1. Back from my holidays
I was lucky enough to spend the last couple of weeks in Spain, which was wonderful. I swam, I sat in the sun drinking wine, I ate lots and lots of tapas and read lots of books. (Yep, old-fashioned, paper books.) I also attended a Golden Wedding Anniversary, which was a first for me!

October is a good time of year to go away and get a bit of necessary sunshine before facing into the winter because it has the added benefit that you arrive back to wonderful autumn colours on the trees. You don’t get that spectacular colour palette in southern Spain. The colours you do get include bright blue skies and warm yellow sunshine so I’m not complaining, but all those greens and yellows and reds makes the bus journey back from the airport a bit less depressing!

2. Waking The Feminists
Being back in Dublin also means lots of chats about Waking The Feminists in theatre bars and foyers. It’s often been the first topic of conversation. I know I’ve said it before but it’s so incredibly exciting. It’s going to get even more exciting this week when the first public meeting happens on Thursday at 1pm. Venue will be confirmed tomorrow and women in the arts are asked to arrive at 12.30 for a photo-shoot. Change is coming!!

If you want to catch-up on everything that’s happened in the last 10 days and to see all the things that have been said by women in the arts, as well as what’s been said in the press – check out the WakingTheFeminists website.

3. White Label Symposium
I spent Saturday in Wood Quay at the White Label’s Story Machines – Theatre and Technology Symposium. White Label are a collective of theatre makers and the symposium was about how technology is represented on stage and how it can be used in the theatre.

The workshop on Saturday morning was run by Identity Problem Group. They are a interdisciplinary artistic collective from Poland who use a lot of technology in their work. There is a huge focus on technology in their work which was very interesting, as was their use of improv and the six months they get to rehearse a show!

In the afternoon, there was a reading of Override, a new play by Stacey Gregg. We only got to hear the first half but it raised lots of questions about medical improvements and enhancements to the human body. I’m looking forward to seeing the full production next year.

This was followed by a short documentary about theatre artists who want to replace actors with machines and a presentation by Akhila Krishnan who works for 59 productions. That link is worth clicking because they have worked on some amazing projects – when she joined the company Akhila’s first project was the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics! They also run a paid internship.

The final event was a panel discussion with Sophie Motley, Jack Phelan, Kris Nelson and Akhila Krishnan about the using technology in theatre productions and the challenges in presents, particularly in the context of the work being made in Ireland. Some of lessons here were that if you are including technology, it should be absolutely vital to the show, it’s important to do loads of prep work and have a realistic budget! I also thought it was interesting that they described themselves as “video artists”. There’s more from the panel on the White Label’s twitter.

It was a really great day of exploring ideas and hearing about new technology. I enjoyed it and look forward to White Label’s next event.

4. New Writing
You can see six new plays at the New Theatre this week, as part of their New Writing Week. Tickets are €4 and available on the door. Shows start at 7.30pm. I’m not going to get to see all six but I am hoping to make it to one or two.

Full Line-up
Mon 9th – Dummy by Emma Hughes
Tue 10th – Another Billy Conn by Andrew Kenny
Wed 11th – Normal by Caitriona Daly
Thur 12th – Drawing Crosses on a Dusty Windowpane by Dylan Coburn Gray
Fri 13th – The Entrepreneurs by Neil Pearson
Sat 14th – Loveboxxx by Lauren Shannon-Jones

5. You’re The Worst
This American sitcom is still one of the funniest things on telly right now, and the second season is also breaking my heart on a weekly basis right now. If you like Catastrophe, you will love this. It’s not on tv this side of the Atlantic yet, but it might be possible to find a few episodes online.