ARTSCAPE:TO JUDGE FROM the Absolut Dublin Gay Theatre Festival's website, the hardest working theatre reviewer today is Gordon Farrell, writes Peter Crawley. Covering a huge range of productions, most of them international shows, Farrell seems indefatigable, going to several shows a day – even ones whose times clash – and generally loving everything he sees.
Farrell, however, is not a real person. But the pseudonym reveals the vestiges of an insular, underexposed festival as it gradually becomes a force to be reckoned with. Now in its sixth year and having secured a title sponsor – no easy feat in recessionary times – the two-week event estimates that it will beat last year’s box office intake of €125,000 by a comfortable margin – despite lowering ticket prices this year.
That’s an impressive return for a festival with a budget of about €25,000, just €5,000 of which comes from the Arts Council. Yet the artistic standards and professional range of the festival remain a mixed bag. In a programme featuring 27 productions, just six are Irish, something that festival director Brian Merriman hopes to redress. “When the Arts Council looks down on the event, as it appears to do so, it’s a huge disincentive to Irish companies to engage with us,” he says.
The festival itself, though, could help to incentivise home-grown participation. Although it is curated, many shows arrive unseen, evaluated on their script, subject matter or a particular company’s reputation.
Don’t come because it’s gay theatre, come because it’s good theatre, went Merriman’s original slogan. Ensuring quality, however, requires a more rigorous curatorial function. Which, in turn, requires a bigger budget or a slimmer programme.
Audiences have apparently been healthy, however. As to whether the politics of a gay theatre festival essentially outing gay creative contribution, gay characters, or themes relevant to a gay audience are progressive, Merriman is unswerving. It is not acceptable to laud the art and loathe the artist, he says. “The more we put our voices out there and our contribution is recognised, the more understanding will be reached.”
If this sounds embattled, the conservative creep of anti-gay comments (witness last year’s comments from Iris Robinson, the passing of California’s Proposition 8 or the sanctity of marriage endorsement of swimsuit competitor, Miss California) suggests this is no time for gay rights complacency. But with new kid on the block, Queer Notions, scheduled for next month as part of the LGBTQ Pride Festival, the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival may need to raise its standards to maintain its relevance. Perhaps it is time for Gordon Farrell to retire.
Final touches for Venice
The artists representing Ireland are putting the final touches to their work for the Venice Biennale in June.Meanwhile, for those who missed last year's Architecture Biennale, there's a little bit of Venice in the Phoenix Park, as Ireland's exhibit for the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale opened this week (until the end of June) at Farmleigh, Castleknock. Lives of Spacesthen goes to Kilkenny Castle as part of Kilkenny Arts Festival in August, St Munchin's Church in Limerick, the Ormeau Baths in Belfast and to London in early 2010.
Originally seen last autumn in Venice (where the Guardianrated it as one of the top 10 things to see in the city) Irelands entry in the world's largest exhibition platform for architecture, The Lives of Spaceswas created by some of the country's most acclaimed architects, each collaborating with an artist, photographer or film-maker. The nine film-based projects explore the role of space in our society, how it frames and structures the patterns and practices of our collective life, and was curated by Irish Architecture Foundation director Nathalie Weadick and UCD's Prof Hugh Campbell.
There’s an array of organisations involved (it’s a Culture Ireland initiative, in partnership with the Arts Council, sponsored by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, hosted by the OPW) and it’s a good chance to see the best Ireland has to offer, and especially cheering as architects are going through a rough time at the moment, a fact acknowledged by Arts Minister Martin Cullen at this week’s opening: “At a time of immense challenge for Ireland, including architectural practices around the country, we need to continue to invest in Ireland’s smart economy.”
Also this week, architect Orla Murphy of Simon J Kelly and Partners Architects, Co Mayo, won the Kevin Kieran Award, a research project worth €50,000 over two years, which includes designing and running a building contract for the OPW (partners with the Arts Council in the award). An architect since 1995, Murphy has been a lecturer in studio design at UCD and jointly established the Westport studio of Simon Kelly. Her project will be on the potential of architecture to enhance the experience of living, working and playing in the 21 century Irish town.
Access to theatres improves
In an letter to the editor of The Irish Timesthis week, a theatre-goer with hearing difficulties complained about not being able to hear the dialogue in All My Sonsat The Gate. But facilities for various disabilities are slowly gaining ground. On Wednesday May 27th, axis in Ballymun has its first ever access performance to cater particularly for deaf and hard of hearing audience members at Dermot Bolger's The Consequences of Lightning(at axis Ballymun from Tuesday May 19th until May 30th). The show will be captioned, with a loop system for maximum accessibility and axis hopes to continue access performances (it also has wheelchair access and guide dogs are welcome). It's the only theatre we're aware of with captioned performances, aside from the national theatre. The Abbey has had regular sign language-interpreted, audio-described and captioned performances for some time (see www.abbeytheatre.ie for dates). The captioned performances are coordinated by Arts and Disability Ireland (ADI) which got an Arts Council grant to help buy equipment and train captioners. (John Cradden wrote about captioned shows in these pages last November).
- Aosdána was obviously busy behind closed doors at its general assembly last week and a week later released details of some motions it passed (it announced the new members it had voted in immediately after the meeting). For the record, and to offer some clue about what the affiliation of creative artists discussed, the three motions it passed were: (i) That this meeting would seek representation on the appropriate city council committee which commissions public art (proposed by Ulick O'Connor, seconded by John Behan); (ii) That this assembly of Aosdána calls on the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen TD, to halt the ongoing process of implementation relating to the proposal for the amalgamation of national cultural institutions, namely: the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Crawford Gallery. (proposed by Gerard Mannix Flynn, seconded by Anthony Cronin); (iii) That Aosdána supports the application of the Minister for the Environment and the public consultative process to have the Ancient Royal and Medieval Monastic Sites of Ireland, together with the Céide Fields and Blanket Bogs of North Mayo, added to the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites (proposed by Michael Holohan, seconded by Imogen Stuart, Brian Lynch, Mary FitzGerald).
