Category Archives: Life off stage

March 21, 2013 · 12:24 am

Your guide to the IETM Dublin meeting

Last year, Project Arts Centre announced that they would be hosting the IETM Spring meeting. At that time, I knew next to nothing about IETM. I’ve had a bit of a crash course since then in preparation for the Dublin meeting which takes place from April 11 – 14.

IETMIETM_Dublin stands for Informal European Theatre Meeting. The group has changed it’s name to the more inclusive International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts but the original name gives you a better sense of what the whole thing is all about. Like the fact that it’s all about meeting people. IETM is not a conference. It’s a meeting. The aim of the three-day event is for delegates to meet people in the performing arts, in the hope that they will be like-minded individuals that they can form useful and long-lasting relationships with.

A couple of the events in the Dublin programme illustrate this point – on Saturday morning, Day 3 of the Conference there are two early morning events – Run! and Jump!, where attendees are invited to go for a run through Phoneix Park or a swim at Seapoint. This has nothing to do with theatre or the performing arts, but it is a good way to get to know people and a good first step to cultivating a relationship!

Making links with Europe can only be a good thing for the arts in Ireland. Our little island nation can be a bit too inward looking sometimes, or only influenced by British and American culture – people who literally speak our language. I think it’s a good thing to have outside influences coming in to add something new to the mix.

The theme of the Dublin meeting is “Trust” and all the sessions relate to that theme. Some of the ones that I really like the look of are; Are The Performing Arts Driving Us Mad? which is about the mental health of those working in the arts and the role that the arts can play in improving mental health; The Big Debate: How to trust and be trusted which takes place in different venues over the three days of the meeting; another practical one – Trust Circus To Take You Into The Unknown which involves trust games and circus skills and the opening night Reception with the wonderful Pop Ceili. These are all delegate only sessions which means you have to sign up and pay the registration fee to attend. Registration fees start at €75 but you don’t have to be a member of IETM to register for the meeting. This is the Early Bird offer which ends on March 28th. After that the fees double to €150 so if you are planning to attend, register soon! It can be a difficult, time-consuming process so don’t try and do it in a hurry!

All That Fall by Pan Pan Theatre

All That Fall by Pan Pan Theatre

And if, like me you can’t afford the registration fee, there’s still the Artistic Programme, which is open to both delegates and non-delegates. There are five performances – Pan Pan’s All That Fall, Brokentalkers Have I No Mouth, a gig curated by Dylan Tigue called Let the music do the talking and two dance pieces – John Scott Dance’s Body Duets and Fast Portraits by Liz Roche Company. There’s also live art happening in the Cube each evening, which is free and open to non-delegates. Tickets for the other pieces are €10 and available from Project. (Delegate tickets are €6 and available in person only, from April 11th.) Most of these performances are happening in Project Arts Centre, which is the Meeting Place and Hub for IETM which means you get a change to get a sense of the IETM atmosphere and maybe do a little mingling and networking without registering for the full meeting.

You can also get involved as a volunteer, if you have the time to spare. Volunteers are asked for at least 3 days commitment (8 hours a day) between 8th and 14th of April. There are more details here and applications close on Friday, March 22.

I think if you can afford to attend, this is a wonderful opportunity to meet other art practitioners from around Europe and hear what their work practices are like. It’s unlikely that a meeting will be held in Dublin again so this is the year to do it! Who knows who you might meet or what connections you could establish. And for those without tickets, I think it’s worth paying a visit to Project during those three days and seeing the whole thing in action. Again, who knows who you might bump into!

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August 27, 2012 · 11:30 pm

No longer a student

Normally around this time of year, I write about things that I’m hoping to see in the Dublin Fringe Festival and the Dublin Theatre Festival. There are a lot of great shows in both festivals this year and both programmes are very exciting. And all the wonderful shows to choose from is one of the reasons that I haven’t managed to pick any favourites yet.

The other is that up to a couple of weeks ago, I was busy trying to get my MA portfolio finished and I’m really surfacing from that now. There was a lot of writing going on over the last couple of months but sadly none of it made it to the blog. Now that the portfolio is done and dusted, I will try and changed that.

I’m proud of the work I handed in and really glad that I did the MA. I had a wonderful time this year, I met and worked with some fantastic people and I learnt a lot. I’m a little bit sad that that’s all over. It’s also a little bit scary because it means I have to go back into the real world and figure out what to do next.

At the moment I’m am look for work. If you know of any jobs going for theatre graduates with lots of admin experience, please let me know! General career advice is also welcome. Or even general life-after-college advice.

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July 8, 2012 · 9:58 pm

In Praise of Galway

I’ve been working with Fishamble Theatre Company in Dublin for the last few weeks and while I’m enjoying the work and I love being back in Dublin, I spent a lot of time this week missing Galway. I felt like I was missing all the fun with the Volvo Ocean Race and Friday’s Silent Disco on Dominic’s Street. I’ve also been hearing stories of the endless lashing rain but it really hasn’t seemed to “dampened” the party spirit in Galway.

A few of my friends were performing on the Spoken Word stage in Volvo’s Global Village this week and a few more will be performing in the first ever Galway Fringe festival, which starts on 12 July. I definitely have to make a trip to Galway for that. I’m also looking forward to the Galway Arts Festival. It starts on July 16 and has loads of great shows including new Irish writing, all male Shakespeare and the famous Macnas parade which is free, and on July 22. And once the Arts Festival finishes, it’s time for the Galway Races. I’ve never been to the races but I’ve been told by many people that it is a very fun time. July is a busy time in Galway!

The Snug in Tigh Neachtain

The Snug in Tigh Neachtain

I had a great time studying in Galway this year and I really enjoyed getting to know the town. The people are friendly and there’s always a great atmosphere. If you’re tempted to visit yourself, I recommend staying close to the centre of town. Traffic is crazy and it can take a long time to get anywhere by car. It also rains a lot! I know people say it’s always raining in Ireland, but it really does rain more in Galway than the rest of the country.

That’s not a reason not to go but it is a reason to stay somewhere close to the centre of town because otherwise you’ll just spend your time trekking through the rain instead of sitting in a snug pub or a nice dry theatre.

Barnacles hostel

Barnacles hostel

Barnacles on Quay Street is perfect because it’s close to everything. There are at least three great pubs within spitting distance; it’s also very close to Shop Street where there are lots of great cafes. You have the famous McDonagh’s Fish & Chip Shop at the end of the road, though I’d also recommend The Kettle of Fish just round the corner on Cross Street – I haven’t tried their deep fried Mars bars yet, but the chips are excellent! It’s close to the Spanish Arch (and Nimmo’s restaurant – I’ve never been in but it always smells delicious – and the Galway Museum which has a great tea shop. It’s also just round the corner from Druid Theatre, where you can see The Great Goat Bubble, produced by Fishamble, from Thursday 12 July until Sunday 29!

And if you are lucky enough to get a dry, sunny day in Galway (it does happen sometimes!), it’s less than half an hours walk to Salthill prom. If you do go west, give my love to Galway and tell her I’ll be back soon!

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March 15, 2012 · 1:07 am

Reviewing

This term I am taking the only compulsory module on my course – Theatre Reviewing. It’s a class I was looking forward to because we go to see a play every week, sometimes more than one, for free. I thought I would enjoy the class, I thought it would be similar to writing reviews for this blog, something I often enjoy but I would get feedback on my writing and hopefully improve a bit. It didn’t work out that way.

The first show we saw was The Mother’s Arms. It was perfect because it was a show I would not have chosen to see myself but one I thoroughly enjoyed. It was funny and joyous and very, very Irish. I loved it. And yet when I sat down to write down the review I had no idea what to say. I was completely intimidated by the idea that I might be asked to read my review out loud in class. I didn’t know where to start or what to focus on or even if I had anything vaguely useful to say. I was second guessing myself every two lines, I no longer trusted my own taste or opinions. I had to write to a word limit, something I don’t even think about when I’m writing here – I just write until I have said all I need to say. (This is one of the wonderful things about being your own editor and publisher!) It took me a really long time to write that review and the process hasn’t really got any easier.

One of the most difficult reviews to write was for the GUMS’s production of Spring Awakening. Two of my classmates were in the cast and I hadn’t read a review in class so I knew I would have to read this one! I felt like I couldn’t mentioned my classmates in the review because I didn’t feel like I could be objective about their performances. They were both excellent but I didn’t know if I just thought that because they were my friends! We also have a pretty quick turn-over on our reviews. We generally see the show on Tuesday and have to have our reviews ready for class on Thursday morning. I am often still struggling to finish the review on Thursday morning.

I am learning a lot in the class and hopefully my writing is improving but I still prefer writing here! We saw Fishamble‘s Silent last term. I loved it but I didn’t write about it for class. I am saving it to write about here! (It’s in the Peacock in June – go see it!)

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December 13, 2011 · 12:35 am

Irish translations of Russian literature

Last term I had a class on Irish Playwrights Since the 60s and for my final essay, I wrote about Irish translations of Russian literature. There’s been quite a few of them! Lots of Chekhov – Brian Friel and Frank McGuinness both translated Three Sisters, Frank McGuinness also translated Uncle Vanya and Thomas Kilroy moved The Seagull from provincial Russia to the West of Ireland – and a few novels have been adapted for the stage as well – most recently Tom Murphy’s Last Days of the Reluctant Tyrant and Enda Walsh’s Delirium. My essay didn’t really say anything new about all this, just that it happens a lot, with various amounts of success and for lots of different reasons.

Roddy Doyle’s The Government Inspector, currently running at the Abbey, is yet another example of an Irish version of a Russian play. They’re everywhere! (I had a mild hiccup in my research – for about three weeks I was convinced Ibsen was Russian, probably because it suited my topic – there are lots of translations of Ibsen plays. He’s actually Norwegian.) The Government Inspector looks like a fun adaptation and I am going to try and see it before I head back to Galway in January.

I really enjoyed the Irish Playwrights since the 60s class. Each week we were assigned a playwright and could read any play by that person. Then everyone would present their play to the rest of the class and we would discuss them individually and as a body of work. I came across playwrights I had never heard of and was exposed to a huge range of plays over the twelve week term. It was great to talk about the plays and heard other people’s opinions on them. It was a very laid back, chatty sort of a class. It also gave me a great grounding in Irish playwrights which is one of the things I felt I missed out on by doing my degree in England. Reading so many plays was also really helpful for the playwriting class that I also took this term. The two classes feed into each other by forcing me to look at the plays both as a reader and a writer and I found that really useful.

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December 8, 2011 · 11:11 pm

The Highs and Lows of my MA

The first term of my MA is over. I still have one assignment left to hand in but essentially term is over and the Christmas holidays have started. It’s a bit of shock that the first term is over already but to be honest, I was a bit shocked to actually find myself doing the MA way back in September. I remember sitting in the Bank of Ireland theatre at the course induction meeting, hearing about the classes we would be taking throughout the year, and feeling surprised and amazed that I was actually there – I was actually doing this. This was despite, or maybe because of, the months of planning that brought me me there. I spent about nine months thinking about doing the MA before I actually applied. I liked the sound of the course and spent time writing my personal statement and gathering up all my supporting documents. I went through the checklist on Student Finance about six times to make sure that I really would be entitled to a grant, I did my sums wondering if I could afford it. I was amazed I actually made it happen after thinking about it for so long!

Once I got there, I had to get my head around the fact that I was back in college again. I thought it would be easy to get used to – after all, I’d done it before and this time I wasn’t even leaving the country. I was surprised how much I missed my life in Dublin, especially during the first few weeks in Galway. When I headed to London to do my BA, I was unemployed and living at home with my parents and not very happy with my lift. I had more to give up this time. I liked living in Dublin, I worked with people whose company I enjoyed, I had a job where I was liked and respected and where I was earning good money. I had friends in Dublin and my own little flat that I adored. And I turned that comfortable, enjoyable life upside down because I liked the idea of studying theatre again! There were times during those first few weeks when I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake! It’s hard to get used to not having any money (to be honest, I still struggle with that one some days!) and getting used to living in a house share is tricky too! Being forced to manage your own time after three years as an office drone isn’t easy; neither is trying to remember how to write essays and what is expected of you. To anyone thinking about returning to study, I would recommend writing out a list of all the reasons why you are doing it and what you hope to get out of it – it will be useful on the dark days when you wonder what the hell you were thinking and why you ever thought this was a good idea in the first place!

Thankfully, the risk paid off. I am really enjoying the course – I had great classes this year, I loved being back in a physical drama class again and devising little pieces of theatre, I liked reading plays and writing plays and talking about theatre, and going to see shows and discussing them afterwards with my classmates. I am also enjoying being a student again – I think it suits me! I have wonderful classmates who I am going to miss over the Christmas break and I’m looking forward to next term already. I have another physical drama class and I’m also doing a class in reviewing which means going to see something in the Town Hall Theatre every week and then writing! The class will be a writing workshop where everybody reads everyone else’s work and offers their opinions on it! Scary but useful, I think. I may throw a few of the reviews up here if they’re any good! So it’s worked out. I like my course, I like my classmates, I’m getting used to being a broke student again and I’m starting to like my life in Galway. Most days I love it and feel lucky and privileges and happy with the way my life is going. If nothing else the course has confirmed for me that working in the theatre is what I want to do.

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September 9, 2011 · 6:27 pm

The Dublin Fringe and me

The first time I volunteered for the Dublin Fringe Festival was in 2004 and I didn’t really have a very good time. It’s not surprising because I was pretty unhappy anyway. I was two years out of college with a degree in computer programming and no job. I was still stuck in a post-graduation slump where I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and the future seemed hazy and dull.

I’d left youth theatre the previous April after five years and I felt the lack of theatrical or creative projects in my life. I was also still living at home with my parents so I didn’t know Dublin that well and didn’t really feel at home there – I got lost a lot trying to find the Fringe venues.

Volunteering for the Fringe didn’t make me any happier. Instead it made me feel sad that I could only be involved at the outskirts of this theatre event. I didn’t want to be sitting outside taking tickets, I wanted to be involved in what was going on inside the theatre. I didn’t even last the whole festival because the whole experience made me too miserable. But it also claified things for me and made me made me realise how much I missed being involved in theatre. It made me think that maybe it was something I needed to have in my life. This was one of the things that made me decide to go back to college and study drama. Before the end of the year I had started filling in my UCAS form and applying for drama courses in the UK. And by the following September, I couldn’t volunteer for the Fringe because I was starting my Modern Drama degree at Brunel University.

Even if I never volunteered for the Fringe again, it would still have a special place in my heart as the catalyst that sent me back to university. But when I moved back to Dublin in 2008, I went back to volunteer again and had a much happier experience. And I had a great time in 2009 and 2010 as well.

And now here we are in 2011 and once again, full-time education has taken me out of Dublin at Fringe time. I will be spending a couple of weekends in Dublin trying to experience as much of the Fringe as I can but I will miss the two-week immersion in theatre that I’ve got used to over the last few years. If you are lucky enough to be in Dublin over the next couple of weeks, go and see a few Fringe shows for me!

Previews started yesterday and there are loads of shows for under a tenner so you’ve no excuse.

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July 13, 2011 · 4:56 pm

My_Project result

Alas, I did not win the My_Project blogger competition and will have to continue to buy my theatre tickets just like everybody else! It was very, very close at the end; if it had been a horse-race, we would have needed the photo finish! Thanks for all the votes and congratulations to Zara Doddy (whose blurb I actually really liked.) I’m glad it’s over because now I can stop begging for votes and refreshing the poll page every five minutes.

The Midsummer Night’s Dream? review below was part of my entry for the competition.

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July 6, 2011 · 11:25 pm

My_Project competition

One day last February I was walking through Temple Bar on my way to Project Arts Centre for The Theatre Machine Turns You On, Volume 2. There was loads of great stuff on in the Project that week but I couldn’t afford to see everything. I was thinking about how great it would be if I could find a way to get free theatre tickets; if I could make my blog so famous that people would ply me with free stuff in the hope that I would write about them. I was also thinking about the Fringe Award judges – you see them during the festival with giant piles of tickets, going to three or fours a night. I’m sure it’s a stressful job, and going to see things because you have to might take some of the joy out of it, but I’ve always been a little bit envious of all those tickets!

Then, about a week later the Project Arts Centre announced their My_Project competition where one lucky winner would get tickets for all the shows in the Project and would write about them for the Project website. Someone has been listening in to my thoughts! It was just like The Secret, all I had to do was think about it and it became real! I entered the competition but sadly didn’t win. So maybe you shouldn’t base your life on The Secret after all.

However – the My_Project blogger changes every three months. They started taking entries again in June, I entered and this time – I made it to the short list!

(I wrote about Loose Canon’s Midsummer Night’s Dream? and finished the review on the morning of June 22nd when I should have been packing for Glastonbury. As a result I forgot to bring my deodorant, my camera and my alcohol with me to the festival!)

I’ve made it the short list but now I need your vote to win!

You can see the three finalists and cast your vote here.

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January 3, 2011 · 4:54 pm

Review of the year

Even though the calendar has already changed, it still feels to me like the new year hasn’t quite begun. The Christmas celebrations are all over but real life hasn’t started up again just yet. There is a definite feeling of things ending and the possibility of new beginnings and a definite time for reflecting on the past and making resolutions for the future.

This time last year, I was working on my final assignment for the Open University playwriting course I’d started the previous November. It was due in the last week of January, the same week I started another playwriting course with the Gaiety School of Acting. I really enjoyed both courses, liked learning about how to put a play together and wrestling with dialogue that always seemed to say too much about what was happening on stage and not enough about the character saying it. I didn’t find it easy but I did enjoy the challenge.

The Vagina Monologues rehearsals were also going in the first few months of the year. I love that play – there is so much in each monologue, they are funny and moving and heart-breakingly sad in turn, but they also each have a very clear voice. I’ve done the play twice and I’ve heard each monologue many, many times but I still love listening to them. As well as each individual monologue being wonderful, the play as a whole works fantastically well. It brings the audience on a journey but also takes care of them. I would love to be able to write a play like that.

I enjoyed being part of The Vagina Monologues for lots of reason. I’ve already listed them all here, so I won’t repeat myself.

In May, I went to Project Brand New and wrote lots about the pieces I saw over the three nights. As ever, I was inspired by the wonderful and diverse theatre that I saw there. (I didn’t write about PBN 6 at the end of December because I was sick with a cold and missed all three nights. I avoided the theatre for the sake of the other audience members who would not have wanted to have me sneezing and snuffling near them!)

After being inspired by the PBN pieces, I went on to apply for Show in a Bag and was delighted to make it to the interview stage, though not on the actual stage!

In September I had the glorious experience that was dancing naked with Trilogy! (And there are still many people stumbling on this blog while searching for “naked dancing”!) I had a wonderful week of rehearsals and performances with a fantastic group of women, who I am lucky enough to still be in touch with! I loved every minute of it. I learnt that being naked on-stage is not that scary and it reaffirmed everything I love about theatre. I was so proud and grateful to be a part of it.

In October, I devoted a lot of time to the Dublin Theatre Festival. With apprehension I went along to the Ontroerend Goed trilogy (I loved The Smile Off Your Face, didn’t really like Internal – I felt a bit let down by it and I found the The Game of You really interesting and enjoyable but not very theatrical. All three were interesting in their own way though.) I had my brain turned inside out by The Author, enjoyed Enron, Circa, The Silver Tassie and John Gabriel Borkman. I also really enjoyed Playing the Dane which was full of interesting twists and had a great cast. I saw a lot of really wonderful theatre in September and October and I’m already looking forward to the 2011 festivals.

I did a few other theatre-type things this year. I volunteered for the Fringe Festival, the Dublin Theatre Festival and thisispopbaby‘s Queer Notions. I did some voice and acting classes with Actor Training Ireland. I went to auditions and castings for plays, short films and ads. I read plays and about people writing plays. I saw a lot of great theatre and vowed many times to make something that was that moving or funny or clever or just plain wonderful.

All in all, 2010 was a very enjoyable year.

Highlight of the Year: I think it has to be Trilogy. I can’t even pick out one moment that really stands out as a high because it was the whole experience that meant so much to me. If I had to choose, it would be finally seeing the full performance for the first time and being so moved by it, and so proud to be a small part of it. It reminded me why I love theatre, it reminded me how powerful theatre can be and really renewed my desire to make theatre.

Lows: I really enjoyed the playwriting courses at the beginning of the year and I regret not doing more writing after the courses ended. I also went to a lot of auditions that led to nothing and that was a bit of a low.

Resolutions: This year I would like to be more successful at auditions. I also want to stop waiting for someone to cast me and start making things myself. I want to try my hand at playwriting again.

I also intend to keep seeing more great theatre and hopefully writing about it here but mostly I want to make creating art a bigger part of my life. That’s my big resolution for 2011!

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