A performance by an Aboriginal tribe from a remote community in the Northern Territories of Australia is being tipped as the highlight of this year's Earagail Arts Festival in Co Donegal.
The organisers are promising "the most ambitious and most spectacular outdoor theatre production ever to be staged in Ireland". An area along the shores of Lough Gartan will be transformed into a scene from the Australian outback. The "stage" will consist of an area of "desert", 20 by 22 metres of sand.
Successfully competing against other countries to stage the Australian theatre in its festival, Donegal is one of only three European locations where it will be performed.
Crying Baby by the Marrugeke company uses storytelling, dreaming tales and acrobatic stilt-dancing to tell the story of one man's experience of Australian colonisation.
It is narrated by an Aboriginal storyman in his own language with simultaneous translation in English, and in Irish for the final show. It is showing from July 12th to 14th and tickets cost £10/£6.
This year's festival runs from July 9th to 22nd and includes a total of 118 events being held in 22 different towns and villages.
For home-produced drama, the Ballybofey-based Fada Theatre Company will be performing Knives in Hens. Written by a Scottish playwright, David Harrower, the play is set in a 16th-century rural community with three central characters: a ploughman; his wife; and a miller. It is described as a tale of "love, lust and murder" and opens in Ballybofey next Tuesday.
Fada is an independent theatre company and this show was produced in association with the Earagail Arts Festival. Knives in Hens was first performed in Edinburgh in 1995, and Fada hopes to take the performance to the Dublin Theatre Fringe Festival this year.
Donal O'Kelly's Catalpa is also included in the festival programme.
The music programme includes Altan, Donal Lunny, The Undertones, the Alison Brown Quartet, the Screaming Orphans and Colombian percussionist Roberta Pla and his 15-piece Latin Ensemble.
For a festival programme, including open-air events, readings, exhibitions and children's events contact 07429186 or visit website: www.donegalculture.com