ArtScape: For the second time in little more than 18 months, Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue is to lose his special arts adviser, writes Brian O'Connell. Tony Sheehan, who is to be the new artistic director of Triskel Arts Centre in Cork, will follow in the footsteps of Fiach MacConghail by relinquishing his role as O'Donoghue's adviser.
The news means that, after Sheehan steps down at the end of this month, there may be no arts adviser in place, which could affect the continuity of Government arts policy.
Sheehan's move is a return to the venue where he started his arts career in the late 1980s. He is expected to take over the reins from outgoing artistic director Penny Rae in early September.
Last year, Sheehan (below left) was director of community-based projects for Cork 2005 and a member of the programming team for the Capital of Culture project. He says his decision to return to Cork was taken solely on professional grounds.
"When the role came up it was a huge opportunity," he says. "I'm an arts manager by profession and I have a long association with Triskel. I started my career in the arts on a Fás scheme in 1987, so it's extremely exciting now to be going back as artistic director."
In the intervening period, Sheehan worked as director of the Fire Station Artists' Studios in Dublin, where he gained valuable insights into community arts practices and community development, as well as the visual arts.
"I'm especially looking forward to being part of a process to evolve and redefine the centre, in a city which has just been European Capital of Culture," he says. "I'm also keen to work directly with artists again and, in particular, community groups, which the Triskel has a fantastic policy towards. That's on a professional level - but on a personal level I'm also looking forward, and thrilled at the prospect of returning home."
Sheehan refuses to be drawn on who his likely successor will be at the Department of Arts. Having spent little more than a year as arts adviser, his only comment is that he will miss the challenges of the role.
"My time as adviser went very well and was hugely rewarding," he says. "I'll not only miss the actual role, but also working with the Minister. I saw the position at Triskel advertised a number of weeks ago and it was only then I began to think about changing roles. It's not an opportunity that comes along very often."
The Triskel has undergone extensive renovations in recent years, and now has theatre, gallery and cafe spaces.
"It's too early to think about potential programme choices," says Sheehan, "except that I will be looking to connect directly with all the key stakeholders as well as the creative community in Cork to help the Triskel evolve both as a concept and an arts centre."
Tigh Fili on the move
Tigh Fili has announced that, after 21 years at the site of Thompsons Bakery in Cork, the company is moving to new premises at Carrolls Quay, where its office and gallery will be located in the new custom-built Cork Arts Theatre, writes Brian O'Connell. The multidisciplinary artist resource centre has found the financial and special demands of its long-held premises too difficult to maintain.
"The premises here is very large, with over 5,400sq ft," says artistic director Maire Bradshaw. "It's a very old building, one of the oldest bakeries in Ireland. A call centre has opened up overhead, so we held on as long as we could, but it was only a matter of time before we had to go. The rent had also doubled, so economically it wasn't viable any more."
A special event was held yesterday evening to celebrate the centre's 21st anniversary and to mark its move.
The Carrolls Quay space will be more suited to its artistic needs, says Bradshaw.
"Our new location incorporates a gallery, 100-seat theatre and office space, and training centre," she says. "We'll be taking everything with us, basically. Last night we had our last reading in our old premises, with Maurice Harmon, Sheila O'Hagan, Eugene O'Connell, John W Sexton and Patrick Cotter reading from their work, followed by a bit of a party."
Having published more than 130 titles, Tigh Fili's remit as a publishing house will not be adversely affectedly by relocation.
"I guess the main problem was that the old building was too vast and the various elements were spread too wide," says poet Eugene O'Connell. "In the new building the concentration will be on book publishing, as well as readings, from both new and more established poets. So the good work of the past two decades will continue."
Tigh Fili at Thompsons Bakery will close to the public next Thursday, and will reopen at Carrolls Quay on Sunday, October 1st. The current exhibition, It's Not All Hunky Dory, will continue until next Wednesday. For more information, go to www.tighfili.com.
'Paddy' gets past the censor
It's been a long time coming, but Paddy, the Lee Dunne-scripted film banned by the Irish censor in 1970 because of its sexual frankness, is set to have its Irish premiere next month, writes Michael Dwyer, Film Correspondent. Re-submitted to the film censor's office, the movie finally received a certificate on Tuesday, when it was passed with a 12A rating.
The Irish Film Archive will present the belated premiere of Paddy at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin on Wednesday, September 13th, when Dunne will be the guest of the honour. After the screening he will sign copies of his reissued and once-controversial novel, Goodbye to the Hill, on which Paddy is based.
The film features Des Cave in the title role, as Paddy Maguire, a delivery boy for a Dublin butcher. Paddy is preoccupied with seducing women, and one of them, a widow (played by Maureen Toal), gives him a few pounds for his regular services. Milo O'Shea co-stars as Paddy's best friend, an idler who encourages him to join an insurance firm, where he falls for a colleague (Dearbhla Molloy).
The cast also includes Peggy Cass, Judy Cornwell, Marie O'Donnell, Desmond Perry, Clive Geraghty, Ita Darcy, Pat Layde, Vincent Smith, John Molloy, John Kavanagh, Mark Mulholland and Danny Cummins.
Reviewing the film in its February 1970 edition, British publication Monthly Film Bulletin described Paddy as "a sort of cross between Alfie and The Ginger Man". The references are apt given that the original 1966 film, Alfie, starring Michael Caine, was one of the very few films restricted to audiences aged 21 years and over when it opened here, and that
JP Donleavy's novel of The Ginger Man was banned in Ireland for years.
A year before Paddy was filmed, Lee Dunne collaborated on the screenplay for Wedding Night (also known as I Can't, I Can't), which chronicled the problems of a young married couple played by Dennis Waterman and Tessa Wyatt. It caused a sensation when it was shown at the 1969 Cork Film Festival, which was denounced from the pulpit for screening it.
'Exiles' in London
A rare production of James Joyce's only play, Exiles, opened in the Royal National Theatre in London this week, writes Terence Killeen. Exiles is not often performed, partly because it is very problematic as a drama, and partly because of the inevitable copyright difficulties with the James Joyce estate.
The last productions in both Dublin and London were in the early 1970s and a plan for an Abbey production to mark the Bloomsday centenary in 2004 had to be abandoned.
In Britain, however, a production cannot be prevented once a royalty payment is made to the copyright holder (the situation is less clear-cut here) and it is on this basis that the London production is being staged. In fact, the National Theatre described Stephen Joyce as "helpful" in regard to permissions for the production.
The cast of the London Exiles, directed by James McDonald, includes Adrian Dunbar, Dervla Kirwan, Peter McDonald and Marcella Plunkett. James McDonald is best-known as the director, at the Royal Court Theatre, of the controversial Sarah Kane plays, Cleansed, Blasted and 4.48 Psychosis.
Exiles presents a somewhat different challenge: the play is notoriously wordy, and it is understood that some cuts in the text have been made to improve the dramatic pace.
The opening of the current London production (the last one in the city was directed by Harold Pinter in 1971) will encourage hopes that Dublin may soon again witness this puzzling piece, which is certainly of great interest from a biographical and literary standpoint, whatever its merits as a drama.