ARTSCAPE: THE YEAR AHEAD will be a busy one for Marina Carr - not only is her new play Marble, opening at the Abbey on February 7th, but the acclaimed playwright from Offaly is also writing a play for children, which will have its world premiere at the Ark in Dublin a few days later, on February 10th, writes Deirdre Falvey
Carr, who has written for children before (Meat and Salt) and has young children herself, approached the Ark, and its director, Eina McHugh, commissioned The Giant Blue Hand, a tale involving two little boys and a giant blue hand.The piece has a top creative team, including director Selina Cartmell and set designer Monica Frawley. Costumes are by Gaby Rooney, lighting by John Comiskey, music design by Denis Clohessy, sound design by Carl Kennedy and the stage manager is Paula Donoghue. The show involves Aunt Farticus Fume in pink wellingtons and Queen Dalia the Empress of Dreamers, in an adventure where "children must be braver than adults if they are ever to recover those they love".
The standard of theatre and art for children has improved enormously in recent years, and Ireland is catching up with international trends, which have raised the bar. It's tantalising to wonder how Carr's dark and savage themes might transfer to work for children.
Marble at the Abbey treads "the line between real life and the dream world", in a play about friendship, marriage and the power of the subconscious.
There is undoubtedly going to be a downturn in artistic activity in Ireland next year, due to the funding cutbacks and the general economic mess. But while production companies don't know how to proceed with 2009 plans they had in train, the real drop in creative work and productions for the public won't kick in until next year. So grab this opportunity while you can.
Marina Carr isn't the only one busy these days. It has been a jam-packed month so far for Fishamble - Rank opened at the Tricycle Theatre in London (the Telegraph called it 'a cracking comedy thriller", while the Guardian said it was "an enjoyable jaunt . . . filthily funny . . . The acting is spot on") and Forgotten with Pat Kinevane has been in Limerick's Belltable and the Mermaid in Bray. In the meantime the company spent the week in Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan, with Tinderbox, working with six writers from the North and six from the Republic to write short dramatic pieces inspired by 12 places in Ireland. Both Fishamble and Tinderbox celebrate 20th birthdays this year.
They were the first companies to co-produce across the Border (Marina Carr's This Love Thing, 1991). Early next month they launch Fishamble Firsts, an anthology of first plays by new writers (including those by both Belinda McKeon and Róisín Ingle of this parish). This follows another anthology of contemporary plays just out from Liberty Press this month, Scenes from a Water Cooler and Other Tales (six plays from 10 years of Gúna Nua, by Paul Meade, David Parnell and Gerry Dukes), and Stinging Fly's Freshly Brewed, 12 short plays seen at Bewley Cafe Theatre.
Also, following a six-week residency at the Hebbel Theater in Berlin and a rehearsal showing at the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, Pan Pan's newest production, The Crumb Trail, premieres in Germany next week. It is described as a "contemporary installation/performance piece dealing with the notion of crisis and engagement", and you can see a taster at www.vimeo.com/2173061. For those who may have missed its previous incarnations, its Oedipus Loves You returns to Project Arts Centre on November 27th after a two-year international tour of 20 cities.
Donegal fiddlers bag award
Fiddle trios are a rare breed in Irish traditional music, but Fidil, three young Donegal players, recently bagged Music Network's Young Musicwide 2008 award, writes Siobhán Long. Ciarán Ó Maonaigh (TG4 Young Traditional Musician of the Year back in 2003), Aidan O'Donnell and Damien McGeehan bring together a wealth of homegrown experience, with influences encompassing the late John Doherty and Francie Mooney, Altan's Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Derry fiddle player Dermot McLaughlin, among others.
Ó Maonaigh and O'Donnell originally played as a duo and released their debut, Fidil, earlier this year. They've recently been joined by McGeehan, who has burnt up the road miles, touring professionally since the age of 15, and was the winner of the Teastas i dTeagasc Ceoil Tíre by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in 2005.
Their Young Musicwide award means they'll benefit from Music Network's professional development support for three years. Fidil will be supported for a number of performances throughout the country, a bespoke publicity package and the chance to record a CD. It's a profile-raising opportunity, and it's precisely the kind of leg up the promotional and performance ladder that emerging musicians and bands strive to secure.
Previous winners of the Young Musicwide award include: Slide (traditional), the Callino Quartet (classical) and Organics (jazz). For further details of the Young Musicwide Award see www.musicnetwork.ie. Excerpts from Fidil's debut CD can be heard at www.myspace.com/fidilcd.
• Applications for the Abbey Theatre Lennox Robinson Bursary, worth €7,000, will be accepted until December 1st. The bursary was relaunched last year and is, in accordance with the late Lennox Robinson's wishes, "in aid of the following persons: playwrights, players, producers, stage designers and stage musicians, any other servant of the theatre". Past recipients include Brien Vahey, Frank Flood, Bláithín Sheerin, Bronwen Casson, Dave Nolan, Dermot Bolger, Alan Gilsenan, Conall Morrison and last year's recipient, Suse Reibisch.
• Anyone following the Guardian's recent week-long series, "1,000 Artworks To See Before You Die", might have noticed that there were only three entries with Irish connections: The Book of Kells, the Francis Bacon Studio, and The Eve of St Agnes by Harry Clarke - two of which are at the Hugh Lane Gallery.