Category Archives: Links

10 Days of Dublin 2012

10 Days in Dublin, 5 - 14 July

10 Days in Dublin, 5 – 14 July

10 days in Dublin started yesterday. There will be over 200 performance happening all over the city between now and July 14, including theatre, comedy, music, film and visual art. All or almost all tickets are under €20, there are loads of shows for €5 or €6 and a few free events as well. Have a look at the programmme online or pick one up from their box office on Wellington Quay, just between the Clarence Hotel and The Workman’s Club.

And a special mention to Just Us Four, partly because I have a friend in the cast and partly because after reading Stella Duffy’s brilliant, angry and inspiring blog last week, it feels important to support theatre that puts women on the stage and tells women’s stories. They does both – female playwright and two female cast members tell a story about female friendship.

There are lots of female-led pieces across the 10 Days in Dublin programme, I’m sure something else will. There’s lots of great work being made by men as well! Go out and see something! At the very least, it will get you out of the rain.

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Three Fund:It Campaigns

The Last Burning (13 days to go)

The Last Burning is a play about Bridget Cleary who was the last woman in Ireland to be burned as a witch. NUIG DramSoc put on the play in 2010 so I haven’t seen it. I have seen a lot of the cast in other things over the past year so I know that they are a talented group of people. Hannah O’Reilly, the director also devised a movement piece called The Waves for DramSoc this year. I really enjoyed that show so I think The Last Burning has the potential to be a wonderful piece of theatre.

Thereisbear plan to tour the show around Ireland this summer and are looking for funding. They plan to bring The Last Burning to Galway, Ballinasloe, Inisboffin, Laois, Limerick, Kerry, Cork and Dublin this August. They have less than two weeks left to reach their target of €3000. You can help them get there or like their Facebook page here.

Tromluí Phinocchio/Pinocchio – A Nightmare (18 days to go)

Moonfish are a Galway-based company who make bilingal shows in English and Irish. Tromluí Phinocchio is a retelling of the Pinocchio story and is as magical and imaginative as you would expect it to be. I saw this show in Galway earlier this year. It’s very visual and has a wonderful style and aesthetic. There are also dark moments and they recommend it for children over 11. The clever way it mixes the English and Irish means that even someone like me, who never got on well with the Irish language, can enjoy the show!

I’m delighted that it will be part of the Absolut Fringe Festival this September because I really want more people to see and enjoy this show.

You can fund them here or like their Facebook page here.

Shadowskin by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (40 days to go)

Shadowskin is a puppet show for grown-ups, loosely based on the story of Red Riding Hood. All the puppets in the show are being handmade and you can watch their progress on their Facebook page.

It doesn’t say yet when and where Shadowskin will get it’s premier but it looks like it will be worth waiting for.

You can fund them here or like their Facebook page here.

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Rise Productions Podcasts

If you haven’t already done so, you should really check out the Rise Productions Podcast. Aonghus Óg McAnally started doing them last November and they are basically hour long chats with theatre people from around Ireland. There’s actors, writers, directors, theatre critics, designers; basically theatre makers of every sort. The format is pretty informal but Aonghus is good at getting people to tell stories.

I’ve used a couple of them as research for my last couple of MA essays and they are great for that. They are easy to listen to and a great way to learn about the different routes people on their way to being very successful in their field.

Rise Productions Podcast. Also available on iTunes

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Amy Poehler’s Awesome Harvard Speech

Amy Poehler looking wise from New York Magazine, 23 May 2011

New York Magazine, 23 May 2011

Jezebel.com recently posted Amy Poehler’s speech to the graduating class at Harvard. She is funny and lovely throughout and also has some advice for the graduates to help them through life. The following are useful things to remember when you are doing improv and also in life!

“I moved to Chicago in the early 1990s and I studied improvisation there. I learned some rules that I try to apply still today: Listen. Say yes. Live in the moment. Make sure you play with people who have your back. Make big choices early and often. Don’t start a scene where two people are talking about jumping out of a plane. Start the scene having already jumped. If you’re scared, look into your partner’s eyes — you will feel better.”

I did a couple of improv courses with John Dawson who, life Amy Poehler, is a Second City graduate. I had these rules drilled into me in those classes. My favourite is Make big choices early and often. – I think that is great advice for life on-stage and off.

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The Ugly Blog

I was flicking through links on Twitter last Friday afternoon and came across this wonderful blog. Over the weekend, I worked my way through all The Ugly Truth blog posts, which start in October 2009 and finish last month. In them, Emma Adams talks about writing a play called The Ugly Truth, from draft 0 to the rehearsal room. She talks about the highs and lows of play-writing and I found it fascinating!

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Other stuff to read

It’s going to be Saturday evening before I finish writing about Trilogy so I will send you elsewhere to read other things!

Like this article in The Irish Times“From theatre virgin to grumbling veteran”
It’s a month old but I only found it this week, when I was looking for something else Fringe related. It’s a view of the Fringe from an artist putting on their very first theatre production. It’s a little bit of a fairy-tale (though I’m sure a hell of a lot of hard-work was involved as well!) and goes to show that anything is possible with the Fringe!

This evening I am going to “see” The Smile Off Your Face. I’m looking forward to it but I’m also a little bit nervous. Audience members are blind-folded and put into a wheel-chair! I’ll either love it or hate it.

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David Hare article in the Guardian

“Art frequently reminds us that things are never quite as simple as they seem. Nor are people. Journalism is life with the mystery taken out. Art is life with the mystery restored.”

In the Guardian yesterday, David Hare argues why good theatre should never be confused with journalism. The article is about about verbatim theatre and the power of theatre to capture a moment in time. He also writes about creating great theatre in general.

I like this;
“Style was the only means by which you could suggest that what you were writing about was something more than what you appeared to be writing about. Without style there was no suggestiveness, and with no suggestiveness, no metaphor. The processes of art could begin nowhere else.”

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