Ripping Cowen apart may have been a rip too far

There were two winners last night in Ryan Tubridy’s interview with Brian Cowen. Undoubtedly, Tubridy’s assault on the Taoiseach will have earned him some respect among his doubters. But I wonder, and only time will tell, whether by ripping the Taoiseach apart did he rip a little too far and show up the soft side of the underfire Fianna Fail leader. There was a sense of sympathy for the man by the end of the interview. A sympathy which was aided in no small portion by the crowd that was nervously giddy and similar to the angry mob from the Simpsons. At one stage there was a look on Cowen’s face and you could see it running through his mind-maybe I should tell these people to stick their job and retire to Barbados or something . It’s hard to blame them though, Tubridy in fairness to him was asking questions that everyone has wanted to ask for months but hasn’t, to the best of my knowledge, asked. The question about Cowen’s drinking was a real, wo there, moment but one that the Taoiseach handled admirably. Bertie never got a question like that and I’m sure he didn’t get that big  red snout on him from being out pruning his roses in the garden.  By the end of the interview I think he actually won the audience over. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if his ratings were to climb after this. It was pretty compelling stuff.

Angel of Harlem

Here in my apartment in Dublin 2 and Bono and the lads are soundchecking for tonight’s gig in Croke Park, Dublin. He’s in fine voice by the sounds of it. It’s going to be damn loud tonight, if I can hear it all the way over here on Fenian Street. Anyway, sounds like ‘Angel of Harlem’ is on the set list……now he is just doing a few oo oo oo’s, you know the high pitched ones that he does (14:04)

Mc Daid’s – As reviewed in The Dubliner magazine

Mc Daid’s

By Jonathan deBurca Butler

The large tiled decoration behind the bar proudly declares that McDaid’s of Harry Street has been on the go since 1873. The portraits of Dublin’s literary greats are particularly poignant as most of them frequented this old Victorian haunt. It’s not hard to imagine Behan or Joyce sitting at the ‘h’ shaped bar or tucked under the stairs at the back.

We love the sublime details; the high ceilings painted a deep red wine, the four small arched windows above the door are wonderfully colourful and would be fit for a Parisian Cathedral, the large and grandiose mirror opposite the bar, and the bookcase high up on the wall must be as old as the dusty books it holds. And all of this under the electric light of two modified gas lamps which dangle lazily looking over the patrons whose Italian leather shoes and high heels clack on the wooden floor.

A Dublin gem.

Mc Daid’s, Harry Street, Dublin 2 6794395

Dublin Theatre Festival Preview – As published in September’s Temple Bar

The Cast of 'Black Watch'

By Jonathan deBurca Butler

In 1957 the Dublin Theatre festival opened with Tennessee William’s controversial ‘The Rose Tattoo’.  Garda reports at the time, spoke of some “objectionable passages” and scenes that were “lewd, vulgar and offensive”. Alan Simpson, who ran the Pike theatre with his wife Carolyn Swift, was arrested, somewhat bizarrely, after the show ended its run. The charges against him for his part in “producing for gain an indecent and profane performance”, were eventually dropped but his theatre was ruined and his marriage collapsed due to the pressures surrounding the bad publicity.

It is unlikely that such real life drama will be played out at this year’s festival, and unlikely the authorities, in an effort to protect our morals, end up ruining a marriage. But such is the rough and tumble world of the arts that you just never know.

 The line up for the 2008 Dublin Theatre festival may not prove to be as controversial as the inaugural festival. However, if the (allegedly) increasingly obese, soap-opera obsessed couch potatoes of this fair city decide to get up of their posteriors and go to see one or more of the plays on offer, they should be royally entertained.

Last year was a record year for the festival, taking in over €1million for the first time in its 51-year history. Attendances were up by twenty three per cent on 2006 and the organisers are hoping for a similar turnout this year. Inevitably, as with every sector of Irish life these days, the economy may have a part to play in the number of rumps on stools, but judging by the fact that Michael McDowell’s utopian café culture seems to be still thriving (heck not even the Italians know what all these different Italian coffees are), the festival organisers shouldn’t have too much to worry about.  

One reason to attend this years festival will be the appearance of Vanessa Redgrave in Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking. The production, which centres on a woman’s efforts to deal with the sudden death of her husband, is taking place at the Gaiety and is a massive coup for the festival, considering this is only one of three cities where the play is to be staged this year. The 71 year- old star, famous for her roles in films such as Blow up and Venus, has won acclaim for her powerful performance from both the media and her peers and tickets for this show are expected to go quickly.

 Other eyebrow raisers are plays and performances based on the work of Virginia Woolf (Waves), Fyodor Dostoevsky and F.Scott Fitzgerald(Gatz) as well as fresh interpretations of Albert Camus’ ‘Caligula’ and Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’.

But perhaps one of the most intriguing productions of this year’s festival is an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s freakishly dream-like short story ‘Metamorphosis’, a collaboration with Iceland’s Vesturport Theatre Production and the Lyric Hammersmith of London. This darkly decadent treat promises to be very physical and vibrant, using as it does climbing cables and a split stage to heighten the drama and tension; it also features music by Nick Cave and long-time collaborator Warren Ellis.

There are, of course, many home productions to choose from over the two-week period. The Gate Theatre, which is celebrating eighty years this year, is putting on Brian Friel’s new version of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.

Druid’s Irish premiere of Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan directed by Garry Hynes- the first woman to win a Tony award for direction- takes to the stage at the Olympia from the 6^th October, while at the Helix Fishamble are doing a new play by Irish playwright Robert Massey called Rank, which deals with Dublin’s transformation over the last ten years. Including, I assume, our uncanny ability to mispronounce Bruschetta.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Black Watch, based on interviews with soldiers from the regiment of the same name and their time in Iraq, will be staged at the RDS. Having just gone on a sell-out run in Edinburgh, this production is expected to get a lot of attention not least for its strong language and somewhat contentious if relevant subject matter.

 Mark Donford-May’s reworking of Mozart’s The Magic Flute moves the 18^th century opera to a modern township setting in South Africa and offers something a little different for supporters of opera.  CoisCéim Dance Theatre will present Dodgems transforming the O’Reilly Theatre in Belvedere College into a fairground where a real bumper track is the stage for the clashes of lives and personalities that take place during the show.

This year’s festival also includes some workshops and panel discussions. The pick of the bunch is Vanessa Redgrave in conversation Colm Tobin. Perhaps they’ll talk about the development of the lewd, vulgar and offensive in today’s theatre.

Whatever the topic of their discussion, like all the festival, it’s sure to be quite memorable.

By the way the prices vary quite a bit from €20 to €45 but there are student stand-by tickets from about a half hour before the show depending on availability and OAPs also get a discount. Bear in mind that if your booking they’ll charge you €2 per ticket, so book on the net.

Vanessa Redgrave

Be sure to come back September 30th for  a review of Metamorphosis