YEATS IS coming back to the Abbey, but not as we might expect him. The Waterboys will perform a series of five concerts at the national theatre around St Patrick's Day, with frontman Mike Scott, Irish fiddler Steve Wickham and guest musicians performing An Appointment with Mr Yeats, combining the poetry of Yeats with the passion of the Waterboys' music.
The relationship started when Scott set Yeats's The Stolen Childto music on their classic Fishermans Bluesalbum.
The Yeats concerts are among the highlights of the Abbey’s programme for 2009-2010. Scott was at the Abbey yesterday, happily posing for photographs, following a performance of the Yeats songs the previous evening at the National Library, at the close of its Yeats season.
The Abbey also plans to presents new plays commissioned from top Irish playwrights Sebastian Barry and Tom Kilroy.
On September 13th, the Abbey celebrates Brian Friel’s 80th birthday with a tribute in music, song and recital by some of Ireland’s finest actors, hosted by Sinéad Cusack.
It will be preceded by public readings of three plays (September 9th-11th) which Friel has selected as his favourite and most influential: Tom Kilroy's The Death and Resurrection of Mr Roche; The Long Christmas Dinnerby Thornton Wilder and The Dandy Dollsby George Fitzmaurice.
Abbey director Fiach MacConghail was upbeat yesterday about the programme, despite the mood of apprehension at the national theatre, which is in the midst of major restructuring and job losses.
He seemed particularly happy the Peacock is to host Druid Theatre's The New Electric Ballroomby Enda Walsh as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival; the other festival show is Sebastian Barry's Tales of Ballycumber.
McConghail called on the Arts Council to “get off the fence” and publicly endorse the role of the Abbey, as well as restate its commitment to sustaining the ecology of theatre-making by both emerging and leading theatre companies.
“It’s not just about funding,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for the Arts Council in this time of crisis to work with the theatre community in partnership so that we can survive the current crisis.”
The Abbey is open to exploring co-productions with independent companies, MacConghail said, including Druid. He called on the council to “look at the bigger picture and not play politics”.
He also urged the council to strengthen its leadership role for theatre and the arts community. “It’s a time for ideology and imagination and big vision. We should not be pitted against each other in terms of funding and support.”
Before outlining the upcoming programme, he said “one of the ways we can have a deeper discussion of our society is through the arts”.
Brian Cowen has said that theatre can play an important role in the revival of our economy and our self-esteem, McConghail pointed out, and “the Abbey is well poised to do that”.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: The Abbey's 2009/2010 programme
* The world premiere of Tales of Ballycumberby Sebastian Barry: "a poignant and unsettling portrayal of two unlikely companions connected for all times through tragedy and the force of a buried history", starring Stephen Rea and Derbhle Crotty.
* Another world premiere, in February, Christ Deliver Us!by Tom Kilroy, based on German dramatist Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening,directed by young Irish director Wayne Jordan making his Abbey debut.
* Druid's The New Electric Ballroom, a comical but darkly curious tale of the stultifying effects of small-town life, written and directed by Enda Walsh.
* Stephen Rea and Seán McGinley reprise their roles in Sam Shepard's Ages of the Moon.
* The Tony Award-winning The Seafarer,written and, this time, directed by Conor McPherson, returns to the Abbey for the Christmas season.
* 2010 kicks off with the award-winning Gúna Nua/Civic Theatre production of Little Gemby Elaine Murphy at the Peacock. Mark O'Rowe's Terminusgets a second outing at the theatre in November finishing a national tour.