Record numbers have been attending the Galway International Arts Festival over the past 10 days and there is still lots more to see before the curtain comes down on GIAF18 this Sunday evening.
The Festival Garden in Eyre Square has proven a very popular development with the public, as locals, visitors, young, and old enjoy its relaxed atmosphere, food, and pop-up performances. Entrance to the Festival Garden is free and it is open from 10am to 10pm until Sunday. Also in the square is the Miracoco Luminarium, which finishes this Saturday. The replica of the moon is on view at the Human Biology building at NUI Galway and it will re-appear on the streets this weekend.
The festival’s production of Incantata by Paul Muldoon, co-produced with Jen Coppinger, has enjoyed rave reviews, with Stanley Townsend’s performance lauded as “electrifying” and “compelling”. The final two performances are at the Town Hall Theatre tomorrow at 6pm and 9pm.
The Heineken Big Top has already hosted five performances to sold-out crowds, and five more concerts are to come with The Flaming Lips (this evening ) and Canadian indie-electro sensation Caribou (Saturday ). These concerts will be the only Irish concerts by either this year. Madness playa sold-out concert on Friday. Also on Saturday, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra return for the Festival Proms concert at 2pm, and on Sunday, Jenny Greene and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will close out the Heineken Big Top for 2018 with a sold-out concert.
Highlights for the remaining days of the festival include acclaimed circus troupe Circa presenting Humans, which promises to be full of thrilling acrobatics. This is a family-friendly show and runs nightly at 7pm in the Bailey Allen Hall at NUI Galway until Sunday.
Other shows running this week include The Aspirations of Daise Morrow; Irish National Opera’s production of Orfeo ed Euridice; Gardens Speak, which depicts the human cost of Syrian civil war, Class, and Flight. Shows continuing on from week one are Enda Walsh’s Office 33A, Port Authority, and Wit.
The First Thought Talks series on the theme of home continue as do the visual art exhibitions in the Festival Gallery, Market Street, and at other locations. There is late opening in the Festival Gallery until 8pm Thursday to Saturday. See also www.giaf.ie
