Search Results for 'Seamus Heaney'

Sean O’Casey’s masterpiece Juno and the Paycock will be brought to life at The Royal Castlebar from Monday 3 to Wednesday November 5. Set in the Dublin tenements during the Irish Civil War in 1922, Juno and the Paycock weaves between both tragic and comic elements. The Boyle family, deep in poverty, is made up of father, mother, son and daughter. Jack is a loafer, his wife, Juno, tries to keep things together, son Johnny is crippled from battle wounds in ‘the troubles’, while daughter Mary, is on strike.

IN TIMES of recession, when uncertainty is the name of the game, there is something solid and comforting about a book. It will always be there on the shelf, a source of strength, consolation, and reassurance.

GALWAY ACADEMIC and musician Seán Crosson has published a new book entitled The Given Note - a major study on the relationship between poetry and Irish trad and song.

THROUGHOUT THEIR careers, both musician/broadcaster Philip King and writer Joseph O’Connor have documented the development of Irish consciousness and sense of identity.

As the Kilkenny Arts Festival came to a close, the number of tickets sold for in 2009 was up 25 per cent versus 2008, with the final day's sales still to go.

WHILE OUT for a walk, a poet is accosted by a giant hag and hauled before the court of Queen Aoibheal, where he is condemned for being unmarried and Irish men and priests are given the thumbs down not satisfying the sexual needs of the women of Ireland.

President of Ireland Mary McAleese presided at a ceremony last Monday to mark the election of Achill-based visual artist Camille Souter and composer Seóirse Bodley as Saoithe in Aosdána. The honour of Saoi is bestowed for singular and sustained distinction in the arts, and Monday last the President presented both artists with the symbol of the office, a gold torc. The ceremony took place at the Arts Council’s offices at 70 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, which is also the headquarters of Aosdána.

World War 1 is the backdrop for the London box office success War Horse. It’s the story of bravery, loyalty and a mutual bond that grew between a young farm boy and his horse. But it is the highly imaginative and skilful way that the story is presented that has caught London’s imagination. The play is based on a book by Michael Morpurgo; and a recent acknowledgement by the public of the role animals have played in war, from the horse, the mule, the dog, the pigeon, even the humble glow worm used by sappers in No Man’s Land as they drew maps in the dark*. During the merciless, and relatively recent Battle of Stalingrad, (July 1942 to February 1943), 207,000 horses were killed on the German side alone (the human cost was an unimaginable one million). Animals are still used to help solders navigate rough terrain, or for dolphins to seek out mines, and dogs to sniff out contraband.

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.”

GIVEN THE flow of negativity that has permeated our daily lives over the last six months, a book that brings with it a sense of positive and sensible calm could be favourably compared with a refreshing elixir of life.