Entertainment
Mephisto to stage new production of Eclipsed
Mephisto Theatre Company will present a new production of Eclipsed by Patricia Burke Brogan at the Town Hall Theatre from August 21-31.
This powerful drama was first performed by Punchbag in 1992 when it shone a light on on the lives of the forgotten Magdalen women. It won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival and was revived successfully at the Town Hall in 1998.
The production will be directed by Niall Cleary and the cast will include Teresa Brennan, Catherine Denning, Siobhán Donnellan, Caroline Lynch, Zita Monahan, Emma O’Grady, Margaret O’Sullivan and Liz Quinn.
The lives of the characters played by these eight women converge at the Magdalen Laundry at the fictional town of Killmacha.
There is Sr Virginia, the young novice who is shocked by what she witnesses and who struggles to obey. Mother Victoria is watching her, and watching everyone, including one of the penitent women, Cathy who keeps trying to escape. Nellie-Nora reads tea leaves and resigns herself to her hidden, limited life in the laundry. Meanwhile, Mandy dreams of marrying Elvis and Brigit fights like a tigress to find her baby.
That baby is Rosa, who traces her mother to the laundry 30 years later. By then the laundry is closed and dusty, but the wounds are still raw, the humour is still dark, the women’s spirit are still fighting.
Mephisto has been producing work in Galway since 2006. Past productions at the Town Hall Theatre include The Mai by Marina Carr, The Honey Spike by Bryan MacMahon and Grenades by Tara McKevitt.
Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell
Aileen Henderson has long been one of Galway’s most talented session vocalists, performing and recording with a huge variety of acts around the country. Her ability as a singer across styles and genres has seen her front an Irish tour featuring collaborators of Vulfpeck and the Bay City Rollers. And at times, the fullness of her performing schedule has made it difficult to focus on her original material – but that has started to change.
Last June, Aileen released her debut single, Lights Out – a refined, hook-heavy country pop effort that spelled the perfect introduction to her sound.
And its successor arrived last month. Just What I Need is anthemic, guitar-driven pop music that showcases the best of Aileen’s vocal style and ability to manipulate melody. She explains that arriving at this form of songwriting was about expanding her range and ultimately returning to the music she knows best.
“It’s very pop driven but also has country elements,” Aileen argues.
“I feel like that [sums up] my style perfectly at the moment. It’s quite straightforward – a love song that tells the story of a chaotic world where the only thing that’s needed is the company of a loved one. You could call it romanticist or however you want to interpret it.
“I’m inspired by a lot of country artists like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain, but I do listen to a very broad range of music. My Spotify is very random from Billie Eilish to Andrea Bocelli. I always played country music up until I was about 16 I’d say, and then I decided this is just not cool at all and I stopped for a while.
“I remember getting really into Katy Perry and trying to fit into that kind of style, and then I went to music college in BIMM. That definitely diverted me from country music for a while.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Arts Week with Judy Murphy
A range of arts organisations, including Bealtaine, the Polish Arts Festival, Brú Theatre and the Town Hall Theatre, will join forces from Thursday, April 28, to Saturday, May 6, to present work at the 14th annual Galway Theatre Festival.
The diverse productions will include drama, children’s theatre, comedy and workshops.
At the launch of the 2023 Festival in Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre on Tuesday evening, its Creative Director Aoife Noone said the event “offers something for everyone”, with audience being encouraged to “take a chance on something new and unexpected”.
She called on people to “explore new perspectives, challenge assumptions, and broaden our understanding of the world” via the festival, which, post-Covid, is celebrating “hope, resilience and the arts”.
Productions will include Conversations After Sex by THISISPOPBABY, winner of the Best New Play award at the 2021 Irish Theatre Awards; The Patient Gloria by Pan Pan, winner of the Scotsman Fringe First Award and Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; and The Examination by Brokentalkers, an award-winning production that explores mental health and human rights in the prison system.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
After more than four decades of performing on stage, the Tuam-based Marian Choral Society are embarking on their latest challenge, with plans to stage Evita in the autumn.
While they have announced details of the new production, they have yet to ringfence a cast for the epic. Auditions will take place over the coming weeks.
Chairperson Stuart Barrows told The Tribune that it was an exciting challenge for the group and expressed his delight that so many new members had joined the society.
The Marian Choral Society welcome back Ronan Lardner as Director for Evita, as well as Shane Farrell as Musical Director. And Jay Molyneux is on board for the first time as Choreographer for this production.
The musical will run from Tuesday, October 31, to Saturday, November 4, and will be staged in St Jarlath’s College Hall, Tuam.
The Marian Choral Society had never missed an annual production since their formation back in 1977 – until Covid struck. The pandemic meant that they had to abandon their plans for a couple of years – similar to other artistic groups.
Covid brought to an end a proud record of 43 consecutive productions, during which time they never missed a year. In fact, in 2013, they embarked on two shows to mark Tuam’s 400 celebrations.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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