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April 26 – May 30, 2024 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
M ay is the long awaited beginning of the summer and of sunshine (hopefully), which brings colour and wonderful light. Opening on May 10 Blue House Gallery in Schull has a ceramics show throughout the downstairs with artists Etain Hickey, Ayelet Lalor, Julian Smith and Jim Turner. In the Boiler Room is ‘The Prelude’, a solo exhibition by painter Lesley Cox, and also upstairs is a group show of selected gallery artists. The opening reception of the upcoming exhibition is on May 10 from 6-8pm, a lovely chance to meet each other and the artists. The gallery is open daily 11-5pm. Light and colour at Blue House Gallery in Schull
‘Smiling Politely’ at De Barras
W est Cork band ‘Smiling Politely’ will play a selection of their favourite rock songs spanning four decades at De Barras in Clonakilty on May 11.,A rare gathering of three like-minded friends, ‘Smiling Politely’ is Matt Churchill, guitar vocals; Sean Murphy, bass and vocals; and Brian O’Higgins, drums and screaming. Guitarist Matt Churchill’s musical journey started in his hometown of Liverpool in his teens. After befriending musicians from West Cork during his college years, he relocated to Ireland and has since worked with a myriad of artists in- cluding Noel Redding, Roy Harper, Peter Gabri- el’s Real World Studios and many local legends. Matt continues to enjoy his life in music regularly travelling the lengths and breadths of Ireland. Sean Murphy is a vocalist and guitarist/bass player who fronts acclaimed rock tributes such as A FOO Good Men (Foo Fighters) and Pop Punk 101. He has entertained professionally on Car-
nival Cruise Lines in the US and Irish Ferries in Europe and has sang with a number of in demand Irish function bands. Sean has also released a number of rap/beats eps and toured the country as Spekulativ Fiktion. He is a ‘dirty mosher’ at heart however and always loves the chance to rock out in DeBarras. Brian O’Higgins is a Clonakilty native who cut his teeth in the Dublin music scene in the early 2000s playing everything from indie, prog, rockabilly and his personal favourite: psychobilly (look it up, you won’t be disappointed!). He has toured extensively with many bands (Spellbound, The Spook of the 13th Lock) and has shared the stage with some excellent people such as Shane McGowan, Donal Lunny and Imelda May, as well as the myriad of local talent in Clonakilty and its environs. Brian continues to play locally as much as he can and is chomping at the bit to rock out with the above two gentlemen in the best venue in the world…De Barra’s on May 11.
Jim Turner
‘Queen Maebh’ by Ayelet Lalor
Glengarriff Theatre Group presents ‘Act Naturally’
Set in the midst of Schull Village on Main Street. The Blue House Gallery showing local, national & international art is open Everyday between 11am and 5 pm from Easter to October
Glengarriff Theatre Group will present its annual spring play, ‘Act Naturally’ on Friday April 26 and Saturday April 27, at 8pm, in Glengarriff Community Hall. A synopsis of the play is as follows; The Historic Sites Preservation Society is in financial trouble, and they need to do something about it quickly. Certainly a play seems like a good
idea, especially when they save money by writing it themselves, but can they act? A comedy play by Giles Scott, directed by Maria O’Sullivan More information and online tickets available at GTG.ie Tickets also available on the door each night.
New music documentary journeys with Traveller singer Thomas McCarthy
‘S onglines’, a new documentary from award-winning West Cork filmmaker Pat Collins, journeys with Thomas McCar- thy, one of Ireland’s best known Traveller singers as he meets an eclectic collection of Traveller singers throughout Ireland. Many of these charismatic performers and carriers of tradition are rarely seen or heard outside the Travelling community and include Rosie McCarthy from Macroom. Al- though only 16-years-old, she’s already a powerful and expres- sive singer who loves singing
the old songs. Thomas also travels to meet Kitty Cassidy in Waterford, now 84, but still a powerful performer today. Kitty talks with Thomas about where she learned her songs and sings extracts of three songs: ‘Please Mr. Conductor’, ‘Lovely Willie’ and ‘Mother Malone’. In the course of the film, we also meet young Stephen McDonagh and Ned McCarthy in Tullamore. Ned is a cousin of Thomas’ and is related to the fa- mous pipers, Felix and Johnny Doran. We also travel to meet the Keenan sisters, Kathleen and Mary in Ennis and In Bal-
lymun, we meet Ellie Stokes, the daughter of Traveller singer Mary Kate McDonagh who was recorded by the great collector Tom Munnelly singing The Tri-Colour House. Thomas also meets sister and brother, Trish and Martin O’Reilly in Droghe- da. Trish sings ‘False Lankum’ and Martin sings ‘Smuggling the Tin’ a song covered by the singer Liam Weldon. At eight years of age, Trish and her four sisters were taken from their family into institutional care, where she spent 10 years. ‘Songlines’ screens on RTÉ1 on Thursday, May 2, 10.15pm.
Thomas mcCarthy with Rosie McCarthy
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