074 912 0777www.angrianan.com Cover art by Philip Mackey

An Grianán ExtraVol 1 Issue 2

SUMMER SCHOOLS

A summer school of heroic proportions! This year we celebrate Ireland’s superstar warrior, Finn McCool! Participants will enjoy a week of intensive workshops in singing, dancing and acting culminating in a performance of Paul Boyd’s rock musical McCool.

“PBM is where, many years ago, I found my love for Theatre. As a nine year old boy, I came to the camp unconfident, doubtful and shy. The PBM leaders installed a belief system in myself that I still rely on to this day. I will never forget the day when Christina told me that all that mattered was that I followed my heart and it’s the best advice I’ve ever received. I was part of PBM for 7 years, and I made friends that I cherish and consider some of my closest friends to this day. I cannot recommend PBM enough - the experience and the people I have met through this camp has had a huge influence on the person, and the actor, that I am today.”Patrick Quinn, Drama Student QUB, Winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Student Theatre Awards 2016.

PBM Performing Arts Summer SchoolMonday 1 to Saturday 6 AugustCost: €120Suitable ages 9 to 21

Ballet Ireland’s popular summer school gives participants a taste for all that goes into making a ballet and a peek into the life of a professional dancer. Participants will have an unforgettable time creating a ballet with professional dancers from Ballet Ireland based on a familiar story. This week long programme starts with class on stage with the dancers, followed by workshops in creating the choreography in addition to making props and costumes. The young performers play an important role in the creation of their own full length ballet which is performed on stage at the end of the week for family and friends to come and enjoy. This year our ballet will be based on the Hans Christian Anderson story The Elfin Hill.

‘When I went to sleep I dreamt I was back on stage. I loved it. When can I do it again?’2015 Summer School Participant

Ballet Ireland will return in November with The Nutcracker, one of the world’s favourite ballets. Sun 6 November at 7pm, Tickets: €20/€15

Ballet Ireland Summer SchoolMonday 15 to Friday 19 AugustCost: €90Suitable for ages 6+

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Earagail Arts Festival

FESTIVAL

An Grianán Theatre is proud to be a partner in the Earagail Arts Festival. This year we host Irish language drama with Le Bánú an Lae, the ‘All the fun of the factory’ musical Unified, modern English language drama with Scorch, children’s shows Gruff and Colourful Games, and music with Home to Ballybeg. For information on all the Festival events, from Malin to Ballybofey, from Gweedore to Dunfanaghy, and all points between, pick up their brochure or find it all online at eaf.ie

DRAMA FAMILY

Le Bánú an Lae le Tomás Mac Giolla BhrighdeAisteoirí Ghaoth Dobhair

Sunday 10 July at 8pmTickets: €12 / €10

Sa dráma trí ghníomh seo, a thiteann amach le linn Chogadh na Saoirse, dírítear ar mhórchlaochlú polaitíochta agus sóisialta na linne. Léiríonn sé an tionchar a bhí ag Parnell, ag Éirí Amach na Cásca agus ag an Chogadh Mór ar Éirinn i gcoitinne agus ar a pobal ionúin. Is tiarna talún Angla-Éireannach é Robert Munro a gcuirtear iachall air aghaidh a thabhairt ar réadúlacht chruálach an chogaidh nuair a thagann cuairteoir gan choinne gan fáilte thar a dhoras isteach.

GruffBanyan Theatre

Monday 11 July at 3pmTickets: €5

Three Billy Goats Gruff! Trip Trap Trip Trap Trip Trap…three hungry Billy Goats, two eyes as big as saucers, one rickety- rackety bridge. The much loved fairy-tale is brought to life with a pinch of magic in a new production by Banyan Theatre.

Running time: 45 minutesRecommended for ages 3 to 11.

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DRAMA

ScorchPrime Cut Productions

Tuesday 12 & Wednesday 13 July at 8pmTickets: €15 / €12Recommended for ages 14 +

Best New Play Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2015

Please note: This show will be performed in the round on stage and consequently only has a capacity of 60 people per performance, so book now!Scorch is the story of first love through the eyes of a gender-curious teen. Scorch is an intimate solo performance by Amy McAllister. Directed by Emma Jordan, the play explores issues surrounding gender disclosure experienced by a contemporary teenager.

Digital NativesOne of the things Scorch explores is the experience of a new generation of digital natives. Digital natives are those born into a digitised world who do not remember a pre-digital world.

This is also sometimes referred to as mixed reality, in that there is no division between on-line and real life as they over-lap and impact on each other. This is different from the analogue generation, for whom on-line activities may only amount to an entertainment or communication tool.

It’s not unusual for a parent to realise that their child’s on-line habits are reflective of a general cultural shift toward being on-line constantly.

This, like anything, has its pros and cons. Millennials are credited with being the best educated generation we’ve ever known, adaptable, multi-taskers, able to generate content and strategically “curate their self-brands.” But as with any uncharted territory, there are new problems to navigate.

“Fluid” is the buzzword of the moment. Much about the on-line world is exhilaratingly changeable, open to experimentation. It is an outlet for many who may feel limited by their real-life identity.

However, one of the most popular current youth shows is Catfish, where investigators unveil fraudulent social media profiles often employed to romance another person. A recent episode featured teen girls who “catfished” another teen in order to get on the show: and so, Catfish ate itself.

In Scorch, the legal repercussions of taking this into the real world can have serious consequences. Stacey Gregg, author of Scorch, July 2016

Stacey Gregg

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Colourful GamesDansema Dance Theater (Lithuania)

Thursday 14 July at 12 noon & 3pmTickets: €5

An interactive dance and circus performance for children aged 0–3 years.Crawl, jump, grasp, drop. Smile, frown, share and make friends. All the playful games of babies and small children as they explore the world in their first few years of life.

Please note only children between the ages of 0 to 3, and their parent/guardian, will be admitted to the show.

Home to Ballybeg: A Tribute to Brian Friel by Manus Lunny and friends

Sunday 17 July at 8pmTickets: €20 / €15

“The imagination for this project is bound to the deep roots of traditional music and song and the fact that the culture of the Irish Tradition has always been a reflection of our relationship with our landscape, people and the provocative issues that has formed their character. These are the very landscapes, people and history which Brian Friel was stimulated by and which inevitably became a canvass for his artistry. The legacy left by Friel has replenished the well of Irish culture and it is only fitting that this well be drawn upon to stimulate artistry in other forms. In this instance, the embracing of several different idioms of Irish traditional cultural expression, together with classical music. “ Manus Lunny, July 2016

Acclaimed traditional composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Manus Lunny presents

a gala premiere to close the Donegal Folk & Roots weekend with a specially commissioned concert dedicated to the inspirational legacy of acclaimed dramatist and playwright Brian Friel.Featuring an array of renowned traditional musicians including Micheal Mc Goldrick, Donald Shaw, Theresa Kavanagh, Fraser Fifield and Ewen Vernal, with string and orchestral arrangement by classical collaborator Vincent Kennedy and musicians of the Donegal Music Education Partnership, this musical journey draws on the landscape and characters, the inspiration and the issues that so passionately influenced Friel’s writings.Each of the performed works are deeply rooted in Irish Traditional music, born in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht.

MUSIC

FAMILY

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Unified the MusicalAn Grianán Theatre production in association with the Earagail Arts Festival

Thursday 21 to Saturday 23 July at 8pm

Tickets: €15/€12

A fun filled musical based on the people and times of Unifi from the pen that brought you Fiesta! “Come along and sing along… a 1, 2, 3, 4… We’re the UNIFI plant, quality through pride, in big blue letters, says the sign outside”.

Before Pramerica, Boston Scientific and Zeus came to Donegal there was Unifi, part of the North West’s large textile industry that encompassed Fruit of the Loom in Buncrana and Adria and O’Neills in Strabane.A million, million miles of yarn and thousands of people passed through the doors of Courtaulds Lirrelle and Unifi. For over thirty years it was a major employer in the North West in a time of rapid social change; every department a tribe and every shift a personality.

Lives were changed, skills learned, friendships formed, partners met, and families reared on the wages. Unified takes all those personal stories and wraps them up in one big rip-roaring musical extravaganza.As well as a large cast and chorus, Unified features country and western tunes, 1930s flappers, hip-hop and blues, movement and mime, puppets and polyester.Writer Guy Le Jeune is Theatre-Artist-in-Residence at An Grianán Theatre, supported by the Donegal County Council and the Arts Council. His previous plays at An Grianán include On The Camel’s Hump, Fiesta and I Would Walk These Fields Again.Unified is An Grianán Theatre production in association with the Earagail Arts Festival, and supported by the Donegal County Council and the Arts Council.

MUSICAL

Aftershow Thursday 23 July: Celebrate the sounds of the era with the UNIFIED after show gig in the foyer with R.A.W.

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Unified Photography ExhibitionAn Grianán Theatre

Friday 8 July to Friday 26 August

From the cottage industries of the rural North West to the industrial heyday of textile manufacturing, from the the family owned factories to the global multinationals, the changing landscape of manufacturing in Donegal and Derry has seen the rise and fall of major industrial investment and borne the painful economic effects of globalisation. This exhibition, in tandem with Unified The Musical features original photographs and images, archival material and personal effects from life on the factory floor of Donegal’s industrial heritage.

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Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The SommeAbbey Theatre, Headlong, Citizens Theatre, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. Co-presented by the Lyric Theatre

Friday 29 and Saturday 30 July at 8pm

Tickets: €25 / €20

Those I belonged to, those I have not forgotten, the irreplaceable ones, they kept their nerve, and they died.

On 1 July 1916, the 36th (Ulster) Division took part in one of the bloodiest battles in human history, The Battle of the Somme.One hundred years on, the Abbey Theatre presents a major new co-production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme directed by Headlong’s Artistic Director, Jeremy Herrin.In the extraordinary circumstances of World War 1, eight ordinary men are changed, changed utterly…This iconic war play by Frank McGuinness is a powerful portrayal of mortality, love and loss.What more have we to tell each other?

Cast:

Ryan Donaldson David CraigDonal Gallery Kenneth PyperJonny Holden Martin CrawfordAndy Kellegher George AndersonPaul Kennedy Nat McIlwaineMarcus Lamb Christopher RoulstonChris McCurry William MooreSeán McGinley Old Kenneth PyperIarla McGowan John Millen

Written by Frank McGuinness

Directed by Jeremy Herrin

*****The Telegraph *****The Reviews Hub****Liverpool ECHO ****The Herald**** The Scotsman**** The Sunday Herald

DRAMA HIGHLIGHT

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Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The SommeAbbey Theatre, Headlong, Citizens Theatre, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. Co-presented by the Lyric Theatre

Friday 29 and Saturday 30 July at 8pm

Tickets: €25 / €20

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Kathleen’s Causewayof Coins

The family of the late Kathleen Ruddy have set up a major new fundraising drive in her memory. Kathleen worked on many shows here in An Grianán Theatre sharing her expertise, creative abilities and good humour freely with all of us. We miss her.

Among her credits are co-writing the award-winning musical adaptation of Séamus Ó’Grianna’s Caisleáin Óir, and producing shows by The Rainbow Theatre Group, among others. Her musical talents reached far and near and she had a wonderful way of getting the best out of everyone that came her way. Kathleen’s Causeway of Coins is set to raise in the region of €230,000 for the much needed work of Donegal Hospice and raise awareness of palliative care.

Beginning on Monday 22nd August and continuing until complete, Kathleen’s Causeway of Coins aims to span the journey from her home in Crievesmith Park to the Donegal Hospice – a distance of 3 kilometres - end-to-end in €2 coins. This will raise in the region of €230,000 for Donegal Hospice. To donate, get more information or help go to www.causewayofcoins.com on the internet.

There is also a donation box at An Grianan Theatre.

PROFILE

Cherish the LadiesSaturday 27 August at 8pmTickets: €20

The much loved, Grammy nominated, Irish-American supergroup formed in New York City in 1985 to celebrate the rise of women in the Irish music scene. They have since toured the world, played the White House and the Olympics, and recorded 15 outstanding albums. The group take the best of Irish traditional culture and put on an immensely entertaining show.

The New York Times calls their music “passionate, tender, and rambunctious”, and the Washington Post praises their “astonishing array of virtuosity”. They’ve won recognition as the BBC’s Best Musical Group of the Year and named the Top North American Celtic Group by both the Irish Music Awards and NPR’s Thistle and Shamrock – not to mention having a street named after them on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx; Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies!

MUSIC

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The Ukulele Orchestra of Great BritainThursday 8 September at 8pmTickets: €32

Audiences have a great time with the Ukulele Orchestra! Going from Tchaikovsky to Nirvana via Otis Redding and Spaghetti Western soundtracks, the Orchestra takes us on “a world tour with only hand luggage”. Both the beauty and vacuity of popular and highbrow music are highlighted, the pompous and the trivial, the moving and the amusing. Sometimes a foolish song can touch an audience more than high art; sometimes music which takes itself too seriously is revealed to be hilarious. You may never think about music in the same way once you’ve been exposed to the Ukes’ depraved musicology.

Written by the American playwright Richard Greenberg and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. Walker went missing after the death of his father. His sister Nan feared the worst but when he suddenly turns up in New York, she travels from Boston to meet him. Walker is a difficult man, filled with mood swings and complex emotional issues related to his father, the brilliant architect Ned Laneway. The two siblings prepare to hear their father’s will along with Pip, the son of Theo Wexler, Ned’s business partner.

Michael McLaughlin plays both Ned and Walker.

Cast – Lisa Tyrrell, Michael McLaughlin & Fiach KunzDirected by Mark McAuley

MUSIC DRAMA

Three Days of RainDisappear Here Theatre Company

Saturday 8 October at 8pmTickets: €15 / €12

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BailegangaireNomad Theatre Network & Livin’ Dred

Friday 30 Sept. & Saturay 1 Oct. at 8pmTickets: €20 / €15

Let ye be settling now, my fondlings, and I will be giving ye a nice story tonight when I finish this. For isn’t it a good one?

“I’d place it in the same league as Brian Friel’s masterpiece, Faith Healer.” The Telegraph

This is a major new touring production of Bailegangaire, first performed by Druid Theatre company in 1985. Directed by Paraic MacIntyre, “Tom Murphy’s extraordinary play” (Peter Crawley, Irish Times), centres around Mommo, who tells over and over again a story she never finishes of how the town came to be known as Bailegangaire, the town without laughter. Mommo is attended by her two granddaughters, Mary and Dolly. The younger women yearn to be free of the past in order to make a new beginning, and Mary comes to believe that to do so the story of Bailegangaire has to be concluded.

“In Mommo, Tom Murphy has created one of the greatest female characters of twentieth-century Irish literature.”

Nomad Theatre Network

NOMAD, which An Grianán Theatre is a partner in, was set up in January 2006 to further the development of the performing arts and extend the parameters of regional, national and international performances available to venues and their audiences. The partnership network set out to encourage more theatre companies both national and international to tour to the regions, to produce high quality theatre and ultimately to enrich and strengthen performing

DRAMA

Tom Murphy

arts practice in the region and shape the future development of touring. An Grianan Theatre’s Director Patricia McBride is currently the Chairperson of the Nomad Network.

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Michael HardingSunday 9 Oct at 8pmTickets: €18 / €16

“My advice is to only ever write if you’re in love. In the long run, all the good stories are love stories.” Michael Harding.

Michael Harding returns to Letterkenny with his latest book, Talking to Strangers and to ruminate on his life over the past 18 months: playing the Bull McCabe on stage in Dublin, struggling with self-doubt, faith, and psychotherapy, and the chaos of building an extension to his home near Lough Allen.Known as the author of such plays as Strawboys, Una Pooka, Misogynist, Hubert Murray’s Widow, Sour Grapes, and Amazing Grace, all produced by the Abbey Theatre, and more than a dozen other plays for leading Irish Companies. He has previously written three novels, Priest, The Trouble With Sarah Gullion, and Bird In The Snow. A memoir Staring at Lakes was published in 2013, quickly followed by 2014’s Hanging With The Elephants.

He is a captivating speaker, a man who draws you in through his world view, who challenges you to think, not necessarily to agree, but to examine and really look at the people and the landscape around us. His are tales of the extraordinary ordinary people of our country and all his stories are love stories because he shows us his love for the people he describes. His last show here sold out despite the onslaught of winter storms. We’d heartily recommend getting your ticket for this one too.

TALKS

Michael Harding

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Doug AllanThursday 27 October at 7pmTickets: €18 / €16

Award winning wildlife photographer and cameraman Doug Allan is back to share more of his incredible stories of close encounters with some of nature’s most impressive wildlife.

“Wildlife cameramen don’t come much more special than Doug.” – Sir David Attenborough

Join Doug for an unforgettable evening of extraordinary animal adventures and unique wildlife film footage. Ask Doug questions about his encounters and travels, and discover what it’s like to be up close and personal with nature’s biggest creatures.“Big animals are my passion.” That’s how multi-award winning cameraman, Doug Allan (Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Ocean Giants, Wild Cameraman at Work) introduces his new show: In the Company of Giants. What’s it like to face a hungry polar bear and its cubs as they emerge from their den? Or to swim eye to eye with an enormous Southern Right Whale? How do you look for killer whales in vast reaches of the seas around Antarctica?

TALKS

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Female GothicDyad Productions

Friday 28 October at 8pmTickets: €15 /€ 12

From Olivier award winning director Guy Masterson and Rebecca Vaughan of Austen’s Women.The Victorian fascination with tales of mystery and the supernatural created an enduring legacy of Gothic fiction; but it is often the male writers that we remember. Many thrilling and eerie stories from the great female writers of that era have gathered dust and been forgotten. Until now.An artist, gripped by the clutching fingers of a dead past; a scientist, defying nature in the dark realm of the senses; an expectant father, driven mad by creeping shadows...In the unquiet, stygian darkness between life and death, a lone, haunted woman tells chilling tales of the macabre and terrifying, illuminating the curious frailties of human nature...

Exhibition: Philip Mackey ‘Face to Face’Thur 8 September to Fri 4 November 2016

To his family and close friends, Philip Mackey has always been known as an artist. Although over the years he has engaged in other work, when it comes to painting and drawing Philip freely admits to ‘really knowing nothing else’. This is his first solo showing and it is very fitting that it is being held in his home town. Philip says “I am delighted and excited to receive this opportunity to display my work in such a renowned venue and I am thrilled for my family, friends and those who have supported me over the years. I see it as another very positive step forward in my career as an artist”.In more recent decades Philip has been employed as an Heraldic Artist and Calligrapher with the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland, (National Library of Ireland).

“Wonderfully eerie... and manages to capture that most intangible of theatre goals, the real fear of the audience.” ***** British Theatre Guide

“A macabre masterpiece. Ghostly, grisly and gorgeous. Don’t miss it.” ***** Three Weeks

DRAMA

Exhibition

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“Come along and sing along… a 1, 2, 3, 4… We’re the UNIFI plant, quality through pride, in big blue letters, says the sign outside.”

THE MUSICAL

Written by Guy Le Jeune

Thursday 21 to Sat 23 July 20168pm | Tickets: €15/€12An Grianán Theatre LetterkennyBox Office 074 912 0777www.angrianan.com | www.eaf.ie

Presented by An Grianán Theatre Productions in association with Earagail Arts Festival

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