Arts Over Borders plans for celebrating Ireland s northern literary lands beyond Brexit and Covid
David Roy speaks to Arts Over Borders team Seán Doran and Liam Browne about the impact of Covid and Brexit on their annual festivals celebrating Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde and Brian Friel and how the ongoing pandemic and political debacle have affected their plan to highlight Ireland s northern literary lands on the global stage Domhnall Gleeson and David Pearse performing Waiting for Godot at the Marble Arch Caves Global Geo Park on the Irish border. Picture by Matthew Andrews 13 January, 2021 01:00
Sean Doran and Liam Browne at the official opening of the new Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, 2016. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
7 min read Before now, emphasis was placed on rural landscape and western seaboard in Irish art. KATHRYN MILIGAN S book has taken a different approach
Art can show us familiar things in such striking ways that we may always carry a little extra with us afterwards. Parisian neighbourhood bistros make me feel all louchely Impressionist, while lonely late-night cafes on New York street corners bring out an Edward-Hopper spirit.
Itâs possible that romance plays a part. Lowry doesnât quite compel my fascination with the north of England and Hogarth doesnât drive me to, or from, gin in London, but I had always thought that Dublin saved her inspiration for writers. Now, a new book casts a fresh eye on the artists who made the city their subject.
Almost half (46pc) of the audience came from overseas after all productions were cancelled on March 11.
On average, 122,820 people attend a show annually - this year, the figure fell to just 18,728.
However, the audience took to virtual means to view some of their favourite productions and 324,490 tuned in to watch shows online over the course of the year.
46pc of people tuned in from overseas, with a third watching from the UK and 6.3pc from the United States.
Viewers from Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Spain and New Zealand were also recorded.
Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors of the Abbey Theatre said that this year gave a chance for the theatre to experiment.
For someone making Christmas addresses for decades, the Queen of England’s contribution to the lexicon of commonly used phrases has been minimal. But she introduced the term “annus horribilis” when once declaring “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure”.
Should she repeat the phrase during this year’s Christmas speech, drinkers in wet pubs probably won’t exclaim: “She took the words out of my mouth.” But only because wet pubs aren’t open and we have other terms to describe 2020, mostly unprintable in any newspaper.
It has been a ghostly year of empty streets and All Irelands in deserted stadiums. Previously we knew great years and grim years; years of national success or economic collapse. Privately we also knew years marked by joy or bereavements we thought we’d never survive.