49 and counting

Although this is the 49th Dublin Theatre Festival, and there was much talk at the launch about next year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, that should not detract from the fact that artistic director Don Shipley and his colleagues have put together a killer line-up for this year’s event.

For many music fans a definite highlight will be the inclusion of the The Point as a venue for the first time, staging Came So Far For Beauty: An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs. Originally commissioned in 2003 by the Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts Festival (what the hell is Lenny’s link to Brooklyn?), this production includes the likes of Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Gavin Friday, Lou Reed and Beth Orton performing songs by one of rock’s most lyrical and (let’s face it) theatrical songwriters.
Why do you think the guy wrote on his bathroom wall in the 1963 documentary Caveat Emptor? He later explained it as ‘buyer beware’ and is a man who is fully aware of the poses a songwriter must sell – even in search of truth and beauty. A must see show.
Besides, Cohen needs the money – he was, after all, ripped off to the disharmonious tune of five million dollars by his former manager and lover. Ouch!
The Abbey, meanwhile, is presenting another epic production, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler as directed by Thomas Ostermeir. Now more than a century old, Hedda Gabler is described as ‘a provocative indictment of the bourgeoisie ... that still retains its capacity to shock.’ Specifically vis-à-vis its central character, a spoiled, self-absorbed, social-climbing woman who within the space of one day destroys everyone around her, including herself. Sounds like a Cohen song.
Also at the Abbey will be Druid’s latest production Empress of India, directed by Garry Hynes and written by Stuart Carolon.
This tells the fascinating tale of a celebrated Irish actor who ‘watched his wife die and, abandoned to grief, took no further part in the lives of their children.’ In this play the actor is called Seamus Lamb but no doubt part of the fun will be trying to identify who, if anyone, the part is based upon.
The Peacock also presents the Irish premiere of Tom Murphy’s latest play Alice Trilogy that the writer himself directs. It charts the life of the eponymous Alice and has been described by The Guardian as ‘a strange, poetic, poignant study of a life half lived.’
The Gate on the other hand is presenting what has been described as a ‘riveting, electric, chilling and horribly funny’ production based on the widely acclaimed Dogme film and play, Festen. It focuses on what happens when a 60-year-old businessman gathers his family and friends to celebrate his 60th birthday, only for the party to reveal a dark secret the family can no longer conceal. The production is directed by Selina Cartmell who won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Director in 2005.
While these are the big productions at the major venues, there are also highly recommended productions at other theatres. They include an Omsk State Drama Theatre company production of Gorky’s The Vacationers and a Deutsches Theatre Berlin production of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Emilia Galotti at the Gaiety; a Shared Experience production of Euripides’ Orestes and Pamela Gien’s The Syringa Tree at the Olympia; Aalast, conceived, directed and designed by Pol Heyvaert at the Project; and much more besides.
But three other productions certainly will be high on my list: Rosemary Jenkinson’s The Bonfire at the Project Cube (simply because it is the latest production from the ever-innovative Rough Magic company); Michael West’s Everyday,as staged by the equally creative Corn Exchange Theatre company at the Samuel Beckett Theatre; and finally (but perhaps most intruigingly) Mannix Flynn’s Letting go of That Which You Most Ardently Admire - ‘an experience, a process of exploring potent landscapes in order to reveal ourselves’ - which will be staged in site-specific locations within Dublin city and is open to no more than 150 people. For details ring 086 8910574. For further details of the Festival itself ring 01 677 8899.