Arts & Culture

KILLALOE woman Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh is one of the editors of a new book His Grace is Displeased – Selected Correspondence of John Charles McQuaid.

AN exhibition of the recent work of Mary Fahy will be going on display in Scariff Library on December 13 and will remain there until December 29.

Silver Linings PlaybookDIRECTED BY: David O RussellSTARRING: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De NiroCERT: 15A

The Amazing Spiderman***Directed by: Marc WebbStarring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field Lay the Favourite**Directed by: Stephen FrearsStarring: Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson, Vince VaughanThe Amazing Spider-Man is the reboot to a franchise so recently deceased the body was still warm. Despite being about as warmly anticipated as a colonoscopy, Marc Webb’s movie manages to distinguish itself from its forbears, despite some major flaws.

East Clare Musical Society will this year present The New Pirates of Penzance, the hilarious Australian version of the original Gilbert and Sullivan production. This comical, pumped-up version has been in production since September with the local cast and crew working hard to make it a cracker of a show. Performances will be held at Scariff Community College Hall each night from Thursday December 13 to Sunday, December 16. Doors open at 7.15pm and curtain goes up at 8pm nightly. Marie Bugler, PRO for the East Clare Musical Society outlines what the show is about and who will be involved. “We have a huge cast this year and the ladies will be happy to know lots of pirate men as well as the usual troupe of elaborate ladies. The scene is set in Cornwall where the famous Pirates of Penzance are gathered to say farewell to Frederic, their apprentice who at midday will be out of his indenture. “Frederic imagines …

From Shoreditch to Sydney and New York to Newry, Home News is a new series, that sees Ennis native, journalist and broadcaster Brian O’Connell examine how Irish newspapers outside the Republic keep Irish communities connected.In the RTE Radio 1 series O’Connell, who hails from the Kildysart Road, but now lives in Cork, meets with new and past emigrants, Pulitzer prize-winning journalists, men on the run, elderly choirs and Pakistani newsagents to find out how future communities might stay in touch with home.Speaking about how the show came about, Brian explained that, like a lot of people he spent a summer or two in America as a student and while there, he got copies of The Irish Emigrant newspaper. “You’d pick it up in bars around Irish communities in Boston or wherever. It gave an outline of the main stories and had some very good comment pieces. A year or so ago I learned it was the oldest online publication in …

Among the books shortlisted at this year’s Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards is Irish Times sports journalist Keith Duggan’s book Cliffs of Insanity: A Winter on Ireland’s Big Waves.In the book, the award-winning sports writer gives a fascinating insight into the world of surfing in Ireland, and in particular in Clare. Cliffs of Insanity tells the story of a dedicated group of surfers in Clare whose lives revolve around the pursuit of Ireland’s wildest waves, a way of life that flies in the face of everything championed in Ireland over the last decade. The awards ceremony for the Irish Book Awards takes place on Thursday night, and Cliffs of Insanity has been shortlisted in the Sports Book of the Year category where it is up against My Olympic Dream by Katie Taylor, My Journey by Jim Stynes, The Bull by John Hayes, Memory Man by Jimmy Magee and The Great and the Good by John Giles.Surfing in Ireland was …

A DVD version of the highly acclaimed film Last Night As I Lay Dreaming looks set to bring the legendary Spancilhill composer and singer Robbie McMahon a whole new set of fans from around the world. That’s according to Frank Whelan, the film’s producer, speaking ahead of the launch this Friday at Cois na hAbhna in Ennis.“The audience reaction at the first showing of the film convinced us we had something special. Then it was selected to be shown at the Galway Film Fleadh and the response there was tremendous. “Since then, we have shown it at festivals and events throughout Ireland and abroad and the reaction has always been the same. Everywhere we go we are asked ‘Is it available on DVD and where can I get it?’ We’ve had emails from around the world from people who’ve read about the film on the website, all wanting to know how they can get a copy.”Last Night As I Lay …