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Art of thinking outside and inside the box
A simulated truck journey from Bulgaria to Dublin, in which the
audience is human freight, is as close to 'reality theatre' as it
is possible to get, writes
Christine Madden p
Feeney changes her tune
Musical individualist Julie Feeney is reworking songs from her debut album for orchestra. It's a hint of what's to come on the follow-up, she tells Tony Clayton-Lea p
Abbey's seating rejig makes for dramatic improvement
CultureShock: The new Abbey design has greatly improved the auditorium - could it make the theatre's projected move to the docklands redundant, asks Fintan O'Toole p
Arts
Party for a fabulous invalid
On The Town: 'It's what George S Kaufman called 'the fabulous invalid'," playwright Hugh Leonard commented at the launch of this year's Dublin Theatre Festival programme, when asked about Irish theatre. "They think it's dying but it comes back immediately." If the excitement evident in Dublin's City Hall this week for the launch of the festival's 50th anniversary programme is anything to go by, then Irish theatre is alive and kicking. pByrne enjoys Venice buzz
On the Town: Ireland's art world was all abuzz this week, celebrating the selection of artist Gerard Byrne to represent the country at the prestigious 52nd Venice Biennale. It is the world's biggest showcase for visual arts, and many of the movers and shakers in Irish art were in attendance at the Office of Public Works on St Stephen's Green on Tuesday to wish Byrne well. pPutting the stress on the cracks
OnTheTown: Rather than paint over the cracks as some of us do, Brian Fay, whose first solo show in Dublin opened at the Lab on Foley Street this week, choose to highlight the cracks themselves. In the exhibition, Some Time Now, the artist examined works by artists such as Vermeer and Da Vinci, and painstakingly copied the cracks from the original paintings, creating new works in the process. pWriters holding court in Galway
It may not have been the most pleasant journey there under Garda escort, but recuperating independent Galway county councillor Michael "Stroke" Fahy couldn't have picked a better time than this week to begin his one-year jail term in Castlerea. The Co Roscommon prison was selected as a venue for one of the many readings during this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature, which opened in Galway on Tuesday. pGate crowd knocked out by demon barber
On the Town: 'I've been 25 years listening to all these people singing at parties. It's taken me that long to put them all on stage together - but it's basically all my mates up there," said Michael Colgan, director of the Gate Theatre, as the curtain rose on its new production, Stephen Sondheim's musical masterpiece, Sweeney Todd, with an all-Irish cast. pPromises, promises from all parties
ArtScape: Even allowing for pre-electionitis, it's worth noting that most of the parties are agreed on some aspects of arts policy. p
Faith in the environment
Eco-congregations are raising awareness of Christians' obligation to look after God's own earth, writes Sylvia Thompson pHow the tendrils know which way to turn
Detained in the polytunnel by the unexpected rattle of a shower, I contemplated the encouraging progress of my mangetout peas. I had planted them around the outside of an upright cylinder of sheep fencing and already, at pencil-height, some were stretching out a first tendril to wrap around a strand. Indeed, one could imagine a good many of the plants were actively reaching for the nearest support. If that were so, how did they know it was there? pEyeonNature
Readers' observations on nature pHorizons
The council's five-year vision: Working to ensure that the management of landscape, biodiversity and archaeological resources is at the heart of Government policy is one of the key priorities in the Heritage Council's five-year strategic plan, launched last week. p
Escapades in Irish America
Interview: The second novel in Joseph O'Connor's loose Irish-American trilogy takes place amid the chaos of the American civil war, he tells Arminta Wallace pParallel lives after the path forks
Fiction: Lionel Shriver's new novel, The Post-Birthday World, tells the story - or rather, stories - of Irina McGovern, a fortysomething American children's book illustrator living in London with her long-term partner, the "chronically condescending" Lawrence, a fellow American who works in a think-tank and around whom Irina has built her life. pGrieving through goods
Memoir: Clocks, tools, photographs, coins, a model boat, tea towels, kitchen utensils, an electric typewriter, unfinished oil paintings, cupboards full of Pyrex, share certificates, pencils, Post-it notes, plastic bags, nine bottles of horse's blood and a box of human bones: all of this, and an awful lot more, was left to Martin Rowson when his father and stepmother died in 2004. pPondering the Japan puzzle
Economics: For a moment, Japan bestrode the world like some economic colossus. (The Japanese economy, deputy finance minister Eisuke Sakakibara boasted in 1991, had "surpassed capitalism".) But that boom turned out to be a bubble, and burst - resulting in a slump on the Nikkei, a precipitous drop in land values, and massive unemployment. pShock, awe and solace
Poetry: In his fictionalised autobiography, The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston, Siegfried Sassoon recounts the following scene: "This morning. Suez Canal from train. Garden at Ismalia - a bit of blossom and greenery among sandy wastes. pA fatalistic viewpoint and chronicles of love
Poetry: Dungarvan-born Pádraig J Daly is the quiet man of southern Irish poetry, but he is not a man of few words. pThe plot to rob the president's grave
History: The 16th president of the US, Abraham Lincoln, died on April 15th 1865, the day after he was shot by an assassin. On November 17th 1876, an attempt was made to steal his body from its resting place in the Lincoln Monument in Springfield, Illinois. pNot bowing to oppression
Biography: Perhaps one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century was the cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, who died yesterday in Moscow. As a performer and a teacher he leapt to prominence in his native Russia, becoming a celebrity under a system where such status was discouraged. This book, by a former pupil, describes in detail his career as a professional cellist and soloist up until the point when he left his native Russia and came to live in the West in 1974. pPaperbacks
The latest releases reviewed. pShort story to the fore
LooseLeaves: Six Irish short story writers , including Claire Keegan, for her forthcoming collection, Walk the Blue Fields (Faber), and John F Deane, for his recently published The Heather Fields and Other Stories (Blackstaff), are among 34 writers whose collections make up the longlist for this year's €35,000 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. p
Channel 6 opts not to soften focus
PresentTense: There must be few things that make a person feel grubbier than to be caught watching porn. This week, it was reported that Channel 6 had considered, then dropped, the idea of broadcasting "erotica" late on Friday nights. Channel 6 revealed that it would be targeted at a "primarily male audience". Which is a statement only slightly less obvious than the outcome of a plumber calling to fix the shower in a women's prison. pGest mounts his challenge
TVReview: 'Holy focaccia!" Guess who's outstaying his welcome? David Gest, the diminutive, mesomorphic bling-holder with the tummy tuck and the bald patch, having apparently won the hearts and minds of the great telly public when he emerged from the celebrity jungle (minus a stone and gagging for his moisturiser), has a TV series all to his hirsute self. pA drenched de Valera takes the big prize
RadioReview: Small-island syndrome has a habit of smothering some interview shows, but at least Sian O'Gorman, for her new series, Cast a Long Shadow (RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday), has - so far - sidestepped the depressingly common "round up the usual suspects" approach to her guest list. p
