On the town:It's a new era, in which Dubliners are becoming like Parisians, says Tom Coffey, chief executive of the Dublin City Business Association, who teamed up with Dublin City Council this week to launch the Summer in Dublin 2007 programme. He listed cleaner air, less traffic, more shops and plenty to do as some of the city's biggest attractions.
Summer in Dublin will focus on the mix of fashion, culture and entertainment in the city. Speaking at a lunch to promote the programme, Coffey said that with an estimated 800,000 people living in the city centre area, it is the perfect "shopping and leisure destination", with a range of events in galleries, parks and shops.
With around 660,000 people moving through the city centre each day, Footfall, an electronic counting mechanism, can give an exact picture of where people are going and where growth is occurring, Coffey says. "We have the biggest Footfall counting mechanism in the world," he said, adding that 80,000 is the daily count on the city's main shopping streets. Philip Maguire, assistant city manager, remembers the days when "people raced across the bridges over the Liffey because of the smell". Today there are boardwalks so that people can sit out, he says.
Clare McNamara, of the National Museum of Ireland, says a number of exhibitions are due to open later this summer including Sea Stallion - Dublin's Viking Warship Comes Home at Collins Barracks and Life and Death in the Roman World at Kildare Street.
Gráinne Millar, of Temple Bar Cultural Trust, says its free programme of outdoor events, which runs throughout the summer, will be kicking off on Saturday, June 2nd.
CoisCéim keeps its counsel at the carnival
The CoisCéim dance company threw a party in Dublin this week to celebrate the action-packed programme of work planned for the coming year. The company will perform at the prestigious Venice Biennale festival and tour the UK and Germany with its show, Knots, and it will continue its series of outreach programmes throughout the year at various venues in Dublin and Cavan. Most intriguingly of all, the company will co-produce a major piece with a cast of more than 18 performers and musicians. "We are looking for a large space to house a very special show," offered the company's general manager, Jenny Traynor mysteriously.
David Bolger, artistic director of CoisCéim, kept mum about the co-production. Playwright Charlie O'Neill, chairman of CoisCéim, took carnival-style photographs of guests as they arrived, but he also remained silent about the proposed new show.
Ellen Cranitch, the composer and Lyric FM producer and presenter, was happy to say she is working on the music for this exciting new work. "The music draws on a lot of different ethnic influences," she said. "For me, it's a dream project and a dream team to be working with."
Loughlin Deegan, artistic director of the Dublin Theatre Festival, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, was at the party. The festival programme will be announced at the end of July, he said.
Only Barney Whelan, vice-chair of CoisCéim, was happy to hint at what the major piece could be about: "It's Charlie reliving his childhood. He's the son of a fairground worker. His father used to run the dodgems." Could the piece be a nostalgic look back at those early carousel days in west Clare? Only time will tell.
Among those at CoisCéim's 2007 programme launch were Bolger's mother, Madge, and his brother, artist Ken, who has just opened a gallery in Dingle, Co Kerry, called Celtic Horizons, along with their friends from Newbridge, Liz and Mick Welsh. Dancer and actor Karl Sullivan, freelance producer and CoisCéim board member Ali Curran and designer Mariad Whisker were also at the party.
Bouyant mood at Cork launch
A high tide may have made for a steep gangplank but that didn't deter more than 100 hardy souls from boarding the LE Róisín at Horgan's Quay in Cork on Wednesday evening for the launch of Corcadorca Theatre Company's latest production, Woyzeck.
Captain of the ship Lieut Cdr Terry Ward was on hand to welcome all on board for the launch where, dare one say it, the mood was buoyant as Corcadorca unveiled its plan to stage Georg Buchner's 19th-century classic at the naval base in Haulbowline next month.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, took time out from the campaign trail to do the official honours, and among his audience were staunch Corcadorca supporters, former PD TD Máirín Quill and her sister, Ita.
Several of the cast were also in attendance, including Frank O'Sullivan of Fair City fame who plays the captain and Cork's own Gina Moxley, who plays Margaret in the promenade production, which runs from June 18th until July 1st.
Corcadorca's artistic director, Pat Kiernan, described Woyzeckas a "quite brilliant play" which has already been adapted as an opera, a film and a musical and Corcadorca is very excited at the prospect of staging it in Haulbowline.
He described Haulbowline as the location that most matched what they needed for the play and paid particular tribute to Cdr Pat McNulty and others in the Irish Naval Service for their wholehearted co-operation and general can-do attitude.
Former Fianna Fáil councillor Annette McNamara was full of praise for the Cork Midsummer Festival, pointing out it meant that Corkonians could now enjoy the sort of theatre on their doorstep that they once had to travel to the Galway Arts Festival to see. McNamara was chatting with Lieut Cdr Kieran Lynch, a member of the Haulbowline Players, who have kept theatre alive on the naval base with annual productions on the base and entries in the amateur dramatic festival circuit for the past 43 years.
"We've been keeping the flag flying for theatre on the base for years, so it will be great to have a production like this come down to Haulbowline and give many people who've never visted the base before the chance to see the place - we're really looking forward to it," he said.
Barry Roche
Corcadorca's production of Woyzeck opens on Tues, June 19 on the Irish Naval Base, Haulbowline, Co Cork, running until Sun,
July 1, at 10pm each night except on Mon 25 and Tues 26.
[ www.corcadorca.comOpens in new window ]
Winning authors get the gravy
The young literary critics knew their own minds long before the results of the Bisto Book of the Year Awards 2006/2007 were announced at an event earlier this week in Dublin.
Niamh O'Brien (10) from Scoil Cholmcille in Skryne, Co Meath, said The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne was the best book for her "because it was very different to any other books I've ever read. It ended sad and I like sad books."
Her friend and classmate Emily Swan (10) said Something Invisibleby Siobhán Parkinson was the best read for her. "It was really good . . . It was the best of all." The two girls estimate they've read about 200 books each in their lives. Their teacher, Kieran Fanning, who is one of the Bisto Book of the Year Awards judges, was nearby. "He's an author," the two girls added helpfully. "He makes us read three books at least a month," they said happily.
Boyne's book was this year's winner, while Parkinson's book won one of the three Bisto Honour Awards.
Three of the sixth-class pupils at Scoil San Carlo in Leixlip, Co Kildare - Stephen O'Brien, Christopher Devitt and Gary Williams - were equally sure about what they like when it comes to reading. Both schools were among 140 that took part in a "shadowing scheme", where they read the shortlist and come up with their own shortlist.
Sen David Norris, who presented the awards, with a total prize fund of €19,000, urged the organisers to allow children be given places on the judging panel in future competitions. "They are very discerning critics indeed," he said. "I still have every book I ever got," he told the young audience who had gathered to hear the results and meet their favourite authors. These included Boyne and Parkinson, as well as Barcelona-based Jon Berkeley, who was shortlisted for his book, The Palace of Laughter; Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, whose story, Hurlamaboc, won a Bisto Honour Award; and the Belfast-based illustrator, PJ Lynch, who was shortlisted for his watercolour and gouache paintings, which illustrate an unabridged version of A Christmas Carol, published by Walker Books.