Galway Advertiser 1999/1999_06_24/GA_24061999_E1_037.pdf 

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ENTERTAINMENT
GALWAY'S MOST COMPREHENSIVE ENTERTAINMENT G U I D E - E D I T E D B Y Jeff O ' C o n n e l l

Celtic magic in 'A C e l t i c M a z e ' a t the Black B o x this weekend
OPENING IN the Black Box T h e a t r e is a totally unique art experience. The panels of images come from the imaginations of nearly 1,000 local children from schools and youth groups. Acting as a kind of creative guidance counsellor is Belfast-based artist Ken Parker. He has vast experience in working with similar groups, both here in Ireland and across the water in America. This is his second time in the Black Box where three years ago he was the originator of The Biggest Artwork in Ireland . The Black Box he describes as a unique space and the only place where he could envisage a pro ject of this scale taking place. myths of Ireland, including the rise of the Celtic Tiger, the maze is a riot of raised images and colour. They have used simple techniques of combining cardboard, paper and paint yet the whole is very complex indeed. Ken Parker is very impressed by the young people he has being working with but is very modest about his own involvement. He protests that there is nothing altruistic about this work. If he is too long in a studio he starts to feel stifled. By working with the fresh ideas of young people he keeps himself fresh. In between all the work he does in art with community groups, he still finds time to work on his own sculptures and print making. The Celtic Maze is being officially opened by Michael D He does not see himself in the teaching role, he prefers simply to show the techniques involved and then allow the Higgins on Friday evening and will be open to the public all children's imagination to take over. "Often it is the children weekend. All are welcome and admission is free for the who the teacher don't expect, who shine the most". This experience. kind of creative outlet allows children to give expression to Michele Viney how they see the world around them. Incorporating modern

Beckett at the Town Hall --

Galway Arts musical

Festival

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his year marks the 10th anniver sary of the death of the playwright who per haps more than any other, captured the uncertainty, anxiety, and gallows humour of this century now rumbling to a close - Samuel Beckett. Sometimes described as the master of silences and truncated speech. Beckett's plays, "despite their spare form and sometimes bewildering charac ters and situations, have come to have an extraordinary reso nance, so that a play like Waiting For Godot strikes home to the 'lifers' in prisons, those people living under totalitarian regimes, and the ordinary, thoughtful individual living in this century of technological wizardry and disturbingly empty sets of meanings. To mark the 10th anniversary of Beckett's death, Sick-L Theatre Company - which produced the very successful and politically 'punchy' Great Potato Trial - is staging two of his plays. Catastrophe, Beckett's only overtly political play, written for Vaclav Havel and taking a look at the pre-1989 Soviet East, and Play, apparently a simple love triangle - but then nothing is ever simple with Beckett. The players are Diarmuid De Faoite and Audrey Ni Fhearghail. both of Ros "a Run, and Fiona Kelly, one of Galway's finest actresses. The director - also a Ros na Run regular - is Brendan Murray. Play and Catastrophe will be staged in the Town Hall Theatre Studio (091 569777) from Tuesday June 29 to Saturday July 3. each night at 8.30pm. The company will then take the plays on the road for a short tour, and then on t" the Irish Festival in Chartres. France.

brings w i d e range of talents
Something which deserves a special mention is Quebec's leading roots and trad exponents La Bottioe Souriante. who will play in Cuba'Live on Thursday July 22 at 10pm. This gig is a particularly large coup for the festi val. On the following day at 10pm. the same venue will feature Latin artists Sexteto Cafe. Throughout the festival, the GPO nightclub and Cuba will host the GClub Mix - a series of club events including the likes of Donal Dineen. S h a n e J o h n s o n , and DJ R a i n e r T r u b y . as well as Galway's own Disconauts who present Mainstage Mayhem, a fusion of club sounds with live guitars, brass, drums, and vocals of Naked House: and Cork's Club Moir Disco, which will take over the GPO on the final night to party the fes tival to a close. The millennium festival's garden party is being held in the Fisheries Field on July 17. This free gig. with a capacity of 4.000. will feature acts includ ing The Saw Doctors. Sean k i am Sharon Shannon The Black Magic Orchestra, and possibly some other acts Alth
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n addition to the arts end of the Galway Arts Festival, the musical content is more impressive than it's ever been, with live acts appear ing in clubs and pubs across the city. The biggest musical event of the festival is the Big Beat. Arising from the ashes of the newly deceased Big Day Out. this three day gig kicks off on Friday July 8 in the Fisheries Field with Cassias (DJ set), Darren Emerson. Green Velvet, Presence. Freddy Fresh, and Johnny Moy. On Saturday the Happy Mondays, the Roots, and Bass Odyssey entertain, with David Gray. Afro Celt Sound System, and Paddy Casey bringing the event to a close on Sunday 10. Kristin Hersch will make a return to Galway to play the Black Box on July 19 at 8pm, while former Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell makes his festival debut at Roisin Dubh on Wednesday July 21 at 9.30pm. Sure to be one of the better gigs will be the Walk, who have just released their second single. "Broken Boy", and should have an album out within a couple of months. They play Roisin Dubh on Tuesday and Wednesday July 13 and 14. Following the Macnas Parade and Group F fireworks display on Sunday July 18. Dublin based Kila perform their mixture of acoustic and electric sounds at the Black Box at 11.30pm, while the following weekend from Friday July 23 to to Sunday July 25. the Ricctotti Ensemble from the Netherlands turn symphonic music into fun with various free open uir con certs on the streets of Galway.