Galway Advertiser 1998/1998_06_04/GA_04061998_E1_026.pdf 

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ENTERTAINMENT
T D T R O S M SA E FR E U T N ES G O ' GL A A T F S I A ' 21 S AWY R S ETV L S T

LETS
But if that has anything to do with Goodall, who'll be taking the role of putting on a boring suit, making sure Don Juan." you're always cleanly shaved, throw And that old edge Ted's referred to? ing a w a y y o u r o l d r o c k ' n ' r o l l How about The Circus of Horrors records, cancelling your subscription motor bikes on high wires, chain saw to NME, The Face, or Loaded, and jugglers, the Wasp Boy who can (and getting in s t e p w i t h t h e t e r r i b l e does) swallow almost anything, a girl brigade of the Respectable, then Ted who squeezes herself into a bottle, and Turton, arts festival director in this, a direct descendant of the bloodthirsty the year of Galway arts festival's 21st model of Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, the birthday celebrations, wants nothing whole show directed by Circus Archaos to do with it. creator Pierre Bidon. Party time, big Evening "That's the message I want to give to time. Said the Edinburgh everybody coming to this year's festi News, 'The show of the festival - the val - it's our 21st birthday and this is year's sensational outrage'. Hey, did he going to be 'Galway's biggest party'. say 'outrage'? That's the spirit, Ted. We're delighted to be celebrating our coming of age, but just because we're 21 doesn't mean we've lost our ability and our desire to be shocking, outra geous, challenging and provocative. "Age-wise we're 21, but in spirit where it counts - we're still brash and explosive and walking on the edge. And I'm absolutely determined to make sure we keep that edge." When Ted and his arts festival com rades started planning for this year's party bash, the main thing they wanted to ensure was that the people of Galway, who've been so supportive over the years and who, in return, have seen so many extraordinary events and performances since the festival was just a wee bairn, a tradition celebrated this year with the mind-blowing Titanic spectacle and - of course - Footsbarn. "Our original idea for this year's pro gramme was to invite back some old friends like Footsbarn, who've been connected with the arts festival since its earliest days. When anybody has a birthday party, you want first of all to invite your old mates around. The ones who've made an impact on you. And Footsbarn has certainly had an impact. "So this year they've put together not just one but two new shows - Moliere's Don Juan and Shakespeare's Winter's Tale - neither of which has been seen anywhere before except at the Montpellier Festival in France, right on Footsbarn's front door. And another old friend is coming to the party - Rod Twenty-first birthdays can be nostal gia trips, a chance to moan about how much better it was in the old days. Ted wants none of that. "We're already thinking about next year and we've got some spectacular ideas that we're putting together for the M i l l e n n i u m Festival organisation [who've also been a big help in secur ing this year's Titanic]." Underlying all these new and still forming ideas is the aim of expanding the attraction of festival into the life, into the streets, of Galway. "The pedestrianisation of the inner city, and the completion of the Spanish Arch parade, has given us two wonderful new perfor mance spaces, and we're determined to make use of them to the fullest. "And along with that, we want to expand the number of events that are free to the public. This year, for exam ple, the opening of the festival, with the amazing Kodo Drummers from Japan, is a free, open air show. And of course this year's Macnas parade is a terrific example of how the streets themselves can become one of the best 'stages' you can think of." After 21 years of spectacle and per formance, what contribution does Ted think Galway Arts Festival has made to the tremendous spread of arts festivals around Ireland during the past two decades? "I'm not so arrogant as to imagine that, if Galway Arts Festival hadn't come along, you wouldn't have so

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here is no logical reason w h y 21 should be seen as such a significant milestone. But logic has very little to do with it. We persist in thinking that anyone or anything that has reached the magic number is now to be seen as having attained maturity.
many arts festivals today. But I think it's undeniable that the energy and cre ative daring of our festival has had a big inspirational impact on that coun try-wide expansion. "And again, I don't even want to claim that this is due primarily to the ones in charge of the festival. It's got so much to do with the people of Galway, the city itself, with all those who came through UCG to start Druid or one of the other theatre companies that's the unique combination, the 'nature of the beast', if you like, that's Galway. The whole is really and truly greater than the sum of its parts, and that's something you never could have predicted or planned for." Ted sees G a l w a y ' s tremendous progress during these last two decades as two-fold, both economic and cultur al. 'The two factors have fed each other and been of mutual benefit to each other." On those who would criticise the business community for not being gen erous enough to the festival, Ted says, "We're enormously grateful to all those in businesses and companies who helped the festival, and to the many, many smaller groups and individuals who are Friends of the Festival.

"Of course a big festival like this is never going to be entirely free of some financial concern, and I would sincere ly hope that all those who do well financially out of the festival would be moved of themselves to show their appreciation for the benefits it brings them." Ted Turton has big plans and big ideas for future festivals. Already, in

the short time he's been director he's very firmly p l a c e d h i s s t a m p on Galway Arts Festival. A thoughtful per son, who's also blessed with an impish ly creative touch of the helter skelters, Galway can anticipate shocking, outra geous, challenging and provocative arts festivals well into the next millennium. His final word for this year is "Let's party!"

Star in unique Galway film
hat Flann O'Brien might call 'the plain people of Galway', as well as the not so plain and the just plain daft, will be given the chance to feature in a unique feature-length film that will be shot on June 12 and 13 on top of the Kyre S q u a r e c a r park in the city c e n t r e . H o w z z a t t ? ? What?? Let us explain: In the two weeks prior to April 25 and 26 1997, (he population of the French city of Poitiers were told through posters, flyers and others means of communication that film-maker Marylene Negro was going to shot a film, to be called Ni Vu - Ni Connu [Neither seen nor known] which would then be screened during a forthcoming festival. Marylene Negro is about to do the same thing for Galway. Anybody and everybody is invited to come

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along to the top of the Eyre Square car park and do what ever they like in front of the camera - sing, dance, recite a l poem; complain about the Government or the church o r l whatever happens to be your particular bete noir. Bring! your children. Bring your wife. Bring your girlfriend.| Bring your dog. Smile. Just do a walk-by. Scream. Shave your head. Wish your mother-in-law happy birthday. The sky's the limit. Only one thing: the reason it's being shot on top of the car park and not. say on the sidewalk, is that Marylene wants people to be premeditated. You can do or say what you like: but she wants you to come up to the lop with something specific worked out. and then do it. The completed film [and the film from Poitiers] will b e | screened during Galway Arts Festival in July. Can you afford to let this chance Cot stardom pass yot by?