Arts & Culture

POPULAR Scotland singer-songwriter Isla Grant makes a welcome return visit to Ireland for her now traditional annual tour.Isla will take to the Glór stage in Ennis on Thursday, January 7 at 8pm.In the past year, Isla has completed hugely successful tours of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK and once again received a gold disc for CD sales. This is another addition to her six platinum discs that she has already received in Ireland. Her highly entertaining concert show features all her favourites, along with some new material from her latest album.Isla’s interaction with her audience is second to none and the atmosphere at her live shows is a joy to behold and, as always, her husband Al will make his contribution to the show.For more information or for booking, telephone the Glór box office on 065 6843103.  

Sherlock Holmes DIRECTED BY: Guy Ritchie STARRING: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, RachelMcAdams, Mark Strong CERT: 12A AS the narrator of many of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr Watson was chided more than once by the great detective for sensationalising his cases and trying to make him more of a hero than he was. And so it’s probably fair to say that London’s finest would not be pleased at all with this latest tall tale. But those who say that Holmes and Watson’s creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, must be spinning in his grave now are a tad off the mark. On the contrary, I think the great man would have gotten a kick out of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. He may be a little disappointed that the super sleuth’s greatest weapon,­ his brain, ­ takes something of a back seat to his brawn and that rather than being presented as the great-grandfather of forensics (CSI owes him a lot), the …

  As I heaved (yes…that’s right heaved) myself from the kitchen table to the sitting room on Christmas Day, I was struck by just how little there is on this holiday season.Apart from Once which, frankly, I would need to be paid a lot more to watch, there was nothing truly notable on. Into the West with that wonderful line, “Don’t leave me Tayto”, is always worth a look and the fact that it was on TG4 was no surprise but, by and large, Crimbo was a bit of a disappointment movie-wise.There was, however, one programme that was very interesting – the fact that it was original programming was even better. Now I should state that I know nothing, zilch, zippo, nada about horse racing, horses, the horse racing industry or, indeed, any major figures. Therefore, the fact that I found Vincent O’Brien: The Master, a documentary about the most influential man in Irish racing, so interesting is most likely …

  Meteor award winners, The Blizzards, will play Ennis on December 26th at The West County Hotel, Ennis with support by Dublin band Keywest & local Limerick band The Stellas.

THESPIANS will be treading the boards in Castleconnell next week, when the newly formed theatre group make their theatrical bow with their production of John B Keane’s iconic play, Big Maggie.

FOLLOWING on from the great success of the past two years, the Begley family from West Kerry have volunteered once again to support Sr Ethel Normoyle’s Missionvale project in Port Elizabeth South Africa.

ONE of North Clare’s most famous musical groups received a strong endorsement this week as phenomenal demand for concert tickets resulted in the announcement of a second gig in Glór.

The latest solo exhibition from Ennis artist, Tomás O’Maoldomhnaigh, entitled The Cliffs, displays his classical skill and use of light.