Announcing the programme of the second Laois Arts Festival, theatre director and producer Pat Moylan said it involved two things very close to her heart: "The arts and Laois." The combination struck a resonant chord with almost everybody in attendance in Kevin Kavanagh's Gallery in Dublin.
Moylan revealed that Andrew's Lane will next stage Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest this December, to be directed by Terry Byrne.
Photographer John Minihan explained his relationship with one of his most famous subjects, Samuel Beckett; Minihan's photographs of him will be exhibited in Castle Durrow. "For a photographer, he was easy to photograph because he looked magnificent." Expectedly, he was not a willing subject. "But I managed to meet him because for 35 years I had been photographing Athy in Co Kildare. He expressed a wish to see the pictures. It was very surreal."
Brian Fay and his wife, Cliodhna Ní Anluain, approach the second Laois Arts Festival from two different perspectives. The artist Fay is contributing work to the festival's visual arts programme, while producer Ní Anluain's RTÉ radio programme Rattlebag will be hosting a public interview with the film-maker Jim Sheridan. Sheridan's new film, In America, will be previewed in Storm Cinemas as part of a retrospective.
Claiming an inflation in his street cred since recording Jonathan Rhys Meyers for a radio series on the actor's favourite author, Saki, producer Seamus Hosey looked forward to chairing the Writers Forum, involving Jennifer Johnston, Eamon Delaney, Danny Morrison and Peter Sheridan.
Willie White, artistic director of the Project Arts Centre, recalled his introduction to the arts "participating in the community games and variety show. I represented Laois with the Abbeyleix team in 1982. We were totally outclassed by the other people . . . even as I think about it now a little lump comes to my throat." His polo neck makes this difficult to confirm. The concentration of Laois expatriates gave Rita Delaney a large resource to tap for the Laois Association in Dublin, in which Kyoto Café owner Margaret Scully was enlisting. One of the few Laois people not to refer to a "Laois Mafia", Delaney later admitted she was a training sergeant with the Garda.
The Laois Arts Festival takes place from October 24th to 31st.