Two years ago, we were busy speculating that the Armagh-born director Conall Morrison would become Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre. And we had to conclude that he probably had more wriggling fish to fry: after his Abbey tour-de-forces, with his Patrick Kavanagh adaptation Tarry Flynn and Gary Mitchell's In A Little World of Our Own, he stormed on to direct a novel, Martin Guerre, for Cameron Mackintosh.
Now he is at the centre of a mess at London's Royal National Theatre. The opening night of his production of Ibsen's Peer Gynt (Frank McGuinness's version) has had to be postponed. Staff at the theatre say this is because of "scheduling problems" with its production of Romeo and Juliet, which translates to mean "It wasn't ready"; this had a knock-on effect on the scheduling of Peer Gynt because of a partly shared cast. However, Michael Billington in the Guardian pointed the finger in a different direction: "The opening night of Peer Gynt has been put back, presumably while they hunt for the missing director, or Trevor Nunn [the Artistic Director of the National] stages another of his famous takeovers."
Conall Morrison is not "missing", but he has had to leave London, where previews of the show are now running, and return home on medical advice due to illness. The show opens on November 13th, and hopefully the cast and crew, which includes Olwen Fouere as Solveig and Conor Linehan as composer, will still be able to shine despite the production difficulties.
"With operas by many composers of the last 20 or 30 years, people were leaving with a confused head," says Dieter Kaegi, Artistic Director of Opera Ireland. Not so with Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera based on Sean O'Casey's The Silver Tassie, which was a huge popular success when the English National Opera staged it last year in London. Next spring, Opera Ireland will stage a new production of the opera, its first production of a work by a living composer.
When Kaegi saw the show in London, he thought the opera was "fantastic", but wasn't "100 per cent" happy with the production. Opera Ireland's will be very different, he says, but very little about it is sure at this stage, except that David Jones will conduct and Sam McElroy will sing the part of Harry, who returns so tragically crippled by the first World War.
Turnage, dubbed "contemporary music's favourite East End bad boy" because of his outspoken contempt for what he sees as the elitism of the musical establishment, was inspired to look to O'Casey for material by an Abbey production of Juno and the Paycock. When he read The Silver Tassie, he knew he had found his play, and he argues that music gives the piece more cohesion.
The day is long gone when you could rely on the actors in an Irish play to sit still, drink tea and eat sausage sandwiches. Nowadays they throw themselves around with gay abandon and scant respect for their digestive systems.
And there seems no let-up in sight. Crooked House in Newbridge, Co Kildare are hosting acting skills workshops at weekends for nine weeks from Saturday until December 10th, with masters such as Jason Byrne of Loose Cannon, Veronica Coburn of Barabbas, Annie Ryan of Corn Exchange and Ciaran McCauley and John Carty of Blue Raincoat lined up to impart their knowledge. Contact Peter Hussey on 087-2759420 or e-mail vtos@eircom.net for information and booking.
Blue Raincoat and Corn Exchange feature again in "Kicking Space", a physical theatre symposium hosted by Kabosh in Belfast from today until Wednesday. London-based dancer, Anne Gilpin, will also participate, and the circus-skilled acrobat, Adam Kronenberg, will no doubt upend everyone's dinner for them. Information on 028-90243343,email: kabosh@dircon.co.uk
Not to be outdone, Dublin will host a performance workshop this weekend with Firenza Guidi and David Murray from Elan in Wales. The opportunity has been offered to professional actors, courtesy of Dublin Corporation, to commemorate the man who was Dublin's first recorded bit of street life, The Diceman.
The National Gallery is hosting a one-day seminar tomorrow entitled "The Museum Visit: Virtual Reality and the Gallery". Supported by IBM and the British Council, it will focus on the creative use of new technology in museums and galleries. The seminar will be opened by the Minister for the Arts, Sile de Valera, and speakers will include Charles Saumarez Smith, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, Toby Jackson, Head of Education at the Tate Gallery Modern, London, and Geraldine Norman, Director of the Hermitage Museum Trust. Phone: 016633035; email: artgall@tinet.ie; website: www.nationalgallery.ie
