Entertainment
Spiegeltent brings burlesque glamour to Comedy Carnival
Galway’s Vodafone Comedy Carnival will centre around a unique venue, the 500 person Spiegeltent in South Park.
Around the year 1900, “Magic Mirror Tents” or “Spiegeltents” were built in Belgium to be used as travelling dance halls. Mirrors made it possible to make discreet eye contact with others. These Magic Mirror tents were the domain of the night owls, heartbreakers and dream chasers. They were legendary and remain a symbol of the wild ‘fin-de-siècle’ nightlife.
In recent years, there has been a Spiegeltent revival and a select few still travel the world hosting unforgettable nights of quality entertainment. Each one is considered a performer and has its own name and identity.
This October, Galway is being visited by the stunning 1930’s Spiegeltent ‘Paradiso’. It combines the concepts of a ‘Kabaret Salon’ with an intimate concert hall. Like every old theatre, her ghosts are said to travel with her. They are woven into the ballooning velvet canopies, circular teak dance floor and stained cut-glass windows. Standing alone in one is eerie, you can imagine the intimate booths, ornate bars and bevelled mirror columns holding a million secrets.
When the full house signs go up however, everything becomes charged. There is electricity in every live performance. In the Spiegeltent, magic is commonplace. The ordinary becomes extraordinary and the extraordinary becomes magnificent.
This catalytic effect is never more pronounced than at a comedy show. The atmosphere is charged. The jokes are more potent and the laughs are louder and longer.
Festival sponsors Vodafone are building a comedy village around the Spiegeltent as South Park becomes comedy HQ for twelve days. There will be bars, food stalls, mini theatres and more. Quirky delights will abound and that’s just outside the tent.
Inside the tent, we imagine that festival headliner Tommy Tiernan will feel right at home on the kind of stage where Marlene Dietrich sang ‘Falling In love Again’ in the 1930’s. The rest of the lineup is just as impressive. With kid’s shows by day and the adult stuff at night, there’s something for everyone.
Fancy seeing Reginald D Hunter, David McSavage, Glenn Wool, Red Bastard and John Colleary? Well you can because they are all on together and that’s just one night. There truly is something for everyone. There will also be an opening, a mid-festival and a closing Gala held in the Spiegeltent this year featuring the very best acts in the festival and some surprises. Tickets are on sale now. Early purchase is advisable.
Got a group of 8? Book a private booth with table service and priority access for you and your friends. Whatever you do, make sure you come down early and enjoy a true festive atmosphere. All shows are fully seated and ridiculously comfortable.
In a city that is more than a little proud of its gorgeous Arts Festival Big Top, Spiegeltent Pardiso is a welcome guest and a magnificent addition to our growing festival.
See www.vodafonecomedycarnival.com for more details.
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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