Omid Djalili - taking on the schmucks of this world

Thu, Mar 02, 2017

"NEVER USE schmuck lightly, or in the presence of women and children," wrote Leo Rosten in his book, The Joys of Yiddish. Why? Because it is a very naughty word for the very naughty bits of a man.

‘The far right don’t get the subtleties of provocative humour’

Thu, Feb 23, 2017

THE SCOTTISH scourge of Trump supporters; exposer of the hypocrisy of Alt-Right 'free speech’ advocates; an inveterate Tweeter; a star of TV, Vine, and webcams; author of “daft wee stories”; a phenomenon - Limmy is a Renaissance man of modern Comedy.

‘I don’t know if I could have recorded this album until now’

Thu, Feb 16, 2017

ONE OF the critical hit albums of 2016 was Introducing Karl Blau, a 10-song set of sixties and seventies styled country gems that melded singer-songwriter Karl Blau’s mellifluous baritone with Tucker Martine’s silky production.

Putting ‘the Big Fellow’ onstage

Thu, Feb 09, 2017

THE TUMULTUOUS life and times of Michael Collins is recreated in Declan Gorman’s gripping new play, The Big Fellow, based on Frank O’Connor’s classic 1937 biography, and which comes to the Town Hall Theatre this month.

‘The work itself is magnetic, it draws me in’

Thu, Feb 02, 2017

MENTION GALWAY to Eddi Reader, and the Scottish singer is likely to go into a rhapsody about the city and county - and with good reason, it’s a place that appreciates her voice and music; it’s somewhere she has played often; and a region of deeply personal significance for her.

“A truly amazing play” - Max Hafler on The Bacchae

Thu, Feb 02, 2017

THE BACCHAE, by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides, considered one of the greatest plays of all time, first performed in Athens, in 405 BC, powerfully dramatises the conflict between the emotional and rational sides of the human psyche.

‘Trump’s hair might get caught in the helicopter blades, that’ll be the end of him’

Thu, Jan 26, 2017

IF YOU are going to Jason Byrne’s latest stand-up show, Propped Up, there is a good chance you might see the comic - or indeed find yourself - standing on stage wearing a wolf mask - If so, Galway city is to blame.

All Tvvins - 'It's a good time to be playing this style of music'

Thu, Jan 19, 2017

2016 is not a year that will be looked back on fondly by many, but amid the international political turmoil, and high profile (premature) passings which began with David Bowie and concluded with Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, there was a need to grasp hold of any shaft of light which came our way.

James McMurtry - 'I get the stories from the characters'

Thu, Jan 19, 2017

STEPHEN KING has called him ‘the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation’, Rolling Stone hailed his most recent album, Complicated Game, as an "Americana masterpiece", while Voice of America declared he "writes songs filled with characters so real that you're sure they're going to climb out of the speakers and look you in the eyes."

'A great celebration of youth'

Thu, Jan 12, 2017

PRODIGY, THIS year’s Music for Galway midwinter festival, will feature amazing music by brilliant prodigies from history like Mozart, Mendelssohn, Mahler, and Prokofiev, as well as present-day wunderkind Alma Deutscher, who will be making her Irish debut.

Illuminating ‘Women’s Christmas’ with Herstory

Thu, Jan 05, 2017

TOMORROW IS January 6 - the feast of the Epiphany - which in Ireland has long been known as Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas in Ireland and was a day when women would get together and celebrate. That hallowed tradition is to get a whole new lease of life – and lights - this weekend with a new festival - Illuminate Herstory - taking place in towns and cities across the country.

Kate dons her cape for Renmore Panto’s Little Red Riding Hood

Thu, Dec 15, 2016

LITTLE RED Riding Hood, this year's Renmore Pantomime, opens at the Town Hall on Friday December 30, and promises to be a spectacular adventure of laughter, music, and song, scripted, as always by Panto Dame Peter Kennedy, and directed by AIMS award-winning twins Brian and Seán Power.

Hurtling into the Future with artist Joanna Kidney

Thu, Dec 08, 2016

WE ARE Hurtling Into The Future, a new solo exhibition by artist Joanna Kidney, opens tomorrow in the Galway Arts Centre. It reflects on ideas of time and motion, the experience of being human with a living body on this earth, moving through the measure of time.

'Music is the saviour'

Thu, Dec 01, 2016

IT IS a mark of the man that Christy Dignam, who has endured far more than his fair share of struggles and hard times, has borne his illness - a rare form of terminal cancer - with great dignity and stoicism.

Handel’s Messiah - 'always dramatic and satisfying'

Thu, Dec 01, 2016

AN ANNUAL favourite, the Irish Baroque Orchestra’s production of Handel’s glorious masterpiece, Messiah, returns to Galway on Saturday December 10 at 7.30pm, with the work directed by the artistic director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Monica Hugget, world renowned for her expressive and impassioned performances.

Things going swimmingly for Lisa Hannigan

Thu, Nov 24, 2016

LISA HANNIGAN comes to Seapoint next week on the crest of a wave with her new album, At Swim, enjoying universal critical acclaim. Produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, the record follows her double-platinum, Mercury, and Choice Music Prize-nominated debut Sea Sew, and 2011’s chart-topping Passenger.

Wyvern Lingo - new sounds, supporting Hozier, and supporting refugees

Thu, Nov 17, 2016

IT HAS been an extraordinary 12 months for Wicklow trio Wyvern Lingo. They have re-invented their sound and struck out on a new musical path, played to their largest audiences to date by supporting Hozier and James Vincent McMorrow on their British tours, and began the preparations for their highly anticipated debut album.

The return of David Kitt

Thu, Nov 10, 2016

IT HAS been seven years since David Kitt last released a solo album, with 2009’s The Nightsaver, but the time since then has not been seven years in the wilderness, rather it has been a time of intense productivity for the Dubliner, heralding a creative rebirth - on many fronts.

'I write in books as much as in individual poems'

Thu, Nov 03, 2016

GALWAY POET Mary O'Malley recently published her latest volume of poems, Playing the Octopus, her fourth collection with Carcanet Press and her eighth in all since her 1990 debut, A Consideration of Silk.

'So many passages in Playboy are almost songs anyway'

Thu, Oct 27, 2016

A PRIZE-winner in New York and an audience hit at Cúirt, Justin McCarthy and Diarmuid de Faoite’s rollicking musical version of Playboy of the Western World hits the Town Hall Theatre next week for a five night run.

E-paper

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