Spirits were high at the start of the 5th Pan Pan International Theatre Symposium this week. Many of those who attended the performances, discussions and talks in Project and other Temple Bar venues will be sad to see it all end today.
On Monday night, the first performance of the winter school came from Gavin Quinn, the festival's artistic director. The première of this hour-long piece, For the First Time Ever, was a co-production between the touring German Stage Service company and Pan Pan Theatre. A small reception afterwards gave friends a chance to catch up after the Christmas holidays.
Ruth Negga, who played the title role in Lolita at the Peacock last year, chatted afterwards to her friend and fellow actor, Katy Davis. Negga will again tread the boards of the Peacock later this month in a production of two plays by Marina Carr and Jim Nolan, which are written and produced for audiences of eight to 12-year-olds.
Davis opens at The New Theatre in Temple Bar in a Vaclav Havel play, The Memorandum, which is "all about the shift in power within an office", she says.
Richard Wakely, commissioner of the upcoming Festival of Irish Arts and Culture in Beijing and Shanghai, is off to China on his first official visit to discuss the programme, which will feature contributions from established and emerging Irish artists.
Willie White, Project's artistic director, just back from his native Abbeyleix, listed some of the treats in store at Project this spring: Limerick's Daghdha Dance Company opens The Yellow Room by Yoshiko Chuma, Mary Nunan and Colin Dunne later this month, and Druid is coming for one month in February with The Good Father by Listowel playwright Chritian O'Reilly, starring Aidan Kelly and Derbhle Crotty, then Antigone by Conall Morrison will arrive in early March.
Tony Ó Dálaigh, will be working hard at the NCH, Dublin, tomorrow when a new piece of music by Shaun Davey, We'll Never Say Goodbye, is recorded. This will be the atheletes' song at the Special Olympics, he says.
Clíona Maher, of Clonmel, Co Tipperary, Sorcha Carroll from Lanesboro, Co Longford, along with actor Bríd Ní Chionaola from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, discussed the play afterwards. Others in attendance included Ali Curran, Peacock director; actor Olwen Fouere; John Scott, of the Irish Modern Dance Threatre; Mary Brady, of the Institute of Choreography and Dance and director Jimmy Fay.