Festival-goers were led out of the sunshine into the recesses of the old city jail. Being inside Grace's Castle on Parliament Street in Kilkenny, dating back to 1566, "was deadly", said Jack Hanrahan (11) from Kilkenny. He was still shivering. It's not every day you get locked into a prison cell along with other members of an audience.
"It was brilliant," said his friend, Gabriel McGuinness (12), also thrilled after the theatrical experience that is Dr Ledbetter's Experiment, a play written by Tom Swift and directed by Jo Managan for the Kilkenny Arts Festival. It runs four times a day until tomorrow.
Brian Kiely, a local solicitor and member of the festival board, said the play was the highlight of the festival for him, especially because "it uses sites of the city and it was very avant garde". John Purcell, chair of the festival board and chief executive of KCLR (Kilkenny Carlow Local Radio) was also delighted with the play.
Members of the CoisCéim Dance Theatre (Ireland) - Emma O'Kane, Eoin Lynch and director Katie Read - attended the performance before going on stage themselves with Chamber Made - Room 409, which brought their run at the festival to a close.
The Stellar Quines Theatre Company came from Scotland to perform The Memory of Water was out and about enjoying festival vibes in the city on Wednesday. The play's director, Muriel Romanes, along with actor Alexandra Mathie and their friend Angie Cairns were all at Swift's play. "Fantastically gripping," said Romanes. "I wouldn't like to go to it on my own," said Cairns.
Artists participating in the festival and enjoying the sunshine included Pat Keck, the American puppeteer and Ernesto Neto, the Brazilian artist, who were both staying locally. Keck's work is on view at Butler House while Neto's is at the Butler Gallery until Sunday, October 17th.
Meanwhile, Irish artist Daniel Figgis was being interviewed by Pat Boran for Rattlebag, before his music and visual art show was staged in Kilfane Glen later that day. The festival, when it concludes tomorrow with a rousing Drumcircle in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, will have attracted 60,000 visitors to the city over the past 10 days.
For further information about the festival, click on www.kilkennyarts.ie