Ireland
theartsdesk in Dublin: St Patrick's Day Festival 2011Sunday, 20 March 2011
“What’s the story?” It’s a question you’ll hear again and again in the streets and pubs of Dublin. You can tell a lot about a nation from their greeting; the traditional salutation of northern China, born of decades of famine and physical hardship,... Read more... |
Two Door Cinema Club, RoundhouseSunday, 13 March 2011
Bouncy: if there is one word that sums up this hot young Northern Irish band, that would be the one; there is a Tiggerish enthusiasm to their music that encourages bouncing, clapping, arm-waving and generally having a good time, which is exactly... Read more... |
His & HersSunday, 06 March 2011
Ken Wardrop is a young Irish film-maker who has been winning awards since his days at the National Film School in Dublin. His & Hers, his feature debut, is no exception: it won the World Documentary Cinematography award at last year’s Sundance... Read more... |
Moment, Bush TheatreMonday, 28 February 2011
At the moment, most of the energy in British new writing seems to be coming from American and Irish playwrights. This is such a regular phenomenon, one that comes around every few years, that it seems idle to speculate on the reasons for it; surely... Read more... |
Imelda May, Liquid Room, EdinburghSunday, 13 February 2011
When it comes to the Seven Ages of popular music we are now well into the post-retro era. In 2011 every artist is a magpie and every song sails out beneath a pirate flag, greedily plundering where it pleases. When everything that has gone before is... Read more... |
Q&A Special: Musician Bob GeldofTuesday, 08 February 2011
Bob Geldof only shuts up in the end because a plane he should be on is imminently taking off for India, and he is still in his local South London pub, refusing to let a heavy cold stop him from talking like others drink - with unquenchable relish.... Read more... |
Interview: Playwright Enda WalshFriday, 04 February 2011
No prizes for guessing what the future holds for the four Irishmen ensconced in the empty swimming pool in Enda Walsh’s latest play, Penelope, which opens at Hampstead Theatre next week. For these unfortunate creatures are the last of Penelope’s... Read more... |
A Festival of Brian Friel, The Curve, LeicesterSaturday, 13 November 2010
Last year Brian Friel became an octogenarian. Yet the Irish playwright who has been greeted by the English like no other has so far failed to have that fact either celebrated or acknowledged with a retrospective festival by theatre’s major shakers... Read more... |
Ash, Liquid Rooms, EdinburghThursday, 11 November 2010
So, did they play all the singles? Well no, not all of them, given that they’ve released 26 of the buggers in the past year alone, frisbeeing one out every fortnight in the sort of kamikaze experiment contemplated by only the truly inspired or the... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Dublin: UNESCO City of Literature and Treasury of ArtSunday, 17 October 2010
The Celtic Tiger ran rampant through Ireland during the boom years of 1995-2007 when national institutions expanded their collections, galleries popped up and collectors, buyers and artists had a rare time. With literature, the new young Chick Lit... Read more... |
Jason Byrne, Leicester Square TheatreWednesday, 29 September 2010
It takes a very talented comic indeed to warm the main room at the Leicester Square Theatre, a venue that is situated beneath a Catholic church and which, vampire-like, can suck the life out of even the most buoyant of audiences. Fortunately, Jason... Read more... |
The Big Fellah, Lyric HammersmithMonday, 27 September 2010
When cultural talk drifts toward Mr Big, thoughts tend to turn to Sex and the City's Chris Noth, whose New York is world enough and time away from the doomed metropolis populated by the "big fellah" played by Finbar Lynch in Richard Bean's play of... Read more... |
