Macnas for shows in China and Australia

Date Published: 24-Jan-2013

Community Theatre Group Macnas has a busy couple of months ahead as company members prepare for performances in China in February and Australia in March.

They will premiere Chaosmos, a newly devised piece at the Chaoyang International Spring Carnival in Beijing from February 10-15 while their Boy Explorer heads to the WOMAdelaide festival in Australia from March 7-11.

Initiated in 2002, the Chaoyang International Spring Carnival is a highly anticipated event taking place over the Chinese New Year Holiday period with an attendance of more than 400,000 visitors. This year Ireland has been awarded ‘Country of Honour’ by the Festival and with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs Macnas have been invited to showcase Irish Street Theatre and celebrate Chinese New Year in an uniquely Macnas way.

Choasmos is an exciting, ethereal performance with vivid and stunning costumes, bespoke imagery, stilting beasts, masked performers, musicians, suitcases, lotions, potions, a music box and a bag of curiosities, according to General Manager of Macnas, Sharon O’Grady.

Meanwhile, the well-travelled Boy Explorer, who began a Quest for Brilliant Ideas in Ireland last year, will continue his journey Down Under with an appearance at Peter Gabriel’s International Music and Arts Festival, WOMADelaide, in South Australia. The Boy will rub shoulders with music legend Jimmy Cliff as well as some of the world’s leading music performers and over 15,000 visitors each day.

Although he tested his sea legs on a trip to Scoil Ronáin on Inis Mór in December, this is the Boy Explorer’s first time going overseas and casting his net further afield.

It’s a very exciting time for the company, with so much new work in the offing and many requests to present at home and abroad. “This will be one of the most exciting years in the long history of the company”, says Sharon.

In the early years of Macnas, the company toured extensively at home and abroad, and most famously supported U2 on their international Zoorapa tour. However in subsequent years, there were problems in the company, largely due to the lack of a permanent Artistic Director.

Since city woman Noeline Kavanagh took over that role nearly five years ago, Macnas has entered a new era of creativity and its invitations to China and Australia, following successful outings to festivals in the UK in 2012, reflect that.