Entertainment
Murder most foul: contrasting treatments on two channels
True crime has always attracted great interest whether in book form or in documentaries and there appears to be a glut of these programmes on our screens these days.
So because of a local connection, I tuned in to two such programmes during the week.
The first was Crimes that Shook Ireland on TV3 which dealt with the murders of Mayo girl, Mary Duffy and Dubliner, Elizabeth Plunkett, by the Englishmen, John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, who were captured by Salthill Gardaí on the Prom in 1976.
This was a repeat but my first time seeing it and only for it had a local interest, the slow pace of it almost put me off.
The programme makers could surely have fitted it all in a one-hour slot but chose to build it around two episodes.
The narration was painfully slow and the contributors to the programme, including the now retired Garda Jim Boland whose quick wit and observant eye led to their capture, must surely have been coached to speak s-l-o-w-l-y.
There was archive footage of Gardaí doing door-to-door calls in Castlebar, where Mary Duffy was abducted and of the search for Elizabeth Plunkett in Brittas Bay.
These evil men had a string of convictions and had purposefully come to Ireland to rape and kill one girl a week. Considering this was before the Internet and mobile phones, the Gardaí did well to catch the pair who had vowed to kill one woman a week in Ireland.
Though the case of these two men and their horrendous crimes is well known, the TV3 programme lacked pace to keep viewers gripped. It basically lacked the style of the much pacier true crime programmes made for US TV.
And while the programme lacked pace, it certainly looked like something from the seventies with its reconstruction appearing like old footage, complete with the styling of the actors and the cars.
TV3 dragged it into a second programme the following week, which really doesn’t work in this fast paced world.
It should have piqued our interest with hints of what was to come in programme two but it didn’t so in all likelihood, most viewers wouldn’t have bothered to tune in the following week.
However, Cracking Crime – Cold Cases on RTE One is a highly polished series and last week looked at the death of 23 years old GMIT art student, Emer O’Loughlin in Tubber.
Her body was found in April 2005 in a burnt out mobile home, not far from her own one, which she shared with her boyfriend.
It is believed that she went to John Griffin’s mobile home to charge her phone – hours later her badly charred remains were found with no sign of the neighbour.
He was later found in Galway city but days later it appears he staged a fake drowning on Inis Mór and he is still at large.
Granted, this is a more recent crime and it is an open file, but contributions from Emer’s family made it a much more poignant programme.
The parents and her siblings were bravely open on camera. They talked about the heartbreak, the frustration of not knowing what really happened and how it had caused a wedge in the O’Loughlin family.
It was also a much shorter programme, a half hour, but it was, as a programme much more satisfying because it had a focus – it tried to refresh people’s memory to help solve a crime.
The TV3 programme obviously didn’t need to solve a crime but it should have thrown a light on what made these two evil men tick.
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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