Search Results for 'George Bernard Shaw'

Having been the recipient of several acting awards over the years, well-known Westmeath actress Mary McEvoy is delighted to have been nominated for her first book award for her memoirs How the Light gets in, published earlier this year.

The highly successful Lady Gregory Autumn Gatherings continue in Coole Park, Gort, Co Galway, running from Friday to Sunday, 23 to 25 September, and will this year recognise the remarkable influence of Lady Augusta Gregory on the development of Irish theatre and literature.

The highly successful Lady Gregory Autumn Gatherings will continue in Coole Park, Gort, from Friday September 24 to Sunday September 26. Recognising the remarkable influence of Lady Augusta Gregory on the development of Irish theatre and literature, this 16th gathering highlights her unique inspiration for the early foundations of the Abbey Theatre.

You might think that those at the core of the Irish literary renaissance at the beginning of the 20th century, were one big happy family beavering away in their rooms at Lady Gregory’s home at Coole, Co Galway. In those early days it was a house full of voices and sounds. Sometimes you heard WB Yeats humming the rhythm of a poem he was cobbling together; or the click-clacking of Lady Gregory’s typewriter as she worked on another play for the Abbey. There was the sound of the Gregory grandchildren playing in the garden; the booming voice of George Bernard Shaw, as he complains that he is only allowed to have either butter or jam on his bread, but not both to comply with war rations (He cheated by the way. He put butter on one side of his bread, and when he thought no one was looking, piled jam on the other!); or the voices of the artist Jack Yeats and JM Synge returning from a day messing about on a boat calling out to a shy Sean O’Casey to come out of the library for God’s sake and enjoy the summer afternoon.

Following the success of the publication Me and Nu - Childhood at Coole published in 1970,* it is sometimes forgotten that Lady Augusta Gregory had three grandchildren, and not two as is often assumed. Written by Lady Gregory’s granddaughter Anne, Me and Nu is a charming account of life at Coole, as the children watched with amusement (and disillusionment at their human foibles), many of the great figures of the Irish literary movement of the 20th century as they came and went.

I brought her a bag of apples on our first ‘date’. Not very romantic, I hear you say. True. And not very generous. Also true (Tesco special offer – one pound for a ‘family bag’). I was merely continuing a tradition. She was Anne Gregory and during her childhood at Coole Park, “every year John Quinn, Grandma’s great friend in New York, used to send a great case of apples to us.” So it is recorded in Anne’s beautiful book Me and Nu, Childhood at Coole. ‘Nu’ was Anne’s sister, Catherine. If you haven’t read Me and Nu, treat yourself to a copy for the New Year. It is still in print after nearly 40 years.

This Thursday June 18 starting at 8pm, Ballina Arts Centre will present An Evening with Great Irish Writers.

Half Asleep: Julia Pallone exhibition at Ballina Arts Centre

Throughout the month of June, Ballina Arts Centre will host Half Asleep, an exhibition by multi-disciplinary artist, Julia Pallone. Through a variety of means, such as drawing, photography and installations, she explores a poetic vision of the world, a vision which is fragile and vulnerable.

George Bernard Shaw once said, "You see things and say 'Why?' but I dream of things that never were and I say 'Why not?” Our minors are our ‘dream team’ on Sunday next and it is on your brave young shoulders that all Mayo’s dreams currently rest. Good doesn't just happen. Good people make it happen. And you lads are good people. You are the most exciting generation ever — the best educated, and clearly possessing of sporting talent, and with the prospect of making a huge contribution to your county's future. God knows we need a boost, a big sporting win, to give us some hope of achieving bigger and better things in the years to come. It is such a long time since we won an All-Ireland championship final in Croke Park that a win on Sunday would help eradicate some of the awful memories we have from the last couple of decades. Ultimately when it comes to match time it will be down to the panel of players and management whether or not we will have something to get excited about.