ArtScape Edited by Gerry SmythAs well as garnering critical plaudits, Druid's production of Enda Walsh's The Walworth Farce at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has won a much-coveted Scotsman Fringe First award. Greeting the announcement, Walsh said it had been "a high-risk enterprise".
Whatever about high-risk, Walsh's drama is one of high-octane writing and performances, as many of the reviewers pointed out. It took the award over 75 other shows.
Expressing his delight, Walsh thanked "all involved: producer, writer, director, designer and especially our actors, who are reaching new levels of brilliance. I'm very thankful for the show's return. All credit must go to Mikel Murfi for getting the very best out of everyone, me included."
Announcing the award to Druid, the Scotsman described The Walworth Farce as a "mind-blowing mix of Marx Brothers madness and exploded Irish cliche". It was "a story of a family endlessly re-enacting a farcical, false version of their past as a metaphor for a country telling lies about itself".
The award comes as little surprise, given the enthusiasm of some reviews. "What would the Edinburgh Festival be without its mandatory Irish input?" asked the London Times drama critic Benedict Nightingale in a four-star review of the production, as he rolled out the superlatives, calling Walsh's writing "brilliant" and Denis Conway's performance "powerful".
A Scottish Metro review said the play "was always going to be something of an event. But nothing can prepare you for the dynamite piece of work from Druid theatre company that explodes on stage". Praising the cast, reviewer Alan Chadwick goes on to say that "as for the best actor trophy, the blistering combined talents of Denis Conway as Dinny and Tadhg Murphy and Garrett Lombard as the sons make them all deserving of it. And then some." Lynn Walker, in her review in the London Independent, had no doubt about the standout performance: " . . . the acting trophy always goes to Dineen [she means Denis Conway as Dinny, of course], who deserves it at least for his immense powers of imagination."
Druid's artistic director Garry Hynes was thrilled for the playwright and the company for its achievement in winning the Fringe First.
"Enda has taken us on a very compelling journey accompanied by a great cast and an inspired creative team, led by Mikel Murfi, whose brilliant direction perfectly matches Enda's writing," she said.
She also thanked Culture Ireland for providing the opportunity to bring the production to Edinburgh.
Talbot gives Everyman notice
After six years at the helm of the Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, artistic director Patrick Talbot is to step down in February to set up a new independent production company, writes Brian O'Connell. During his tenure at the Everyman, Talbot sought to re-establish the Victorian playhouse as a regional producing house of note, as well as expanding the audience demographic and stabilising the venue's finances.
While the lack of quality touring productions meant the Everyman was frequently at the mercy of local amateur productions, there is little doubt its reputation has risen significantly during Talbot's reign. One major coup under his tenure was the world premiere of Neil LaBute's Wrecks, produced by the Everyman Palace and starring Ed Harris. Talbot took the decision to step down having realised his artistic and commercial ambitions, he said, and to concentrate on producing mainstream theatre independently for the Irish and British markets.
"I achieved what I set out to achieve in the six years. We trebled audiences, greatly enhanced our revenues and also enhanced the profile of the place.Those would have been our primary business objectives. From an artistic point of view, we have asserted ourselves strongly as an in-house producer. For example, in the first six months of 2007 we produced five productions - certainly a house record for the Palace since it opened."
As well as steering the Everyman's artistic and commercial course, Talbot also undertook directing duties on several productions during his reign, most notably Guests of the Nation, ART, The Good Thief, The Glass Menagerie, and Conor McPherson's A Dublin Carol.
Noticeably, though, no major Cork writer emerged during Talbot's reign, a fact he relates to the state of health of the Abbey Theatre during the same period. "I don't think it's a problem unique to Cork. We've seen a degree of dysfunction at the National Theatre, which has for so long been a nursery for new writers," he said, "I think it's fair to say since the McPherson, McDonagh and Enda Walsh generation, we haven't seen any new outstanding voices emerge. The health of the Abbey is often a measure of the quality of our writing in general".
Talbot identified the reluctance of the Arts Council to engage with the idea of the Everyman as a producing theatre as a major source of frustration over the past six years.
Higgins stands by Shell stance
Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins says she has "no regrets" about the stance she took at this year's Féile Iorrais, an international arts festival in north Mayo, in spite of the severe heckling she received from supporters of the Corrib gas project during her reading last weekend, writes Lorna Siggins.
Higgins was one of several participants in the festival who refused to accept any payment linked to Shell E&P Ireland sponsorship of the event. Higgins, Donegal poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh and musician Andy Irvine, formerly of Planxty, had told this newspaper recently that they were very disappointed they weren't informed beforehand of the sponsorship deal with Shell, worth €2,000 to the festival, in the light of the company's role as developer of the controversial Corrib gas project.
Several of the artists had considered withdrawing, but had been assured by local Shell to Sea supporters that they did not expect them to take this step. Féile Iorrais is a significant annual event in the isolated Gaeltacht area, and, as musician Vincent McGrath of the so-called Rossport Five had pointed out, any cancellation, albeit on ethical grounds, might cause further divisions. He also understood that artists might be tied to contractual arrangements.
Higgins wrote to the festival committee to inform them she would not be taking any fee, because of Shell's involvement. On taking the stage in Belmullet last Saturday, she tried to read from her letter by way of introduction, but was interrupted by persistent heckling from the audience. She continued with her poetry, but as she finished reading Ciontach, about feeling guilty as a child, a woman from the audience interrupted her. "Agus tá tú ciontach go fóill (and you are still guilty)," the woman said.
Higgins was shaken by the experience, but says she received a number of kind comments afterwards from members of the audience who, she believes, were intimidated by a vociferous minority clearly in favour of the Corrib gas project. "If showing solidarity for a group of people who put the interest and safety of their community and the environment before themselves [makes me guilty], then yes, I am guilty," Higgins told ArtScape. Seán Ó Coisdealbha, a member of the festival's organising committee, has said there was no deliberate attempt to omit mention of Shell's sponsorship from the programme. Shell's name had been "on the website for the past five years", he said.
As well as a return visit to the Abbey stage, Sam Shepard's one-hander for Stephen Rea is to get an outing in New York next year. Kicking a Dead Horse, which had its world premiere in the Peacock in March, will have its American premiere as a co-production between the Abbey and the Public Theater in New York next June. Rea will reprise his role, which was written for him by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright.
Meanwhile, for those who failed to get a seat when it played in the Peacock, a revival of the production will open in the Abbey on September 13th. Fiach Mac Conghail, the Abbey's director, said he was delighted the production had been invited to New York.
Shepard's plays, he said, "with their themes of family, identity and consumerism, speak clearly to a contemporary Irish audience. Equally, Shepard's voice remains an authentic American one and, with this in mind, it's fitting that American audiences get the chance to enjoy this wonderful addition to his body of work." One of Shepard's earlier plays, True West, was produced in the Peacock last year and the bond between the National Theatre and the American playwright is set to continue, with a production of Fool for Love planned for next year, and Buried Child in 2009.