Archive News
Galway gets set for Culture Night
Date Published: {J}
Blue Teapot Theatre Company will showcase a world premiere of the screenplay 84 written by Len Collin, as part of Culture Night Galway this Friday, September 23 at Druid Lane Theatre.
The action is set in a dystopian world redolent of Orwell’s Oceania, the cold war communist states, or Nazi Germany; yet is still recognisably Ireland. Those who do not ‘fit in’ with the regime’s ideals are ‘disappeared’. However, as long as there are people willing to challenge authority there is hope for the future.
Using actors with intellectual disabilities, Blue Teapot produces high quality, professional performing arts. The collaboration with Len Collin sees them move from theatre to the medium of film. Petal Pilley, Director of Blue Teapot Theatre describes the project as groundbreaking.
“This has never been done before. The Blue Teapot actors themselves chose the medium of a screen play. We are delighted to have Len Collin on board as our writer and it’s a privilege to have attracted someone of his calibre.”
As part of a partnership between Blue Teapot, Arts & Disability Networking (ADN) and supported by Fishamble, The New Play Company, Westport based screenwriter Len Collin was commissioned to write a short film script for Blue Teapot’s actors. The resulting work, 84 will be premiered as a performance reading of the screenplay.
Len, originally, from Sligo and has written for film, theatre and television including The Clinic, Ultimate Force, The Bill, Casualty and Eastenders. He is set to direct his first feature, To Dream with Open Eye in 2012.
This new writing project is part of an initiative to pilot a new model of developing local capacity in the area of arts and disability in Ireland.
The screening is at 8pm, so secure a seat contact 091 520 977 in advance.
You can begin your journey through Galway Culture Night with some morning music from musicians who are also celebrating their last day of training with the Access Music Project. At 11am in St Patrick’s Bandroom, Fairgreen, musicians who have trained under the project will perform a mix of original, folk, rock, a Capella and percussion pieces. The concert concludes at 12.30.
Other Culture Night events include a full day of celebration from Bell, Book and Candle Book and Music Store in the West end of Galway City.
Their event, showcasing some of best established and up and coming artists, independent music labels and musicians in Galway and beyond. The day will be run in association with Wingnut Records, an independent music shop, which now hosts approximately 500 releases of new Irish music on tape, CD and vinyl.
For the first time, the store will release an album plus booklet, featuring 15 tracks covering diverse and talented artists from a host of different musical genres. This will be only be available on the day. The booklet accompanying it is printed in a very old music/fanzine style, making this a must-have for any music fan.
Sliabh Bán estate in Ballybane will host an open house and café for the night. Since July, artists Ailbhe Murphy and Ciaran Smyth of Vagabond Reviews have been conducting research for a Public Art Commission awarded by the Galway City Council for Sliabh Bán. This Friday, they are throwing open the doors of Number 18 to showcase the work they have done so far.
Other events include a walking tour of Galway city, visits to art galleries and studios, as well as celebrations at the Museum, the Arts Centre, and NUIG. Full details are available from www.galwayculturenight.com
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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