GMS production of Legally Blonde set to wow the Town Hall

Thu, Apr 07, 2016

Next week in the Town Hall, Galway Musical Society proudly presents smash hit show, Legally Blonde The Musical. The story is based on the novel Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film of the same name which starred Reese Witherspoon. This is a fresh and effervescent evening of musical fun in which we meet Elle Woods, the college sweetheart and homecoming queen who doesn't take no for an answer. So when Elle’s boyfriend, Warner, dumps her for someone ‘serious’, she puts away the credit cards, hits the textbooks, and heads for Harvard Law School. Along the way, she proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style. This high-energy pop musical's fun and catchy score features music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and a hysterical book by Heather Hach.

'As to plot: has life got one? Not that I know of'

Thu, Mar 31, 2016

JOHN BANVILLE has just completed a new Benjamin Black mystery. "This one is a change from the usual," he tells me. "It's set in Prague in the late 1500s at the court of Rudolf II."

Maloney’s Dream - a story of the 1916 Rising accessible for children

Thu, Mar 24, 2016

SET DURING Easter Week 1916, Maloney’s Dream, the exciting new show for children from Galway-based theatre company Branar Téatar Do Pháistí, receives its world premiere at the Town Hall Theatre, with performances from Wednesday April 6 to Saturday 9.

Madame de Markievicz On Trial

Wed, Mar 16, 2016

ONE OF the most striking personalities in the 1916 Rising was Constance Markievicz, the Anglo-Irish aristocrat who became a militant nationalist and was among the rebels who fought in the vicinity of St Stephen’s Green.

'Music has its own way of making fun of you as a musician'

Thu, Mar 10, 2016

KÍLA BRING their funky brand of hip-shaking, smile-making, groovy trad to Monroe’s Live on Wednesday March 16, where audiences can expect music from across their long career, including tracks from Suas Síos, the band's 10th studio album, launched to critical acclaim last year.

'I got stuck in Achill in a good way'

Thu, Mar 03, 2016

THE TOWN Hall bar might be an unlikely venue for viewing fine art but under Margaret Nolan’s canny stewardship it has hosted a succession of superb shows. Next week sees the opening of the venue’s latest exhibition, a series of Achill landscapes by ex-computer boffin, ex-accountancy student, ex-clothing retailer, and ex-rock musician, Padraig McCaul, a Dubliner who has made his home on the Mayo island.

'It’s the story of my life, the pain and joy'

Thu, Mar 03, 2016

HAVING WOWED judges and audiences last year with her appearances on The Voice UK, Galway singer-songwriter Sharon Murphy has launched her new album Where I Belong, featuring 11 new, original, songs, as well as her terrific version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’.

'As a traditional singer one is always on a quest of discovery'

Thu, Feb 25, 2016

GALWAY SINGER Mary McPartlan has just released a terrific new album entitled From Mountain To Mountain a tribute to the late legendary American folk song collector and singer Jean Ritchie.

Girls Names - restless post punk explorations

Thu, Feb 18, 2016

GIRLS NAMES have never been content to stay in one musical spot for too long. They have long been restless, eager to explore the past, which in turn, has conversely open avenues to the future. They are an ever evolving prospect.

'I am the creator of dub and creator of love'

Thu, Feb 11, 2016

IT IS 10:30pm and Hurricane Bridgett, or what ever they are calling it this week, is beating sheets of rain against the window, almost in time to the dread beat emanating from the speakers while Lee 'Scratch' Perry’s Super Ape LP spins on the record deck.

Taking a satirical scalpel to the body politic

Thu, Feb 04, 2016

"THE BEST satire has always been militantly about the present," declares Galway poet and critic Kevin Higgins, who turns his witty, devilishly humorous, eye and words upon Alan Kelly, Irish Water, Official Ireland, and Jeremy Corbyn’s enemies, in a new collection.

EIPIC - what does it mean to be a teenage hero?

Thu, Jan 28, 2016

ON THURSDAY February 4 at 10pm, TG4 screens the first episode of its offbeat new comedy drama series EIPIC, in which a group of small-town Irish teenagers take over an abandoned post office to kick off a musical rebellion. The six-part series was scripted by Mike O’Leary, one of the writers on the cult E4 drama Misfits, and made by Maga Media Productions.

'There’s never a dull moment'

Thu, Jan 21, 2016

ON THE night of Thursday February 1 1996, Galway’s newly refurbished Town Hall Theatre officially opened with the world premiere of Druid’s production of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Róisín Dubh Comedy Clubh set to expand in 2016

Thu, Jan 21, 2016

IT ARRIVED last September with a name people thought was a typo, but as soon as they said it out loud, the penny dropped, and it made perfect, quirkily comedic, sense. Since then it has been onwards and upwards for the Róisín Dubh Comedy Clubh.

Caged birds sing in Music For Galway’s midwinter festival

Thu, Jan 14, 2016

THE NEW year might only be a couple of weeks old but it is already time for Galway’s first festival of 2016, as Music For Galway unveils its annual midwinter festival, which runs from Friday January 22 to Sunday 24th, at the Town Hall Theatre.

Language Unbecoming A Lady – a play that shows how far we’ve come

Thu, Jan 14, 2016

LIMERICK'S BOTTOM Dog Theatre Company comes to the Town Hall Theatre Thursday January 21 at 8pm, with Myles Breen’s award-winning one-man play, Language Unbecoming A Lady.

We Banjo 3 - banjoing in the New Year at Monroe's

Thu, Jan 07, 2016

MONROE'S LIVE is the place to be next Thursday as We Banjo 3 and Four Men and a Dog team up to see in the New Year in high style with an epic night of scintillating music and song. It will be a rare chance for Galway audiences to catch We Banjo 3 live this year as they are in huge demand internationally.

'I always knew I was going to write this'

Tue, Dec 29, 2015

THE KENNY Bookshop and Art Gallery recently hosted the launch of Galway artist Vicki Crowley’s absorbing memoir, Beyond the Ghibli, which traces her life from her earliest days in WW2 Malta, via many years in Africa, to settling down in Barna with her Irish husband Don and children.

Being Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk

Wed, Dec 23, 2015

THERE IS now less than a week to go to the opening performance of this year’s Renmore Panto, Jack and the Beanstalk, and excitement is building among all involved, none moreso than Richard Brown, who plays the lead role of Jack.

From Rose of Tralee to Renmore Panto

Thu, Dec 17, 2015

CHRISTMAS IS almost upon us and along with the mince pies, roast turkey and a beardy fat man in a red suit, Galwegians can also look forward, as always, to the Renmore Panto. This year’s offering is Jack and The Beanstalk, scripted by Panto Dame Peter Kennedy and directed by AIMS award-winning twins Brian and Seán Power.

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