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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Theatre For One review: Intimate setting makes for wonderful experience at Cork Midsummer
Theatre for One, Emmet Place, Cork Midsummer Festival, ★★★★★ All of the city is a stage is a central tenet of Cork Midsummer Festival, one that is underscored as the queue begins to grow outside the Theatre for One venue near Cork Opera House and the starting time is delayed as we wait for a noisy street-cleaning machine to pass by. It all adds to the camaraderie and anticipation for the offerings from Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals, as does the welcome offer of sunscreen from the staff as the midday sun makes its presence felt. Theatre for One presents five-minute pieces performed by a single actor to an audience of one in a confessional-style booth. This year, the theme is Made in Cork, featuring plays by six Cork writers, directed by Julie Kelleher and Eoghan McCarrick. As the door shuts, the sudden darkness of the plush red velvet surrounds strikes a particularly Proustian chord with this former convent school girl. The religious theme continues to echo in The Green Line, written by Michael John McCarthy and performed with affecting conviction by Marion O'Dwyer. The set-up is quickly and skilfully achieved, as an older woman at a New York bus stop unburdens herself to a fellow waiting passenger — I startle when she asks my name. As she reminisces about her childhood in Ireland, the New Yawk accent is replaced by the musical lilt of her West Cork upbringing. Wearing a cross, she has been at the church to pray for her late husband and imagines an idealised version of her own funeral at home before dismissing the idea. She indicates that my bus is coming and it's time to say goodbye. Next up is Hex, showcasing the considerable talents of Gina Moxley, who both writes and performs. She recounts a trip with her college friends to the US and an encounter with Elijah, the palm-reading hotel worker with 'a bang of Southern Gothic' whose casual aside has tormented her for years. Fragile, yet determined, she, like my friend at the bus stop, is confronting her mortality. It sounds deep but it's also very funny, employing Moxley's gift for a neat turn of phrase. The intimate, and confronting, nature of the format comes to the fore as she asks to hold my hand, commenting on how soft it is before giving me a notebook and asking me to write something for her, the text of a tattoo she plans to get across her chest. As she spells out the three words, I catch my breath at the implication and hesitate to complete her request. It's one of the most powerful and profound moments I have ever experienced in a theatrical setting. As the screen comes down, my eyes prickle with tears. I need a moment to compose myself but the door opens, the darkness recedes and the sunlight floods in — time to go back to the real world.
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor among cast joining Brendan Gleeson in The Weir
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Owen McDonnell and Kate Phillips are among the new cast members announced to be joining Brendan Gleeson in a new production of The Weir. The upcoming production of The Weir, which was written by Conor McPherson in 1997, will be directed for the first time by the Irish playwright. The full cast for the production has now been announced, with Vaughan-Lawlor (Love/Hate, Say Nothing) playing Finbar, McDonnell (Bad Sisters, Killing Eve) playing Brendan, Phillips (Peaky Blinders, Wolf Hall) as Valerie and Seán McGinley (That They May Face the Rising Sun, A Whistle in the Dark) as Jim. McPherson said: "I couldn't be happier to be working with this brilliant cast. "It's always exciting embarking on a new production but to revisit The Weir in the company of these particularly accomplished artists feels like a singular privilege and I look forward to sharing this story with audiences in Dublin and London very soon." A description for the play reads: "On a stormy night, four local men gather in an isolated pub in rural Ireland. Their usual banter and everyday lives are disrupted by the arrival of a woman called Valerie. "The stories they weave to impress her are gripping, haunting and deeply unsettling. Little do they know that she has a profoundly personal story of her own, the sharing of which will leave them all shaken." The Weir, which is produced by Landmark Productions and Kate Horton Productions, will run from 8 August to 6 September at 3Olympia Dublin. The production will then transfer to London's West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 12 September to 6 December 2025. This will mark Gleeson's West End debut.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Theatre for One: Made in Cork review – One actor, one audience member and a life unravelling
Theatre for One: Made in Cork Emmet Place, Cork ★★★★☆ An assistant in a red jumpsuit ushers me into a black container on the plaza in front of Cork Opera House . I step into a tiny space about the size of a toilet cubicle and styled like a peep-show booth: inbuilt seat, red plush walls, stage lights. The door shuts behind me. Then a panel slides open to reveal a woman in tears. She begins to berate me for dumping her. I have been a total cad – that much is clear – and I begin to feel genuinely sorry. This is It's Not You, a short play by Cónal Creedon , performed with striking emotional realism by Áine Ní Laoghaire as part of Theatre for One: Made in Cork. Conceived by the theatremaker Christine Jones, the format is simple but powerful: six five-minute plays, each written for a one-audience-member-at-a-time booth, performed in succession throughout the day (and free to watch: you just join the queue). READ MORE This 2025 edition, presented by Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals in association with Cork Midsummer Festival and Cork Opera House, features new work by six writers with strong Cork ties: Creedon, Katie Holly, John McCarthy, Michael John McCarthy, Gina Moxley and Louise O'Neill. Directed by Julie Kelleher and Eoghan Carrick, the experience is confronting – and that's its strength. The extreme proximity of the performer, the unwavering eye contact and the impossibility of leaving demand emotional engagement. These are characters unravelling, opening the mess of their private lives to you; it's theatre as confessional. Theatre for One: Made in Cork – Tommy Harris in Amibition, by Katie Holly. Photograph: Jed Niezgoda Theatre for One: Made in Cork – George Hanover in The Wedding, by Louise O'Neill. Photograph: Jed Niezgoda In Katie Holly's Ambition, a depressed magician (Tommy Harris) fumbles through tricks during a job interview for a corporate party. It's clear how much he needs this gig. Even his rabbit, he suspects, looks at him with contempt, just as his girlfriend did – before she dumped him. In Louise O'Neill 's The Wedding, George Hanover plays a mother in a changing room, navigating layers of guilt and love as she searches for a dress to wear to her daughter's big day. Theatre for One is powerfully transporting; lightning-quick and raw. It leaves an emotional after-image that lingers as you step out of the booth and back into the plaza, back into the real world. Theatre for One: Made in Cork runs daily, except for Monday, June 16th, until Sunday, June 22nd, as part of Cork Midsummer Festival
Irish Post
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Reunion, Mark O'Rowe's gripping family drama, gets London premiere
MARK O'ROWE'S gripping family saga Reunion will get its London premiere later this year after enjoying sellout runs in Dublin and Galway. The 2024 play, O'Rowe's first in six years, centres on a family gathering on an island off the west coast of Ireland. The arrival of an unexpected visitor brings tension to the surface in the production by the Galway International Arts Festival and Landmark Productions. It will get its London premiere at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn in September, with the majority of the original cast making the trip across the water too. Reprising their roles are Ian-Lloyd Anderson, as Aonghus, Venetia Bowe, as Janice, Stephen Brennan as Felix, Leonard Buckley as Ciaran, Simone Collins as Holly, Desmond Eastwood as Stuart, and Catherine Walker as Gina. They will be joined by Peter Corboy as Maurice and Kate Gilmore as Marilyn, with further casting due to be announced. Venetia Bowe, Ian-Lloyd Anderson, Desmond Eastwood, Catherine Walker, Leonard Buckley, Stephen Brennan and Simone Collins star in Reunion by Mark O'Rowe 'I am absolutely delighted that Reunion will be seen by its first London audiences this September,' O'Rowe said this week. 'The Kiln is such a beautiful, intimate space, and I can't wait to see how the show plays there before we return to the joyful expanse of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, and hopefully beyond.' Culture Ireland will support the performances at Kiln Theatre. Following its time in London the play will run at the Gaiety Theatre from October 21 to November 2. Reunion runs at the Kiln Theatre from September 11 to October 11. See More: Dublin, Galway, Kiln Theatre, London, Mark O'Rowe, Reunion
RTÉ News
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Cork Midsummer Festival returns with a cultural lark by the Lee
From a 24-hour play to a horde of giraffes of the city streets, Festival Director Lorraine Maye previews the 2025 Cork Midsummer Festival programme, bringing an eclectic array of cultural activities to Cork city this June. Cork is the stage for Cork Midsummer Festival, where extraordinary Irish and international artists meet audiences in theatres, streets and unexpected places. So many people come together in the city to make this festival happen and it channels Cork's unique sense of adventure and playful spirit. The thing I love most about it, is that it always feels so alive - there are so many different ways to encounter live theatre, dance, music, circus, literature and art. There are always imaginative ways for people to participate and get involved and it's where the stories of the city meet the stories of the world. There are shows you won't see elsewhere in Ireland, art that will be seen for the very first time and moments that will never be repeated. From 4pm on Saturday 14 June until 4pm on Sunday 15 June, we will gather in Cork Opera House to watch Eileen Walsh, one of our finest actors, do something truly remarkable. She'll perform the same theatrical scene 100 times opposite 100 different men, most of whom are not actors. She has never done it before and will never do it again. The show is Nat Randall and Anna Breckon's The Second Woman and acclaimed versions with other actors have been performed in cities all over the world. For audiences – who can come and go over the 24 hours, stay for 30 minutes or the full event – it's a once in a lifetime experience. Another part of our Australian season is Burnout Paradise by Pony Cam, where performers race against the clock to complete a series of tasks – all while running on treadmills. They aren't always successful – at a recent performance in St Ann's Warehouse in New York they admitted they failed 29 out of 44 times performing the show. No two shows are alike. Amanda Coogan, one of Ireland's most celebrated artists, returns to the festival with an incredible new durational work Caught Among the Furze. This 7 day immersive performance invites audiences to step in and out of moments of stillness and raw endurance and will evolve and change each day. Following the sell-out success of last year's debut performance of the Solstice Céili by Martin O'Donoghue at Elizabeth Fort, this year is centred around new co-created dances, fire and magic. It's an unmissable celebration of Midsummer ritual and new traditions and all kinds of fun and joy. I'm really excited about all of the new work that will be presented across the city. On Emmet Place, Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals' Theatre For One: Made in Cork will feature new short plays by Cónal Creedon, Katie Holly, John McCarthy, Michael John McCarthy, Gina Moxley and Louise O'Neill. Cork theatre maker Irene Kelleher will present a cracking double bill of shows including Stitch in site-responsive locations and emerging Cork artist Aaron O'Neill will present his hilarious new play Bottlenose: a Mystery for Modern Ireland. At The Everyman, the first audiences will see a new production of Caryl Churchill's masterpiece Escaped Alone by Hatch Theatre Company and The Everyman in association with Once Off Productions. We're thrilled to be working in partnership with UCC for the first time this year to develop a new literature strand called Western Frequencies. Co-curated with Danny Denton, events will take place in venues on campus and feature bestselling international writers such as Claudia Rankine and GauZ' with translations from Frank Wynne, alongside award-winning and celebrated Irish writers Patrick McCabe, who will perform with David Murphy and Michael Lightborne, and Sinead Gleeson in conversation with her long-time collaborator Aideen Barry, our festival artist in residence. Through our participation programme, we have a special focus this year on amplifying the voices of young people. Twelve Cork girls take control of the airwaves in Action Hero's Rebel Resistors Radio Club. While the young people participating in the Midsummer Youth Assembly take over Fitzgerald's Park. The festival will open with a giant installation of the sun at St Fin Barre's (Helios by Luke Jerram) and end with a herd of huge French giraffes parading down St Patricks Street (Les Girafes by Compagnie Off). Join us in June for bright nights, bold art and unforgettable live encounters.
