ArtsScape: New plays from Tom Murphy and Seamus Heaney will be staged as part of The Abbey's centenary programme next year, writes Rosita Boland.
There are five elements to the programme: European plays; new Irish plays; a summer run of classics; an autumn run of eight plays from the repertoire, including Frank McGuinness's Observe the Songs of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and Tom Murphy's The Gigli Concert. Ten one-off readings and a touring programme of three plays are also part of the programme.
Among the new works will be a version of The Cherry Orchard, by Tom Murphy, and a version of Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney. Peter Sheridan's play, Finders Keepers, is set in the Dublin docklands of the 1970s. Stuart Carolan's début play, Defender of the Faith, looks at Irish republicanism. Eugene O'Brien's Savoy is set in a cinema in Edenderry. Paul Mercier's Smokescreen is described intriguingly as "a challenging work of magic, mystery and mischief for the times we live in".
"We feel there's something for everyone," artistic director Ben Barnes said, before the presentation. "Bringing in the European productions will be both a contrast and a complement to our own plays."
The programme is unfortunately notable for the paucity of work by female playwrights. One of Lady Gregory's plays, Spreading the News, will get a one-off reading during the Dublin Theatre Festival. Marina Carr's Portia Coughlan gets a full production, and there is a new play for children, The Wolf of Winter, by poet Paula Meehan. Both these productions are on the Peacock stage, not the Abbey. And that's it. It's a miserable representation, given that the Abbey is celebrating 100 years of existence.
The Abbey does have a reputation for attracting a predominantly middle-class, middle-aged audience. Speaking to the packed auditorium, Eithne Healy, chairwoman of the Abbey board, stressed that "the age profile of our audiences is something we are quite concerned about, and which we will be working on".
John McColgan, who will be directing Dion Boucicault's The Shaughraun in June, introduced a video, aimed at fundraising in the business community. One of the featured actors on the video was Liam Neeson, who stated bluntly: "The Abbey needs some definitive piece of architecture." On December 3rd, Barnes, McColgan and Healy will travel to New York for a fundraising evening in the Metropolitan Club, supported by Irish actors, including Gabriel Byrne, Fionnuala Flanagan, and Rosaleen Linehan.
McDonagh's new high
It's official: Martin McDonagh is perfectly capable of shocking, provoking, and dividing spectators without the benefit of an Irish backdrop, writes Karen Fricker. McDonagh's The Pillowman, his first play not set in Ireland, opened on November 13th at the Royal National Theatre to reviews that divided between the most fulsome of praise and resounding moral opprobrium. Two things that the critics can agree on: the play is McDonagh's bleakest ("makes The Lieutenant of Inishmore look like a quaint Ealing comedy" - whatsonstage.com); and Cork man John Crowley's production, with Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent, is superb.
The play is set in an unnamed totalitarian state where a writer, Katurian Katurian Katurian ("my parents were funny people"), played by David Tennant, is being interrogated by a pair of policemen (Broadbent and Nigel Lindsay).
Katurian writes brutal fairy stories about children being tortured and killed, which appear to have sparked real-life copycat killings; is Katurian therefore responsible for the children's deaths? It turns out that Katurian's retarded brother, Michal, committed the murders, and that when they were children, the boys' parents tortured Michal every night for seven years to provide Katurian with inspiration for his already budding talent for literary gore.
Katurian then faces a dilemma: should he kill himself and his brother to protect the sanctity of his writing? Several critics have noted that this examination of art, violence, and responsibility seems to echo and reflect controversies over McDonagh's earlier work. "It's reasonable to ask," says the Times's Benedict Nightingale, "if McDonagh, who has often been accused of exulting in horror, isn't asking himself some tough questions. What is the effect of gruesome stories or, indeed, McDonagh's own plays? Can art corrupt?" Paul Taylor of the London Independent, for his part, sees, in the fictional story-writer's determination to save his creations at all cost, the arrogance of a playwright who "like Wilde . . . seems to have nothing to declare but his genius". Susannah Clapp in the Observer, celebrates McDonagh's "brilliant, mythic imagination" as represented in Katurian's gross-out fairy tales, which are acted out story-theatre style above the stage. Aleks Sierz (he who coined the term "in-yer-face theatre") says in What's On that it is "the best play of 2003". The Pillowman is at the NT's Cottesloe Theatre until March 27th 2004, with the possibility of extension. www.nt-online.co.uk
Healthy art at work
The Minister for Arts, John O'Donoghue, has launched two arts and health publications to celebrate the success and growth of the arts within health services in Ireland, writes Christine Madden. They are The Arts & Health Handbook: A Practical Guide, published by the Arts Council; and The Practice of Arts in Healthcare, by the Eastern Regional Health Authority. They coincide with the ERHA's adoption of the Arts Council's arts and health policy; it is the first regional health authority to take this step. In future, it will encourage the implementation of the Percent for Arts Scheme across all capital projects within the ERHA area. This scheme, which has been in place since the 1980s, applies to all Government departments with construction budgets, and makes available 1 per cent of the cost of all capital development projects, up to a ceiling of €63,486, towards arts work in that area.
Welcoming the ERHA's decision, Mary Cloake, arts development director with the Arts Council, said she believed it would stimulate a grassroots movement for increasing cooperation between the arts and health boards and hospitals across the country. "There is in fact a lot going on in the rest of the country on a local level, and we hope to continue to work closely with all of these." At the launch, the Minister said that "in 2000, there were 150 arts projects in the health services; in 2003 it is estimated this number already has doubled". He also made reference to the upcoming Third International Arts and Health Conference, taking place from June 25th to 27th, 2004, which, says Cloake, "should look at the different ways artists can be supported" for arts employed within the healthcare sector. The Arts Council's publication, The Arts & Health Handbook: A Practical Guide, describes its three-step programme: to support artists and arts organisations to work within the health sector; to assist health boards and hospitals to develop policy on arts in health; and to promote principles of good practice. The ERHA's The Practice of Arts in Healthcare drawn up by the authority in conjunction with the three area health boards in the region, details five pilot arts-in-healthcare projects involving people with intellectual disability, those with physical disability, those recovering from addiction, older people and children. Further information from Sheila Gorman at the Arts Council, tel: 01-6180246.
Planxty reunion
It's been a long time coming but most fans of powerhouse traditional music are likely to blink twice at the news that Planxty are reuniting after two decades, writes Siobhan Long. Christened after a particular type of 17th-century harp tune, Planxty were defined by their focus on songs, and on marrying folk songs with traditional dance tunes. Their spirited, innovative repertoire hinged on the previously untested combination of bouzouki, mandolin, pipes and guitar. The four founding members, Christy Moore, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvineand Liam O'Flynn, have whetted their appetites sufficiently for what they themselves have christened 'The Third Coming' (having previously reformed in 1979). They tested the waters in The Royal Spa Hotel in Lisdoonvarna on October 11th last, where they received a rapturous reception from a packed audience.
Planxty play Glór Irish Music Centre in Ennis on January 23rd and 24th, and Vicar Street, Dublin, on January 30th and 31st, and February 4th, 5th, 11th and 12th.
Talking music
The Forum for Music in Ireland is holding a one-day meeting in Griffith College, Dublin, on Monday, which promises an eclectic line-up. Hosted by the Leinster School of Music, the Lobbying for Music event will address subjects such as How to Lobby Government, and Creating a Lobby for the Arts. Participants include Stephen O'Byrnes, of MRPA Consultants; former government press secretary Deirdre McCrea, of Music Network; Tania Banotti, of Theatre Forum, and Joanna Crooks, of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. Contact Aisling White on 086-3219644; e-mail forum@cmc.ie