1. Waking the Feminists
This was the event of the week so I couldn’t leave it out of the round-up, even though I don’t have anything to say that I haven’t said already. Here are a couple of links to articles that I like.

Fury, apologies, and calls for respect as feminists shake the Irish theatre world, Aoife Barry for the Journal.ie

‘#WakingTheFeminists’ set hearts on fire at the Abbey Theatre, Chris O’Rourke for the Examiner.com

There was also some interesting discussion about the whole thing on the Irish Times Women’s Podcast, which I missed last week. The fact that public meeting isn’t even mentioned shows how fast things moved! Who knows what will have happened by this time next week!

And a reminder to sign the petition if you haven’t all ready done so.

2. The Long Gaze Back
On Saturday I went to an event at the Book Festival about The Long Gaze Back. This was a female anthology of short stories, released earlier this year and edited by Sinead Gleeson. I haven’t read it yet but it’s on my Christmas list. (Or maybe my payday list if I can’t wait until Christmas.) The event included readings by Anne Enright and Lisa McInerney and some general discussion about the book and women artists in general. Waking The Feminists also came up. Anne Enright said that Ireland is a different place now because of what happened in the Abbey this week, and she thinks that difference happened because it was a crowd of women standing on stage and speaking out. If it had been one or two women, they could have been torn about, the discussion would have been about their clothes or their hair or the tone of their voice. But it’s not possible to dismiss that crowd of women in the same way.

Anne also spoke at the launch of The Long Gaze Back where she talked about the Field Day anthology which neglected to include any plays by female playwrights. You can hear her speech from that event here.

3. Paris
It would feel remiss not to mention the terrible atrocities that happened in Paris on Friday night but at the same time, I don’t have anything new to say. The people who committed these hateful acts feed on fear and hate, don’t let them win. Hug your loved ones and find joy in your life. When something like this happens, it makes the world feel like a dark, hateful place. We have to work hard to dispeal that feeling; be kind to one another and make the world better in some way, no matter how small. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Donate to Ireland Calaise Refugee Solidarity or Unicef to help those who have fled across countries to escape the terrorism that happened in Paris on Friday night. Or you could volunteer time or money to Focus Ireland, the Simon Community, with the Samaritans. When the world seems really bleak it helps to do something useful.

4. Give Blood
I know not everyone has the time or money to donate. In that case, maybe you could give blood. Of course, not everybody can donate blood either – there are a lot of restrictions. I’m currently on the black list because I am a woman who donated in the last 18 months and we’re struck off for the moment because we might have anaemia! This means it’s even more important for those that can donate, to do it! It only takes at most two hours every three months, it costs nothing but saves lives. It’s a really easy way to do something useful. The people in the clinic are always very nice and you get free crisps and biscuits afterwards.

5. The Gigli Concert
I don’t go to The Gate that often. It’s prices are too high and I’m usually not that interested in their programmed productions (too many dead men!). However, I am really looking forward to The Gigli Concert this week. I didn’t really know anything about Tom Murphy or his work before I went to Galway to study Drama and Theatre. I was there the same year that Druid did DruidMurphy so I learnt lots about Tom Murphy that year. The Gigli Concert was one of his plays that I was most keen to see performed and I was very sorry when I missed it last year. I’ve heard great things about this production, which finishes on Saturday.