Galway Advertiser 1997/1997_08_21/GA_21081997_E1_029.pdf 

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ENTERTAINMENT
G A L W A Y ' S M O S T C O M P R E H E N S I V E E N T E R T A I N M E N T G U I D E - E D I T E D B Y leff O ' C o n n e l l

' W o m e n on the Verge of HRT,
W
Marie Jones' delightful play inspired by Daniel history of late 20th century IrelandT o w n Hall, O'Donnell is much25 - 30mere O'Donnell, at and However, Daniel August more than a hen the
singer. For Daniel is an icon, a symbol, an incarnation of decency, goodness, polite manners, friendliness, and lots of other qualities that evoke a passionate response among the thousands of devoted fans. Here is one star who does more than mouth the usual showbiz cliches about how he owes all his success to his loyal fans; Daniel really means it. And every year the singer opens his house in the little Donegal village of Kinscasslagh to them, and invites them in for a wee cup of tea. So many and so enthusiastic did the fans become that in 1993 he opened his own hotel, the Viking House Hotel, to cater for the crowds. Marie Jones, a highly-praised Belfast playwright, has set her brilliantly funny and insightful play, 'Women on the Verge of HRT' on the occasion of one of Daniel O'Donnell's annual 'At Homes'. We meet Vera and Anna in their bedroom in the Viking House Hotel. Like many of the singer's fans, the two women are middle-aged and on their own, and they're attracted by his warmth and gen tleness. Also on hand is Fergal, the waiter, who provides the catalyst for what becomes an emotionally searching look at the situation of women like Vera and Anna, cruel ly regarded by society as past their 'sell-by' date. Dubbeljoint Theatre Company's production, at the Town Hall Theatre from Monday August 25 to Saturday August 30, arrives in Galway from London's West End, where it received rave notices. The excellent cast includes Eileen Pollock, well-known for her stints with Druid and other companies, Terry Neeson and Dessie Gallagher. The play is directed by Pam Brighton, artistic director of Dubbeljoint Productions, and has a terrific set by Robert Ballagh. 'Women on the Verge of HRT' is a finely perceptive play that treats its characters with insight and compassion, making us laugh not at them but along with them, as it confronts the timeless dilemma of youth versus age, par ticularly from a women's point of view. England is someday written, there will undoubtedly be at least a note on the extraor dinary popular phenomenon that is Daniel O'Donnell. Of course, first and foremost, Daniel is a singer, with a very pleasant voice, who specialises in middle-of-the-road bal lads, usually with an Irish flavour. Hearing him - and this is meant with no disrespect - you would imagine he enjoys moderate success and - because he's a good-look ing lad - has a solid but not over-large fan base.

'Women on the Verge of H R T ' at the Town Hall August 25 - 30

Spotlight Theatre Company will present 'Little Shop of Horrors'

A

t the Town Hall T h e a t r e , September 2 - 6, nightly at 8.00pm. This hilarious comedy musical

will be directed by Neville Carlyle Style, with musical direction by Philip Short, and choreography by James Harris. Note: There

will be a matinee perfor mance on Saturday September 6. at 3.00pm.

Tracing t h e night a w a y
I
t s 'Lord of the Trance" and it's coming soon to Galway city. You may cringe at the naff title but Peter Power, the English hypnotist behind the "hilarious, outrageous and over-18 stage show", has been practising his hypnotic trade since he was 12-years-old. Beginning by hypnotising his brother (using his father's pocket watch), after watching an old black and white film which featured the art, he took his powers on stage immediately after leav ing school at the age of 18. "I think if I had failed that first time. I might never have become a stage hypnotist." he reflects. Originally from Bolton in Lancashire, his show now takes him all over the world and he spends several months of every year in Scotland and Australia. He keeps up to date with>his subject by reading countless numbers of the thousands of books on hypnotism which are published every year. He also keeps abreast of all the latest devel opments in clinical hypnotic tests which are car ried out in labs throughout the world. His stage show is hard to compare with other stage shows he says. "I try to take away that mys tic element and don't use things like mirrors or coffins. I try to keep as normal an environment as possible." While a number of people from the audience arc hypnotised at every show. Power stresses that he will only hypnotise those who volunteer to come up on stage. "Nobody in the audience can go under." he explains. "And I don't select people from the crowd, they all volunteer. If nobody comes up. there isn't a show." But what happens to the ones who do volunteer? "Well I don't set out to completely humiliate peo ple." he says. "But obviously there is an element of having a laugh in the show. People come up and do daft things on stage once they're hypnotised." According to Power, the hypnotised subject enters an altered state of consciousness - some what like a dream state. And he has had failures on stage - quite often he says. "In a stage show, it is necessary to hypnotise peo ple in under a minute and sometimes it won't hap pen that quickly, depending on the person. Anybody can be hypnotised but some take longer than others and in a stage show it becomes too boring for the audience to wait that long. In last night's show I lost three people but the show before that had a full success rate.**

And the man. who attracted international media attention in 1994 when he sent a Liverpool man to sleep for eight days (with the man's permission!), claims to be delighted to finally visit Galway city He played one show in the Oyster Manor. Clarinbridge. last week, and ate two dozen oyster-, on his arrival in the village. He points out that people in Galway seem to be afraid of hypnotism and said that one man who attended the show stayed outside the door until the other subjects had been hypmitised. But he is looking forward to practising his trade in the city. Powers' show. "Lord of the Trance", will run in the Ardilaun Hotel on August 24. 25 and 26. BF