Poet Seamus Heaney has received more awards, honours and general plaudits than you could shake a stick at. Nevertheless, on Tuesday morning at the RDS, when the time came for Seamus to pass on an honour originally bestowed on him by historian Conor Cruise O'Brien, there was a fine amount of stick-shaking going on - quite literally. The honour in question was in fact possession of a stout whitethorn stick that belonged to Charles Stewart Parnell.
From Parnell, the stick has taken a rambling route, through the hands of a blacksmith to a publican, from there to novelist Brinsley MacNamara who handed it on to the poet W.R. Rodgers in a Dublin pub, declaring then it was awarded not for services to the city of Dublin but "because you are a poet". Rodgers in turn handed it on to Cruise O'Brien with the express wish that he in his turn present it to an Irish writer of his choice. Conor plumped for Heaney in the early 1970s and the poet has been, as he put it, "hanging on to it ever since".
Recently, Seamus decided it was time to hand the stick on to another writer and put his head together with Conor and Conor's wife, poet Maire Mhac an tSaoi, to decide on a suitable recipient. Poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill was their choice and on Tuesday morning, a small party gathered to mark the handing over of the stick.
Conor and Maire were there - Conor has just finished his memoirs which will be published at the same time as a Festschrift in his honour in November - as were Seamus and his wife, writer and editor Marie Heaney, and Nuala with her husband, academic Dogan Leflef and three of their four children. The youngest was banished to the library because the rules of the RDS decree nobody under 18 may enter the members' area - regardless of whether or not their mother is receiving a stick from a Nobel Laureate.
Tom Flanagan, author of The Year of the French was there with his wife Jean Flanagan; they always come over to Ireland from their Californian home for the summer and this year Tom opened the Yeats summer school. Also there were John Dillon, classics professor at TCD, and biographer John Horgan and his partner, Mary Jones. Other guests included poet and publisher Peter Fallon, who printed the handsome edition of the poem composed by Seamus for the occasion; writer and broadcaster John Kelly, and David Hammond, a man who defies pigeon-holing but can perhaps be loosely defined as a folklorist and singer. Nuala confessed that she didn't quite know what she would do with the stick - Conor Cruise O'Brien recalled using it on great walks around Howth head while Seamus admitted he was not always entirely sure where it was at all. "I think I'll keep it under the bed," she said.
Keanes by the bucketload
It was great to see John B. Keane looking so well and in such fine fettle, when he arrived in Dublin to receive a Gradam award from the National Theatre Society in the Abbey theatre on Monday night. After paeans of praise from the theatre's artistic director, Patrick Mason; the board chairman James Hickey and even the President, Mrs McAleese who sent a personal letter, John B. stood up and soon had everyone in fits of laughter.
What attracted his particular attention was that his old friend, Hugh Leonard has written another play, "really upping the ante". Hugh's play is about three women and will be performed in the Abbey early next year. There was a fine clatter of folk at the reception including a large posse of John's family - "if there's anyone feeling deprived in the matter of in-laws, please have some of mine," he quipped. "And don't feel any urgency about giving them back."
Non in-laws included artist and designer Robert Ballagh who is heading off to Canada this weekend in his capacity as set designer for Riverdance, whose "Lee" troupe are opening a show in Montreal." It'll be work as well as pleasure as this is the first time the troupe has done a full stadium production. It's an icehockey rink, actually," he said. Actor Gabriel Byrne also came along to honour John B., saying Sive was the first play he ever saw. Byrne is home for a prolonged stay in Ireland after recently completing filming Stigmata with Patricia Arquette in Rome. That will be out next spring but you can catch him before that, when Enemy of the State, in which he stars with Will Smith, arrives on the big screen in November.
Bash for the Gang
The Barretstown Gang Camp is one of those charities which works away, quietly providing holidays for seriously-ill children, and erupts with a serious fund-raiser once a year to great pizzazz. Their annual gala event, Fantasia, has now become a firm fixture in the social calendar, perhaps because there are usually more stars on the stage than on the guestlist. Of course, it must help that Barretstown has the illustrious Paul Newman as its founder, but the majority of the celebs seem to get involved because of the nature of the camp.
The line-up for this year's Fantasia was announced at the Herbert Park Hotel on Wednesday morning and is a fine, eclectic selection of performers. Singer/songwriter Carole King will be performing with our own Paul Brady - the pair have been working together for the past couple of years. Paul's not quite sure what they'll do at Fantasia but did mention a jointly-written song that "might be suitable". Actress Victoria Smurfit also came along on Wednesday, taking time out from filming the new series of Ballykissangel. Sunday, September 20th will be a doubly interesting day for her as the new BallyK series kicks off at the same time as she takes to the stage in Fantasia. Other folk at Wednesday's reception included the Barretstown chief executive David Strahan; Fionnuala Hunt, artistic director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, which will be performing at Fantasia; dancer Jean Butler and her partner Richard Boyle; newsreader Anne Doyle; the band Dove and a very lovely Aston Martin DB7 that will be auctioned on the night.
Also lined up for Fantasia are actor Peter O'Toole; Riverdance; D'Unbelievables; Clannad; Jimmy Mac Carthy; singer Honor Heffernan; comedian Barry McGovern, and actors Flo McSweeney and Pauline Quirke, who has a new series on BBC1, Maisie Raine.
Hope it works out
Ciannait Walker must be a right divil for punishment. On top of organising her own wedding to business man Neil Clancy next month, she also decided to launch her own theatre company, Minc Theatre, with a party in ...nini's cafe on Tuesday.
Ciannait, who is director of the new company, declared the raison d'etre of Minc to be ongoing training as well as performance. "There's very few places that you can go for further study if you're an actor. Hopefully we'll act as a kind of actor's gymnasium," she said.
As if to prove this was no hollow promise, there were two internationally renowned theatre folk at the party who had just finished a day of workshops with Minc in association with the Abbey. Kristin Linklater, the recently appointed chair of theatre at Columbia University in New York and Enrique Pardo, director of the Bienniale Myth and Theatre Festival, had a rather interesting first day of teaching. Their workshop, which was held in the Central Mission on Abbey Street, was interrupted by a rather inebriated gentleman arriving and announcing that he presumed this was an AA meeting. He stayed on and berated the assembled actors and directors for some 10 minutes ... nobody asked him to leave because they weren't sure he wasn't a planned part of the class.
Other folk at the Minc party included artist Pat Scott; designer Lucy Downes who works with Donna Karan in New York; Ciannait's brothers, sculptor Corban Walker and architect Simon Walker who came with his partner, designer Cyan Kingston; poet Michael O'Siadhail and his wife Brid who did the official honours, and Rory Morrish of Cork champagne importers, The Bubble Brothers, who donated the delicious rose champagne for the party.
Youth and beauty
All those harbingers of doom who declare art to be totally moribund should take a look at an exhibition called New Still Life at the Jo Rain Gallery in Temple Bar. Director Kevin Kavanagh is fast becoming a bit of a Maurice Saatchi himself; OK, he's not exactly a collector of young Irish art but he plays a similar role in spotting and supporting emerging artists. New Still Life shows the work of 20 artists on their way, including Clea Van der Grijn, Michael O'Dea; Beth O'Halloran, Laura Gannon and Stephen Brandes, and it's a rather interesting show.
Such a hugh collection of artists ensured the opening on Wednesday night was packed to the gills with suitably exotic looking people. Charlotte Selka was there; she is currently working with John Rocha but is planning to open up a jewellery outlet in the revamped Design Centre. Ciaran Cuffe of the Green Party dropped by, as did actor Eithne McGuinness, just back from charging her creative batteries in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. Afterwards the whole party moved on to the Clarence Hotel.
Don't have a cow
When singer Linda Martin approached some of her more famous friends to lend their support to her World Animal Week campaign almost all of them said Yes in an instant. Linda needed photos showing celebrities getting involved with the campaign and looking cute with something furry (no, not a mink) and that's where the fun started. While designer John Rocha didn't mind what joined him in front of the lens and ended up with an armful of kittens, others were not quite so easy to please. Comedian Ardal O'Hanlon insisted on a cow joining him in his shot, and admittedly he does look very cute with a doe-eyed Jersey, while singer Brian Kennedy went for a fox. Singer Ronan Keating and his wife, model Yvonne Keating, didn't specify, so Linda turned up with two stray puppies. Photos finished, Yvonne insisted the puppies weren't getting out the door and gave them a home, while her friend scooped up a few kittens.
The World Animal Week actually kicks off on October 4th, so expect more madness before then. (Dave Fanning is rumoured to be interviewing a dog on his show, in the run-up to the week-long event.) Incidentally, a big pat and a rub behind the ears for Pedigree Chum and Whiskas who are not only sponsoring the campaign worldwide, but also feed all the animals in the care of the DSPCA.
Playing in the basement
The RHA Gallagher gallery has long been the preserve of academicians and the visual arts but on Wednesday night it had a bit of a transformation. The basements of the gallery, which are rarely used, were converted into a theatre space and a play by Andrew Alty, Something About Us, received its Irish premiere. Although there have been plays in the RHA before, this production marked the beginning of a more permanent theatre space - The Machine theatre company has formalised the relationship with the gallery to create the RHA Downstairs, a theatre space which will be available to rent to outside companies.
The directors of the company are Michael Scott (who also directed Wednesday night's show) and his brother, choreographer John Scott, while Avril Ryan is the executive director.
Forthcoming productions at RHA Downstairs include the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, which is coming in November.
Something About Us pulled in a good crowd on its first night, some attracted by the reviews received when the play opened in London and San Francisco and some, no doubt, attracted by the good looks, not to mention acting skills of Alan Devine aka Ray O'Driscoll in Glenroe.
The first night crowd included John Scott himself, just back from bringing his dance work Just Bodies to Paris; Ian Galvin, who has the new franchise for the Karen Millen design range in Ireland and will be opening in the Powerscourt Townhouse next to Ann-Marie Nohl's Expresso Bar; Paddy Bollard, business manager at Louise Kennedy; playwright Loughlin Deegan, and Colm McDonnell of Deloitte & Touche who brought along his grandmother, Margaret McDonnell, former director of the DGOS.