The 18th Baboró International Arts Festival for Children is in full swing with four more days of great shows and exhibitions for you to enjoy, not to mention the spectacular Amococo at the Spanish Arch. Over the last few weeks we’ve been hearing from Baboró enthusiasts about why they’re proud to be Baboró Ambassadors. This week, we hear from James Harrison...
One of my favourite Baboró memories is…
Jason and the Argonauts is one of the Baboró shows that stands out in my memory for some of the wrong reasons. I had just been concussed at a rugby match and I was still in a bit of a daze as I walked through the doors of the Town Hall Theatre. Though I remember the show being really great, I don’t remember precisely what it was about. After the show I went straight to a Connacht rugby match which I don’t really remember either!
I think Baboró is an important festival for Galway because…
Baboró is important because it gives children a break from school and it is something that is completely different from what you do every day. Baboró isn’t just theatre but it is art, music and stuff that is simply crazy! It’s not often that you can see a massive multi-coloured bouncy castle (even though apparently it's not a bouncy castle ) next to an ancient historical site (‘Amococo’ by the Spanish Arch ).
I’m really looking forward to this year’s Baboró Festival because…
Baboró this year is going to be brilliant for our family. Our cousins from England are coming over to Galway and we are going to see a number of shows including The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean (which our cousins Isabel and Ana have just seen in Bath ), The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy, The Odyssey Experience, The Way Back Home, The Elves and The Shoemaker and we are going to the massive inflatable Amococo from the UK. I have seen two of Louis Lovett’s shows before and they were both brilliant and you can assume that his show (Mr. Foley, The Radio Operator ) this year will be just as fantastic. I suppose that from the mad names of these shows, I would say that the Shona Reppe show about Josephine Bean might be the funniest and the best. I also think the ‘Gombeens’ are really funny and I would love to have seen them but I couldn’t because there was a rugby training clash again!
Baboró is going to be completely international, there will be shows from Denmark, The Netherlands, Ireland, UK, USA, Australia, Scotland and Italy. It’s like the World Cup of art, theatre and music and I’m shouting for Baboró . . . Baboró Abú!
James Harrison is 11 and is in Fifth Class in Scoil Iognáid. He plays rugby for Galwegians and supports Connacht Rugby when he is not attending Baboró.
