Vibrant Theatre Festival celebrates its 10th year

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Galway Theatre Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, “is part of a wider network of people who support us, who love theatre and who have helped us to get to here”, said its Director Máiréad Ní Chróinín at the launch of the 2018 programme on Tuesday as she thanked all who had enabled the event to reach this significant milestone.

The Festival, running from May 4-12, will celebrate “a new generation of young artists whose energy, commitment and vision make a vital creative and cultural difference to Galway and Ireland,” according to the Director.

Youthful energy was to the fore at the launch in the city’s Biteclub on Abbeygate Street, with guests including Fregoli Theatre, Turas Theatre Collective and Little Cinema, all Galway based, and of whom are staging shows at the Festival. There too was performer and writer Elaine Mears who is presenting Una, based on stories and memories of the legendary Una Taaffe of Taaffe’s Shop in the City’s William Street. This work in development weaves recorded interviews, photographs, film and movement to uncover the hidden life of this renowned woman. It will be in Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre at 6.30pm on May 8 with donations on the door.

Una is being presented as part of the Made in Galway strand of the Festival, which focuses on seven works that are still in development.

This strand enables artists to test elements of their new work and gives audiences an opportunity to offer positive feedback. It includes a work from the Macnas Youth Ensemble entitled the Crom Project and Home from Bread and Salt Theatre Company. This group takes its name from the ingredients which people throughout the Middle East offer as a welcome to visitors. Made up of artists from different nationalities, it aims to build relationships and a great understanding between Middle Eastern and other communities in Galway. Home is a work in progress adapted from stories and accounts of people who fled their war-torn homelands and now live in Galway.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.