Philistines take shelter - the 27th annual Galway Arts Festival arrives like a refreshing rain to wash the mid-summer lethargy off the city's narrow medieval streets.
Featuring a diverse mix of theatrical acts, musical showcases, comedy, literature and visual art, this impressively big-thinking celebration puts the capital's relative inaction on the arts front to shame. So instead of employing an umbrella against the artistic downpour, better just to sing in the rain while it lasts.
The first couple of days have a very Irish feel to them, with Galway theatre company Electric Bridget performing revenge comedy The Prince of Denmark and Galway Youth Theatre taking to the stage with Our Country's Good, based on Thomas Keneally's The Playmaker.
Associate director of Macnas, Mikel Murfi, directs Mark Doherty's surreal comedy Trad in its world premiere. The two main characters are a 100-year-old man and his father in a play exploring the value of tradition in our lives.
The UK is represented by The Bush Theatre's The Glee Club, a musical drama featuring five miners set in northern England in the 1960s. The Full Monty parallels don't end there: this one is stamped with the warning that it contains nudity. It's sure to be a hit.
Chinese flavour is provided by the Beijing Dance Academy, which makes its Irish début in a spectacular 20-dancer show, and the China Conservatory of Music, a 40-year-old institution with the lofty aim of promoting and maintaining traditional Chinese music.
The festival is something of a muso's paradise, with the Bobmeister General (you may know him as Geldof), former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman with his band The Rhythm Kings, Bernard Butler and Bert Jansch and Dublin-based electronic knob-twiddler Autamata all turning out.
Among the literati will be author and journalist Francis Wheen, whose latest book How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions is a witty tirade against the hollowness of modern politics and the parallel move towards the bizarre (UFOs, spiritual gurus and possibly The Corrs). Our own Colm Tóibín and American writer Dave Eggers will also appear.
Tightwads have nothing to grumble about either. Australian company Strange Fruit showcase their free outdoor performance The Spheres, which features huge colourful balls and pole-vaulting Antipodeans. Intriguing. Other free street events include the exploits of a giant puppet family in Boom Family, and lifesize cow puppets in, well, Cows.
The festival boasts a strong comedy line-up this year, with Omagh man Kevin McAleer bringing his well-honed brand of comedic miserablism. Des Bishop, no doubt relieved to be off the breadline, and Dermot Carmody are among the other comedy treats, along with Barry Murphy of the much-missed Après Match.
Galway Arts Festival July 12th - 25th. Tel: (091) 566577 for bookings. www.galwayartsfestival.ie
CIARAN MURRAY
