ArtScape: The question on most lips at the presentation of the €50,000 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in Cork last Sunday evening was whether this substantial competition would survive beyond Cork's year as Capital of Culture.
Although there was no public commitment from this year's generous sponsor, O'Flynn Construction, the city's general manager, Joe Gavin, seemed determined that the award would remain as a legacy of Cork 2005, but most likely in a two-year cycle. The appropriateness of Cork continuing to host such a prize was underlined when those present were reminded of the city's close association with the art of the short story.
The gala presentation was graced by the presence not only of Frank O'Connor's widow, Harriet O'Donovan Sheehy, but also by the presence of "two of Cork's greatest", as poet Thomas McCarthy described them. Addressing poet and dramatist Patrick Galvin and writer and anthologist David Marcus, he put it perfectly: "Here in our midst we have writers and shepherds of writers . . . You honour us by being here. You are part of the permanence of this city."
Harriet O'Donovan Sheehy, in an affectionate recollection of her husband, in which she referred to him as Michael-Frank, said the writer would have been proud to have such a prize named after him, although "he never expected to be honoured nor considered it his due". He did once, however, jokingly suggest to his mother that "maybe they'll put up a statue to me - like the one of Fr Matthew in the middle of town". She told the ironic story of how "the man whose books had been consistently banned, who was regarded as a 'bad influence, bad character' and who had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church" was once asked to address the seminarians in Maynooth.
Although Cork's famous son and inspiration for this prize is long dead, the organisers did manage to bring his charismatic presence into proceedings in the form of archive footage of a BBC TV interview with him in the early 1960s.
With the city as a black-and-white but evocative backdrop, O'Connor, in that stentorian voice of his, delivered a sometimes very witty hymn of praise to his native place.
The only disappointment of the night was the inability of the winner to be there. Chinese writer Yiyun Li, who took the award for her collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, could not travel outside the United States, where she is now living, for fear of not being allowed back into the country.
Bitter cant about 'Petra'
English National Opera's stage première of Gerald Barry's third opera, a word-for-word setting of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's play, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, has prompted some extremes of critical reaction, writes Michael Dervan.
The first review to appear, by Tom Service in the Guardian, found it "a pulverising experience, by turns hysterical and ecstatic, veering from high-camp comedy to devastating tragedy", and concluded that it was "one of the strangest but most satisfying of recent operas".
The Times thought it "a weird number". "It is far from rubbish," wrote Robert Thicknesse, "simply somewhat unpleasant and pointless." The Daily Telegraph's Rupert Christiansen, a fan of Fassbinder's film of the play, found the opera "stuffed with cheap contempt, arty pretensions and hideous music".
The Independent's Robert Maycock was more sympathetic. "Gerald Barry's unhinged sound and fury," he wrote, "is an acquired taste, but its singular mix of basic materials and extreme treatment, concise wit and ruthless logic, can grow alarmingly addictive. The length of an opera is time enough. It's the music and Stephanie Friede's vocal prowess in the demanding title role that gave this stage premiere its clout."
Andrew Clark, in the Financial Times, felt that Barry had turned the text into "a sung recitation, neither exploring the characters from within nor commenting significantly from without".
Yet, like a number of critics who disliked the work, he concluded that "whatever you think of Barry's aesthetic, Bitter Tears is a feather in ENO's cap".
For the always soberly detailed Andrew Porter in the Times Literary Supplement, the "performance was as good as could be . . . It was an evening of accomplishment, accurate in its presentation of the opera, secure in musical achievement, and expert in execution".
There's been a lot of internet-only coverage, too. "Barry punctuates highs of emotion with piercing, shrieking horns and much note-crunching - which acts as a jarring accompaniment to a life of exaggeration and drama queen proportions, and it works beautifully," writes Amanda Wynne on rainbownetwork.com.
"One of the core rewards of Barry's opera is that you get to watch magnificent opera singers playing drag queens performing a Bette Davis movie," writes HE Elsom on concertonet.com. "But the superb cast don't just deliver theatrical wit. They also find the underlying emotional truth, the self-dramatisation that everyone 'in love' risks from time to time, and the real pain that prompts it and follows from it."
But few reviewers gave the core of their message as succinctly as Greg on londonist.com: "Gerald Barry's new opera at the ENO, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is some weird, f**ked-up shit. You must go see it."
Council backs arts films
The Arts Council this week awarded a total of €230,000 to seven film projects under a new Documenting the Arts scheme. This new production fund - a collaboration between the Arts Council and Bord Scannána hÉireann/Irish Film Board - aims to support film-makers in producing arts-based documentaries. Out of 130 proposals, 14 were shortlisted, and from these the seven selected are: Wildfire Films for a project based on the DruidSynge cycle, to be produced by Martha O'Neil (€40,000); Johnny White for a project on writer Pádraic Ó Conaire (€40,000); Sibeal Teo for a project on poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, produced by Nuala O'Connor (€40,000); Cathal Black Films for a project called Learning Gravity on poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch (€40,000); Comet Films for a project called One: Healing with Theatre, with Pan Pan Theatre Company (€30,000); Cinegael for a project called Contempo Goes West, produced and directed by Bob Quinn (€30,000); and the Film Corporation of Ireland for its documentary on the ceramicist, John Ffrench, produced by David Shaw Smith (€10,000).The seven recipients may now advance to stage two of the funding process and seek Irish Film Board backing of up to €50,000 per project.
Lord Larry's lad's lesson
Shakespeare and business - it may seem an unlikely combination but it's the cocktail promised by a one-day course, Courageous Leadership, examining what lessons business can learn from the psychological thriller, Macbeth. And it has an Olivier connection to boot.
The course looks for insights into the behaviour that makes or breaks individuals and organisations, and asks if we can add value and live values at the same time.
"In a world where self-promotion often appears to be rewarded first, it takes courage to develop and maintain ethical ambition" is the stated theme of the training day, part of the Dublin Theatre Festival's Theatre Olympics, an eclectic programme of performances, cabarets, exhibitions and workshops. Leading the leadership training is theatre director Richard Olivier, son of Laurence, who has worked in organisational and personal development.
The one-day event on October 14th makes use of "mythodrama" (theatre skills, psychology, mythology and organisational development) as well as the work of Shakespeare. It's aimed at leaders in both business and the arts, including executives responsible for internal communications, human resources and training. The course has 60 places, and costs €120 for those in the business sector, €50 for those in the arts. For details, telephone 01-8746582 or e-mail theatreforum@ireland.com.
Olivier's workshop is a Hay Group/ Theatre Forum/Business2Arts event. The last of these organisations has been putting together a number of projects, including a new certificate course in management practice for the arts. The course, accredited by University of Ulster and facilitated by Business2Arts in collaboration with Irish Times Training, takes 17 full days over an eight-month period, starting next month. Details from Business2Arts at 01-6725336 or Julie@business2arts.ie.
Also in the training field, Crooked House, of Newbridge, are offering two-day courses, with tutor Peter Hussey, in: directing skills; devising issues-based theatre; and theatre of the oppressed this autumn. For details, go to www.crookedhouse.ie, phone 045-448309 or e-mail crookedhouse@riverbank.ie.