ArtScape: Tom Murphy will premiere his latest play at London's Royal Court Theatre this November, writes Patrick Lonergan. Alice Trilogy takes us through three key stages in a woman's life as she reflects upon her experiences of love and loss. It's Murphy's first original work since 2000, and runs at the theatre until December 10th.
This announcement comes at a time when Irish commentators are again wondering why Murphy's plays aren't produced abroad more often.
It remains to be seen how Alice Trilogy will be received, but the news that the play will be staged by one of Britain's most respected theatres will be a boost to Murphy's international profile.
The assertion that his work doesn't travel seems exaggerated - since 2001, his plays have appeared in Edinburgh,
Glasgow, London, Manchester, New York, and Brisbane (see Edinburgh story, below).
Nevertheless, the appearance of Alice Trilogy is a significant development in Murphy's career: this will be his first major London opening since
A Whistle in the Dark stormed the British stage in 1961.
The Royal Court Theatre clearly has faith in the play. Olivier Award
winner Juliet Stevenson has been cast in the lead role, and the theatre's artistic director Ian Rickson is
directing. Alice Trilogy is the finale in a season that includes a revival of Alan Rickman's stunning docudrama
My Name is Rachel Corrie, as well as new work by major British dramatists.
It's also the theatre's last production before it begins a year-long
celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2006.
Will we see Alice Trilogy in Ireland? The Royal Court is ruling nothing out, but there are no firm plans to bring Murphy's work home - yet. Tickets for the London run are available at www.royalcourttheatre.com
Irish invade Edinburgh
The rush is on for Edinburgh, which becomes festival city each August. The festivals next door are a world-class showcase for artistic work and over the past months it'll have been a challenge for those planning to bring a show to the Fringe (which starts tomorrow) to get together a venue, accommodation - and money. There will be a number of Irish comics at the Fringe - including Dara Ó Briain, Tommy Tiernan, Jason Byrne, Jimeoin, Kevin Gildea and Andrew Maxwell - and UCD Dramsoc is taking a show to the Fringe for the first time, Conor McPherson's This Lime Tree Bower. Comic Ian Coppinger has a part in The Odd Couple - starring Bill Bailey and Alan Davies - at the Assembly Rooms (following the success of Twelve Angry Men and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the past couple of festivals).
Also at the Assembly Rooms is a production of Tom Murphy's The Gigli Concert with Lorcan Cranitch, Alison McKenna
and Alastair Mackenzie (Monarch of the Glen) - a new cast after a London run of the play.
And four top Irish companies have been aided by the newly-formed Culture Ireland to take their productions to Edinburgh: CoisCéim Dance Theatre are taking their acclaimed hotel-bedroom-based dance piece - this time it's Room 206 at the Caledonian Hotel (for Traverse Theatre); Corn Exchange will also be at the Traverse, with Dublin by Lamplight, the clever and funny musical tragi-comedy written by Michael West, set in 1904. And at the Assembly Rooms Mark Doherty's surreal piece of magic, Trad, a Galway Arts Festival production, runs for the month. And following DruidSynge's triumphant festival run in Galway, and its current run at the Olympia in Dublin (in rep until August 19th, with the full eight-and-a-half hour cycle today, Saturday 13th and 20th only), Garry Hynes's ambitious production of all of JM Synge's plays goes to King's
Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.
The life aquatic of Tory
Writing recently in the Irish Times Magazine, Shane Hegarty humorously speculated that, the way things are going, there will soon be a festival for every man, woman and child in Ireland. His case is supported by the latest addition to the rapidly growing list, writes Jane Coyle.
What else would you expect from a Breton film-maker living on Tory Island but a maritime film festival? And that's exactly what Loïc Jourdain, who hails from the Finisterre coastal town of Douarnenez, is about to present - the first Tory Island Maritime Film Festival (Féile Scannáin Mara Oileán Thoraigh), over the weekend of August 26th to 28th.
The festival's star guest is the author and adventurer Tim Severin, whose film The Brendan Voyage will be screened and whose extraordinary life is the subject of A Myth Chaser's Journey, currently in production with Jourdain and partner Anne Marie Nic Ruaidhrí's Lugh Films.
"The irony of Tim's story is that, as a result of tracking mythical heroes across oceans, deserts, steppes, jungles and mountains, he himself has become a sort of modern myth, an archetype of the adventurer," says Jourdain. "The film asks who is the man behind this simplified image? He is also making a documentary about Jesuit priest Fr Diarmuid Ó Peicin, the saviour of Tory.
"When he came to the island in 1980, there were no sealed roads, no fuel or piped water. If Tory Island is still alive, it is the result of a long fight by a small group of men and women, led by Father Ó Peicin".
Severin will have a busy weekend taking questions and answers, giving talks and doing book signings. There will be a showing of the Breton film The Voyage of the St Efflam, maritime sean-nós singing, traditional music sessions, boat trips, storytelling by Patsy Dan Mac Ruaidhrí (the "king of Tory"), seafood and wine tastings.
The festival will be launched on the evening of August 26th by Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher. For bookings, contact Lugh Films, Pier Head, Tory Island, Co Donegal, 074-9180786, lughfilms@eircom.net.
Chieftains lead the way
Music Network, the Irish national music development organisation, has announced the line-up for a fundraising
concert in the National Concert Hall on November 10th, as part of the Music Network/Eagle Star Gala Series, writes Siobhán Long.
This series follows Music Network's first fundraising concert with virtuoso percussionist Evelyn Glennie, at the National Concert Hall last autumn.
Paddy Moloney and co are quite a catch for the event, given their high profile, their past successes in the Earlsfort Terrace venue, and their hectic touring schedule outside Ireland. With a career that stretches across 41 years and 41 albums, The Chieftains have been pivotal in raising the bar of traditional music, and luring it out of the snug and kitchen and into the concert hall.
Having forged their reputations in China, Europe, Australia, the Appalachians and beyond, the Chieftains rarely take to the stage unaccompanied. Their
November concert will include guest appearances from Canadian dancers Jon and Nathan Pilatzke, harpist Tríona Marshall, and guitarist and vocalist Clem O'Brien.
The Pilatzke brothers from the Ottawa Valley of Ontario, Canada, have been step dancing for more than 20 years while Jon has played the fiddle for 17 years.
Their theatrical experience has included a lengthy run in the Canadian musical Swingstep.
Music Network's investment in traditional music, via its Best of Irish tours, has fostered imaginative collaborations from west Kerry - such as that of Brendan Begley and Eoin Duignan - and the innovative melding of Irish and Welsh traditional music for a forthcoming tour in autumn, to be headlined by Co Clare accordion player Josephine Marsh, mandolin player Declan Corey and Welsh duo Toreth.
Tickets for the Chieftains concert cost €45/€35/€25, booking at the National Concert Hall, 01-4170000, www.nch.ie.
Poets Kerry Hardie and Sinéad Morrissey are joint winners of this year's Michael Hartnett Annual Poetry Award, announced this week. The judges were Medbh McGuckian, Niall MacMonagle and Eugene O' Brien.
The award, which seeks to honour and encourage the work of contemporary poets, is worth €6,350 (jointly funded by Limerick Co Council and the Arts Council) and will be presented on September 15th at the openingnight of Éigse Michael Hartnett in Newcastle West, Co Limerick.
Programmes and information on Éigse Michael Hartnett are available from Limerick Co Council arts office, 061-496498/496300, e-mail arts@limerickcoco.ie