Arts & Culture

THIS year’s Kilkee Playwright Festival is responding to the climate emergency and includes online playwriting workshops for stage, radio and a discussion on developing ecological performances’ in community spaces. Jenny Bassett, who curates the Kilkee Playwright Festival said, “We feel privileged to have highly experienced and extremely talented, award winning dramatists facilitating workshops. “Added to that we shall be focusing on the most urgent and important issue of our time – the climate crisis. “It is hoped that the seeds from this year’s festival grow to mighty trees and go on to be developed and performed at next year’s festival. “Because we are funded by Clare County Council we have adopted a Pay What You Can pricing policy so that everyone has access to participating.” On October 10 from 6.30 pm to 10 pm Gavin Kostik the Literary Manager with FISHAMBLE will be running an online playwriting workshop for stage. Participants shall have the chance to engage with Fishamble’s Tiny …

TEXTILES inspired by summer days in the South of Italy will bring some welcome sunshine to Kinvara this month, in a new exhibition at the Courthouse. Kinvara Area Visual Arts (KAVA) presents ‘Vitae Rurale’ by Isabella Florio. This ten-day exhibition will open on Friday next, October 7.  Isabella is an Italian designer and textile artist who completed her honours BA in Design at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) earlier this year. She first became interested in art and design as a young child, a hobby she also enjoyed throughout her teenage years. After secondary school, she chose to pursue a creative career, moving to Dublin in 2016 to join The Grafton Academy, where she studied Fashion Design for over a year. Here, Isabella gained skills in pattern drafting and garment construction. After deciding to expand her knowledge and explore a new avenue of education, she enrolled in ATU to study Fashion and Textile Design. Her work there was centred around …

A PLAY focusing on one of the most intense and dramatic incidents in the War of Independence in Clare comes to Miltown Malbay, on Saturday night (October 8). The drama, entitled Two Days in September, secured prestigious funding support from Clare County Council through the Decade of Centenaries Arts Project Awards. The drama, which has great local interest, premiered in North Clare in June.  Written by Doolin-based playwright Dermott Petty, Two Days in September tells the story of the Rineen Ambush. The drama unfolds, in film and theatre form, and traces the events of autumn, 1920, when a British Army convoy was ambushed by the Mid-Clare Brigade of the IRA. It follows the aftermath of revenge and the sacking, looting and burning of the villages of Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay by the Black and Tans on September 22 and 23, 1920.  “West Clare in 1920 was recovering from a land war, famines, World War 1 and Spanish influenza,” said …

HAVING had a very enthusiastic response to his one-man show A Night in November at the Hope Café in Shannon, Aodán Fox is putting on three extra shows on October 13, 14 and 15. The play is about the night of the infamous soccer match between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in 1993, when a hateful atmosphere prevailed. It leads to Kenneth Norman McAllister, a Protestant who has previously been anti Catholic, starting to question his beliefs and identity. Aodán says he has been amazed by the response to the play. “I’m blown away by the reaction to be honest. The first three nights that we did sold out within a couple of days. A lot of people were asking me about it, a lot of people who were away and a lot of people who wanted to see it again. “It had a bit of traction so we decided to put it on again …

AN Ennis cafe is serving up something different in a bid to showcase local artists and boost the county capital’s night time economy. Sweet n Green Café have come on board with a new scheme aimed at promoting evening events and as part of this will be hosting a series of art exhibitions featuring the talent of Clare’s artists. The government launched the ‘Night Time Economy Support Scheme (NTESS) 2022’ last June and Ennis Chamber encouraged members in the hospitality sector to apply. The initiative set out to support the promotion of live events/arts on days other than weekend nights and scheduled early in the evening, before 9pm. Sweet n Green Café was one of the businesses to follow through committing to host a minimum of four events.  They decided to host four art exhibitions to raise awareness of the extraordinary artist talent within the county and to support local artists. This month sees the plan roll into action with …

FIVE decades of bringing music to the communities of Doora-Barefield will be celebrated this Friday with a very special event. The 50th anniversary of the local branch of Comhaltas will be commemorated with a concert featuring some of the branch’s well known members. Also, a book recalling the history of the Doora – Barefield branch will be launched at Fahy Hall, Roslevan to mark the momentous anniversary. National President of Comhaltas Eamon O hAirgain will be in attendance on the night. Mary O’Halloran, who was one of the founding members of the branch and is still involved to this day, told The Champion they are expecting the anniversary celebrations to be a good night with plenty of music to enjoy. She added that the committee members have been working hard to prepare for the event and are looking forward to sharing some memories of the branch through the years, while also looking ahead to its future. As well as current members of …

AN ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding, some say, but when breeding does break out across generations it can still take a surprising twist. The late concertina player Chris Droney was a traditional music legend. A winner of numerous All Irelands, he was honoured with a TG4 Gradam Saoil award for lifetime achievement, and named  the Clare Person of the Year in 2012. It would hardly be a surprise that a grandson of his would have a passion for music and some talent, but instead of playing trad, Daithí O’Dronaí is an acclaimed electronic musician, who has recently released his third LP, I’m Here Now. The album has been described by the Irish Times as an “optimistic, celebratory return”, while Hot Press said that one of the tracks was “a hot contender for the song of the summer”. He tops the bill at a show in O’Donohue’s of Fanore this Saturday night – Fomhar in Fanore – …

A BOOK on Mike Kelly, the aviation enthusiast who provided the model aircraft in the Shannon Airport Aviation Gallery has been officially launched. The launch was at the airport, just beside the area where the amazing collection of more than 1,500 die-cast model aircraft he provided are on display. Mr Kelly comes to Shannon several times a week to tend to the collection and at Monday’s launch Shannon Group CEO Mary Considine said, “Mike’s love of the collection is infectious and his personal touch really adds to the visitor experience in our airport.  “He is generous with his time in maintaining and curating it. His wonderful storytelling has engaged many a passenger. Nearly every day passengers tell us how much they have enjoyed the display and for this we are most grateful. I would like to congratulate Mike, author Kieran Beville and publisher Dominic Taylor and wish them every success with the book.” The publication is called Pulling Back The …