Arts & Culture

There’s a long and rocky history of America taking British films and TV shows and either adapting or outright copying them.

BEN Escorcio from Miltown Malbay has made it through to the semi-finals of The All-Ireland Talent Show.

CLARE’S Seachtain na Gaeilge will be launched with a concert by new trad group Re-Seisiún in Cois na hAbhna this Thursday.

A GROUP of Ennis youths are working towards bringing a world-champion DJ to perform in the town.

A TALENTED young dancer from Connemara is planning to take the world by storm, reviving one of Ireland’s oldest dance forms and transforming it into the next big thing.Twenty four-year-old Brian Cunningham, who regularly performs alongside De Danann, The Chieftains, Sharon Shannon and Altan, is on a mission to show sean nós as it really is today – fresh, sexy, skilful and loose Irish dancing.Local audiences will have an opportunity to judge for themselves when Brian, who has already performed to huge acclaim in Korea while accompanying President Mary McAleese on a State tour, dances at the Micho Russell Music Festival in Doolin this Saturday. A three-time winner of the Irish Oireachtas and a world fleadh champion, Brian, along with his four siblings Irene, Ashline, Michael and Lorraine, make up the award-winning Sean Nós dancers, Clann Uí Chuinneagáin.Their show, Fuaim Chonamara, also features Riverdance stars Siobhán Manson and Doireann Carney with guest appearances by singing favourites Dessie O’Halloran and Caitríona …

TÍR na nÓg, the duo formed by Leo O’Kelly and Sonny Condell 40 years ago, will be performing at Minogue’s of Tulla on March 6.Many influential artists, from Jimmy McCarthy to David Kitt to author Patrick McCabe, have listed them as influences and their latest shows have won warm reviews, with The Irish Times noting that the two veteran’s ‘fire still burns bright’.Around this time of year in 1970, the pair were preparing for a move to London, where they planned to conquer the world. “We were doing most of our rehearsals this time 40 years ago. We had separate bedsits in Rathmines at the time and we did some really intensive rehearsals, I don’t think we ever did as much afterwards. We got a lot of material together that was on our first album and some of it was on our second and third,” says Leo.They hit the ground running in England and were soon touring with big names …

KILLALOE resident Colin Dunne has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award, the dancer was recently named among three contenders in the Outstanding Achievement in Dance category for his solo show Out of Time.The Laurence Olivier Awards are considered the most prestigious awards in London theatre and form the highlight of the theatrical year. Among the nominees in the various categories include top West End theatre productions such as Wicked, The Phantom of The Opera, We Will Rock You, War Horse and Billy Elliot The Musical. A number of well-known actors who are also among the nominees include performances by Gillian Anderson, Rachel Weisz, James Earl Jones, Jude Law, Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson and Spice Girl Melanie Chisolm. For Colin, this is the second prestigious UK award nomination that he has received having recently been nominated for a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award. His solo show, Out of Time was presented at bite09 by the Barbican Centre and was supported …

Crazy Heart DIRECTED BY: Scott Cooper STARRING: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell CERT: 15A THE great Jeff Bridges and his Oscar-nominated performance are the real story of Crazy Heart and rightly so,­ though that is probably a little unfair on Maggie Gylenhaal, who does a very good job with her role in the movie’s doomed romance.Without them, Crazy Heart would be little more than a run-of-the-mill yarn about a fading, self-destructive star who gets one more shot at redemption. Indeed, even with their fine talents on board along with the excellent Robert Duval and a surprisingly watchable Colin Farrell, it sometimes struggles to rise above the well-worn and ordinary. Bridges plays Bad Blake, an ageing country star who’s fallen a long way from his former fame. A chain-smoking alcoholic who hasn’t written a good song in years, Bad Blake now lives on the road, a bottom rung entertainer who’s a regular on the bowling alley circuit – …