Kilkee Playwrighters Festival

Date Issued: 7th October 2011

Friday 14th October and Saturday 15th October

Kilkee provides the backdrop to the Playwrighters Festival that runs from Friday 14th October until Saturday 15th October. The Festival includes six rehearsed readings of new plays from established and emerging playwrights followed by a questions and answer session and two playwrighting workshops facilitated by experienced playwrights and teachers on Saturday 15th October from 11am to 1pm. The rehearsed readings are free but donations are welcome. Workshops are €25.00 or €10.00 low waged or unemployed €10 negotiable.

Each performance of a rehearsed reading will differ but generally an audience can expect to see the play performed by actors who have rehearsed the play with a director but who may not be ‘off the page’ i.e. actors may appear with a script in hand but will be following stage directions. The play will be performed without a full set or plotted lighting and actors may not necessarily be in costume.  Documentation of the readings will enable playwrights, directors and actors the opportunity to further their work.

Workshops are open to all writers and would be writers. In addition the workshops would be of interest to directors and actors who wish to develop their understanding of creating work for theatre.

The festival was the brain wave of Jenny Walsh Bassett, who after seeing ‘Ravenhill for Breakfast’ at the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 has been developing the project with Clare Arts Officer Siobhan Mulcahy and Dublin based established playwright Miriam Gallagher. The central idea is that new plays get ‘staged’ on a minimal budget.

Jenny believes the process is a win win situation for everyone and demonstrates that once again creative thinking can solve problems. The festival has enabled theatre practitioners to become involved in the entire creative process of creating a work for theatre. She explains that the playwright is able to be involved in the rehearsal process with the actors and directors and is in a position to witness response to their work. For both actors and directors the process allows the creative cogs to remain in motion, without having to invest huge amounts of unpaid time. For an audience they get to see new work and become part of the process and who knows may come to say I saw that play in the early days in Kilkee.

All the plays are under 1¼ hour’s in length and range in genre from the absurd to realism. From historic local settings to gender based issues, and national concerns. There’s something in the festival for everyone. Next year the festival also hopes to include plays for children. The rehearsed readings are followed by a question and answer session.

The festival is all about the potential of theatre, supporting our undervalued but dedicated theatre makers and meeting like-minded people in the inspirational setting of Kilkee, West Clare. We will be celebrating and reflecting on the work to date of established playwrights John Arden, Margretta D’Arcy and Miriam Gallagher, who are all performing in the festival alongside emerging playwrights. Jenny points out that two thirds of the adult population regularly attend a performance or exhibition in Ireland and the contribution from the arts to our economy is vital in navigating ourselves away from a boom and bust strategy that clearly doesn’t work, towards a sustainable economy. Ireland has a worldwide reputation for producing artists across all disciplines and the figures support this, with cultural tourism worth over €2 billion. Yet the arts budget is under threat of further cuts in the forth coming budget.

For a seaside resort such as Kilkee such initiatives are vital to bring in new business and create jobs. Statistics demonstrate that for every €1 invested in the arts €3 is generated back in direct exchequer revenue. ( INDECON 2009)
Jenny has been working on a voluntary basis with a small team of local people that include Rob Hopkins, Dave Hanly and Brian Halpin. They hope the festival will go from strength to strength and believe that from small acorns mighty trees grow.

Date and Times

Friday 14th October

• 7.30pm Opening Stella Maris Bar
• 8:00 p.m. T at 4 with George Moore part 1 by John Arden and Margaretta D’Arcy
• 10.30pm Bathrobe and Slippers by Geariod MacUait

Saturday 15th October

• 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. playwrighting workshops
  The ABC of creating a work for the theatre Fiona Clark Echlin Stella Maris or The plays the Thing Margaretta D’Arcy Greyhound Bar Workshop fee €25 or €10 low waged.
• 2:30 p.m. The Gold of Tradaree by Miriam Galagher in Stella Maris
• 4:00 p.m.  T at 4 with George Moore part 2 by John Arden and Margaretta D’Arcy in the Greyhound Bar
• 8:00 p.m. Gas by Jenny Walsh Bassett in the Greyhound Bar
• 10:00 p.m. Death Comes to the Grammarian by Fiona Clark Echlin in the Greyhound Bar.

Each play reading will be followed by a discussion. Workshops need to be booked in advance by contacting 086 3629726.

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