GIG OF THE WEEK
First Fortnight Mental Health Art and Culture Festival
Various venues and online; ends January 16th
First Fortnight is going into its second week, and though it has had to move a few events online and cancel others due to Covid restrictions, it's still shaping up to be one of the best years for the festival. And one look at what's in store for week two will confirm that. Axis Ballymun hosts an online discussion with the indomitable Ann Ingle (January 11th, 7pm, €5), whose memoir, OpenHearted, reflects on love, heartbreak, mental health and ageing.
The Chronicles of Oggle completes its successful run at Smock Alley Theatre (January 12th-15th, 6pm, Sat mat 2.30pm), telling the story of orphan Pakie, who asks the questions no one else dares ask. What if Britney Spears Was Irish? is a free online panel discussion on Ireland's own conservatorship laws and the changes coming in 2022 (January 13th, 7pm). Cloud Study features dancers Mufutau Yusuf and Salma Ataya seemingly floating on air in an uplifting, transcendent performance originally commissioned by Galway Arts Festival (January 13th-15th, Smock Alley Boys School, Dublin, 7pm, €16/€14). Un Homme Pressé – A Man in a Hurry (January 13th-16th, online at watch.eventive.org/franceinireland, 12pm) tells the story of business executive Alain, who is forced to relearn speech and language following a massive stroke. Finally, the Love and Courage Podcast Live and Online (January 16th, Smock Alley Main Space, 3pm, suggested donation €10) features Ruairí McKiernan and Senator Lynn Ruane plus special guests in a lively discussion on the links between mental health, community and inequality.
Every Brilliant Thing
Abbey Theatre Peacock Stage, Dublin; January 10th-22nd, 6pm (Sat mat, 2pm); €18-€25/€10-€20 conc
Listing off a few of your favourite things might seem a rather Mary Poppins-ish way of dealing with mental health issues, but this new production of Duncan Macmillan's smash hit handles its subject matter with humour and sensitivity. Amy Conroy stars in this single-hander about a mother who has attempted suicide, and the child who hopes to save her by compiling a list of all the things that make life worth living, including ice cream, water fights, staying up past your bedtime and the colour yellow. Conroy enlists the help of the audience in adding to the list, and the result is an honest, compassionate and thought-provoking meditation on mental health. The play goes on tour around the country after its Abbey run.
Winter Series: John Boorman & Geoff Dyer: Myth and Legend
Online at winterseries.ie; January 12th, 6.30pm
Film director John Boorman meets up with humorist and essayist Geoff Dyer in this latest online screening from the people who bring us the Festival of Writing and Ideas. The 2022 Winter Series is a chance to catch highlights from the intimate events held live last August, and there'll be a new one screened each week up to April 20th. By that time, we should have an announcement for the main festival in Borris from June 10th-12th – let's hope Omicron has gone by then. Film buff Dyer will find plenty of material to chat about with Boorman, but you can be sure he'll want to spend a lot of time discussing Boorman's 1967 film Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin as a smart-suited hood hellbent on revenge, which Dyer has cited as one of his all-time favourite films.
'So, what did you do today?'
Irish Film Institute, Dublin; January 12th, 6.15pm, €14
Ask an artist what they did on any given day, and it's likely that it'll be something odd, idiosyncratic and completely counterintuitive. This series of short films is curated by visual artist Isabel Nolan, who has experience trying to explain to people what exactly she does on a typical working day. The films, presented by IFI and aemi, address that "absurdity or vagueness surrounding the typical workday of an artist" among other themes, and include Soft Materials by American artist Daria Martin, Moving in Place by American video and performance artist Joan Jonas, and Scotch Tape, a 1959 film made by underground cinema pioneer Jack Smith. The event coincides nicely with the final week of Nolan's exhibition Spaced Out (Ends January 15th, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin).
Vivaldi's Bajazet
Solstice Arts Centre, Navan; January 15th, 5pm, €30/€27; irishnationalopera.ie
Vivaldi's vibrant opera is described as a musical adrenaline rush, filled with breathtaking vocal gymnastics and headspinning musical passages, and Irish National Opera are certainly hitting the ground running with this high-wire production, directed by Adele Thomas and designed by Molly O'Cathain. Vivaldi pulled out all the stops for this "pasticcio", repurposing some of his earlier arias, borrowing from other composers and adding some new music to create a show guaranteed to wow audiences. "Bajazet is an explosive opera with characters that are larger than life inhabiting a world of power games, brinkmanship, violence, betrayal, impersonation, disguise, defiance and revenge," says INO artistic director Fergus Shiels. This production features Italian bass-baritone Gianluca Margheri in the title role, in a co-production with the Royal Opera, and will tour the country until the end of January before moving to the UK.
