Arts & Culture

LEGENDARY Irish singer-songwriter Andy Irvine is coming to perform at Cultúrlann Sweeney, Kilkee on Easter Saturday, April 8. Having travelled the world with bands such as Sweeney’s Men, Patrick Street, Planxty and, more recently, Mozaik, Andy continues to pursue new combinations and styles of music. He has broadened his musical horizons over the course of his 40-year career to encompass the musical styles of countries he visits, such as the Balkan folk style of playing. After his introduction to the world of touring with Sweeney’s Men in 1965, he continued to travel the world, leaving the band in 1968 to pursue his wanderlust. He travelled through Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, studying the music traditions and styles of these nations. It was these journeys, which led him to adopt the bouzouki in his performance. This new instrument allowed him to develop his own style while learning that of the Balkan countries he visited. On his return to Ireland, Andy formed Planxty …

IDEAS are being sought ahead of an intergenerational festival to take place in Ennistymon in May. Rekindle is a festival of lost skills celebrating and showcasing the knowledge of older people in our communities that can help us all to live a truly sustainable life. Building upon the success of the first Rekindle festival of 2022, this year’s event will btake place on Sunday, May 14 at the Courthouse Gallery Ennistymon. Coordinator Katie Cogan has launched a search for older people who might like to exhibit in the festival. “So many of the skills we need now to live in a truly sustainable way were once practiced by generations past,” she said. “We’re now looking for older people with skills involving making useful things, repair, creating beautiful crafts, growing materials or foods, mending belongings or building habitats. Anyone with a skill diminishing in popularity and in danger of being forgotten. Is this you or do you know someone who matches …

QUIN Heritage Group is holding a showing and talk on Guns In The Heather a 1969 Walt Disney adventure film directed by Robert Butler and produced by Ron Miller. The film stars Kurt Russell , Glenn Corbett and Alfred Burke. Interestingly, the film was primarily shot on location in Quin, St Flannan’s College, Corkscrew Hill, Corofin and Kilfenora. Whether you are a classic movie buff or just want to get a taste of film history please come along to see the movie and meet with some of the locals who were involved in the making of the film. The event will take place on March 31 at 8pm, Abbey Room Quin Hall.

A UNIQUE exhibition of photographs by a Ukrainian Woman living in a Gort is being launched this coming Sunday, March 26 in The Hidden Gem Café in Bridge Street.  ‘Gort Night Shadows’ is an exhibition of photographs of the town and its surroundings at night, accompanied by poetry about Ireland through the eyes of Polina Bashkina who arrived in Gort in March 2022 after fleeing the war in Ukraine.  The exhibition runs up to the end of April and all funds raised will be donated to Ukrainian Animal Charities. “I started learning to draw,” Polina said. “And I ran out of black paint first. No wonder: even being far away, you are attuned to the colour scheme of your country – to the darkness that is trying to absorb the light of my Ukraine. However, in Ireland, I discovered that black could be poetic.” Polina is a writer from Ukraine who temporarily lives in Gort due to the war in her country. In November 2021, Polina’s book …

DOOLIN is the destination for a unique poetry performance on Saturday night next (March 25). Fiddle and Bow Collection will host Leitrim’s Stephen Murphy, whose exciting and authentic work is attracting huge attention.  A reading as part of Listowel Writer’s Week went viral, capturing the hearts and minds of thousands who saw video clips. John O’Connor, who has organised a Wild Atlantic Way tour for Stephen described the live performances as “incredible”. “I’ve never seen anyone to establish such a strong connection with an audience and he does everything straight out of his head,” he said. “It is quite something to witness.” Originally from rural Leitrim, Stephen is a bard in the truest sense of the term. His live performances have seen him previously called “the highlight” of the Electric Picnic by Kitty Holland in The Irish Times. He was hailed as a “poet of our age” by Irish Independent columnist Billy Keane, and “a splendid, gifted and courageous young …

IT’S CURTAIN up in Scariff for the 74th Clare Drama Festival which begins on Friday, March 24 in the Community College hall.  Chairman, Eamon Moroney, has promised a feast of entertainment for nine nights. The festival will be officially opened by Coman Keaveny, Chair of the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland. (ADCI) The adjudicator Tom Byrne ADA is no stranger to Scariff audiences, but in a different capacity, having directed Bradán Players for many years. The first performance will be Brideview Drama Group from Waterford with ‘The Father’ by Florian Zeller. This play is a thrilling exploration of who we are to ourselves when our signposts disappear with age. Saturday, March 25 sees Kilmeen Drama Group from West Cork with ‘Blithe Spirit’ by Noel Coward. This comedy will resonate with Clare Drama festival audiences, who have fond memories of Scariff’s 1993 All Ireland winning performance of the play. On Sunday, March 26, Ray Leonard Players from Claremorris bring Jimmy Murphy’s …

AFTER a three year wait the Ennis Players are back in their new show ‘Glorious!’ by Peter Quilter, with rehearsals are well underway for this four night production. Directed by Bernie Harten, this play is based on the true story of Florence Foster Jenkins. Known as ‘the first lady of the sliding scale’, she warbled and screeched her way through the evening to an audience who mostly fell about with laughter. The play details Florence’s charity recitals, her bizarre recording sessions and an ultimate triumph at Carnegie Hall in this heart-warming comedy. This production features Maeve Plunkett as Florence Foster Jenkins, Jackie Scanlan as her suffering accompanist and John Lillis as St. Clair Byfield, her boyfriend. Patricia Clune plays the sharp-tongued truth-speaking Mrs. Verrinder Gedge, Geraldine Greene is Florence’s non-English speaking Mexican maid while Emer O’Flaherty plays Dorothy, Florence’s close friend. Ricky the loyal but sleeping poodle plays himself! Director Bernie Harten says she is, “thrilled to introduce Ennis audiences …

A LIVELY night of music, song and dance is promised within the beautifully-restored walls of Cnoc na Gaoithe, Tulla, on Saturday, March 25. Since the state-of-the-art auditorium was opened last October, it has hosted packed shows featuring PJ Murrihy and Séamus Shannon, and a well-attended céilí mór to test out the new dance floor. Saturday week will see fresh, upcoming four-piece folk, ballad and trad band, The Fogues, take to the stage in a show that is set to attract an audience from across Clare and beyond. Hailed for a repertoire that covers everything “from the Dubliners to Cascada”, the band even have a bus coming from their own native Mitchelstown, such is their unique appeal. The band is made up of three Fogartys, who are first cousins, and their close friend Ted O’Brien. A champion Irish dancer, Micheál Fogarty is no stranger to Clare and has travelled overseas with Cnoc na Gaoithe, under the auspices of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. …