`Muscailt" translates as "to inspire" or "awaken". NUI Galway hopes to do just that over the next week with yet another addition to the city's busy cultural calendar - a spring festival of music, dance, theatre and art.
Opened yesterday by Rattlebag presenter Myles Dungan of RTE Radio One, the opens with the Peacock Theatre's much acclaimed new production, Eden by Eugene O'Brien. Set over a weekend in a small midlands town, it tells the story of Billy and his wife, Breda, and their idea of heaven, relayed in two interlocking monologues.
Eden received a standing ovation at its premiere in Dublin in late January, and NUI Galway's Bank of Ireland Theatre is first stop on its month-long nationwide tour. It plays for two nights - tonight and tomorrow (including a matinee) - on the Corrib before moving north to the Factory Performance Space in Sligo (February 22nd-24th) and eastwards to the Dunamaise Theatre in Portlaoise. It is also booked for Wexford, Limerick, Longford, Waterford, Monaghan and Belfast. Booking for Galway is on (091) 512062.
The world premiere of Seoirse Bodley's latest piano composition, News from Donaghbate , is due to be performed during "Muscailt 01", while the Belfast City Breakers will go through what is described as a "breathtaking" breakdance repertoire. NUI Galway students on the masters programme in theatre studies will present several short plays, while there will be drama as Gaeilge by members of the Cumann Dramaiochta.
Ms Emily Cullen, NUI Galway's arts officer and co-ordinator of the new festival, has also booked established poets and writers, including Tom Kilroy, Mary O'Malley, Louis de Paor, Vincent Woods, Julian Gough, Mike McCormack, Moya Cannon, Ken Bruen and Fred Johnston, while the current Rose of Tralee, Roisin Egenton, will perform on violin.
Father Walter Macken, son of the writer who had such close links with Galway, will give a public lecture on the author's life and work, and this will be followed by a rehearsed reading of Home is the Hero.
Selected works of art from the university's collection will be on view during the festival, which runs until February 23rd, and Ms Cullen is determined to ensure that Muscailt becomes an integral part of the city's cultural life over many springs to come.
"The Burning of Bridget Cleary: from Folklore to the Internet" is the catching title of Angela Bourke's lecture in NUI Galway's Centre for Irish Studies tonight.
It is the first of six lectures on the general theme of "Images and Imaginings: Perspectives in Irish Studies", and takes place at 8 p.m. in the O Tuthail Theatre at the Millennium Arts Building. On Wednesday, February 28th, Niamh O'Sullivan will deliver the second lecture in the series on "The Arts and Politics of Aloysius O'Kelly: Citizen Artist".
Diarmuid de Faoite, accomplished Irish-language actor, will perform a commissioned one-man show tonight about the writer Padraic O Conaire who was born 109 years ago. Seating is limited at the venue (and writer's birthplace) in Padraic's Place on the docks in Galway, and patrons are advised to arrive well before the 9.30 p.m. starting time. The gifted Connemara dancer, Sorcha Ni Cheide, will perform between de Faoite's sets. Tel (091) 563696.