This is what I like

I should probably call it the “Award-winning” play, following the Irish Times Theatre Awards but delighted to be able to offer tickets to this Friday’s (March 4) performance.

HAMLET by William Shakespeare
presented by Second Age Theatre Company

DIRECTED by Aoife Spillane-Hinks
SET & COSTUME DESIGN by Alyson Cummins
LIGHTING DESIGN by Sarah Jane Shiels
SOUND DESIGN by Denis Clohessy

CAST: Conor Madden / Jane Brennan / Noelle Brown / Peter Daly / Mark Fitzgerald / David Heap / Darragh Kelly / Aonghus Óg McAnally / Frank McCusker / Anna Shiels McNamee / Fergal Titley 

HELIX, Dublin : Thurs February 24 – Fri April 8
EVERYMAN PALACE, Cork : Tues March 22 – Fri March 25
TOWNHALL THEATRE, Galway : Tues March 29 – Fri 1 April

Second Age Theatre Company brings you an exciting, dynamic and original production of HAMLET.

The play opens on a cold night in the Danish palace of Elsinore. The King of Denmark has been murdered by his brother Claudius, who not only takes his seat on the throne, but marries the newly widowed Queen, Gertrude.  

A grief stricken, and betrayed Prince Hamlet, determines to avenge his father’s death, but is consumed by a crippling inertia and agonises over his quest for revenge.

The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness, from overwhelming grief to seething rage, it explores the themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

This Second Age production promises to be an arresting and heady take on one of the greatest tragedies of all time.  Join us at the Danish Palace of Elsinore, for an evening of intrigue, treachery, and tragedy.

Directed by Aoife Spillane-Hinks, who is creating a quite a buzz on the theatre scene, this new production will create what Second Age do best: presenting classic works in a clear, fresh and faithful manner. Second Age always finds the perfect balance between presenting work that is faithful to the text, whilst remaining relevant and resonating with modern audiences.

Hailed as one of Shakespeare’s greatest works – the play is not about bad or evil people but about human beings living in an evil system and caught up with the trappings of luxury and power. It is the depth of characterisation that allows Hamlet to be revisited, reinterpreted and reinvented in seemingly infinite ways. 

As is characteristic of these Second Age productions, audiences can be sure they will be treated to a visual delight.  Designer, Alyson Cummins will be taking on both the Set and Costume design and her Danish palace of Elsinore promises to be an extravagant, expansive set, offering a myriad of staging possibilities and a few surprises.

Another name making waves in Irish theatre is actor CONOR MADDEN who will play the title role in this Shakespearean tragedy.  Conor’s distinct physical and impressive stage presence will bring an individuality and edge to the role. Conor may be known to many from his previous appearances on the hit TV shows RAW, THE CLINIC, and LOVE/HATE.

Joining Conor on stage is a stellar Irish Cast that includes some of Ireland’s most experienced talent such as Frank McCusker, Jane Brennan, Darragh Kelly, David Heap, Aonghus Óg McAnally, Peter Daly and Noelle Brown together with some fresh young talent such as Anna Shiels McNamee, Fergal Titley and Mark Fitzgerald.

There are more details on the Helix’s website.

To win tickets to Friday night’s performance of HAMLET at 8pm, March 4, at the Helix, Dublin, just stick a comment below. Winners will be picked on Thursday afternoon.

Thanks to Conleth and Second Age for the tickets and opportunity.

Delighted to further my relationship with Dublin’s Gate Theatre and to help promote Irish Theatre by offering this competition.

You could win one of two pairs of tickets to see God of Carnage, the new play in the Gate Theatre, either Monday or the uber fancy opening night next Tuesday, 8 February.

GOD OF CARNAGE

By Yasmina Reza; translated by Christopher Hampton

Two sets of parents meet to resolve a conflict that began between their children on a playground, when one child hit another knocking his teeth out with a stick.

What was supposed to be a civilised meeting turns into a barrage of name calling, tantrums and tears. A comedy of manners…without the manners.

This is a hysterical comedy when the gloves come off, dirty laundry is aired and the grownups find themselves in their own playground.

With Donna Dent • Ardal O’Hanlon • Owen Roe • Maura Tierney

You can buy tickets here. 

God of Carnage is 90 minutes with no interval and starts at 7.30pm. 

Tickets costs: Mondays and matinees are €25, Tuesday to Thursday €32 and Friday and Saturday are €35. Students can get €15 tickets Monday to Thursday.

I have two pairs of tickets to give away - one for Monday and one for the gala opening on Tuesday night -

• 1 pair of tickets for Monday 7^th (normal ticket price €25)
• 1 pair of tickets for Tuesday 8^th (normal ticket price €32)

Just post below with which night you’d prefer tickets for and I’ll pick the winners Monday lunchtime.

Big thanks to Jennifer in the Gate Theatre for this. Find them on Facebook here, on Twitter here and the website’s at http://www.gatetheatre.ie.

The No Drama theatre group started on Boards.ie and I’m delighted they’re bringing Terry Pratchett’s Wryd Sisters to the Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square West in November - it’s Nov 3 to 6 at 7:30pm and tickets are €15.

You can buy them here.

Some details from the press release:

No Drama Theatre
presents an amateur production of
Terry Pratchett’s® Wyrd Sisters.

Adapted by: Stephen Briggs
Directed by: Patrick O’Callaghan
Assistant Director: Lisa Towell

Allow us to escort you to a world beyond your wildest imagination: Magic, Mystery, Murders, Kings, Cover-ups, Witches, Spells, Rustles in the forest….

Discworld® Wyrd Sisters is the sixth of Terry Pratchett’s® multi-million selling Discworld® novel series, famed for its humour and fantastical setting.

Adapted by Stephen Briggs, and directed by artist and animator Patrick O’Callaghan, this play is resonant of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Wyrd Sisters features prophesies, murder, magic and disguise. The story is set in Discworld®, a large disc resting on the backs of four giant elephants, all supported by a giant turtle as it swims its way through space.

Pratchett’s® cult-like following has seen spin-off books, films, games and even Discworld® Conventions held by avid fantasy and science-fiction fans throughout the world. Pratchett®, the second most read author in the UK has sold over 65 million books worldwide and earned both an OBE for services to literature in 1998 and knighthood in 2009.

Neil from No Drama - on twitter here, blogs here - dropped me an email to tell me how it’s going:

Its been a busy time in the No Drama house with our ever looming first performance of Wyrd Sisters on 3rd November!  

Putting on a Pratchett piece presents challenges on many levels.  Nailing Pratchett’s universe, the humour, the production values and of course the die hard fans who know Discworld inside out!  

But we also have to mindful of Pratchett’s virgins and to put on a performance to please all audiences.

The cast stands at 16 people and the crew is as large.  Its the largest No Drama production yet.  

Cast, director (Patrick O’Callaghan) and Assistant Director (Lisa Towell) are in rehearsals four nights a week at the moment.  Morale is high.  

Patrick needs his cast in top form and as well as the rehearsals themselves, Patrick and Lisa also have meditation and workshop sessions for the cast!  A visit to rehearsals at the moment will find some of the cast in parts of their costumes and to an observer things are coming along nicely!

On the production side, the crew are working hard to bring things together.  One of the most important props, the cauldron, proved to a mission in itself!  

Unable to locate a suitable cauldron, our Production Manager (Alan Rogers) set about making one himself.  With note paper in hand, he took a trip to the local DIY store, stocked up, and locked himself up for 72 hours.  

When he emerged we had a cauldron (and a very tired Production Manager!)  And when I asked him how he was, his reply said it all, “I haven’t had a beer all weekend”!

Our costume and prop team have also been busy.  We wanted to avoid cliched medieval dress for the production and really want the outfits to add capture the mysticism of the Discworld universe.  Of course having 16 actors to dress means 16 times the effort!  We have soured material and garments from all over Ireland and the UK!

Tickets went on sale a few weeks back and its easy to see the appeal of Terry Pratchett given sales to date.  We’re now hatching plans for what our audience can expect on entering the Teacher’s Club.  

We really want people to feel they have entered Discworld and for the duration of the play, forget the real world, sit back, relax and maybe enjoy a glass of Scumble while we bring Wyrd Sisters to life!

I’m looking forward to seeing this one! Best of luck to the cast and crew :)

Don’t they all look great? That’s Fiona Shaw, Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan in the ABBEY THEATRE production of JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN by Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Frank McGuinness. Directed by James Macdonald on the ABBEY stage, 13 October – 20 November 2010. Pic by Ros Kavanagh

Press release:

ABBEY THEATRE PRESENTS ‘JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN’ STARRING LINDSAY DUNCAN, ALAN RICKMAN AND FIONA SHAW

13 October 2010 - 20 November 2010 (Previews from 6 October – 12 October)

The Abbey Theatre is proud to present a major new production of Henrik Ibsen’s, devastating and darkly comic JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN in a new version by Frank McGuinness, as part of this year’s Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival.

Directed by James Macdonald, the cast includes outstanding actors – Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman and Fiona Shaw. JOHN GABRIEL BORKMANopens on Wednesday 13 October (previews from Wednesday 6 October) on the Abbey stage for a six week run.

Along with Duncan, Rickman and Shaw, the cast for this superb production includes Cathy Belton, John Kavanagh, Amy Molloy, Marty Rea and Joan Sheehy.

John Gabriel Borkman (Alan Rickman) was once a great man, wealthy, powerful and revered. He gave up love for success and was handsomely rewarded.

But now, disgraced and destitute after a financial scandal and prison, the former director of a bank paces out each day, alone in an upstairs room, planning his comeback. Downstairs his wife Gunhild (Fiona Shaw) lives a parallel life, plotting for their son to restore the family’s reputation.

The claustrophobia of their lives is shattered once and for all with the arrival of Gunhild’s twin sister Ella (Lindsay Duncan), the woman whose love Borkman gave away…

Set design is by Tom Pye, lighting design by Jean Kalman, sound design by Ian Dickinson while the costumes are designed by Emmy-winning designer, Joan Bergin.

Sign language interpreted performance: Thursday 11 November. Audio described and captioned performance: Saturday 13 November.

The organisation acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council.

Booking and information on www.abbeytheatre.ie and (01) 87 87 222.

Show: Little lliad
Where: Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 2.
When: 1:15pm and 6pm until Saturday - some dates sold out
Duration: 40 mins
Price: €12/€10

What they say:

Thom is a soldier on his way to Afghanistan. He calls to say goodbye to his old friend, Evan, a writer. Together they want to work on Homer’s lost poem, The Little Iliad – the tale of the end of the Trojan War. But first they need to agree on what the story is.

One performer is live. The other one isn’t. You listen in on their skype conversation. An intimate piece of theatre about making art and making war from an award-winning Canadian company.

My review in 700 characters:

I liked this lots. It’s a clever and interesting technique for what is, essentially, a one man play in an intimate setting - an audience of 20. The set-up may seem odd - why wear headphones? - but as soon as it becomes apparent why half a sculpture and a laptop on a desk are needed, you’ll see how quickly you’re enthralled by this conversation between friends. It makes the classic Iliad story - one I hadn’t heard before - accessible and relevant and I forgot about the headphones, forgot about the others around me and I just wanted to know whether an agreement would be reached. “What keeps us seperate is loss” is a lovely line and Evan’s engaging acting made me feel part of something bigger.

I was asking on twitter yesterday about digital storytelling and in a way, that’s exactly what this is. See it even to see how it’s done. My thanks to Fringe for the review ticket. Photos from here.