Search Results for 'Midnight Court'

Maelíosa Stafford did not really have a chance, he was destined for a life in theatre, drama was in his blood, acting in his DNA. His first time on stage was in a Taibhdhearc production his mother was acting in … he was still in his mother’s womb. Both of his parents, Seán and Máire, had made an enormous contribution to the arts scene in Galway and especially to theatre in the west, in various guises as actors, directors, translators of plays into Irish, writers of pantomimes, costume designers, librettists, and drama teachers.

Maelíosa Stafford was an actor, director, producer, and educator and one of the most influential, successful, innovative, and charismatic of Galway artists.

In 1992 The Galway film industry was in its infancy, there was no TG4, Ros na Rún, Town Hall Theatre or Palas Cinema.

‘The capital, Galway, is a terrible place. It has of course St Nicholas, one of the few remaining preReformation churches; the frontispiece of a Renaissance town house erected as a gateway to the public park; and a medieval fortified house about which they tell the well-known story of the Lynch who hanged his own son when the sheriff wasn't available. At least once a year while I was director of the Abbey theatre we got a play on that. From Miss Edgeworth's account of her travels to Galway it would appear that as a theme for tragedy it was popular a hundred years ago. But even before that I had a lively hatred of the town....'

Widely revered as one of Ireland’s finest interpreters of song, Seán Tyrrell is in the Town Hall Theatre studio next week with Message of Peace, his celebration of Irish hero John Boyle O’Reilly (1844-1890).

After an unprecented ten-night sellout run in the summer of 2017, Seán Keane will bring his very popular concert to Westport Town Hall theatre every Wednesday for another summer residency.

As 2017 draws to a close, thoughts turn to the New Year and Galway theatre goers have much to look forward to from both home-based and visiting companies and theatre-makers.

The supremely talented traditional duo of Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill perform at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Monday, November 13, at 8pm. Martin Hayes is regarded as one of the most extraordinary talents to emerge in the world of Irish traditional music.

Ireland’s greatest short story writer is probably the late Frank O’Connor (1903-1966). Born in Cork city, his autobiography An Only Child (1961) is ironically a celebration of his vivacious but fastidious mother, and their survival from his alcoholic, and at times brutal, father.