County prepares to celebrate 2011 Bealtaine Arts Festival

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Communities in Galway City and County are hosting a range of events as part of the country’s Bealtaine Arts Festival, which runs throughout May and celebrates creativity in older age.

One of the most special of these is in Meelick church, the oldest Catholic church in continual use in Ireland where a performance of Handel’s Messiah by Dublin’s Guinness Choir and RTÉ Philharmonic Orchestras will take place on May 14 at 7.30pm. The choir only performs the Messiah twice a year, once in Dublin and once in a location outside of the city. This performance in Meelick was booked four years ago and will form part of an arts and culture weekend for the Eyrecourt, Clonfert, Meelick Active Retirement Association, based in Ballyue, Eyrecourt. The group will have an art exhibition on May 13 and music and song on May 15. For more details contact Martin Staunton, telephone 086-8898554.

The moving, funny and inspiring play, Here We Are Again Still, which was first performed in Galway City in 2009 will be returning to its Galway roots during Bealtaine. This drama by Christian O’Reilly, about two broken men trying to make their way back from the margins, features Éamonn Hunt, Andy Kellegher and Bríd Ní Neachtain. There will be productions of Here We Are Still Again at the Station House Theatre, Clifden on May 22 at 8pm (Tel – 095 30303) and the city’s Town Hall Theatre from May 23-25 (Tel 091 569777.)

Here We Are Again Still was first produced during Galway Theatre Festival in October, 2009 and was a special commission by Galway City Council It was inspired by Mervue Soccer Club and by the personal experiences of residents of the city’s Walter Macken Place apartments in Mervue. The play was written by Christian O’Reilly (who also wrote The Good Father and Inside I’m Dancing), following a series storytelling workshops with residents of the flats.

The city based Galway University Hospital Arts Trust on Newcastle Road will be hosting two performances of the play Fruitcake, on May 28 at 2.30pm and 4.30pm, also as part of Bealtaine. This one-woman drama stars Mary McEvoy and the second of the two shows is open to the public. The Hospital Trust is also organising a tea dance, a book release, art and movement classes, a drumming workshop, and an exhibition of art produced in nursing homes. That exhibition, entitled Burning Bright will run at Galway Arts Centre from May 23-29. For details on all these events contact Margaret Flannery, Arts Officer, on Tel: 091 544 979 or Mob: 087 125 0461.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.