Laughing at Flann and 'Father Ted'

ArtScape: Contrasting strands of Irish comedy are being celebrated in a couple of different events over the coming weeks.

Next weekend sees the inaugural Friends of Ted weekend on Inis Mór in Galway, organised by a group of four Galway-based friends - Fergal McGrath, Rowena Hennigan, Kathy Morgan and Peter Phillips - who wanted to mark the ninth anniversary of Dermot Morgan's death and recreate the spirit of Craggy Island with a fun weekend. The event is shaping up to be a hoot, with events such as the Fr Jack Cocktail Evening, a Toilet Duck comedy award, the Fr Dougal Breakfast Movie Charades, the Lovely Girls Contest and Charity Auction and A Song for Europe, Crazy Golf, Hide a Nun and Seek, Ludo Aerobics, Buckeroo Speed Dating and a Ferrero Rocher Quiz Night.

Places for the weekend, limited to 100 visitors and 30 islanders, may be sold out, as some reports say the excellent website www.friendsofted.org crashed under the weight of interest. Friends of Ted is a not-for-profit body that also raises funds for charity; a proportion of ticket sales will go towards Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation.

And the perfect twist on the event was when a "row" broke out a few weeks ago between Inis Mór, the largest of the islands, and Inis Oirr, the smallest, which some claim is closer to the "real" Craggy island. The location scenes for Father Ted were, in fact, filmed around Co Clare. The organisers' solution to the row is a five-a-side football tournament to be played over the weekend, with the winner designated Craggy Island for the following year, and the loser Rugged Island. You couldn't make it up. Or buy the publicity.

That website - punctuated by messages to "Go back to the sitting room. Mind yourself now" - is worth a gander too: it features a "confess" page, where you're invited to "Get it all off your chest but do it in 3,000 characters or less! The priest on duty will e-mail you your penance."

And the following week the Third Policeman's Ball, a celebration of the work and humour of Flann O'Brien/Myles na gCopaleen, is being filmed at Vicar Street on March 1st. The evening will be televised by Park Films and will be broadcast as a 90-minute special for TV3.

Well-known comedians, actors and literary figures will perform and celebrate the work and humour of Flann to an invited audience (a limited number of tickets are available through The Irish Times - see Reader Offer, W6). Comics including Tommy Tiernan, Kevin Gildea, Barry Murphy, Jon Kenny, Owen O'Neill and writer Patrick McCabe will choose their favourite episode from a Flann work and adapt it for a one-off performance.

Flann is best remembered for novels such as The Third Policeman and At Swim-Two-Birds, as well as his satirical and surreal column of life in Ireland, Cruiskeen Lawn, published in The Irish Times under the name Myles na gCopaleen. The producer is AnneMarie Naughton of Park Films, who wanted to "take a fresh, contemporary look at his work through the eyes of well-known comedians, actors and other commentators and to bring his work to a whole new audience".

Meantime, comedy heads may also be interested to see that the Irish Film Institute is running Make 'em Laugh: Irish Comedy on Screen, a seven-week-long evening course, running on Tuesdays from February 27th. The course will chart the evolution of Irish comedy on cinema and television, from the whimsy of Jimmy O'Dea in Blarney (1926) to the spoofery of Naked Camera (2006). Screenings will be followed by talks from film and television historians, writers, producers and comedians, including Dr Lance Pettitt, Hugh Linehan, Ferdia MacAnna, Donald Clarke, Mike Murphy, Frank Kelly and Dr Harvey O'Brien. Subjects include Blarney (1926), early television (Hall's Pictorial Weekly, Likes of Mike), the Irish abroad, The Last of the High Kings (1996), Rat (2000), shorts (Give Up Yer Aul Sins, Pitch and Putt), recent TV shows (Stew, Naked Camera, Paths to Freedom). Tickets are€€80/€65 concessions (01-6795744, eveningcourse@irishfilm.ie, website www.irishfilm.ie).

All fair in War and Politics

There are a couple of caveats in the programme for War and Politics, the literary festival opening in Cork on February 22nd. Audiences are advised, for example, that no funding from political organisations or foreign governments has been accepted for the festival, which is organised by the Munster Literature Centre, and that all contributing authors are presented on a personal and non-partisan basis, writes Mary Leland. Such caution suggests there's a lot to be expected from an event that brings writers from Belfast, Israel, Cork and China together, although again the MLC insists it has no agenda "other than to present literature of the highest standard on the theme".

While most of the readings and events will take place at the Triskel Arts Centre, the weekend, which begins on Thursday, opens with a reading by Beijing-born Shan Sa at UCC at 8pm. Shan Sa has lived in France since 1990 and her five novels have been written in French, winning two Prix Goncourts. She will be reading from her novel, Empress. Thursday will also have a political round-up of work by Eugene O'Connell, Nuala Ní Conchúir, Patrick Cotter and Billy Ramsell, followed by Waterford's Thomas McCarthy and Tel Aviv-born Amir Or, whose work includes translations from classical Greek and Latin. Danny Morrison and Gerry Murphy read on Friday, along with Colm Tóibín and Brian Turner. Ciaran O'Driscoll reads with William Wall on Saturday, followed by Theo Dorgan and, again, Shan Sa. Brian Turner gives a workshop at the MLC house on Saturday morning, while Cork City Library hosts a programme of dramatic readings, also Saturday.

Bookings for the workshop on 021-4312955 and other events on 021-4272022, info@triskelartscentre.com.

It's Edinburgh Festival Fringe planning time, and it'll be interesting to see who will take over the reins at the the world's largest arts festival, after Paul Gudgin, director since 1999, announced he is stepping down. He leaves after the launch of this year's programme on June 7th, and interviews for the new director are expected in the spring. Irish artists and companies who plan to take part in this year's festival are invited to apply (by March 2nd) to Culture Ireland for support. Last year, Culture Ireland helped 10 companies across a range of work, including dance, theatre and cabaret, go to the Fringe, which it sees as an important international platform for Irish work. Application form and details are available at www.cultureireland.gov.ie.

A new annual writing award has been launched by the International Association of Art Critics - Ireland . The award, called the James White AICA Award for Critical Writing, was announced by the Minister for Arts, John O'Donoghue. AICA Ireland president Ciarán Bennett considers "such a progressive step towards the greater awareness of art writing in Ireland is essential to the future growth and inclusiveness of the process. This event will engage with the wider public, and attempt in the midst of the obscure to revitalise the use of language, which is thankfully alive and developing on this island, to eventually have a prize of international consequence." Further details will be on the website (www.aica.ie) when it makes an open call for submissions.

Irish artists and writers are invited to apply for a number of artistic residencies at the Irish College in Paris between September 2007 and July 2008. New Director of the College Sheila Pratschke is now installed, and commented that "these residencies are an important element in the fabric of the college. Artists can come and engage fully with the city and its culture, which in turn informs their work". Deadline is February 28th; information on 00331-58521030 or spratschke@centreculturelirlandais.com or www.centreculturelirlandais.com

Calling all amateur playwrights: this is the 26th year of the RTÉ PJ O'Connor Radio Drama Awards. There is one category in the competition this year, the traditional 28-minute play, and the top prize is €3,000, with €2,000 and €1,000 for the second and third place; plus a professional production of the play and the chance to take part in a writers' workshop. The closing date is Good Friday, April 6th. Rules and entry forms are available on the RTÉ website, www.rte.ie/radio1/pjoconnorawards or by sending an SAE to RTÉ PJ O'Connor Radio Drama Awards 2006, RTÉ Radio Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.