Clacking castanets, singing a capella and sporting horns, three wild Australian bulls charged through Galway city yesterday to mark the opening of the 30th annual arts festival.
The ferocious trio, known as Chrome, hope to wreak havoc over the next two days as part of Galway Arts Festival's two-week programme.
If they are unlucky, the headstrong herd may just run into the Butcher of Ballydowndere, also a participant in the street theatre element this year.
Prehistoric creatures and supersized insects from the Netherlands are also promised, along with a diabolical circus from Belgium. Meanwhile Macnas street theatre troupe will release the world's "ninth wonder" during its parade this Sunday.
More than 400 writers, artists, performers and musicians from Europe, Asia and the Americas are participating, many of whom attended last night's opening in the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, by writer Patrick McCabe.
The world premiere of McCabe's work The Revenant opens in the Druid Theatre tonight, while Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company is staging the European premiere of Cormac McCarthy's new play, The Sunset Limited, in the Town Hall Theatre this week.
Dance is well represented by the Australian physical theatre group Circa and the north American Stephen Petronio Company.
The programme also offers a fair flavour of folk, rock, blues, jazz, classical, world and "a vivacious blend of traditional and contemporary "Irish" music.
Seán Lynch, Ori Gersht, Julie Hill, Aideen Barry, Dermot Seymour, Arthur Armstrong and George Campbell are part of an extensive visual arts element, while writers reading from their work will include journalists Paddy Woodworth and Hadani Ditmars, Simon Schama, Julian Gough and the aforementioned Patrick McCabe.
The festival runs until July 29th
