FROM SHAKESPEARE to history’s forgotten women, and from Gombeens to Brian Friel, the Cúirt International Festival of Literature promises Galway a feast of theatre from Tuesday April 21 to Sunday 26.
Galway Youth Theatre will perform Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, directed by Max Hafler, in the Nuns Island Theatre from April 20 to 26 at 8pm.
The great Brian Friel will be celebrated at this year’s Cúirt. To mark his 80th birthday, actors Catherine Byrne, Rod Goodall, and others, will read from his plays Faith Healer (April 21 at 8pm ), Molly Sweeney (April 23 at 8pm ), and Dancing At Lughnasa (April 25 at 8pm ) in the Town Hall Studio
UCD chemistry professor Dermot Diamond and actor Fergus Cronin have joined forces for a theatre show about Flann O’Brien which will be staged in the Town Hall Studio on April 25 at 4pm. The Science Of Flann O’Brien takes a look at the surreal science and ideas that lay behind such works as The Third Policeman.
Female figures from the world of history and myth like Mrs Freud, Medusa, Queen Kong, and Emma Darwin will come together in Mephisto Theatre’s production of Carol Ann Duffy’s comedy The World’s Wife, in the Town Hall Studio on April 25 at 10.30pm.
The Gombeens need a home
For the last six months, the Gombeens theatre duo have been in Gort, talking to the town’s Brazilian and Irish populations, recording people’s stories and anecdotes.
Miquel Barceló and Jonathan Gunning have transcribed these stories and dramatised them into a 45 minute show entitled Stories Of A Yellow Town.
Barceló and Gunning say Stories Of A Yellow Town is a “celebration of common people voices. A thousand voices speaking one story that focuses on the relationship of two communities, the Brazilian and the Irish, living together.”
The Gombeens will present Stories Of A Yellow Town in a variety of locations for Cúirt. It can be seen from April 21 to 23 in private homes
As a result, The Gombeens are looking for two home owners to host Stories Of A Yellow Town. Interested home owners (or home renters ) are asked to supply an audience of 10 - 15 people, an average sized front room, and The Gombeens will do the rest. If interested call Jonathan on 086 - 1741699.
The duo will also present the play in the Galway Social Space on April 24 at 7pm and 9pm; the Spirit Centre, 34 Nuns Island on April 25 at 7pm and 9pm; and in the Róisín Dubh on April 26 at 5pm and 8pm.
The Gombeens will also take part in the Stand-Up Theatre event in the Nuns Island Theatre on April 24 at 10.30pm where various Galway actors will give 10 minute presentations of their favourite theatre characters and writing.
Tickets are available from the Town Hall Theatre on 091 - 569777. Information can also be obtained from the Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, on 091 - 565886.
