Dive into Kilkenny Arts Festival!

Diving off John's Bridge, Kilkenny City

Dive into Kilkenny Arts Festival- you'll emerge energized and refreshed! C'mon down- there is a great buzz in town and fantastic things to see, hear, do, and talk about! I'm writing this on the Sunday Aug 12, and the festival runs through next Sunday; have a browse through the programme and plan a visit. Seeing the art & craft is free, & there are free events; but even the pay-for events are great value, so come enjoy a fantastic festival!


Head out to the things on outside of KK City, too! We got to the Three Solos show on Thomastown's Low Street, as well as the shows in gorgeous buildings of Grennan Waternmill (Berkley Gallery) & Grennan Mill Craft School. There is much more on there in Thomastown, too! (We have to go back- ran out of time!) If you only have time for 1 stop, the show in Grennan Mill Craft School is the one Hubby & I feel you should not to miss. Note: my bird photos above do NO JUSTICE to Fiona Heaney's pieces- so go see for yourself! Even the buildings are works of art ;-)

Old mill workings behind Grennan Mill Craft School, Thomastown, Kilkenny

  The Thomastown shows are listed under the category Open Submissions, & don't (if you can do stairs) get frustrated with climbing the stairs all the way to the top floor of Grennan Mill Craft School for the works there by John Bentley & Andi McGarry are very worth seeing!
 Back in Kilkenny City, I got to hear Craft Strand curator Angela Kelly talk about the works in Utensil, on in the National Craft Gallery. Beautiful & interesting, I think it is also worth a visit- and do have a listen to the Whispering Table. Clever idea :-) Be sure to check the programme, as there are craft events on for kids & adults, too.

             
The Globe Theatre are presenting As You Like It in the atmospheric setting of the Castle Yard beside the National Craft Gallery all week, and it is a wonderful show. ( If you are interested in Shakespeare & Ireland, you may like this Irish Times article.)  The actors are such great singers as well, and play instruments, too- a multi talented bunch! The show is great fun, & the Friday we went the sun joyfully shone down til dusk fell. Tis about 3 hours long, & outdoors, so go prepared for rain, sun, chill-- who knows what weather may happen! There is a bar, tho', so if it is wet you could drown your sorrows ;-)

The sun shone on As You Like It!

On Saturday night we saw Aziz Samhaoui & the University of Gnawa. As usual, the music selected by the music curators at Kilkenny Arts Festival didn't disappoint.The band's great groove soon had people on the floor dancing, & most others seat dancing as well! I hope to upload a short clip when I've time- there's s.l.o.w. upload speed here *sighs* Til then, here's a photo & a link to a song from them.                                                                                                                     

           

 As I write this there's still a whole week of enjoyment left-- don't miss out! There's lots on for the family, too, & so many great places to eat & chill out when you need a break. We had a very tasty lunch at Zuni's casual front cafe on Saturday, and Cleeres is always fab for pub lunch, bevvies & craic on the Watergate/Canice's side of town, while Bridies is a pub we love on the Set Theatre side of town. Where ever you go in Kilkenny-- enjoy! And mark your calendar for next year's Art Festival!
              WhatToSeeInIreland

Go see Bittersweet Grafitti in gorgeous Graiguenamanagh- What to do in Ireland

Bittersweet Grafitti by Spark Productions. follow them on Twitter @sparkstheatre

Graiguenamanagh in county Kilkenny is a lovely little medieval riverside town, full of its own dramas and dreams just like anywhere else- but in Graig things *really* take off in summer, when locals & visitors alike are drawn down the the riverside. And now one of these dramas is being, well, dramatized! :-) 

Bittersweet Grafitti is a comedy about having no regrets, set one summer in Graiguenamanagh. Have a look at this short video clip, where I'll show you the riverside & tell you a bit more! 

 Practice will make perfect ;-)
 Thanks for watching!

New Irish play! (& college life as a pie chart)

                                             If you are a parent, this may make you happy;

                                             if you are a 17-yr-old, this may make you sad-

                                         a statistic straight from the horse's mouth:

not the actual horse.

a college student's life is 5% sex.

I know, I know, but according to the pie chart by author of the play 

One For The Road,

who was himself a college student, it is true. 

If you are a 

17-yr-old, this may make you happy; if you are a parent, this may make you sad:

30% of a college student's life is Facebook

But what makes up the other 65% the pie chart? And what if it doesn't go the way you planned? 

Sparks Theatre's new play explores it all, with characters everyone of any age & educational experience will recognize. The author Adrian says:

'One For The Road' is a romantic comedy about six college friends who are nearing the end of their first year.

And as everyone tells you...College... it's the life, the freedom to do what you want, when you want.

But what if college didn't live up to all the hype of what you thought it would be; what if in college you made the wrong decisions, what if, in college you weren't happy?One night, these characters are going to make some decisions about what they really want.

I spoke to Adrian, and two of the actors; Ollie Kelly and Catriona Kilbride, and I'll be posting more on them, their characters, and the play in general as soon as I can figure out how to edit the video I took in my next installment.

Til then, pencil in the dates 26-28 August, and book your ticket for One For The Road at the Duiske Inn In Graignamanagh, Co. Kilkenny

Bookings can be taken by phoning 087-9439979.

Parental Advisory: Explicit Language Used Throughout. Tickets 10 Euro.

Doors 7:30..Show 8:00.

Hate musicals? 3 reasons you'll be Smitten with this Irish one!

This man hates musicals. He hates plays or movies where people sing. He even hates 'Grease.'

 musical hating man

But he loved this:

Smitten- a play that wants to be a musical

I loved it too, & here are our top 3 reasons why YOU should go see Smitten  
at 76 John St, Kilkenny City 8pm, til Sat 2 July.


 1.) 'TONY!'

He has 2 hidden talents- 1 of them is singing. The other you'll find out about in the play!
2.) The 'ol' sea dog stories' scene. The next time you're chatting to someone at a dull party, try telling a story like those fellas!

insert Smitten 'sea dogs' here

3.) Smitten is fun! but not fluffy- there are themes you can think about as you wave your jazz hands.
Go see it, even if you think you hate musicals.
Here's a promo clip for the show

We've seen all 3 plays in Devious Theatre's 'In The Future When All's Well' series & we've enjoyed them all- and- confession: I'm not usually a fan of plays! But I will certainly see any Devious put on, & I think I'll try a few others, too. So if you are uncertain about theatre, or Devious Theatre- I say, go on, get Smitten!!
(FYI: Smitten has adult themes & language) 

Shifting- we loved it!

It helped that we had a big purple couch to give away. 

 The donation of it for the set of the quirky Devious Theatre's play 'Shifting' (Irish slang for kissing) helped us to get fantastic front row seats, and that helped us see some of the hidden extras in this well written (teen-written!) & mainly teen acted play. To explain: the setting of Shifting is a 18 yr old birthday girl's parent's home, and we not only got to see the main stage of the sitting room, but we had a clear view of the down the hallway, and also the window outside to the trampoline and patio set. We got to see the peripheral action, which was a fun addition, tho' not essential to enjoying the play. We loved the realistic set, and when the audience arrived music was blaring at party-level so that you had to shout to chat to your seat neighbor, just like a real party. I almost helped myself to a drink.

Watch this clip of the set before the play started- it feels like you're at a party, doesn't it!

And that is they way it was throughout the whole evening- characters and dilemmas that we identified with  from our own (rather distant) teen party days, which made us laugh, feel sad, and, em, truthfully, generally feel glad those days were over! John Kennedy, the young writer of the play did a wonderful job, and we look forward to seeing more of his work. We've only seen this and the very enjoyable & innovative Scratcher from Devious Theatre, but we are quite impressed with the young talent there, and the way both pieces began by including the audience in the set up. (In Scratcher, you queued up & had your ticket taken by 'dole officers' and were intimidatingly asked when you had last worked. There were also brilliant posters everywhere, & I'm sorry I can't remember, and didn't photograph, them.) During the interval for 'Shifting' there were also party snacks for the audience while the scene was set for later on in the party evening:

Crisps and popcorn were thrown on the floor and ground in to set the stage. 

(I won't tell you what happened in the play, this review gives a bit, and I also think there is going to be a video of the play from Devious at some point, which you should definitely look out for!) One of our favorite scenes happened in this second half, proving that some songs and 'dance' moves are timeless! 

Here is the video trailer for Shifting to give you a taster (no pun intended), until a video of the play is (?) released. 

Go check out Devious Theatre's website for more info, reviews of the play, and news of their upcoming production, Smitten. Also check out the several audio clips they did for Shifting here, on the News section (scroll down.)  I suppose I am in danger of sounding like a middle-aged Devious groupie, but I love all the different ways they 'add on' to the theatre/plays/promo. And I thought theatre was fun back when I was in high school drama-- I know I said I was glad my teen years were over, but if we had had a Devious-type theatre then, I could be tempted to time travel back! 

Well done to all the Devious crew, younger and older; we're looking forward to more! 

Sunday Sampler: get Devious, see some street art- or perhaps get bookish & eat some (dangerous?) apples

A round-up of some of the interesting things to see, do, hear, eat, think about, & enjoy in the vibrant island of Ireland! 

This weekend we have a wee bit of a 'dangerous fruit' theme, in that we've got 2 links related to apples, 1 to a theatre company that, in their own words, are: 

 PURVEYORS OF INTRIGUING, EXCITING AND DEVIOUS THEATRE SINCE 2006.

De·vi·ous: departing from the proper or accepted way; not straightforward; shifty or crooked.  Devious Theatre! 

Also in the 'departing from the accepted way' vibe, we've got several links to some 

Irish Street Art

video from http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whitewash-Graffiti-Event/137729779620042

 also check out: http://irishstreetart.com/

and http://avisualfeast.net/page2.htm

For a bit of a read, see the Irish Times' article on ''Do Hard Times Make Great Art?''

Good Books & Apples

If you enjoy things bookish, why not plan a trip to The Ennis Book Club Festival, this March 4-6th. There will be loads going on, & if you want to fill out their Book Club questionnaire, you could win a book token.

If you're wondering what/where you should eat while you're enjoying all these delights, check out some of the winners (products & places) of the Bridgestones Megabytes Awards posted by BiaBeag.com  (There's a great -Kilkenny made!- apple syrup listed here. YUM!)

And last but not least, Bibliocook down in north Cork has an adventurous recipe with a chili & apple twist to tempt you away from boring old coleslaw- you can make this one as devious & dangerous as you dare! Enjoy!!