Connacht Tribune
Centre stage
Lifestyle – Professional Galway drama troupe, Fregoli, will be in the spotlight next week when they premiere an exciting original production for the Galway Theatre Festival in the home of Druid Theatre. They have come a long way since their debut show in 2006 as Dara Bradley found out.
Depending on your bent, perceptions of Project 06 can be roughly separated into two broad camps. It was either an unnecessary, divisive distraction from the good work of the ever-evolving Galway Arts Festival, which was producing quality, varied programmes that compared favourably with arts festivals around the World.
Or it was a timely reminder that, in 2006, Galway Arts Festival had lost its way, had grown elitist, moved on from its roots in the community, and had diminished involvement of local acts, artists, musicians and companies.
But for a small group of NUI Galway students, Project 06 was much more than that: it was the mother that gave birth to the theatre company that later became known as Fregoli.
A group from Dramsoc, the college’s society for students with an interest in theatre, staged a children’s show, Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, during the one-off alternative festival.
Though it was small-scale stuff – they didn’t even have a theatre and it was put-on at the university squash court – this Project 06 production was the seed that grew into one of Galway’s best-known theatre companies.
“It kind of provided the momentum,” recalls Maria Tivnan, who has been Fregoli artistic director since the beginning.
“We were having the craic, and we just enjoyed being part of something. It created a sense of urgency and sense of momentum. It created the belief that you could take over the world. That’s good.
“I think you need that at times and that was encouraged by Ollie Jennings (founder of both Galway Arts Festival and Project 06). It was a ‘we are in Galway and we can do this work’ spirit,” says the Barna-based, Roscommon native.
The next milestone of the road to establishing a theatre company in Galway City came when Maria, and other students who were there from the beginning – Rob McFeely, who is now her husband, Dara Finn, Rebecca Ryan, and Tracy Bruen – gained recognition at Irish Student Drama Awards, scooping two gongs.
Rob won best director; Maria won best actress; Dara was nominated for best actor; and their production was nominated for best production.
“One of the judges said to me after, ‘I assume you’re doing this?’ And I sort of said ‘well, not really, we’re sort of doing things here and there’ but she said: ‘Well, you should be’. That sort of finalised it, if you like. We sort of said, ‘well why aren’t we?’. It came out of that,” says Maria.
The name came later, discovered by Dara, who was studying medicine.
Fregoli is a syndrome, “which is a psychological disorder where you think that everyone in the room is the one person playing many parts,” she says.
It was named after a famous Italian 18th century impersonator, Leopold Fregoli.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
