Vaughan says East of the the Sun and West of the Moon is “one of the most beautiful books [she’s] ever seen” - can be found in its eldritch figures and sense of movement.

15

ARE WE LIVING ELECTRIC DREAMS?

FEATURES | 16

TV Editor, Roxane Von Hurter, reflects on the adapted works of Philip K. Dick and how his dystopian vision speaks volumes about our modern society

P

hilip K. Dick is a giant of the science fiction world. His short, prolific career produced 44 novels and 121 short stories, of which 13 have been made into films. Dick’s works tackles what it means to be human, perhaps one reason for the popularity of his works, which has only continued to expand since his death in 1982. The latest venture into Dick’s world of alien wars, space travel, alternate histories, and metaphysical realms, comes from Channel 4’s Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, where each episode is an adaptation of a short story or novel. It opens with ‘The Hood Maker’, originally a short story published in Imagination Science Fiction in 1955. This episode stars Holliday Grainger (most recently seen in the BBC’s adaptation of crime series Strike) and Richard Madden (of Game of Thrones’ fame) as the two leads, Honor and Agent Ross, respectively.

It is a post-apocalyptic world in which the nation is divided between the ‘normals’ and human ‘teeps’ (telepathic byproducts of medical experiments). New legislation has been passed allowing law enforcement to use teeps on unwilling normals, elevating the teeps’ current status living in slums around the dilapidated city, but causing riots among those not

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (2017) willing to surrender the privacy of their minds. Agent Ross and teep Honor are paired to source the mysterious ‘Hood Maker’, who is distributing wax linen ‘hoods’ to block the telepathic signals allowing teeps to read minds.

Dick’s original story brazenly approached the themes of a surveillant state, something he wrote prolifically about due to a personal paranoia induced by a lifetime of amphetamine abuse. Despite spending most of his life in relative poverty and struggling with serious drug addiction, his body of work is astounding and what he has achieved posthumously is something quite rare. True ‘Dickheads’ will call him the godfather of science fiction, others may (and often do) criticise his clunky prose, but his ideas have been brought to our screens over and over again, indicating a certain morbid fascination with his work.

“ Are we in fact continuing blindly,

adhering to none of the warning signs, into the abyss of our Dickian dystopia?

Tackling issues of what it truly means to be human in a posthuman reality is Blade Runner (1982), the first and most famous of these adaptations.

However, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams has brought Dick’s other perfectly compact short stories into a new, clear focus. The societal anxieties that Dick conveyed in his writing in the 1950s through to the 1980s prompt us to question whether we have really demystified any of our Cold War, technophobic, right wing, latent fears. Are we in fact continuing blindly adhering to none of the warning signs, into the abyss of our Dick-ian dystopia?

Animals have been successfully cloned (Dick’s story ‘The Second Variety’), robots have been created (Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?); computers used to note our every thought and movement can fit in our hands essentially making us trackable at all times (‘Minority Report’); the first person to live to 1000 has supposedly already been born (What The Dead Men Say); and virtual realities are all around us (‘The Empathy Box’).

All these stories are becoming our reality and yet we still want to watch a

show about how it might get worse? Perhaps it is in our nature to identify the worst possible outcome in order to assuage our guilt and know what not to do. In this way, we can say with confidence: at least it is not as bad as that.

It was The Economist’s journalist William Gibson who said: “the future is here - it is just not very evenly distributed.” Dick presents this disparity of modernisation throughout his stories. The rich and the poor are separated by high-rises, medical access, or interplanetary access. So what is so different between our current reality and the reality of speculative fiction?

You could argue that to live forever would be horrible, that cloning animals is of no use to you and robots won’t enter your home in your lifetime. But what happens when electricity reaches every corner of the earth and the population has grown to such an extent that there is nowhere left to go but up or out? The reason Dick’s stories are of such prominence and relevance to us today, the reason they are still being translated into multiple medias and reaching greater audiences, is because we are starting to live them. It is an eerie truth but time is catching up with us.

It is a popular science fiction trope to see our own creation turn on us; from robots to computers, Dick and many other writers prioritise the concept of a desolation of our own making. The ultimate example, however, had already arrived by the end of the Second World War and, in Dick’s opinion, nuclear weaponry was the ultimate desolation of our own making. Often his stories begin in a world flattened and destroyed by nuclear weapons, as result of which technology and man have become co-dependent. Without technology the twenty-first-century-world we know would crumble, and even though the teeps and replicants may be imaginary, technology and man are not. So maybe it is as bad as that. Nuclear weapon power play has been relatively dormant since the Cold War when Dick was writing, but now, in a whole new age of North Korea vs USA, Dick has returned to the forefront of our conscience.

Channel 4 has been known to tap into an audience’s thirst for dystopic nuggets of television with the acclaimed Black Mirror (2011-) and Humans (2015-), but Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams arrives with extra baggage. The ability Dick possessed to expose ourselves at our worst while incorporating his own paranoia was, and still is, unique. If you consider Gibson to be correct, then the even distribution of the “future” is just around the corner, and with Dick’s speculations constantly turning into our realities, then the worlds he creates will not just be unfolding on our screens. ■

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

WORDS BY ROXANE VON HURTER ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN LUDDY

| FEATURES

You can watch Episode 6 of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams on Sunday 29 October on Channel 4.

17

GAMING 101

Deputy Games Editor Sam Cox talks gaming basics with friends and the best place to start

B

lasting zombies together on a couch is my favourite form of bonding.

To this day, I remember my stepfather’s giggles when he would land a headshot on an alien, describing the exaggerated gore “like an exploding watermelon.” I’ve always loved cooperative console games, but as my friend group has evolved, I’ve found less and less of my social circle know how to raid a dungeon or heal through a boss fight.

That doesn’t mean they’re not interested, on the contrary, most of them have expressed a desire to get “into” gaming. They just don’t know how.

Using two analog sticks at once, remembering the difference between the trigger and the grenade, not jumping on the spot for half an hour; things that come naturally to me are conscious decisions for them. Every journey has to have a beginning. And so, we set out to not only find the best co-op couch games, but to open the world of gaming, bit by bit.

They say hindsight is 20-20, and they’re right. When I started this quest, I made what now seems an obvious mistake. Rather than looking for what would be fun for a beginner, I whipped out all of my favourite games and excitedly put in the disc. Unfortunately, while I took endless pleasure in sniping from afar before leaping off the balcony, Caroline found staring at the wall before being mauled by a zombie horrifying and disheartening. So, we re-evaluated. First person shooters were off the table. Fast-paced and engaging, it’s one of my favourite genres. For the inept beginner though, the constant stream of information and general unforgiving gameplay makes them a big no-go. Walking and moving your head to perceive the world at the same time is a skill we learn from an early age. Translating this skill to a virtual format is a huge leap to take, and combined with all the other bits and pieces that we were going to have to pick up as well, we decided to start elsewhere.

“ An

old Blizzard (the makers of the famed, or infamous, World of Warcraft) fanboy, I had watched with bemused interest as they finally migrated to the console with the release of Diablo 3

”

FEATURES | 18

Remembering hours of fondly playing Champions of Norrath as a child, I thought a dungeon-crawling hack and slash could be a good place to start.

Here, you would pick to be a fighter, mage, archer or cleric, and design your own hero as you battle through worlds of evil and darkness. Rather than dig out my old PS2, I decided to see how the genre had changed and which modern equivalent would be best (really, I was just too lazy to go find all the wires and discs I’d need, and the second-hand section at Gamestop seemed a better use of an afternoon). Blasting hordes of monsters with fire and ice, slicing through legions of demons with sword and shield, or even just picking out which cool bow to use, I was hopeful it’d be an easy and accessible genre to get us started.

While there were plenty of options for the PC, my PS3 had less going for

it. An old Blizzard (the makers of the famed, or infamous, World of Warcraft) fanboy, I had watched with bemused interest as they finally migrated to the console with the release of Diablo 3.

Realising it fit the bill, we googled to make sure it supported multiple controllers for one screen, then searched the secondhand sections of CEX and Gamestop looking for a reasonably priced copy. After hours of mind-numbing trawling (“Why don’t we just play Jenga…?”), St e p h e n’s Green was our eventual salvation, and so we trotted home, box in hand.

From the character selection screen, we knew an RPG was the right choice. Oohing and ahhing at the descriptions of the various classes, Caroline eventually settled on the monk as her weapon of choice.

Knowing that she’d be up close, fighting through the monsters, I opted for a ranged support, and took the Demon Hunter, clad in leather, as my persona. Having a ranged and melee character on a team not only compliments each other, but made it easier for us both to distinguish who was who in the fray of battle.

Another constant delight from Blizzard games are the cutscenes. As daft as it sounds, having a cool video before you start playing is a big morale booster. Being big movie buffs, the chance to play out as if we were characters in a feature film gave life to the experience. As we made every effort to save each other and survive the increasingly difficult fighting, the dialogue between us naturally turned epic, and led to quite a few self-aware giggles.

“ Knowing

she could make a difference, and knowing the controls to make that difference, were two huge aspects of enjoyment for her

”

Talking to Caroline afterwards, she explained she found the over-thehead perspective much less nauseating, an improvement from the get-go. While the game started off slow, she was introduced to her various powers and within an hour or so of gameplay, had 6 or 7 options of how best to fight our adversaries.

Even when she wasn’t sure which button she was pressing, she felt that all were effective, and so wasn’t punished for becoming confused.

investigate as we levelled up was sometimes overwhelming, but more often just kept the game fresh.

One complaint was the difficulty level. While we started on Normal, even Caroline complained of how easy she was finding the game. Eventually, we decided to up the game to Hard. While some fights required littleto-no effort, others were incredibly challenging and tedious. Even for an experienced gamer, it took all the effort I had to stay alive and push through.Most of these encounters came from venturing off the main path however, and so could’ve been avoided. Having a more consistent difficulty experience, where we were challenged without being punished would’ve been preferable however.

While the story wasn’t particularly interesting, this wasn’t a huge issue for either of us. The majority of our engagement with the game came from our own struggles rather than those of the plot, and so the shouts of distress from main character Deckard Cain was less a concern, and more an occasional laugh. While the main story failed to impress, the occasional side quest managed to catch our interest, usually when it focused on the minor characters. There was more room for engagement and our own narrative when we were struggling to save the dying wife of a peasant, before being forced to execute her to spare her from the realm of the undead. ■

RECOMMENDS

Most of all, she loved being able to consistently use her favourite powers.

When I was injured, no amount of demon dogs could stop her from running over to heal me (even when it might have been better to let me die). Knowing she could make a difference, and knowing the controls to make that difference, were two huge aspects of enjoyment for her.

Another positive from Diablo 3 was the level design and loot system. Every monster we killed would drop shiny gold coins. It might seem like a small thing, but the sense of progress after a particularly long fight was essential to holding our attention. Combine this with the sprawling levels featuring plenty of different directions and things to see, and we never felt like we were wasting time. The stream of different enemies and our new powers to

ILLUSTRATION BY JERIE MACAPAGAL WORDS BY SAM COX

19

Food of the Dead A DIFFERENT KIND OF ALL SOULS’ DAY

20

Enya O’Connell Hussey argues the importance of Día de los Muertos focusing on the food traditions that surround this cultural devotion to the dead every October

T

he taste of Hallowe’en, for most of us, is a taste of alcohol and euro-store Snickers. A brack your mam bought you might sit on the side table, and maybe some monkey nuts sprinkled around a Chinese-imported pumpkin. The flavours and traditions of Samhain, the Celtic origin of Hallowe’en, have all but faded out in the wave of American suburban store-bought spooky lollipops and trick-or-treating.

“ Food unites the living and the dead over the two days

However, near enough to our neighbours across the pond, the spirits of the dead come alive at midnight on October 31 in Mexico, kept breathing by a tradition still strong after three thousand years, enduring through war and the rise and fall of empires.

Día de los Muertos, or ‘Day of the Dead’, is exploding in popularity thanks to its distinctive skull designs — although any overseas recreation of it is usually not much more than a rave with face paint. What people miss behind the artsy aesthetic is a rich and touching tradition of honouring loved ones, infused with Mesoamerica, Spanish Catholicism and the culture of 41 of Mexico’s ethnic groups. Honouring the dead features in almost every society, but few do as the Mexicans do, with ‘Day of the Dead’ being declared by UNESCO as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’.

Originally a month-long Aztec festival to honour the goddess Mictecacihuatl, or ‘The Lady of the Dead’, it fused with the Catholic All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ day to form a two day celebration starting November 1, celebrating the brief return of family members who have passed, and one’s own mortality. The festival also coincides with the completion of the cultivation of maize, the staple food of Mexico.

“ The Day of the Dead was my

favourite festivity of the year...

It was always a happy occasion to celebrate life and eat delicious food - Karla Sanchez

Although traditions vary in regions, with the rural areas of Tzintzuntzan and Huaquechula still performing the older, more elaborate customs, all feature the decoration of graves and preparation of ofrendas, threetiered alters to the deceased. Decorated with papel picados, beautiful, fragile paper cutouts, on each tier the dead are invited into the home and welcomed with photographs, wreligious symbols and candles, each item holding a significance. Ofrendas are meticulously crafted to please the deceased, who can bring either prosperity or misfortune into the home.

After a long journey from the afterlife, they arrive hungry and thirsty, but are nourished with food and drinks they loved, placed on the ofrendas — bottles of mescal, tequila and pulque for the adults, and for los angelitos, the children who have passed, their favourite sweets.

Food unites the living and dead over the two days. This is seen in the intricate sugar skulls, crafted often months in advance, and the pan de muerto (‘bread of the dead’) enjoyed during the ‘Day of the Dead’. A delicate sponge bread made with orange blossom water, pan de muerto is decorated with bones, flowers and the tears the Aztec goddess Chimalma sheds for the living. Although not restricted to the ‘Day of the Dead’, candied pumpkins, tamales, and mole are eaten during the festivities, tastes that are not solemn and grey as one would expect from a memorial of the dead, but full of the bright yellow sweetness of corn, browns of cinnamon and the deep, rich red of chillies, fruits, spices, and chocolate.

Once November 2 passes, the living are free to consume the food on the, lacking now in nutrition and their ‘essence’, which were enjoyed by the spirits during their stay.

The ‘Day of the Dead’ is not a day of mourning and sadness, nor does it share the ghouls and goblins of Hallowe’en. Like the flavours which grace the altars, it is bittersweet, as families gather to reminisce about their loved ones, and the happy times they shared. In doing so, the memories of generations are kept alive, consoling those afraid of being forgotten and comforting those who have lost.

Death itself loses its fear amongst the festivities — whilst skulls and bones may seem morbid and depressing, the colours and beautiful patterns they are given show a celebration of the cycle of life. The ‘Day of the Dead’ is especially important to Mexico’s indigenous communities, giving them recognition as well as bringing together the two worlds of European and indigenous beliefs.

Perhaps the best example of the philosophy of the ‘Day of the Dead’ is La Calavera Catrina. The origin of the well-dressed skeletons of the festival, La Calavera Catrina is a fashionable cartoon skeleton, created

by José Guadalupe Posada in 1910 to satirise the Europhilic upper-class Mexicans of the time. We are all La Calavera Catrina in some way, and by laughing at ourselves and our airs of importance in the equalising face of death, its gloom clears.

Karla Sanchez, a Mexican woman living in Ireland for the past number of years remembers celebrating Día de Muertos as a child: “The Day of the Dead was my favourite festivity of the year. Ours was an ofrenda for all the dead, so we never included photographs of relatives as other families did. But it was always a happy occasion to celebrate life and eat delicious food. It never seemed ‘gory’ or scary, quite the opposite.

All of this was supposed to make you laugh and make light of your daily problems, because life is so short.” ■ Many thanks to the Mexican Embassy in Ireland for their help with this article.

WORDS BY ENYA O’CONNELL HUSSEY ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN LUDDY

21

H o r r F a s h

i f i c a l l y i o n a b l e

Alice Whelan examines the macabre elements of fashion for Tn2’s October Issue

Alexander McQueen’s Joan of Arc Collection (1998)

W

ith October in full swing, spooky season is upon us. We can look back on some of the fashion shows which pushed the boundaries and asked us to look at the ‘ugly’.

‘Horror’ in fashion has often taken the form of unsettling make up, costume-style attire and eerie theatrics. Fashion shows that are a horrific spectacle, or that use humanoid or ‘possessed’ models, have been used to counteract fashion shows over concern with aesthetics and order. Shows can offer audiences a disconcerting experience and allow the designer to make a statement that exists beyond the clothes.

Perhaps the most well known perpetrator of ‘horrific’ fashion is Alexander McQueen. His shows are famed for their vulgar beauty, McQueen himself is quoted as saying “I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists.”

His AW/98 Joan of Arc collection is just one of his shows that features creepy models and theatrics such as flickering, low hanging, industrial lights and fingernails-on-blackboard, grating music. The models are redeyed and stare unflinchingly out into the crowd.

The show has a political theme, as Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for her role in a war against the British. Models wear medieval chainmail, but their pale skin, light hair and red eyes as well as blood red garments give an uneasy edge to the show.

FEATURES | 22

For the finale, a model is engulfed in a ring of flames and her face and head are completely shrouded in the lace of her dress. McQueen’s looks have inspired the unconventional styles of stars such as Lady Gaga and Björk.

McQueen’s SS/01 show Voss was a chilling experience for guests present, as McQueen forced them to stare at their own reflection in the mirrored

Rick Owen’s SS Collection (2016) cube they were seated around. The show was deliberately late beginning, eventually lighting up to reveal a reconstructed mental hospital as it’s setting.

The finale of Voss was a moment in fashion McQueen is remembered for. A large box on the stage opened to reveal a naked model lying on a recliner and wearing an oxygen mask. McQueen wished to challenge conventional conceptions of beauty, and leave the bougie fashion audiences uncomfortable. He is quoted in Time Magazine 1997 as saying “I don’t want to do a cocktail party. I’d rather people left my shows and vomited. I prefer extreme reactions.”

“

Shows can offer audiences a disconcerting experience and allow the designer to make a statement that exists beyond the clothes

”

Less harrowing adaptations of horror themes into fashion shows include the SS/14 Comme Des Garçons collection. Models wore cage-like black structures with nothing underneath and their hair was scraped back into odd shapes with black lipstick smeared across their mouths. Ruffles and clown-like costume outfits were showcased down a simple wooden catwalk.

The designer, Rei Kawakubo, is famed for her distorted yet beautiful carnivalesque clothing, and the use of black. Cartner Morley writes in The Guardian that her “aloof detachment now feels antithetical not just to modern fashion, but to popular culture. She does not engage with the mundanity of looking pretty, or the seasonal ephemera of hemlines. She

has zero interest in celebrity.” This analysis is part of what makes designers who make the unorthodox so attractive. Their shows challenge the fashion world’s preoccupation with following the rules.

Thierry Mugler’s SS/97 Haute Couture collection had a theme of metamorphosis. Like a larvae becoming a butterfly models in the show gradually became more outrageous and freakish. They wore bug-like eyepieces and shoulder structures to represent various forms of creepycrawlies. Some models appeared almost vampire like, carrying weapons.

The music is agitated and jarring in a crescendo until the dark colours become jewel tones and a butterfly suddenly emerges. The music becomes lilting classical. The final model is a butterfly, wearing a fantastic colourful butterfly wing piece.

“It reminded me of the eternal human condition of dealing with conflict.”

The women bound to other women are supposed to represent the resilience, and burden, of female relationships. Rick Owens’ AW/15 show garnered attention on social media as he featured frontal male nudity, aiming to challenge certain taboos.

“

With the popularity of movies like IT and the series Stranger Things, perhaps people are regaining their appetite for the outlandish in fashion too

”

Mugler can be quoted as saying “I want my models to be bigger, bolder and stronger than common mortals...I want supermen and superwomen.”

This grandiose ambition for his work comes through in this particular collection, the models are more than the clothes, and bear down on the audience in an intimidating manner.

More recently, Viktor and Rolfs AW17/18 collection has taken models in costume to a new level. Models were dressed in cartooish, large headpieces.

Ridiculously large ruffles and patchwork garments gave it a playful feel, but no human face can be seen until the end.

Bobby Abley’s contribution to MAN’s AW/14 show was inspired by Hannibal Lecter in the way that the models’ mouths were held open with metal hardware to reveal their grimaces. The effect was even creepier when paired with Disney Mickey Mouse ears, and a haunting Disney inspired soundtrack.

Shows which use ‘shock tactics’ or theatrics that grab the attention of a range of audiences have the opportunity to make a wider point about the fashion world and beauty conventions. Using models that do not conform to society’s definition of ‘beautiful’ and garish clothing can shake up the audience as well as the fashion world.

Rick Owen’s SS/16 show turned heads when the designer bound models onto other models. The models were upside down or in contorted positions, some looked like they were strapped on as ‘human backpacks’.

With the popularity of movies like IT and the series Stranger Things, perhaps people are regaining their appetite for the outlandish in fashion too. Fashion shows that are a spectacle are more likely to get attention on social media. In the midst of the Instagram-filtered world of beauty and fashion influencers, ugly and unaesthetic would certainly make refreshing viewing. ■

WORDS BY ALICE WHELAN

| FEATURES

Owens used the soundtrack of a song called ‘Land is Mine’ from the film Exodus (1960) which deals with the story of Ramses and Moses. When asked in Dazed Magazine what he meant using this soundtrack, he says

Viktor and Rolf A/W Collection (2017)

23

theatre

REVIEWS THE SUPPLIANT WOMEN Gaiety Theatre, DTF

●●●○○

The Suppliant Women, Aeschylus’ 2500 year old play (reimagined by acclaimed playwright David Greig) tells the story of the fifty daughters of Danaos fleeing Egypt for asylum in the Greek city-state of Argos. It is not war, poverty, or violence they are fleeing - they are seeking escape from men, and marriages void of love.

Actors Touring Company has been visiting the cities of the British Isles, including Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester, using local volunteers to perform in this timely piece. This Dublin Theatre Festival (DTF17) play allowed the women of our fair city to shine.

Credit must be given to the authenticity of the ancient theatre experience. While, of course, the proscenium of the Gaiety could not replicate the Greek outdoors, the show paid homage to Dionysus by commencing with a bottle of red wine being poured along the stage. Choosing choral ode to relay the story with scarce dialogue, the accompanying music by Callum Armstrong and Ben Burton transported the audience to the city-gates of Argos with simple percussion.

RADIO ROSARIO AXIS, DTF

●●●●○

“Tell me love is winning...”

Valve Hegarty makes his living by recording radio advertisements, but he is a singer at heart.

“If I don’t sing I get sick,” he tells us. Performed as a one-man show by Little John Nee, Radio Rosario is a play that unfolds through music and storytelling. Resisting any conventional linear narrative, Valve’s story traverses layers of memory and meaning with humour and heart.

REVIEWS | 24

Hegarty recounts his life in Galway, the people he sees every day, the work he does, and the places he stops, before describing a chance encounter with a man at a car boot sale which brings him to the Marconi Station. He buys an old radio from the man and “tunes in to the silence,” but as we see at the Marconi station, even in solitary silence, the shadows and whispers of the past are still present. Using the ghostly character of Rosario, who broadcasts her imagination, amongst references to war

The aulos instrument, a sound I had never experienced before, was beautiful, conducting a hybrid of tribal and mediterranean beats.

A slight disappointment for me was the realisation that the chorus was in fact not played by fifty women, but rather by about twenty. This did not deter from the efficacy of their voice, of their fierce sound and synchronised movement en masse. The women became their boat, their libations, their pleas. Clothed in colourful modern dress, they each retained a sense of individuality, but it was their harmony of dance, song and awareness of their agency which was so moving. Movement leader Sarah Johnston and choreographer Sasha Milavic Davies brought poignancy to the chaos; initially, the physicality

of the women’s calls for Zeus and Io felt a little overwhelming, but it was soon embraced.

The beauty of this play was in its teaching, bringing to light the similarities between the plight of today’s refugees, and women who suffer under the patriarchy, with that of these fifty women. Despite an unclarified character change and a somewhat evident cast of volunteers rather than skilled actors, the play raised questions about the ideals of democracy, the responsibility of humanity, the concept of virginity, and the recurring question of whether to trust women or not. On the eve of March for Choice (September 30), the intensity of themes felt less like ancient hyperbole, and more like issues we need to dissolve today.

WORDS BY AMYROSE FORDER

and upheaval, Radio Rosario presents a story of innocence interrupted. The past, present, and possible glimpses of the future blend together, repeating and varying to explore themes of nostalgia, memory, imagination and optimism.

Sarah Jane Shiels’ lighting and Triona Lillis’ set design evoke a timeless and fluid setting that frees the story from the constraints of the space.

Shiels’ use of floor lights in cages and visible side lights suggest the performing side of Hegarty’s life, while elements of the set suggest a musichall and a dockyard simultaneously. Paired with Laura Sheehan’s video creations, these bring the audience on Valve’s journey with him, through ever-changing settings, without needing to pause the lyrical and narrative flow of the plot.

Radio Rosario is a warm work that entertains, whilst cautioning the audience to remember the past and learn from it. As the punk matriarch of Butcher’s Quay, Polly Tunnel, says, “If love is losing what are you going to do? Start hating just so you can be on the winning side?”

WORDS BY SAOIRSE ANTON

GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

film

Dir. Simon Curtis

●●●●○

Goodbye Christopher Robin, a biopic about the life of A.A. Milne, power of imagination, the crisis of celebrity, and the importance of childhood.

Domhnall Gleeson’s Milne is a man struggling with PTSD and what it means to be a writer in the wake of the First World War. Married to Daphne (Margot Robbie), the pair often seem somewhat stern and detached toward their son Christopher Robin, who is raised almost entirely by his nanny. However, the pivotal time the parents do spend with their son is portrayed in scenes dappled with sunlight and warmth. The toys which populate the world of Winnie the Pooh and inspire a literary phenomenon originate with Daphne, who brings them to life through play, while A.A. offers adventure and imagination on endless days outdoors. The film interrogates this creative process, as the experience of playing together detaches itself from reality, and becomes a story.

WORDS BY NAOISE OSBORNE The imaginary world of the books is centred in the woods near the family’s home, where, in cyclical fashion, the film both begins and ends. As father and son overlook the wood they once played in together, the sun-filled frame brings with it nostalgia. Both are now war veterans, both grown up, but repeated echoes to childhood keep its innocence, imagination and happiness alive. Emotional at all the right times (my mam cried), this film isn’t just a piece of fluff to be soon forgotten about. Well-cast and well-scripted, and particularly pleasing if you know the world of Winnie the Pooh well, Simon Curtis’s Goodbye Christopher Robin, is a riveting watch.

Will Tilston is the film’s true star, as Christopher Robin. His onscreen relationship with his nanny (Kelly MacDonald) is thoroughly touching. Tilston’s character encapsulates the innocence and petulance of childhood; through him we watch Christopher Robin’s transition from ordinary little boy to international icon, as he is plucked from childhood and dropped into celebrity. Tilston draws the audience in and leads them into the make-believe childhood world. The ability of the Winnie the Pooh books to preserve the safety of childhood is what made them such a success, but the film invites the audience to question the power, or powerlessness, of an author to control his work once it has reached the public. Once Winnie the Pooh is out there, it cannot be taken back, regardless of the damage such heightened attention does to the family.

Dir. Denis Villeneuve

●●●●●

Blade Runner 2049 is undoubtedly one of 2017’s most anticipated films.

Thirty years after the events of the original Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott hands the directorial reigns over to Denis Villeneuve, best known for his Academy Award winning Arrival (2016). Villeneuve and the entire crew of Blade Runner 2049 have successfully kept the plot details of the film buried beneath tantalising trailers and cryptic hints during interviews. Entering the cinema virtually blind to any sort of premise was perhaps the most rewarding part of watching it slowly unfold.

Known for his nuanced style of film-making and the beautiful cinematography that accompanies his projects, Villeneuve has created a feast for the eyes with his latest feature.

The city of L.A, where Officer K is based, paradoxically appears as a familiar modern setting and an overpopulated slum. Building from the original vision set up by Philip K Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Villeneuve’s L.A is characterised by gargantuan skyscrapers with holographic advertisements (Coca Cola and Sony have survived somehow in this parallel universe) and low rise tenant buildings and darkened alleyways. Replicants and humans are indistinguishable from each other, courtesy of the Wallace Corporations and its CEO, played by Jared Leto.

While the rest of the cast is incredibly strong in their performances, Leto’s part felt under-written and perhaps over-acted. Elsewhere, Robin Wright takes on the role as Officer K’s tenacious boss and Harrison Ford, after a thirty year hiatus, reprises his role as Rick Deckard (in a sequence that is one of the most memorable parts of the film).

The score of Blade Runner 2049 exceeds expectations, with Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer recreating the surrealist tone of the first film.

At times, it overwhelms the picture on screen but this somehow seems appropriate and only further emphasises the scale of this industrialised cityscape.

There are moments in Villeneuve’s feature that are drawn out and unnecessary, and characters that could have been better developed but on the whole, Blade Runner 2049 is everything that fans of the original wanted.

Villeneuve’s vision is hypnagogic, from the dread inducing score to the detail in every shot. It is a film that invites you into an imagined but possible future of our own world and insists that you find your own way out of this dream.

WORDS BY LEE JONES

| REVIEWS

BLADE RUNNER 2049

25

music AROMANTICISM MosesSumney

●●●●●

“Aromanticism/aromantic– having no interest or desire for romantic relationships.” It seems to be an intentional irony, then, that Moses Sumney’s debut release celebrates the value of solitude with an album drenched in the traditional signifiers of love. From his own angelic, soaring falsetto to the subtle pluckings of harpstrings, Sumney does more than simply place self-love on par with romance. Rather, he creates a sonic space in which an individualistically aromantic identity can be valued in its own right.

Aromanticism opens with a ‘Man on the Moon (Reprise)’. To name this snippet, introduced at the onset and never to be heard again on the album, as a ‘reprise’ could be interpreted as mere pretentiousness. Yet it can also be seen as a nod to the repeated listening that the album demands and deserves, the way its vocal hooks loop both upon themselves and within the listener’s head.

The fragmentary, reverb-laden track sets the tone for the album, as rich vocal harmonies collapse into the jazz chords of ‘Don’t Bother Calling’. From there, the Sumney brings the listener through a seductive aural soundscape filled with suspensions, glimmering synth, and his impeccably controlled vocals.

This is an impressive debut from Sumney, not just because the power of the arrangements

and quality of each track, but also because of the cohesiveness of the album as a conceptual whole. Aromanticism is filled with fragments and interludes, each a carefully crafted rumination on what it is to be alone. Songs lead into each other with an effortless ease. That is not to say that there are no meaty tracks here; ‘Quarrel’, ‘Lonely World’ and ‘Doomed’ all stand out. Even there though, there is strength to be found in the balance Sumney creates between uplifting choruses and seductively whispered verses.

In an increasingly identity-driven society, Aromanticism explores the rejection of traditional values in a meaningful ways. The album’s persona is complex and multifaceted. He simultaneously plays the gently spurning lover, in ‘Don’t Bother Calling’ (“You need a solid, but I’m made of liquid”), while still ruminating on the fear of being alone in ‘Doomed’ (“Am I vital/ If my heart is idle”). Sumney has done more than simply project a label onto how we can love and feel. In this album, he has crafted a work of art that validates an existence on the periphery of the norms. Despite the listener’s own romantic inclinations, we can all enjoy this submersion into loneliness.

WORDS BY AINE PALMER

OK

OTHERKIN No strangers to the Irish rock scene, Otherkin give us electrifying rock ‘n’ roll in their debut album OK. These raucous Dubliners have been impressing audiences since 2014, with their punchy songs and energetic live performances, but now we have a concrete studio album to highlight their grungy garage rock.

The album kicks off with ‘Treat Me So Bad’, a fun bopper of a song with upbeat, explosive guitars reminiscent of The Strokes, with singer Luke Reilly’s vocals wailing through the speakers. The song details a one sided relationship, but instead of being morose, it channels that anger into catchy rock ’n’ roll.

Songs like ‘Come On, Hello’ and the single ‘Ay Ay’ attack with sing-along choruses, grungy bass lines and layered high pitched guitars — delivering a sound somewhere between 70s punk rock and early 2000s rock.

REVIEWS | 26

●●●●○

WORDS BY COLM O’HALLORAN

There is a contrast between a bouncy pop rock injection on songs like ‘Feel It’, ‘Razorhead’ and ‘REACT’ with a heavier, almost Ramones-like sound on others like ‘Enabler’. It’s this heavier sound which delivers the finale, ‘So So’; a crescendo builds slowly with structured reverberating guitar, hammering bass and tempered vocals until it lets loose 4 minutes into the song.

Otherkin aren’t inventing anything new in terms of sound, but what they have created is an album full of catchy garage rock that will have you stamping your foot and yelling at the top of your lungs. It’s fun, head-bopping rock which hasn’t been seen in the Irish scene in a while. If you get a chance, you should go to one of their shows and expect it to be a thunderous performance — with plenty of crowd surfing.

art

MUSEUM OF MODERN COMEDY IN ART Project Arts Centre

●●●○○

grocery store after having decided to boycott women on principle’ (1971), the frowning expression on Bass’s face is hilarious. Despite their overall simplicity, the tiny details on the figures are lovingly portrayed, down to the readings on Duchamp’s ECG. However, elements of the exhibition have an unexpected serious tone. The video components are exactly what you might expect to find at contemporary exhibitions which MoMCo claims to critique. Periodically, the room darkens

The stars of the exhibition were the clay dioramas

by MoMCo founder, Olav Westphalen. These seven sculptures depict moments from the socalled ‘story’ of modern art which Westphalen found especially incredible. These include Paul McCarthy’s ill-fated recreation of Yves Klein’s ‘Leap Into The Void’ and Brian O’Doherty’s ECG ‘portrait’ of Marcel Duchamp. The red clay models are somewhat childlike in their depiction of these moments, which adds to their humour. In ‘Lee Lozano ignores her friend, the playwright Rochelle Bass, at the

completely and viewers are essentially forced to watch videos which are projected onto the wall. The videos, referred to as ‘Resuscitations’, are complex works which only become more perplexing when ‘explained’ by the exhibition catalogue. Indeed, the academic language of the handbook is inaccessible, and seriously diminishes the whole experience. The ‘Resuscitations’ section doesn’t really gel with the general statement of the exhibition.

On the whole, MoMCo is an interesting examination of how we look at art. For a collection that claims to question the ‘surgical’ treatment of modern art, it doesn’t diverge greatly from what you might expect from a typical contemporary art show: high ideas, inaccessible language, and a repetitive video section. The exhibition guide states that this is the first of further shows on the same theme, so perhaps later exhibitions will attempt to diverge from this model further and truly create a ‘new’ perspective on art.

WORDS BY ALEXANDRA DAY

The Museum of Modern Comedy in Art (MoMCo), currently located in the Project Arts Centre, describes itself as “either an artwork in the guise of a speculative museum, or a museum dressed up as a contemporary installation”. Presented as an investigation into moments of absurdity in modern art, MoMCo attempts to dissolve the myths which have coloured our view of art since the twentieth century. Though overall well executed, and sometimes funny, the whole concept is thrown into question by the highly academic manner in which it is conveyed.

MoMCo will be running at the Project Arts Centre until October 21.

KATHE KOLLWITZ’S LIFE, DEATH AND WAR National Gallery of Ireland

Kollwitz used the whole sheet for her preliminary sketches, the mismatched placement of faces and torsos, betraying an artist lost in their own mind. This approach culminates in the disproportionate female form of ‘Nude Studies & Self-portrait’ (1900), where her defined head floats atop a faint reclining figure.

Melancholy is abound in her charcoal drawings, such as ‘Junges Paar (Young Couple)’ (1893) and her portraits of working-class women including ‘Female Worker (with Earring)’ (1910) - all appearing lost in contemplation. While a bold quote on the wall explains that she was inspired to create these images, not out of interest in the plight of the working class, but mainly the beauty she found in their struggle, this is not as offputting as one might expect. Her decision to depict their lives remains significant.

●●●●○

The second room contains the project Bauernkrieg (c.1902), where Kollwitz visualises the uprising of German peasants in 1525. These prints truly encapsulate the beauty to be found in mass mobilisation.

The highlight of this exhibit is found in her cycle on the effects of war, Krieg - specifically ‘Das Opfer’ (1922). In this image, a mother stands upright, her arms raising her newborn as high as possible, offering it to an unseen force. The symbolism in this print is twofold, with the nakedness of the figures and that both of their eyes are firmly shut implying the blindness and naivety of people who initially supported the

war effort and the revolutions that followed.

Kollwitz’ open use of her own grief is what makes ‘Das Opfer’ so powerful. She chastises and condemns herself for being that mother figure who stood idly by during the war while her son perished. Although there is very little she could have done as an individual to change what happened, pain doesn’t operate on logical terms.

By eliminating references to specific armies and nations, Kollwitz created universally relatable indictments of the suffering of innocent civilians at the hands of those who place honour and ideology before their fellow man. While the subject matter may be grim for a lunchtime viewing, and contemporary art schools may shun her for being too emphatic in her expression, I recommend that the time is found to appreciate these perceived negatives and ‘My art is not pure art... but it is art nevertheless.’

Life, Death and War will be running at the Print Gallery of NGI until December 10.

WORDS BY STACEY WRENN

| REVIEWS

The futility of war is a common theme in the Irish gallery scene at the moment. Both the Chester Beatty Library and the National Gallery of Ireland are hosting exhibitions depicting the repercussions of ‘men fighting for glory’. Life, Death and War serves as an overview of Käthe Kollwitz’s career spanning across three rooms, which contain her early sketches alongside some of her more controversial projects.

27

Ireland joined in on September’s world-wide fashion celebrations as Dublin hosted its eighth annual Dublin Fashion Festival. Running over two days, from Friday 22nd to Saturday 23rd, the schedule saw a number of events and workshops held across the city to help promote and encourage Dublin’s fashion scene.

Most anticipated of all, however, was Friday’s highlight event, the Young Designer of the Year award. Each year, high-street meets high-end as brands gather to display their latest autumnwinter collections and crown an emerging Irish designer. Hosted by Xposé’s Glenda Gilson, the runway show took place at The Round Room at The Mansion House, with a sponsored drinks reception by Tullamore-born gin company Mór.

Dublin Fashion Festival

●●●○○

Last year’s winner, JJ Donnelly, seamlessly opened the show, showcasing the collection which nabbed her the prestigious 2016 title. The designer drew inspiration from hunting, which she explains is at the heart of Irish culture.

Equestrian equipment, particularly the horsebit, were essential to the designs, adding a striking glint of silver to the muted colour palette. The show reached its pinnacle as the twelve finalists each presented a single design before a panel of judges to display both their skill and design aesthetic. The panel was comprised of some of Ireland’s leading names in fashion, including fashion editor of Irish Independent, Bairbre Power.

After tough deliberation, Grafton Academy graduate, Naomi Ajetunmobi was crowned the Young Designer of the Year. A worthy winner, the soft, summery design consisted of a structured yellow bodice with sheer sleeves over a flowing skirt covered in appliqué flowers.

As part of the prize, Ajetunmobi will have the opportunity to shoot a fashion portfolio with renowned fashion photographer Barry McCall.

To close the evening, a mix of international brands and Irish designers took to the catwalk to display their latest collections. With separate sections dedicated to the high-street, menswear,

the Creative Quarter and luxury fashion, this second half was a mixed-bag and took away from the authenticity of a catwalk dedicated to homegrown talent.

PARIS FASHION WEEK

still affirming the alluring tension associated with such women.

and liberation, which was carried through from Moroccan ready-to-wear inspired outfits to the grand haute couture tradition of Saint Laurent’s atelier in Paris. A plethora of prints, patterns and fabrics created a vivacious atmosphere, yet still upholding a seductive attitude, with Vaccarello’s selective showing of skin.

Spring/Summer 2018 Yves Saint Laurent

●●●●○

Anthony Vaccarello presented his third collection for Yves Saint Laurent at Paris Fashion Week 2017, just weeks after the unfortunate passing of Pierre Burgé, co-founder of the iconic couture house. Delving into the archives of YSL, Vaccarello celebrated what it means to be a Yves Saint Laurent woman, achieving tailored femininity lacking in previous collections, but

REVIEWS | 28

YOUNG DESIGNER OF THE YEAR AWARD

WORDS BY CAROLINE O CONNOR

fashion

28

Setting the tone for a thoughtful memorial, the show was held at the Trocadero Fountain, with the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the background.

Placed on each seat was a card reading a quote from Bergé, taken from a letter he wrote to his life-long partner Yves Saint Laurent in 2009, a year and a half after his death; “maybe this is crazy love. The love of two madmen.”

This collection embodied this love experienced

by Laurent and Bergé; a celebration of lustful chic

Although a small contender compared to international fashion weeks, the Dublin fashion scene continues to grow and the success of JJ Donnelly is a clear marker of how impactful the festival can be. While more attention should be given to Irish brands, it’s undeniable that the event remains an important platform to our native designers.

The menswear looks were fresh, culturally relevant and engaging. A departure from rigid, aggressive men embodying stereotypical masculinity, the collection favoured the opposite. Plunging neck lines celebrated the body delicately, with tailored trousers and bomber jackets, including the addition of colour to highlight the playfulness of a young man, reminiscent of the relationship shared by Laurent and Bergé.

Volume and texture encapsulated this season’s couture, with the statement piece being feather trimmed boots, already featured on Rihanna’s Instagram. Making them sleek and effortless, she showed their practicality off the runway, while still endorsing their sex appeal paired with Rihanna’s stunning body. The cloud-like leather mini dresses were exciting, ending the collection on an emblematic note, ultimately symbolising the Yves Saint Laurent woman — bold, mysterious and beautiful.

WORDS BY CHRISTOPHER CASH

lit THE LANGUAGE OF THORNS: MIDNIGHT TALES AND DANGEROUS MAGIC Leigh Bardugo

●●●●○

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (2017) is a collection of tales set in the Grishaverse, the fantasy world of Leigh Bardugo’s novels. The fairytales are charmingly intertwined with Sara Kipin’s intricate illustrations, which makes the book a wonderful gift for any dedicated Bardugo fan. The layout is similar to J.K. Rowling’s Tales of Beedle the Bard, set as they are in the world of Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy. To fans of the Grishaverse, these tales would be enchanting. However, for the uninitiated like me, The Language of Thorns is both so well-written that I am tempted to read Bardago’s past novels, and self-contained enough that I could happily enjoy these stories without feeling as though I am missing something.

The Language of Thorns delves into stories of haunted woods and talking foxes, toys that come to life and wish-granting rivers. A personal highlight is ‘Little Knife’; the story of Yeva, a young girl so beautiful she has to be hidden away from her whole kingdom.

As men begin to compete for her hand in marriage, Yeva becomes more and more concerned for her own future and particularly for her freedom. At the culmination of the story, Yeva rejects both the greedy prince and the classic hero. Neither of them see her or desire her for who she really is. The river that aided the hero in order to claim Yeva’s hand instead claims Yeva for its own, and Yeva escapes to live free “in happy solitude, and grow old, and never worried when her beauty faded.”

A dark twist on classic fairytales that champions mental strength and intelligence over physical beauty, these short stories switch the archetypical roles of villain and heroes cleverly and successfully. Throughout the stories, the lonely and the mistreated come out on top, but never in the way you expect. Bardugo manages to surprise the reader with each twisted resolution, making The Language of Thorns a wonderfully edgy alternative for an unromantic audience tired of typically sentimental YA fiction.

WORDS BY SORCHA MAY JUDGE

Stephen King & Owen King

For one, King shares a writing credit on this project with his son, ●○○○○ Owen King. The book is also firmly rooted in a modern political landscape. The elder King, whose success in the late 70s and 80s marked him as a mouthpiece for the fears and anxieties of the baby-boomer generation, now turns his eye to millennial concerns in this new release.

Both Kings seem eager to engage with the current tumultuous social climate – Sleeping Beauties is inscribed, “in remembrance of Sandra Bland”, one of the many African-Americans whose death in police custody invoked international outrage. The novel’s premise is ostensibly an

exploration of gender politics. The outbreak of a mysterious virus causes all the women in the Appalachian town of Dooling to fall asleep indefinitely – and become violent if awoken.

What follows is a battle of the sexes that explores the differences between men and women.

Whether the Kings engage successfully with these themes is debatable. It seems unnecessary for them to throw their wealthy, white, male hats into the feminism ring, especially at a time which engaging discourse about feminism written by women is relatively widespread, and much more interesting. Sleeping Beauties devolves into a derivative, diet-Orange Is The New Black. The Kings tell us that “hard right conservatives on talk radio were proclaiming the virus as proof that God was angry with feminism,” and expect a pat on the back from their readers for knowing that this argument is baseless. Perhaps it’s King’s myopic, baby-

boomer mindset that thinks this is somehow revelatory, but most of us in 2017 have moved on to more nuanced discussions of feminism and women’s rights. Unfortunately, the Kings’ outlook feels dated, especially bolstered by the fact that the very premise of the novel enforces a gender binary; when “women” fall asleep, we are presumably expected to assume this means “everyone with a vagina,” an antiquated idea in a society beginning to appreciate a wider gender spectrum.

If the Kings’ goal was to craft a socially-conscious story, they failed – but they also failed to create a compelling story overall. The sprawling cast of characters hampers a narrative that lacks tension to such a degree that I thought I had fallen into the same coma as the women of Dooling. This is not an enjoyable book.

WORDS BY ELIZABETH MACBRIDE

| REVIEWS

Beauties SLEEPING Sleeping (Hodder & Stoughton, is not a typical BEAUTIES 2017) Stephen King novel.

29

TV

JACK WHITEHALL: TRAVELS WITH MY FATHER Netflix

●●●●○

Jack Whitehall invites his stuffy father to travel with him on a Southeast Asia gap year in a bid for them to bond. Michael Whitehall, 76, and armed with his Garrick Club tie “in case he sees anyone notable” finds “a trip over Putney Bridge quite the excursion”. In contrast, vivacious Jack has his eye on “getting lashed’ with the “odd cheeky temple” along the way.

Jack dictates – as per usual – with a multitude of chancy and probing questions directed at his father, which tirelessly provoke the same monotonous groan and a rather repetitive insult stamped on top. Hence, at first, one may find it rather difficult to watch Michael – myself included.

Yet, begrudgingly, it is also easy to agree with him sometimes – especially on accommodation and Jack’s tiresome acting stint in Bad Education (film and series equally cringe-worthy).

However, this is far more than a quick wit and repartee act, strangely enough I found it a thorough travel guide. In one episode, Jack hosts a Rick Stein-like cookery demonstration with a French chef living in Cambodia who cooks up snake calamari, duck foetus salad and roasted rat. In another episode, Jack and Michael gauge the mood effortlessly as they visit a Cambodian execution cave, one of the many Khmer Rouge killing sites where around two-million Cambodians lost their lives in the 1970s.

WORDS BY FELIX FIRTH

In a bid to diversify, and drag myself away from yet another Adam Sandler classic, I binge-watched the entire season of Jack Whitehall’s Travels with My Father. Perhaps now might be an apt moment to say something like “I was expecting it to be rubbish” or “a friend made me”. In fact, I was bustling with excitement to indulge myself in a show that I place in a genre I like to call: fester-worthy.

Whatever this new emerging comedy travel-show genre is I am loving it.

Jack’s new show blends the already established idiocracy of Karl Pilkington with the wit of Richard Ayoade and even the charm of Michael Palin. You could do worse than to give it a watch.

Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father is available to watch on Netflix.

As the six-episode Whitehall travelogue matures, as do the ‘characters’. The duo connect as they leave Thailand for Cambodia. Michael becomes more than happy now to join Jack on the “banter wagon” as they bicker over Jack’s premature age to be sent to boarding school and giggle about the way they look like a sugar daddy and his boyfriend. They are genuinely quite funny. Their relationship really does blossom.

QUACKS BBC Two

●●●○○

REVIEWS | 30

In an autumn overflowing with the careful enunciation of historical drama, historical comedy can seem a bit of an odd offering. It’s rare that a half hour of historical fiction is even vaguely funny, while violin-strung melodrama is a weekly staple. The BBC can’t seem to resist returning to the genre than spawned Blackadder and ‘Allo ‘Allo. This year they’ve debuted the boorish, 80s-set White Gold and aired a second series of David Mitchell’s Shakespearean sitcom Upstart Crow. It’s with costume comedy Quacks, however, that they’ve come close to a new series with potential.

Quacks follows a troupe of inept Victorian medical mavericks. Keen to remind the audience that the term is indeed ‘operating theatre’, Rory

Kinnear’s boastful surgeon Robert swans into amputations like a plumjacketed rockstar. The experiments of anaesthesiologist John (Tom Basden) are met with scepticism (“at least if I can hear them screaming I know they’re still alive”), except when it involves drug-fuelled partying.

Timid proto-psychiatrist William (The Wrong Mans and Horrible Histories alum Mathew Baynton) suggests radical new treatments for asylum inmates (“Have you tried… talking to him?”). He’s also infatuated with the intelligent, quick-thinking Caroline (Lydia Leonard), Robert’s wife, who struggles to become a doctor and is, typically, the only one with any professional competence. Rupert Everett dons a top hat as Dr. Hendrick, who is horrified by the idea of examining patients before diagnosis and embodies a medicinal old guard.

The twenty-first century sitcom has become synonymous with vapid, overly-long series, but this six-episode run is a change of pace. It asks for a little historical suspension of disbelief — and quite a strong constitution.

Set in a period where surgery was essentially a spectator sport, its ickfactor use of blood, limbs and gore may be a turnoff for many. If you can make it past the opener, highlights include a jaunty soundtrack, a guest turn from Andrew Scott (Sherlock’s Moriarty) as Charles Dickens and a business-like Florence Nightingale (Milly Thomas) who scandalises the regulars by cleaning hospital instruments. Series writer James Wood (Rev, Decline and Fall) pens some genuine laughs, though gags occasionally fall flat, and the novelty of this costume sitcom may ultimately wear off. Its characters may claim to be breaking new ground — and many of its most interesting storylines draw on real-life history — but Quacks isn’t yet quite as innovative as it tries to be.

All six episodes of Quacks are available to watch now.

WORDS BY LILY CASSON

NIDHOGG 2 PS4 Available Now

●●●○○

Nidhogg 2 is the follow up to the multiplayer, critical darling of the same series. In many ways it seems to be the full realisation of developer Messhof Games’ original vision. The simple fencing game in which players would gain momentum by striking their opponent down repeatedly in an effort to reach the other side of the stage has been expanded considerably in scope. This includes a larger stage count with a variety of weapons and, consequently, fighting styles this gives the sequel more diverse gameplay. One would be forgiven for thinking that Nidhogg 2 completely replaces the original by iterating and expanding upon its concepts.

In practice Nidhogg 2 takes an unconventional direction. The core theme of Nidhogg is desperation. The best moments in this game

are when one desperately throws their sword after an opponent in a last ditch effort to turn the tide of multiplayer duels or scrambling to pick up one of the weapons that become strewn across the floor. Every moment is tense as the momentum of a duel can shift in an instant.

This means that the players become as driven as their onscreen avatars look. What Messhof have identified, is that this desperation is rife with comedic potential.

Messhof has taken a chaotic, party oriented direction with this game as opposed to a more contemporarily standard competitive direction.

This is most apparent in the game’s visual style.

The clean Atari 2600-esque style of the original has been replaced by a busy hi-bit style. Artist Toby Dixon has created a look which conveys

a far more striking and absurd world than the original suggested. This firmly cements this game as an action comedy. The funny moments do not always land due to the game’s pace, but many still bring a smile to one’s face.

Being a party game however, it would be disingenuous of me to ignore the two player maximum at any one time. This, coupled with an average duel length of 13 minutes, means that those not engaged by spectating will tire quickly of this game when playing in a larger group.

In spite of this, Nidhogg 2 is a hilarious game that hits an excellent sweet spot for a party of two. There is something special here that neither eclipses, nor is eclipsed by its predecessor, but instead sits alongside it as something unique.

WORDS BY SAM HAYES

HIVESWAP: ACT 1 PC Available Now

●●●●○

The game’s writing is jam-packed with charm and humour. Every character in the game has their own unique voice and personality, and while switching between the three playable characters (Joey, Jude, and an alien, Xefros), one never feels like certain characters are just pointless fillers. Every object in the game has its own unique flavour text, and every item can be used with any other to produce an original joke written just for that combination.

The game also pleases aesthetically. The soundtrack is fun and bouncy, serving as catchy background music that doesn’t distract from the flow of the game. The hand drawn art style is beautiful, from the animated cutscenes to the gorgeous backgrounds, which effortlessly convey the atmosphere of the current location — be it a strange alien kitchen, or a dark, creepy, trophy room.

That being said, the gameplay leaves something to be desired. The majority of the game’s puzzles are quite easy, and the ability to use any item on any other means that oftentimes the player may find themselves solving a puzzle unwittingly when they were just in search of a joke. Even the fights against the monsters invading Joey’s house are disappointing — they’re structured more like puzzles, with no way to lose them.

Because of this, it’s difficult to recommend the game to anyone looking for difficulty. Similarly, if you’re not a fan of excess reading in your games, it won’t suit your tastes — the game lives and dies on the quality of its writing. However, for those looking for a short 3-4 hour game with clever writing, funny jokes and beautiful music and art, it’s hard to go wrong with Hiveswap: Act 1’s €7.99 asking price.

| REVIEWS

WORDS BY DILLON RODGERS

The year is 1994, and 14-year-old Joey Claire and her younger brother, Jude, are home alone when monsters attack. Playing as both Joey and her brother, the player must explore the large manor they call home, and try to find somewhere safe for Joey to hide. Of course, it’s never that simple, and the plot soon grows to a cosmic scale, as Joey finds herself transported to an alien world by a strange device in her attic.

games

Hiveswap: Act 1 is a point-and-click PC puzzle game, developed by indie developer What Pumpkin Games. Receiving a massive $2.4 million dollars when it was originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter back in 2012, after five years, the game is out and despite a fraught development, it mostly lives up to expectations.

31

3

food

LUNCH!

East Lombard Street

●●●○○

Tucked away on relatively quiet East Lombard Street, Lunch! is the kind of spot that defies initial impressions that it is either too “quaint” or “gimmicky.” I have a feeling that the novel name was chosen in the pre-internet days, since googling “Lunch! Dublin” will just bury your results with Lovin’ Dublin articles on ‘Fifty Lunch Cronuts Dublin Celebrities Love’ and sites for not-at-all-banal lunch eateries like Tolteca and O’Briens.

Yes, Lunch!’s name is contrived — it’s the kind of ploy that awkward office conversations have probably taken advantage of for years to avoid having to talk to Daryl about his mother’s heart condition.

will keep you full for the better part of a day — dining in is an extra euro.

Best of all, this place seems like a relatively-undiscovered ultra-com -fy gem in the middle of the city, just across the street from the TCD Health Centre. The staff are sweet, the cozy interior is not at all pretentious, and the food is simple, filling, and hearty. So consider making Lunch! one of your study spots — your wallet will thank you and everyone will think you’re hilarious when you say, “No really, I went to Lunch!”

That’s not to say Lunch! isn’t great. The entire place is decorated like your grandmother’s living room, if your grandmother really loved interesting plates, collectables, being comfortable and also the colour pink. It’s beyond cozy. Avoid the lunch hour rush of suited professionals, construction workers, and frazzled interns, and it’s also spacious and relaxing.

The food is the sort of hearty, simple, well-made fare you would expect from any deli or sandwich shop. The portions are generous and the prices are reasonable. Lunch!’s coffee is also very good — the prices are again very affordable and with each coffee comes a free apple, banana, or (surprisingly good) chocolate truffle.

WORDS BY EMMA HORAN

For studying, it’s a great spot. There’s wifi, the coffee selection is good and varied, and there are options like the €5.25 Spicy Santa Fe Burrito that

RECIPE

CARAMEL APPLE CUPCAKES

There’s something about Halloween that awakens the inner child. Fancy dress, imaginations running rampant, mass sugar consumption — it’s so good to be 12 again. No one can deny the childish, giddy feelings that the lead-up to the scariest day of the year brings, and the free rein to eat sugar like there’s no tomorrow (even though we know what calories are now). The little girl inside of me is thinking fondly of the caramel apples we used to make growing up, and it’s with a nod to those sweet memories that I came up with this simple little recipe for Caramel Apple Cupcakes.

“

a nod to those sweet memories FOR THE ICING:

”

INGREDIENTS FOR A DOZEN: A few apples (I use 4 or 5 small ones) 2 tbsp dark brown sugar 125g butter, softened 125g caster sugar 2 eggs 150g plain flour ¼ tsp baking powder

80g butter, softened 175g icing sugar,sifted A few tablespoons of caramel to taste (tinned or homemade)

Caramel Icing: 1.

2.

3.

4.

REVIEWS | 32

Cream the butter in a bowl until very soft. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat to form a light buttercream mixture.

Add in the decadent caramel, starting with around 2 tbsp. Stir into the icing, and adjust to taste, being careful to maintain the light texture.

Ice the buns with a piping bag (sold in Tiger).If you don’t have a piping bag just spread the icing with a knife.

To decorate, thinly slice an apple and bake in the oven until crispy, before placing artfully on the icing. Or just drizzle any extra caramel you have on top — easy.

Carmel Apple Cupcake Method 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put some fun bun cases into a 12-hole tin.

Peel the apples and chop into little pieces, placing them in a bowl.

Add in dark brown sugar and 1 tbsp of water, mixing so that the apple pieces are nicely coated.

Spoon a layer of apple into the bun cases, enough to cover the bottom.

The apple dissolves into a lovely sweet layer at the bottom of the buns, with the brown sugar adding a hint of caramel flavour.

Cream the butter in a separate bowl with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until soft. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Divide mixture between paper cases and bake for 7-10 minutes, until risen and golden. When cooked, the centre of each bun should be springy to touch. Cool the buns on a wire rack before icing them.

Part ONE

WORDS PEGGY SUE D. O’NYM

C

ollege is a time for learning, and that extends beyond the classroom.

For many of us, this is our chance to explore who we are beyond our families and the communities we’ve grown up with our whole lives.

Whether we’ve moved away or have just found ourselves with a new crowd, it’s a time to figure out things that we might not have previously gotten a chance to. It’s a time to look into new ideas, to have new relationships and explore our sexuality. For some of us, that means realising we are somewhere in the alphabet soup of the LGBTQIA+ community, whether in terms of a queer sexuality or gender identity, and some of us might come to realise that we’re —gasp!— kinky.

demanding of you to set boundaries (in kink or elsewhere) and to expect them to be respected: it is responsible and shows that you have self-respect.

So, vocab lesson!

Bondage & Discipline covers handcuffs, Mr. Grey’s silk ties and all forms of restraint -- physical or mental. Discipline can run the gamut from “You’ve been very naughty and need to be spanked,” to playful rules enforced by a dominant during a BDSM encounter (called ‘a scene’) such as no slouching, eye contact restrictions and all that.

“Everything in the world is about sex.

Except sex. Sex is about power” - Oscar Wilde

BDSM is a compound acronym that includes Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission, Sadism & Masochism. It’s not all whips and chains, leather and latex, at its core. What it ultimately comes down to is the willing exchange of power between two enthusiastically consenting individuals, and that’s what makes it so hot. Consent classes are a big thing right now, which is hugely important in any form of sexual contact.

But in no other situation (besides, like, surgery) is enthusiastic consent so absolutely crucial. Without open, honest communication and negotiation of what’s going to happen between you and your partner, there is a whole world of things that could go wrong in a kinky scenario that could lead to real damage—emotional and physical—for one or both partners.

Coded in a lot of media as abusive or aberrant, it can be kind of scary to realise that maybe you’re into this stuff. There’s a lot of confusing information out there in stories and porn, but I’m here to reassure you: you’re not “fifty shades of fucked up, Anastasia,” just because you maybe want to try a little spanking or bondage. Hell, you’re not fucked up if you’re into pony/pet play, enemas or age play, as long as you follow the most important principle of kink: SSC—Safe, Sane and Consensual.

You need to be smart about what you’re doing at all times, and you need to be completely honest about what you want, and if something is working for you or not. If you’re with someone who you can’t be 1000% real with, you are not with someone who is a good partner (for kink, or anything else). If you’re with someone who will ignore your boundaries or not abide by your safe word (an agreed-upon signal that means stop immediately), you are not with someone who is a good partner. It is not wrong, unfair or

Dominance & Submission overlaps with discipline a bit, but this is where your power exchange is rooted. It’s the surrender of control from one partner to the other within a negotiated context. Some people keep it in the bedroom, but there are lifestylers for whom this power-play informs their entire relationship.

Sadism & Masochism centres around pain and the enjoyment thereof. The sadist provides, the masochist experiences. Within an erotic context, some pain really can heighten pleasureable sensations and some of us really get off on that.

If you’re not of the kinky sort, you might be reading this and wondering what the hell people get out of all of this. It varies: no relationship is identical, whether kinky or vanilla (non-kinky) and we all meet different needs in our interactions with each other. BDSM and the absolute open communication it requires can increase the intimacy in a relationship.

Power and control, from either side, can be fantastic stress relief or catharsis—there have been enormously stressful times in my life where I’ve not been able to relax or cry until after a sound spanking, for example.

And honestly? There’s so much play involved, and fun, and kink can be whatever you and your partner need it to be.

FURTHER READING: http://clarissethorn.com/bdsm-resources/ https://friskybusinessboutique.com/category/bdsm/ https://submissiveguide.com/fundamentals.1

| SEX

SEX

The Collegiate Kinkster

33

October 17th, 2017

Dear Virgin Me ,

S

ex becomes less of a big deal once you actually do it. Well, that’s if you hang around with girls who won’t judge you for subsequent escapades from Coppers on a Tuesday night. However, if you’re with the wrong girls, you’re more likely to be talked about after you do it - rather than when you haven’t. Relax, you’re eighteen, in an all-girls school, going to 2nd base is far enough for now. I’m not

going to be maternal and wise, telling you to wait a year until you’ve met the one you should have lost it with, because that’s not real life. Sure, some of your friends will lose their V card to their boyfriends, on a perfect sober night with candles and love. But that is not quite how your story will go and, in all honesty, most of your friends will not be in love the first time either.

I know you’re in a rush - you want to get the label removed from your forehead. But let me tell you something, after this label is gone, there will be another one beginning with ‘S’. The boy will claim you were easy and the girls will roll their eyes, laugh, and say “typical”. Things will change in college, you’ll meet friends who won’t say anything after you spend the night in some guy’s bed. When you’re eighteen, it’s hard to know what to do. There is never a right way, if you’re a virgin, you’re a prude; if you’re not, you’re a slut. There is no winning.

“

for the love of God, pinch the top of the condom ”

So, to combat this, you have to not care what people think. Do whatever you want. If you feel ready, or you’re horny, and maybe a little bit drunk, it’s okay. If you want to sleep with a boy and feel like someone cares about you (even if only for a night), then go for it. But, for the love of God, pinch the top of the condom. Just be prepared, the first one will ignore you the next day, the second one won’t accept your Facebook friend request, and the third will see you as nothing more than something to warm the bed. (Side note: It gets good when you meet the fourth one.)

Eventually, after giving a little piece of yourself to people who would not put you in their puzzle, you will find someone who makes an entire puzzle just of you. You won’t remember your first time, or your second, or your third. But, when you meet the special one, he will make you forget there ever was anyone else. You will remember every single time you made love with him, and how he makes you feel more alive than anyone or anything else ever could. It takes a while to find, or even understand, but when you do, you will be metamorphosed.

You won’t have a dream “first time”, but who the hell cares. You will have a lot of sex in your lifetime. Does it really matter who pushed the first domino? Absolutely not.

Keep it safe, SEX | 34

Aveline Dai xx

CHECK US OUT ONLINE AT TN2MAGAZINE.IE editor@tn2magazine.ie facebook.com/tn2magazine @tn2magazine @tn2magazine

35

36