The sight of Christ, or rather Michael d'Aughton, crucified on Bell's Field, against a spectacular panorama of lights, steeples and even a far-off neon cross is unforgettable. With The Trial of Jesus, which took place on Good Friday night, Corcadorca has marked out Patrick's Hill, Cork, as a wonderful theatre for ritual and drama.
But if you think the company is going to do it again next year, you're mistaken. Don't get me wrong, Corcadorca doesn't rule it out: "Maybe for the next Millennium," says director, Pat Kiernan. He's obviously chuffed at how well the event went, and with the response of the nearly 2,000 spectators, despite the fact that "someone on the top of the hill gave the signal too early," which meant that the trial started ahead of time and Christ was crucified before the steeples of the city had a chance to light up.
He just feels that the same energy would be hard to find again. The story had its own power: "We all had our separate takes on it at the beginning and we still had at the end. We weren't trying to influence anyone. We were putting it on a human level." Practically speaking, the company couldn't take it on again, anyway. The company is disappointed with its Arts Council funding this year of roughly £68,000; The Trial cost £80,000, put together from different sources. If it were to be done again, says Kiernan, "the city would have to take it on".
He has more pressing matters on his mind, such as the 70-plus scripts which have so far been submitted for the company's award for new playwrights; they are still coming in double figures. If a script is burning a hole in your pocket, send it to Corcadorca this week at 11/12 Marlboro Street, Cork.
It's not quite "new", as the Arts Council press release claims, but the Dublin Writers' Festival hasn't run since 1998. This year it will run from June 15th-18th, straddling Bloomsday and eight Dublin venues. Joint funded by the Arts Council and Dublin Corporation, as well as other sponsors, the event is born of the perception that Dublin needs its own festival of literature, given its international profile as a writers' city (Galway has so far scooped that particular pot with its successful Cuirt Festival of Literature, now running). Among the 40-plus writers who will participate are Doris Lessing, Eavan Boland, Paul Durcan, A.S. Byatt and A.L. Kennedy.
"Handel would have been a regular in a place like this," says Eve O'Kelly, director of the Contemporary Music Centre, which provides resources for contemporary composers. Its new building, a Georgian house right beside the place where Messiah was first performed on Fishamble Street, Dublin, seems perfect for it. The house was developed in partnership with Temple Bar Properties and, when it is finished in a month or so, will boast a spacious library, archives, a display area, a CD shop focusing on new Irish composition and more. For more information contact 01-6731922
Bray Jazz 2000 takes place this weekend and features the newly named British Jazz Singer of the Year, Claire Martin, the wonderful Night in Havana Orchestra, and well-known Irish musicians such as Louis Stewart and Hugh Buckley - tickets from the festival office in Bray Heritage Centre, Main Street, or Ticketmaster: 01-4569569.ardenas - 091-581688..
Eddie Friel, who brought Glasgow to greatness in its year as cultural capital, and Paraic Breathnach, who helped Macnas invigorate Galway, will give a seminar on "The role of culture and the arts in a city's branding strategy" at Limerick City Gallery tomorrow at 10.45 a.m.
Edited By Victoria White
