Entertainment
A Christmas Carol at the Town Hall
Charles Dickens’ festive classic, A Christmas Carol returns to the Town Hall Theatre next Monday and Tuesday night in a one-man show, adapted and performed by English actor Clive Francis.
This show received standing ovations at the venue when it played there last December as part of a 12-date tour of Ireland. It’s being brought back by Wicklow-born producer and actor Conor Sheridan, who trained in London where he is currently based.
He first saw Clive – a well-established actor, who has worked with companies from the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre and regularly features in West End productions – in this show three years ago and describes it as “the most wonderful 70 minutes I have ever spent in a theatre”.
“It was also the first time I got to grips with the [Christmas Carol] story, which is really about the human condition and human redemption and getting someone to look at themselves,” Conor observes. “You can’t watch Clive in A Christmas Carol and not see something of yourself.”
Clive Francis first crossed paths with Dickens’ renowned skinflint, Ebenezer Scrooge while playing the role in Ian Judge’s acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of A Christmas Carol at London’s Barbican Theatre in 1994 and 1995.
The RADA trained actor, who made his West End debut in 1966 opposite Donald Sinden in There’s A Girl in My Soup at the Globe Theatre loved the part. After it ended and inspired by Dickens’ first performance of A Christmas Carol in Birmingham Town Hall in December 1853, Clive created his own one-man show. He is the first actor since Dickens to give a one-man performance at Birmingham Town Hall, where his production has become an annual event and attracts a huge audience.
Clive narrates the Christmas Carol story and also plays every notable character in the piece, which was originally written by Dickens to make people aware of the scandalous conditions children were suffering in factories and mines around Britain, many of them working as much as 18 hours a day for barely the price of a loaf of bread..
When Conor first saw Clive perform it, he felt it would be a perfect touring show. This year it’s been in London, Bath’s Theatre Royal and of course, Birmingham, where it was attended by over 1,000 people. Now it’s back in Ireland.
“It’s a great piece of theatre. It’s simple and dramatic and I remarked that maybe should do something more with it. Suddenly we were putting a tour together.”
The show has gone down really well in Ireland, partly because Irish people love descriptive writing and that’s something Dickens is an expert at, Conor feels.
“With this show, you get both dialogue and description. And Clive’s eloquent style of performance means he is suited to that kind of period drama.”
• Tickets for A Christmas Carol cost €20 / €16 or €60 for a family ticket (for four people) and can be booked at 091-569777, tht.ie or at 091-569777.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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