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THREE YEARS after he delivered anacting tour–de–force in Enda Walsh’sMisterman and 18 years after hiselectrifying debut in Walsh’s Disco Pigs,Cillian Murphy once again teams up withhis old compañero for a production thatwill, without doubt, be a highlight of thetheatrical year.

Ballyturk, co–produced by LandmarkProductions and Galway InternationalArts Festival, is written and directed by Walsh and features a cast of CillianMurphy, Mikel Murfi, and Stephen Rea.

After premiering at the GalwayInternational Arts Festival this month(where its run quickly sold out), theproduction will travel to the OlympiaTheatre in Dublin (7 to 23 August ), Cork Opera House (26 to 30 August ),and the National Theatre in London ( 11 September to 11 October).

Enda Walsh wrote Ballyturk with itsthree actors specifically in mind andCillian was one of the initial sources of inspiration for the play.

“We were ‘tecching’ Misterman oneday in New York,” Enda recalls “andCillian was in the middle of a scenewhere, as the character Thomas McGill,he was arguing with his mother whosevoice was on this tape machine. SoCillian was ranting away and at thesame time the production manager waskneeling down right beside him quietlyfixing a table and it just struck me as a great image that could be in a play.

“You have these two people rightbeside each other with completelydifferent energies, like two universessmacking up against each other. Thephysicalness of that, those two energiescolliding in a small space, really made animpression on me.”

“I’m attracted to people who have areal theatrical instinct and Cillian is acompletely instinctual actor,” Enda says.“He makes everything seem logical sothere’s that and even where there’s aninarticulacy in the characters he playshe can still find a real poetry in them.”

Cillian was still at university when hewas cast in Corcadorca’s staging of DiscoPigs in the autumn of 1996. The play hadan explosive impact; originally scheduledto run for three weeks, it ended uptouring for two years throughout Europe,Canada, and Australia and it firmlylaunched the careers of both men (aswell as that of Murphy’s co–star, EileenWalsh).

In the years since, Enda has written a string of acclaimed plays such asBedbound, Walworth Farce, The SmallThings, and New Electric Ballroom and hiswork has been performed all over theworld. He recently won a Tony Award forwriting the book of the Broadwaymusical, Once.

Cillian’s career has followed a similarlystarry trajectory; leading stage roles inprestige productions of Synge, Chekhov,O’Casey, and Shakespeare and a series of impressive screen credits, including28 Days Later, Inception, The Wind ThatShakes The Barley, Batman Begins,

2: GALWAY INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL | 14–27 July 2014 |

‘Enda’s plays take a lotout of you – but I love it’

WWW.GIAF.IE / +353 91 566 577

Cillian Murphy on working with Enda Walsh

By Charlie McBride

On behalf of Galway International Arts Festival wewould like to welcome you to this year’s Festival. We havea new name and a new look and we hope you like both.The Festival has grown significantly over the last numberof years and we felt it an appropriate time to introducethe name change and new design given our growinginternational reputation and the changing nature of what we do.

We are very honoured to have so many wonderfulartists, writers, performers and creative people join usfrom across the globe where once again new productionsand exhibitions are at the heart of the Festival.

We are very excited about this year’s Festivalproductions and co–productions Ballyturk, Chapatti andRoom 303 and are thrilled to be working with so manyFestival friends on these. It is wonderful to think thatsome of these projects are touring internationally and will carry the flag to both the UK and USA for Galway. This builds on the continuing touring success of last year’sFestival co–productions The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, and riverrun.

We are delighted to have expanded the Absolut VisualArts Programme this year to several new locationsincluding a wonderful new city centre location for theAbsolut Festival Gallery. In addition, we are happy to beable to take the visual arts programme outdoors with the fantastic installation RedBall Galway.

Our discussions strand First Thought has expandedagain while our Festival Big Top programme continues to grow in popularity with our A Night at the Proms withthe RTÉ Concert Orchestra returning following the successof last year’s introductory concert.

The Street Spectacle programme builds on the successof last year using the backdrop of the city to hopefullydeliver similar memorable performances.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thankall our funders, sponsors and friends for their support andalso wish the city well as it bids to be European Capital of Culture 2020.

Hope you enjoy the Festival!

John Crumlish, CEO and Paul Fahy, Artistic Director

Welcome to GalwayInternational ArtsFestival

one city, two weeks: a creative collision at the edge of Europe :3

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The Dark Knight, and The Dark KnightRises. He has just finished shooting thesecond series of hit BBC series PeakyBlinders. Amid all their many accoladesand awards, Murphy and Walsh haveremained good friends and they livenear each other in London.

“I just really like his plays,” Cilliansays of the writer. “I always try tofollow good writing, regardless of themedium. I was very lucky when I wasstill a kid really that he gave me myfirst ever professional role, in Disco Pigs,and we’ve managed to tolerate eachother ever since then! From a purelyselfish point of view you want to be inthe best plays and work with the bestwriters and Enda happens to be that.”

Noting their latest reunion, he says:“The reason people re–collaborate isbecause there’s a sense of trust. Youcan go straight to the work, there isnone of that finding out what makespeople tick. Every time myself and Enda have teamed up it’s always

been straight into the work and therehearsals are always energetic and fullof ideas, there is no ego or anythinglike that, it’s a brilliant groove to be in.”

When we meet, Cillian is stillsporting his Thomas Shelby haircutfrom Peaky Blinders, the shoot of whichfinished just two days before he beganrehearsals for Ballyturk.

“Ideally you shouldn’t crash two jobsinto each other but if you are going todo it, it might as well be into somethinglike this,” he says, wryly. “It’s good to beback in the world of theatre. I just lovethe rehearsal room. It’s been threeyears since Misterman and I’d forgottenhow wonderful it was to be just‘making stuff’.

“As Enda says you start off with this‘document’, this script with all thesewords on it then four weeks later bysome miracle people are sitting in adark space watching you do it and it’sjust bananas! I can’t get over that ithappens every time. That’s the exciting

thing of it, and I love live performance –I love film and TV but there issomething special about liveperformance and I’ll never lose the love of it.”

I ask him would he like to be able todo more theatre.

“I’ll always go back to theatre,” hereplies. “The gap before Misterman isthe longest I’ve been away, that wasabout five or six years and that was toolong for me. It’s now been three yearssince we did Misterman in Galway andif I can keep doing it at that sort of rateI’d be quite happy.

“It takes a lot out of you – Enda’splays certainly take a lot out of you! –but I love it and it’s necessary for me asa performer to go and do it. You get toact with your body which you don’t getto do in film or television and I’dforgotten the joy of doing that and the liberation of doing that.”

Neither Cillian nor Enda was willingto disclose much about the content of

Ballyturk, preferring that the audiencediscover it for themselves when they go see it, though the play does largelyfocus on the friendship between thecharacters played by Cillian Murphyand Mikel Murfi.

Murfi, who has directed or acted inseveral Enda Walsh plays, offered thissliver of insight; “In terms of its energy,it reminds me of The Walworth Farce,we ran 38 minutes of it there inrehearsal the other day and after it we were all totally drenched in sweat.It’s this mad monstrous machine of a play that just devours you!”

Aside from his brilliant writing forthe stage, Enda has also shown himselfto be a fine screenwriter, perhaps mostnotably with the Bobby Sands’ filmHunger. Is there any likelihood of Walshand Murphy teaming up on the bigscreen (admittedly Cillian did reprisehis Disco Pigs role in the 2001 filmversion)?

“We have talked about doing a film

together,” Cillian admits. “We might do it but Enda’s just so busy and I’mreasonably busy so it’s about the timefactor really. With our collaborationsthere can be a long gap or a short gap,there was a long, long, gap betweenDisco Pigs and Misterman and a muchshorter one between Misterman andBallyturk. But we have talked about it.”

Getting back to Ballyturk, Cillianconcludes by revealing how he islooking forward to taking the play tohis native Cork.

“It’s my first time back on the Corkstage since Disco Pigs which is going on 20 years ago now,” he says. “It’ll begreat to be back, Mary Hicks is doing a brilliant job there at the Cork OperaHouse and I’m delighted we’re bringingthe show there.”

A BECkETT TRILOGYThe trio of short Beckett pieces, Not I, Footfalls, and

Rockaby is performed by Irish actress Lisa Dwan in anacclaimed production from the Royal Court TheatreCompany, which runs at An Taibhdhearc from 22–26July.

Not I is an intense monologue, set in a pitch–blackspace lit by a single beam of light. A disembodiedfemale mouth floats eight feet above the stage anddelivers a stream of consciousness, spoken, as Beckettdirected, at the speed of thought. Billie Whitelaw, whooriginally performed the part at its 1973 Britishpremiere and was personally coached for the part byBeckett himself, tutored Lisa Dwan in the role. Footfallsis the moving story of May, a ghostly figure who pacesback and forth like a metronome on a strip–barelanding outside her dying mother’s room. Completingthe trilogy is Rockaby, probably the most famous ofBeckett’s last works. Rockaby explores loneliness andloss as a woman sits on her rocking chair, whichappears to rock of its own accord, recounting momentsfrom her past.

The plays are directed by Walter Asmus who wasBeckett’s long–time friend and collaborator, assistinghim on many of his productions at the Schiller Theatrein Berlin and for TV in Stuttgart.

When the trilogy was presented earlier this year inLondon it was greeted with ecstatic reviews; “Takentogether, they last only an hour but the experience is profound and deeply moving” (The Telegraph),“Mesmerising power” (The Independent), “Performedwith a dazzling sense of control by Lisa Dwan” (The Times). This Beckett trilogy seems sure to be a memorable theatrical experience.

A NIGhT AT ThE OPERAOrfeo, by 17th century Italian composer Luigi Rossi,

brings together Erin Headley’s Atalante ensemble andMark Duley’s Resurgam choir in a presentation directedby Alessio Rosati.

Rossi’s opera premiered in Paris in 1647, and was one of the first operas to be staged in France. While the performance itself was a great success, theextravagant expense of its staging further stokedwidespread public resentment against French firstminister Cardinal Mazarin (who had commissioned thework) which flared into outright rebellion. Galwaypatrons will probably be more accepting of Rossi’s work

than their historical Parisian counterparts! Orfeo isbased on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and it hassongs, ensembles, and choruses in abundance, all withshapely lyric phrasing and more than a hint of Frenchmusical style in some of the dance music and arias

Alessio Rosati, from Siena, has worked as a director,set and costume designer, and has devoted himself tothe study of baroque musical theatre, collaboratingwith many ensembles, theatres and culturalinstitutions throughout Europe. The coming together of these outstanding artists promises to be a treat for music lovers. Orfeo is at St Nicholas’ Church on 23 and 24 July at 8pm.

STAR OF ThE SEAMoonfish Theatre Company’s imaginative and

exciting adaptation of Joseph O’Connor’s Star Of TheSea, which they are co–producing with An Taibhdhearcwhere the show is presented from 10–19 July, could wellbe one of the hits of the festival.

O’Connor’s novel was first published in 2004 andbecame an international best seller, winning a numberof prestigious international literary awards. Set againstthe backdrop of the Famine, and spanning a variety ofdifferent locations from Connemara to London, much of the action unfolds on a famine ship sailing fromIreland to America, the eponymous Star Of The Sea.

Among its passengers are the dissipated EarlMerridith who has evicted thousands of his Irishtenants, condemning them to almost certain death,young widow Mary Duane, a servant of the Merridithswho has a history of past intimacy with the Earl, andPius Mulvey, a sinister murderer lurking with ill intent.Their lives and fates, their hopes and histories, areintertwined in a truly gripping tale.

If bringing O’Connor’s epic story to the stage seems a challenging undertaking, it’s a challenge thatGalway’s Moonfish Theatre Company are admirablyequipped to meet.

Moonfish’s work is defined by its energy, imagination,and quality. Star Of The Sea continues in that richlyinventive vein and incorporates use of overheadprojections, sound, movement and imagery, allied tofine writing and first–rate acting to build up a fluent,richly layered, and compelling dramatisation ofO’Connor’s feted novel. This is a bilingual productionand, it should be noted, is intended for those aged over 16.

4: GALWAY INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL | 14–27 July 2014 |

Beckettiandrama, Baroqueopera and a Moonfish world premiere

WWW.GIAF.IE / +353 91 566 577

By Charlie McBride

AMONG THE many delights in the culturalcornucopia of this year’s Galway InternationalArts Festival are an acclaimed trilogy of shortplays by Samuel Beckett; the 17th century operaOrfeo, jointly presented by Atalante and Resurgam;and Moonfish Theatre’s brilliant new staging ofJoseph O’Connor’s Star Of The Sea.

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BE INFANTS IN EVILDruid’s main contribution to this year’s

Festival introduces a new voice to the Irishstage, Brian Martin, with his debut play, BeInfants in Evil. A native of Dublin, Martin is an actor currently based in London where hehas been appearing in the Globe’s production of Titus Andronicus. He has also studiedplaywriting with Marina Carr and been aparticipant of the Royal Court Young WritersProgramme.

The action of Be Infants in Evil unfolds in aDublin sacristy. We meet the priest, Fr Patrick,who longs to be alone but instead, today, hefinds himself hearing confessions he has nomind to hear, from Noleen, a blind widow whoknows more than she lets on to know. He’salso wrangling with Jacinta, an unmarriedmother and recent Muslim convert who wantsit in writing that she’s left the church. And he’splaying host to Henry, a 13–year–old boy whohas somehow made it alone from London tobe with his former tutor and old friend.

The play’s title is a Biblical quote fromCorinthians which goes ‘Brothers, do not bechildren in your thinking. Be infants in evil, butin your thinking be mature.’ Oonagh Murphy,the director of Be Infants in Evil explains howthe title relates to the play’s thematicconcerns; “The quote refers to the innocenceof a child and the idea that at a young ageyou don’t know any evil. That idea issomething that is explored within the play.With the central character, Patrick, that wouldbe the basis of his own personal philosophywhich is that if we can do anything in theworld to serve the innocence of a child weshould. This of course has variousramifications; how does society do that? howdoes an individual do that? In exploring thosequestions the play touches on things likeabortion and paedophilia. The quote itselfnever comes up in the play but it refracts the

theme within the different characters so ourapproach is about being aware of that biblicalreference and maybe subverting itoccasionally.”

Murphy has worked as an Assistant Directorwith the Abbey Theatre and the Donmar inLondon and has been very good friends withMartin since their time together studyingdrama in Trinity. I ask her how she juggles theplay’s blend of contentious topics like childabuse, religion and abortion with its strongvein of laugh–out–loud black humour. “Brian’swriting is so darkly comic,” she agrees. “A lotof the time that is about inviting the audienceto look at themselves and then maybe givingthem a bit of a sucker punch by a twist or ajoke. Or else there’s something they find funnythat is later revealed as not so innocent. It’salso about creating the right kind ofatmosphere so we feel we’re looking at ormeeting familiar characters and setting up a comedy atmosphere which allows you toimmerse them in something darker.”

Murphy and her cast (Marty Rea, MarionO’Dwyer, Roxanna NicLiam and BaileyHayden) are currently well immersed inrehearsals and she professes herself delightedwith how the show is coming together; “It’sgoing brilliantly. We’ve got four incredibleactors who have from day one really engagedwith what the play is trying to speak aboutand Brian has been in the room with us as well so it’s been hugely collaborative. We readand worked through various drafts and Brianmight come in with a new edit or ideas aboutsomething he wants to cut or change sothat’s constantly keeping things alive anddynamic which maybe you wouldn’t get witha play that was a few years old. This is a newplay and it’s saying something exciting aswell.”

Be Infants in Evil runs at the Mick LallyTheatre from 10–26 July. Full details fromwww.giaf.ie

ROOM 303While Enda Walsh’s Ballyturk may have been

getting most of the headlines it’s not the onlypremiere of his in the programme. Room 303 isan intriguing piece of theatre/installation takingplace each day at the Absolut Festival Gallery.

Paul Fahy, Artistic Director of GalwayInternational Arts Festival, explains how thepiece came about and what audiences canexpect; “A while ago Enda sent me an audiorecording of this piece he’d written and askedwhat we thought of it and could we dosomething with it, maybe for the festival. I listened to it and I loved it. After thinking itover we decided to do it as an installation.”

“Room 303 refers to a hotel room where thisold man is spending, or has spent, the latterdays of his life,” Paul continues. “He has spenthis days going around spreading the word ofGod from room to room and town to town andhas ended up in this rundown seaside hotelwhich is where we meet him, or experiencehim. In classic Enda fashion it’s fantasticallyfunny and every word is so well chosen, it’s aheartbreaking story as well as being funny.”

“It’s the first time Enda’s work has beenpresented in this way,” Fahy notes. “Weexplored a few ideas, it could have been doneas a site–specific performance in a hotel forexample, but ultimately we preferred thenotion of doing it as this installation. Werehearsed it in London and recorded it in theNational Theatre there, with Niall Buggyproviding the voice of the old man.”

So what can audiences expect when theyvisit the installation at the Absolut Gallery?

“When the audience go in you see what isessentially a white box and you walk down acorridor of the ‘hotel’ and turn into Room 303,”Fahy replies. “The piece will be performed forfour people at a time. The idea is that they canmooch around the room, then there’ll be a shiftin light and you start to hear the voice of theman telling the story.”

Room 303 runs every twenty minutes,commencing at 11 am, every day throughoutthe Festival at the Absolut Festival Gallery,Market Street, Galway. Each performance lasts13 minutes. Full details from www.giaf.ie

DEEPSweat @ Sir Henry’s...were you there?

A play written and performed by RaymondScannell, who won ‘Best Male Performer’ atDublin Fringe Festival Awards 2013 for the play,Deep explores the lifecycle of Cork’s legendaryclubbing institution, Sir Henrys. Featuringinterviews with Sir Henry’s main figures andfootage of nights at the club, Deep is partfiction, part documentary and explores thespiritual home of Cork’s first generation ofHouse Fanatics.

It’s the summer of 1988 and Cork’semigration generation are following thebeat… in perfect time, for a Music Movementsimmering from Ireland’s first House Club.Deep is the story of an era told through thepersonal journey of a hapless Vinyl JunkieLarry Lehane who, at 35, is turning the tableson the peaks and troughs of two decades,from the rise of Acid House to the EuroChangeover.

Larry is growing up in a society slowlybecoming disillusioned with institutions.Henry’s dance floor evinced an unprejudicedcross–section of class, race, sex and creed. Asense of communion for those disenfranchisedfrom the wider community. Looking back now,Larry wonders how much of it is rememberedthrough smiley–faced, rose–tinted glasses?

The Irish Times said, “DEEP isn’t just the titleof Raymond Scannell’s fascinating new play,but an indication of how far it digs and howmuch it reflects.”

Deep will run at the Radisson Live Lounge,Galway on the July 14 at 7.30pm and 15–19 Julyat 9.30pm. Full details at www.giaf.ie

More Theatre At Galway International Arts FestivalD

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PLAYWRIGHT Christian O’Reilly andactor John Mahoney have bothfeatured prominently in the GalwayInternational Arts Festival programmeover the past few years, but 2014 seesthem unite for O’Reilly’s acclaimed newplay, Chapatti, co–produced by theGalway International Arts Festival withChicago’s Northlight Theatre Company.

O’Reilly made his professional debutin the 2002 festival with Druid’s stagingof The Good Father. Three years later hewrote Teacher for Galway YouthTheatre, while last year he contributedto one of the most talked-about showsof the 2013 festival, Sanctuary, fromBlue Teapot.

John Mahoney has previously madefive festival appearances, the first ofwhich was Long Day’s Journey IntoNight, and the most recent was TheOutgoing Tide, with Northlight in 2012.

Receiving the ChapattiScript

The festival was also instrumental inO’Reilly first connecting with Mahoney.When the actor was here performing in The Outgoing Tide, O’Reilly left in a copy of the Chapatti script for him atthe Town Hall Theatre on the off chancethat he might read it. Mahoneynormally does not read unsolicitedscripts, but, luckily for all concerned(including Galway audiences!), thistime he made an exception.

“I get scripts sent to me quite oftenbut I usually don’t read them,” he tellsme, speaking by phone from Chicago.“It’s a legal thing; we’re always told notto read any unsolicited manuscripts oranything that doesn’t come through an agent in case the authors could turnaround and sue you or say you stole

their material or something. I learnedthat lesson doing Frasier, we werealways told under no circumstances to read unsolicited manuscripts.

“But this time, I didn’t have anythingto read on the plane going home fromIreland, I’d read everything on myKindle and all the magazines. So Ithought ‘Oh I’ll have a read of thescript, I won’t tell anybody I read it’ so I did and I just fell madly in love with it.Then I remembered seeing Christian’sThe Good Father in Druid and beingterrifically impressed with that. As soonas I got back to Chicago I gave thescript to BJ Jones, Northlight’s artisticdirector, and he felt exactly the sameway.

“He then arranged a reading beforean invited audience of about 200people and they just stood and cheeredso we knew we had to do it and that’show it came about.”

Chapatti Rave ReviewsChapatti is a warm, funny, and

poignant play about the relationshipbetween two lonely Dublin animal–lovers. Bereaved Dan and his much–loved dog Chapatti cross paths with theamiable Betty and her 19 cats and aspark of affection and empathy beginsto grow between them.

“It’s a two character piece and bothof those characters are such real,honest, people,” Mahoney observes.“They have their faults but are also verygood, decent people trying to do thebest they can in difficult circumstances.They triumph over all the odds and itjust moved me a lot. Then there isChristian’s use of the language which isbrilliant and his dialogue is so easy tomemorise, it just trips off the tongue,

it’s so natural, and so real, yet it’s alsoheightened almost poetically in someparts, his mastery of the language iswonderful.”

The play premiered in Chicago inMarch where it met with glowingreviews. The Chicago Sun–Times calledit “a deft mix of heartache, despair andgentle comedy”, and all the reviewsraved about the performances ofMahoney and his co–star, PennySlusher; “Mahoney and Slusher createcharacters that are complex andtremendously appealing,” wroteChicago Theatre Beat. “Together theyhave chemistry to burn.”

Galway audiences may recall Slusherfrom Northlight’s Stella and Lou, whichfeatured in last year’s festivalprogramme. Mahoney reveals how thepair of them came to be workingtogether on Chapatti.

“I’d never even heard of Penny for a long time even though she is a veryhighly regarded actor in Chicago,” heconfesses. “For some reason, I don’tknow why because I go to a lot oftheatre, I never got to one of her plays.Then I was told she was going to be mywife about three years ago in HughLeonard’s A Life, which we did withNorthlight and that was when we firstmet.

“Her role in that is a totally differentpart to the one she plays in Chapatti. It wasn’t a huge part but I could stillsay, having worked with her, ‘Wow, thiswoman is incredible. I want to dosomething more meaningful with her,in terms of the relationship we wouldhave onstage – I’m not saying A Life isnot meaningful, because it is a greatplay.’ So when we got Chapatti and BJsaid ‘Who do you think for Betty?’ I said

‘It’s got to be Penny Slusher.’ At thereading we did all the audience totallybacked me on that because theycheered her, and they cheered her everynight we did the performance. She’sjust a terrific actress.”

A Love of ActingMahoney was born in 1940 in

Blackpool, where his family had beenevacuated due to wartime bombingraids on their home city of Manchester.He emigrated to the US as a young manwhen his older sister, Vera, a GI bride,sponsored his move.

After graduating from IllinoisUniversity he worked in teaching and aseditor of a medical journal. It was notuntil he was in his thirties that hischildhood love of acting resurfaced andprompted him to make a dramaticcareer change.

“I did a lot of theatre at school and Ijust loved doing it,” he recalls. “I joinedthe Stretford Children’s Theatre and dida lot of stuff there. When I emigrated to the States I didn’t want to be like aleeching brother–in–law so I decided todo something I could earn a living atand became a teacher and hated everyminute of it.

“Then, when I was 37, I thought I wasgoing to have to do something before I killed myself because I was so boredand my mind flashed back to thewonderful times with the StretfordChildren’s Theatre and I decided ‘I’m going to try and be an actor’. So, I enrolled in an acting class with DavidMamet and he cast me in his new play,The Water Engine, and then I did a playwith John Malkovich and he invited meto join Steppenwolf and since then I’vedone 30 plays with them.”

Having enjoyed a long and illustriousacting career are there any particularroles that he would still like to play?

“Most of the roles I would love to do I am now too old to play, let’s berealistic,” he says, philosophically. “I’ll be 74 this month. One part I’d lovedto have done is George in Who’s Afraidof Virginia Woolf. I tried to do that foryears but every time I suggested it toSteppenwolf they said ‘Oh somebodyelse did it just a couple of years ago sowe can’t do it.’ There are still some littlethings out there that I would like to dobut once you hit your seventies therejust aren’t that many parts availableany more.”

While Mahoney has made fiveprevious appearances at the festival,interestingly Chapatti is his first timeperforming here in a contemporaryIrish play.

“It’s kind of scary doing an Irish showhere to tell you the truth!” he declares.“I regard it as a gift to the people ofGalway and I’m proud to present it tothem, this wonderful experience theyare going to have but it is also scary at the same time with my tuppence–ha’penny Irish accent. This is my sixthtime doing a play in Galway and I hopeI keep coming back there.”

It’s a hope that Galway audienceswill surely share.

Chapatti will run at the Town HallTheatre from the 15 – 27 July at 8pm.Matinees on the 18, 19, 25 and 26 July at 2pm. There will be a Backstage atthe Festival post–show talk with thecast, playwright and director on 17 July.Bookings at www.giaf.ie andwww.tht.ie or phone the Festival BoxOffice at 091 566577.

6: GALWAY INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL | 14–27 July 2014 |

‘A gift to the people of Galway’

WWW.GIAF.IE / +353 91 566 577

John Mahoney talks about ChapattiBy Charlie McBride

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Now in its third year the First Thought Talksseries, a hugely popular part of the 2014 GalwayInternational Arts Festival, takes place theweekend of Saturday 19 July, to Sunday 20 July,offering a platform where a broad range of ideasand topics on creativity are explored, withaudiences hearing from innovators in their fieldand encouraged to really think about whatcreativity means.

“We are very excited about how First Thoughthas grown as the festival discussion platform andhow it has become an integral part of theprogramme very quickly,” said festival ChiefExecutive, John Crumlish, who added the subjectof health will be tackled for the first time alongwith cultural creativity. Audiences have grownsignificantly and Galway International ArtsFestival plans to progress the series further everyyear. “Last year was very successful and we’re verymuch looking forward to the next stage of itsdevelopment,” said Mr Crumlish, who hinted therewould be an announcement regarding the nextchapter during this year’s festival.

There are wide ranges of topics this year, fromhealth to how to write a book, with the commonthread of creativity running across all platforms,according to festival Artistic Director, Paul Fahy. Mr Fahy added: “We are thrilled to have TheGuardian’s Michael Billington return to the festivalparticipating in one–to–one interviews with two ofthe world’s leading directors, Beckett’s greatcollaborator Walter Asmus, and Nicholas Hytnerfrom the National Theatre of Great Britain, amonga host of other leading medics, artists, andcommentators”.

Exploring innovation in healthFirst Thought Talks series opens on Saturday 19

July at 12 noon at the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway,with RTÉ broadcaster Áine Lawlor, interviewing

Dr Michael J Dowling on how he stays creativeabout his life and job. Originally from CountyLimerick, Dr Dowling is President and CEO ofNorth Shore/LIJ Health Care System, America’sthird–largest non–profit secular health caresystem, and New York State’s largest integratedhealth care network.

The event titled Taking the NationalTemperature, at 2pm on Saturday 19 July, will seeDr Stephanie O’keeffe, national director forhealth and wellbeing in the Health ServiceExecutive, discussing how people’s health impactstheir happiness and lives, with author and filmdirector Gerard Stembridge whose latest bookUnspoken was published in 2013. This will befollowed by Spirit of Enquiry, which features DrMaccon keane, one of Ireland’s leadingoncologists in a lively discussion with GabrielWeston who is a surgeon, author, and presenter ofthe popular BBC series, Trust Me I’m a Doctor.Both experts will share their thoughts and worldson the intersection of medicine and the arts.

At 6pm on Saturday 19 July the event Cities andHappiness: Places, Spaces, Art, and the City willdiscuss our happiness in the place and space welive in, and features participants: Tina Saaby, cityarchitect, Copenhagen; kevin Leyden, professor ofpolitical science at NUI Galway; Ciaran Cuffe,Green Party/DIT; Tom de Paor, architect; kaetheBurt O’Dea, Desireland; and Gerry Scullion, TheChocolate Factory. The event will be chaired byNathalie Weadick of the Irish ArchitectureFoundation.

Other First Thought events taking place onSaturday 19 July, include From Out Of The City:John Kelly, at 4pm in Róisín Dubh in DominickStreet. RTÉ broadcaster and writer John kelly haspublished several works of fiction including GraceNotes & Bad Thoughts and The Little Hammer. Hewill be reading from his new novel From Out of the

City and talk to Irish Times journalist andbroadcaster Sinéad Gleeson about his work. TheTown Hall Theatre in Courthouse Square will holdthe event titled Billington Meets Hytner at 5pm.Nicholas hytner, artistic director of the NationalTheatre in London will talk to Guardian dramacritic, Michael Billington, about why the NationalTheatre is special and discuss his 11 years at thehelm of the South Bank.

Creativity discussion continues onday two

There is even more to discover on Sunday 20 July,beginning with How to Write a Book at 11am at theAula Maxima, NUI Galway. In a current series offeatures in The Irish Times called How to Write aBook, journalist and broadcaster, Sinéad Gleeson,and writers Eimear McBride, Mike McCormackand Alan McMonagle will discuss the process ofwanting to write a novel, how to get it out and onthe page, how to handle the story’s structure,dialogue and plot, and once it is written how bestto get it published.

Theatre actor and director Mikel Murfi, who alsoappears in the festival’s sell out show, Ballyturk,will hold a demonstration lecture in the AulaMaxima at 2pm on 20 July. During the event titledArchitecture and the Playability of Theatre, Murfiwill talk about his process when working withactors, directors, and scenographers and will offera unique perspective on making theatre, itsarchitecture, and its playability.

At 4pm in the Aula Maxima the event WatchClosely Now: Creative Graphic Design will discussthe creativity and graphic design involved intheatre and filmmaking. Welsh–born, Dublin–based designer Annie Atkins specialising ingraphics for filmaking (including Wes Anderson’sGrand Budapest Hotel) will discuss her work

process with actor and director, hugh O’Conor.Props from Wes Anderson’s film will also be ondisplay.

Two more events will be taking place at 4pm onSunday 20 July. The event Billington Meets Asmustakes place at the Hotel Meyrick and will seeMichael Billington in conversation with renowneddirector of Samuel Beckett’s work and director ofthe Royal Court Theatre’s Beckett Triology, WalterD Asmus, who will talk about his distinguishedcareer.

The Mick Lally Theatre in Druid Lane will playhost to the sold out event The Enduring Appeal ofthe MixTape featuring Ballyturk actor, CillianMurphy, and blogging brothers Mark and CraigCarry from Fractured Air mixing it up with IrishTimes journalist, Tony Clayton–Lea. Those whohave bought tickets are encouraged to bring alongtheir own mixed tape, leave it in a box when theyenter the venue and when the event is over collectanother mixed tape from the box. An additionalsurprise guest will be announced closer to thedate.

A special panel of guests will gather for theevent titled In Sight at the Aula Maxima, NUIGalway, at 6pm on Sunday 20 July to discusssite–specific, site–responsive, and environmentalarts events. The panel will feature Louise Lowe,Anu Productions; kurt Perschke, Red Ball Galway,a sculptural installation and outdoor spectacleevent at the Festival; Denis Conway, OuroborusTheatre Company. Manchán Mangan, playwright,broadcaster, and documentary maker will chairthe event.

For more information on the box office,programme details, festival updates, and previewsvisit www.giaf.ie or follow Galway InternationalArts Festival on Facebook and Twitter at #giaf14.

First Thought explores innovation inhealth and cultural creativityby Martina Nee

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ThE NATIONALThe Festival Big Top, located in the

Fisheries Field across from the Cathedral,is a veritable symbol of the arts festivaland summer, and opening the Big Topshows will be one of the most highlyanticipated concerts to ever take place in this city – The National on Wednesday16 July.

The New York, by way of Ohio band –Matt Berninger (vocals) and two sets of brothers, guitarists Aaron and BryceDessner and Bryan and Scott Devendorf(drums and bass respectively) – have, overthe last decade enjoyed a slow, but steady,ascent to international commercial andcritical success, thanks to a superb run ofalbums, starting with their third, Alligator(2005), and continuing with Boxer (2007),High Violet (2010), and their masterpiece,Trouble Will Find Me (2013), which earneda Grammy Award nomination, and wentTop 5 in Ireland, Britain, the US, Canada,Portugal, and Denmark. Their intense,high energy live shows, where Berninger is the charismatic centrepiece, have alsobrought them much acclaim andfurthered their estimable reputation.

Unlike most bands enjoyinginternational commercial and criticalsuccess, The National are in their 40s andit is their later albums, not their earlyones, where their best work is heard.

“To be fair, we started later,” ScottDevendorf told me during a recentinterview for the Galway Advertiser. “Wewere in bands before The National, and it

started as a hobby, something to do withfriends. It took us a long time to figure outwhat we were doing. We’ve been doing itnow for 15 years. We aren’t one of thesebands that ‘break out of the gates’ andhave an image worked out. We have justtaken a slower road, not totallyintentionally, but it’s just the way thingsare.”

Support is from Phosphorescent, thestage name of Alabaman singer–songwriter Matthew Houck, whose musicembraces country–rock and indie–folk.Speaking about his music to Pitchfork, he said: “I am happy, but I write terriblysad songs. I don’t feel like a sad wreck of a person, but I write from the perspective of a wreck of a person.”

IMELDA MAYThis is the one show in Galway this year

you cannot afford to miss.“We had an amazing gig, with a

brilliant audience and fantasticatmosphere during Galway Arts Festivallast year. I am really looking forward toreturning to the gorgeous Festival Big Topin July.” So said Imelda May, when it wasannounced that she and her band wouldbe returning to the Festival Big Top onFriday 18 July.

This year finds the Dublin rockabillyqueen with a new album, Tribal, and shewill be performing songs from it, as wellas hits and favourites from Love Tattooand Mayhem. While the rock ’n’ roll strutand stomp is present and correct on Tribal,

8: GALWAY INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL | 14–27 July 2014 |

From New Yorkrock to classical,it’s all at theFestival Big Top

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By Kernan Andrews

THE GREATEST band in the world right now; the legendaryScots/English folk–rockers for whom Galway is a second home; anIrish pop–rock phenomenon; and the modern day rockabilly queen– four major acts, not to mention a Night At The Proms and asilent disco, and all of them will be in Galway this month to take tothe stage of the Galway International Arts Festival Big Top.

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The Festival Big Top concerts are‘Galway International Arts Festivaland Róisín Dubh presents...’shows. Doors are at 6.30pm withthe show starting at 7.30pm,unless otherwise stated. Ticketsare available through www.giaf.ie,roisindubh.net, andticketmaster.ie. Tickets can alsobe bought from the Festival BoxOffice, Forster Street, Galway,Róisín Dubh, Dominick Street;OMG, Shop Street; andTicketmaster outlets nationwide.Phone bookings can be made withTicketmaster through 0818 719300and 0MG on 091 – 509660.

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the sound is tougher, grittier, and morepunk influenced than before, particularlyon songs like ‘Wild Woman’.

“Rocking out is the way I feel. That’s whyI wanted to inject the rebelliousness ofpunk and early rock 'n 'roll into this album.That’s what drives me,” said Imelda, whogrew up to the sounds of The Clash, TheUndertones, The Buzzcocks and TheCramps, as much as she did Howlin’ Wolf,Billie Holiday, and Gene Vincent.

The album also reflects on Maybecoming a mother, with the gentle, 1950sstyled pop of ‘Little Pixie’ dedicated to herdaughter, and the recent single, ‘It’s GoodTo Be Alive’.

“I wrote it in the early hours of themorning one day after I had the baby,”Imelda says of the latter song. “I wassleep–deprived and feeling very exhausted.I looked out of the window, watched thesun rise through the trees and felt, God,it’s good to be alive!”

Staying somewhat with this theme is thedark and sleazy ‘Wicked Way’, about thekind of interactions between consentingcouples, which can lead to them becomingparents!

All in all, plenty of fun can be expectedfor the Imelda May tribe who will descendon the Festival Big Top for the show.

ThE CORONASThe Coronas are possibly Ireland’s

favourite band, with their pop–rockanthems striking a chord with the nation.They also are returning to Galway to play

the Festival Big Top, on Saturday 19 July. Anew album is in production so there mightbe a few new songs on the night as well.

Winners of a prestigious Meteor BestAlbum Award in 2010 beating fellownominees U2 and Snow Patrol, The Coronashave become the biggest–sellingindependent group in Ireland. They havereleased three albums and enjoyed sold–out live shows across Ireland and Britainlast year.

The support act for the night, WalkingOn Cars are also worth checking out. Theirmelodic debut single Catch Me If You Cangained extensive radio play and stayed inthe Irish charts for more than 20 weeks,and reached No 1 on the iTunes chart. Theyfollowed this with the single Two Stonesand the EP As We Fly South, produced byTom McFall (REM, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party,Editors), and an array of live shows fromThe Academy to Other Voices to a plethoraof festival gigs in 2013.

ThE WATERBOYSThe Waterboys may be a Scottish/

English band, but in Galway we like toclaim them as our own given that violinistAnthony Thistlethwaite now lives here andworks with both The Saw Doctors and TheCabin Collective; and, that in 1988, TheWaterboys recorded much of one of theirfinest albums, Fisherman’s Blues, in AnSpidéal.

Band leader Mike Scott, on a visit toGalway in the 1980s was captivated byConnemara, and it proved to be something

of an artistic turning point in his life. As he recounted in his autobiography,Adventures Of A Waterboy:

“After a few miles we left the citybehind. The full majestic expanse ofGalway Bay now opened on our left, whileto our right lay a strange, rocky, land ofhills and ancient stone walls. I began toget goosebumps. The wildness of the landand the light on the bay did somethingfateful to me and I turned and said toDunford, with a sudden certainty ‘This isthe land of my soul!’ And it really was. Thewestern vastness of Connemara, intowhich we were advancing, would becomemy favourite place in the world and thespiritual home of The Waterboys.”

The Waterboys will play the Festival BigTop on Sunday 20 July so expect to hearsuch magnificent classics as The Whole ofthe Moon, A Bang On The Ear andFisherman’s Blues. They are also a stunninglive act and a great night is guaranteed.

A NIGhT AT ThE PROMSThe Festival Big Top concerts are not all

for rock fans, classical music enthusiastshave A Night at the Proms with the RTÉConcert Orchestra, with conductor RobertHoulihan, to look forward to on Saturday26 July, from 5pm.

The Night at the Proms made its Galwaydebut at last year’s festival and treatedaudiences to music from Star Wars, andother much loved films. This year, theProms will be going deeper into theorchestral and classical repertoire, very

much in tune with the views of impresarioRobert Newman, who arranged the firstsuch Proms in 1895:

“I am going to run nightly concerts andtrain the public by easy stages,” he said.“Popular at first, gradually raising thestandard until I have created a public forclassical and modern music.”

As a result, this year’s programme willfeature the overtures to Berlioz’s RomanCarnival and Strauss’s Gypsy Baron;Offenbach’s Baracalle, from the Tales Of Hoffman and Pachelbel’s Canon.

Seated and standing tickets availablewith limited seating.

SILENT DISCOTo finish off the Festival Big Top events,

the annual Silent Night event takes placethat same evening from 9pm. This is ashow of two halves, with the first halfbeing a performance by kormacs BigBand, which mixes brass band funk and DJ skills, followed by a silent disco.

In a silent disco, two DJs will play songsto hundreds of people, who, viaheadphones can switch between the two,meaning no music will be heard, exceptthe voices of the dancers singing along toclassic hits anthems, guilty pleasures, andpure cheese.

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This year’s Absolut Visual ArtsProgramme features an eclectic mix ofIrish and international exhibitions with the introduction of a newly designedcity–centre gallery in the former PrintWorks of the Connacht Tribune on MarketStreet. With Festival–curated exhibitions byIrish artists John kindness, and PatrickO’Reilly, a stunning sound installation byCanada’s Janet Cardiff, and US artist kurtPerschke’s enormous roving installationRedBall Galway which crosses theboundaries of visual art and spectacle, this year’s programme presents an excitingmix bringing work out onto the streets andbreathing new life into old spaces.

Adapting buildings and re–presentingthem as major visual art centres hasbecome a signature component of theFestival’s impressive visual arts programmeover the past 10 years. As momentumgathers pace in the build up to Galwaycity’s bid for the European Capital ofCulture 2020, the Festival’s commitment tore–imagining and transforming buildingsas galleries reinforces the argument for a contemporary municipal art gallery forthe city.

Irish painter, sculptor and multimediaartist John kindness’ work demonstratesan insatiable curiosity for understandingsociety, politics, literature, history andculture and this most recent body of workOdysseus on show at the Absolut FestivalGallery, relates to Homer’s Odyssey.Speaking about the new body of work JohnKindness said. “It was not Homer whointroduced me to Odysseus but JamesJoyce. It was also Joyce who taught meabout layers of meaning in art; how thequotidian can play a role in the epic and

how superficial events can have earth–shaking consequences.”

Regarded as the artist's masterwork, The Forty Part Motet is a sound installationby leading Canadian artist Janet Cardiff. The installation features a reworking of theforty–part motet, Spem in alium numquamhabui translated as In No Other Is My Hopeby English composer Thomas Tallis. Visitorsto the Aula Maxima at NUI Galway areencouraged to walk among the speakersand hear the individual unaccompaniedvoices as well as the polyphonic choraleffect of the combined singers in animmersive experience. In this setting TheForty Part Motet which was exhibited atthe Venice Biennale and most recently NewYork’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, will benothing short of glorious.

Patrick O’Reilly is one of Ireland’s mostprolific artists perhaps better known andcelebrated internationally where heexhibits regularly. A hugely imaginativesculptor O’Reilly had his first professionalshow at Galway Arts Festival in 1996. Thisexhibition of new work Prelude at thetransformed space The Shed at GalwayDocks features recent sculpture andinstallation including an enormous newwork Thorn, created specifically for thisshow.

The work of Scottish pop artist EduardoPaolozzi features in two exhibitions inassociation with London’s Hayward Gallery.One of the pioneers of the pop artmovement in the UK Paolozzi was acompulsive collector, revered as a sculptorand print maker. The author J.G. Ballard,described General Dynamic F.U.N as a‘unique guidebook to the electric garden of our minds’. The other show featuring

Paolozzi’s work Pre–Pop to Post–human:Collage in the Digital Age also bringstogether 15 young artists who have creatednewly commissioned prints in response tothe ideas behind one of Paolozzi’s mostfamous portfolios. Both shows are at thenew Absolut Festival Gallery.

Other exhibitions in this year’sprogramme include Liam O’Callaghan’sIf and then…(again) which transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary andexpresses a willingness to engage with theabsurdity of life encouraging us to lookanew at ourselves, and the world in whichwe live, is at Galway Arts Centre, 47Dominick Street. Galway artist Leonieking’s Inextricably Linked at the AbsolutFestival Gallery salvages the past invibrant, reconstructed illumination, as theartist traces four generations of herancestors.

Brian Bourke & Jay Murphy Commonagecaptures the seasonal change of theConnemara landscape in this new show atNorman Villa Gallery while karen ConwayAn+Aisthēsis at University Hospital Galwayoriginated from the artist’s visit to the UCHAnaesthetic Department’s Archive, whichprovided a rich creative source forinvestigation. Paul McAree curates theannual 126 exhibition at the artist–ledGallery 126 and Maurice Quillinan’s Musicon the Water features beautiful large–scalecanvases by the Limerick–based artist atthe Galway City Museum.

And finally, the much anticipated RedBall Galway by kurt Perschke sees an enormous red ball pop up in variouslocations from 17–23 July and is sure tobecome one of the talking points ofGalway International Arts Festival 2014.

Visual Art At GalwayInternationalArts Festival

John Kindness Odysseus

Janet CardiffThe Forty Part Motet

ThIS JULYALL ROADSLEAD WEST

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