By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Ohio, Journal staff writer

How many ways are there to skin a dead cat?

That's not exactly the premise of Martin McDonagh's furiously funny, razor-sharp comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore, but the subject matter comes pretty close at the Bang and the Clatter Theatre in Cleveland.

In this gleeful spoof of IRA-style violence, we're talking about scooping a dead cat's brains up from the floor and stuffing the poor furbag into a bicycle basket.

Don't worry; there's no real animal abuse in this black comedy. The story's ''brained cat,'' Wee Thomas, serves as ludicrous juxtaposition to the human torture and death central to this tale of murderous revenge.

This wickedly irreverent play is the funniest the Bang and the Clatter has offered since David Mamet's Romance, with the eight-member cast doing a perfect job of playing it straight under the dead-on direction of Sean McConaha.

Inishmore, set in 1993 on the Aran island of that name, is the second of two pieces about the Irish Troubles recently produced by BNC's Irish co-artistic directors, McConaha and Sean Derry. The last was the IRA drama Defender of the Faith by Stuart Carolan, set in Northern Ireland.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore is about the family and neighbors of ''Mad Padraic,'' the self-proclaimed lieutenant of an IRA splinter group who spends most of his time torturing enemies and planting bombs. His one soft spot is for kitty Wee Patrick, his best friend of 15 years.

Derry is positively ferocious as the threatening Padraic. This exceptional actor makes even stroking a dead cat look hilarious, all while his character's cohorts are hacking up human body parts center stage.

In this comedy, the running gags become so familiar, you soon feel the pathetically stupid characters on stage are like family.

D. Michael Franks has played a terrorist father in both of BNC's Irish plays, going from a heavy to an idiot. In Inishmore, his Donny's bickering dynamics with Ryan McMullen's teenager Davey are brilliantly funny. And McMullen's curly, girly, long red wig alone is enough to make you laugh out loud.

Playwright McDonagh, the England-born son of Irish expatriates, received five 2006 Tony nominations for Inishmore. His other Tony-nominated or Tony-winning plays are The Pillowman, The Lonesome West and The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

In this satire, everything's a fair target, from IRA-type torture methods to drug pushers to the Irish republic's tourism industry. It's a flawlessly written play -- loaded with irony -- that ties in every detail neatly and offers some great surprises.

All the irreverent touches are fun, from Derry's Padraic babbling on and on during a torture scene to the antics of one character trying to disguise a dead cat with shoe polish.

The controversial McDonagh has been both praised for capturing the black humor of modern Ireland and criticized for creating mocking caricatures of the Irish.

In Inishmore, he illuminates the self-perpetuating violence of terrorism. Not one character has a conscience in this bloodbath, so McDonagh also may be making a statement about both hypocrisy and misplaced moral indignation.

Actress Bethany Taylor is wonderful as Mairead, the tiny but fierce girl terrorist. McDonagh gives the play's gore a ''romantic'' twist between Mairead and Padraic. Taylor and Derry give finely focused performances as their characters' blood lust turns to physical lust.

In the fast-paced, intermissionless play, there's plenty of spurting blood, gunfire and choice Irish curse words. It's all handled so deftly, it just adds to the layers of humor.

---

Kerry Clawson can be reached at 330-996-3527 of kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

 

Details

• Comedy: The Lieutenant of Inishmore

• When: Continuing through Oct. 19, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

• Where: The Bang and the Clatter -- Sometimes in the Silence . . . Theatre Company, 224 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

• Onstage: Sean Derry, Bethany Taylor, Ryan McMullen, D. Michael Franks, Daniel Taylor, Stuart Hoffman, Rick Heldenfels, Michael Danner

• Offstage: Martin McDonagh, playwright; Sean McConaha, director/props; Stephen Skiles, guest director; Rachel Lones, assistant director; Sarah Hyde, stage manager; Marcus Dana, set and lighting design/technical director; Daniel Taylor, sound design; Sean Derry and Marcus Dana, set construction

• Cost: $15; senior citizens and students, ''pay as you can''

• Information: 330-606-5317

How many ways are there to skin a dead cat?

That's not exactly the premise of Martin McDonagh's furiously funny, razor-sharp comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore, but the subject matter comes pretty close at the Bang and the Clatter Theatre in Cleveland.

In this gleeful spoof of IRA-style violence, we're talking about scooping a dead cat's brains up from the floor and stuffing the poor furbag into a bicycle basket.

Don't worry; there's no real animal abuse in this black comedy. The story's ''brained cat,'' Wee Thomas, serves as ludicrous juxtaposition to the human torture and death central to this tale of murderous revenge.

This wickedly irreverent play is the funniest the Bang and the Clatter has offered since David Mamet's Romance, with the eight-member cast doing a perfect job of playing it straight under the dead-on direction of Sean McConaha.

Inishmore, set in 1993 on the Aran island of that name, is the second of two pieces about the Irish Troubles recently produced by BNC's Irish co-artistic directors, McConaha and Sean Derry. The last was the IRA drama Defender of the Faith by Stuart Carolan, set in Northern Ireland.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore is about the family and neighbors of ''Mad Padraic,'' the self-proclaimed lieutenant of an IRA splinter group who spends most of his time torturing enemies and planting bombs. His one soft spot is for kitty Wee Patrick, his best friend of 15 years.

Derry is positively ferocious as the threatening Padraic. This exceptional actor makes even stroking a dead cat look hilarious, all while his character's cohorts are hacking up human body parts center stage.

In this comedy, the running gags become so familiar, you soon feel the pathetically stupid characters on stage are like family.

D. Michael Franks has played a terrorist father in both of BNC's Irish plays, going from a heavy to an idiot. In Inishmore, his Donny's bickering dynamics with Ryan McMullen's teenager Davey are brilliantly funny. And McMullen's curly, girly, long red wig alone is enough to make you laugh out loud.

Playwright McDonagh, the England-born son of Irish expatriates, received five 2006 Tony nominations for Inishmore. His other Tony-nominated or Tony-winning plays are The Pillowman, The Lonesome West and The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

In this satire, everything's a fair target, from IRA-type torture methods to drug pushers to the Irish republic's tourism industry. It's a flawlessly written play -- loaded with irony -- that ties in every detail neatly and offers some great surprises.

All the irreverent touches are fun, from Derry's Padraic babbling on and on during a torture scene to the antics of one character trying to disguise a dead cat with shoe polish.

The controversial McDonagh has been both praised for capturing the black humor of modern Ireland and criticized for creating mocking caricatures of the Irish.

In Inishmore, he illuminates the self-perpetuating violence of terrorism. Not one character has a conscience in this bloodbath, so McDonagh also may be making a statement about both hypocrisy and misplaced moral indignation.

Actress Bethany Taylor is wonderful as Mairead, the tiny but fierce girl terrorist. McDonagh gives the play's gore a ''romantic'' twist between Mairead and Padraic. Taylor and Derry give finely focused performances as their characters' blood lust turns to physical lust.

In the fast-paced, intermissionless play, there's plenty of spurting blood, gunfire and choice Irish curse words. It's all handled so deftly, it just adds to the layers of humor.

      

By Peter Marks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 30, 2008; C01

Looking for a way to refresh yourself? How about settling into a nice, warm bloodbath?

A gloriously macabre immersion awaits you at Signature Theatre, courtesy of the depraved souls behind "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," a riotous comedy that, of all the crazy things, milks Irish terrorism for laughs.

The diseased minds include that of the London-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, author of "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and director of the film "In Bruges," who takes us to the quaint and rustic Aran Islands for a giddy spot of brain-splattering. (Not even the pets and livestock are spared!) His more-than-willing accomplices are a fine director, Jeremy Skidmore, and an eight-member cast that expertly unloads on us the play's ever more outrageous comic artillery.

Staged with remarkable technical polish in Signature's intimate, illusion-defying second space, "Inishmore" is far and away the most entertaining non-musical that the company has produced in years. A word to the faint of heart: It's crude, it's noisy, it's messy in there. Which of course is the only way to send up a history of pointless carnage.

The pleasure of the piece is the manner in which it makes a farce of violence and, after all the mayhem subsides, builds to one last, brutally funny joke: The ending is McDonagh's own final winking swipe at the conventions of the well-made play. (How, in fact, the dramatist achieves his Grand Guignol design gives new meaning to the term "cutting edge.")

McDonagh returns frequently in his plays to black-comedy depictions of rural Ireland, where his imagination finds pastoral beauty festering in a pool of savagery. In "Inishmore," which ran on Broadway for several months in 2006, the country's politics don't play much of a part in the ghoulish chain of events; although the program says the setting is present day, the characters seem stuck in a time when the Troubles in the northern counties have not yet been quelled. Or maybe, it's that the playwright believes they're eternal.

The play's plot concerns a sadistic terrorist -- so homicidal that he even terrifies the IRA -- hightailing it home to Inishmore at some distressing news. For though he blithely tortures people, Padraic (Karl Miller) harbors a soft spot for Wee Thomas, whom his own wary father (John Lescault) gingerly informs Padraic is feeling poorly. That Wee Thomas is a cat -- and a lot worse off than "poorly" -- will set in motion a series of twists leading to a wild, Sam Peckinpah-style rendezvous at Pop's cottage, laid out in all its ramshackle splendor by set designer Daniel Conway.

McDonagh's humor is a wondrous mix of the sick and sublime. He gets that woebegone cat by the tail and never lets go. (Animal lovers, relax: No furry critter comes to harm in the commission of this insanity.) His knack also extends to the bizarre traits of his characters, from a dimwitted neighbor (Matthew McGloin) more focused on salvaging his hideous red tresses than saving his life, to a teenage wannabe hit woman (Casie Platt), who is hellbent on hobbling the beef industry by disabling the local cows.

These nut jobs could be unbearable if not handled with care, with a clear idea of the Irish stereotypes that the dramatist is making fun of. Skidmore tunes skillfully to McDonagh's channel and, starting with Miller's trigger-happy Padraic, guides the actors to moments of sparkling comic payoff. For the delivery of one absolutely pivotal line, for instance, a deliciously shabby Lescault gives a scene its justifiable kick.

McGloin and Platt should guarantee themselves a lot more work, thanks to their wonderfully fertile portraits of the strange things nourished in the Irish soil. (McGloin's playing-out of his character's retrieval of a forgotten object in the cabin is a laugh-out-loud act of inspiration.) The production's restlessly risible spirit extends to the contributions of Jason Stiles, Tim Getman, Michael Glenn and Joe Isenberg, portraying the various thugs and miscreants who cross Padraic's path.

Miller is becoming something of a specialist in the placidity that masks madness; some theatergoers will recall that he played one of the high-school killers in Round House Theatre's "columbinus." In "Inishmore," he underplays the lunatic element, which makes Padraic's gruesome multitasking -- he takes phone calls while performing his terrorizing day job -- all the funnier.

"The Lieutenant of Inishmore" revels, too, in a dim sum of opportunities for stage blood to be spilled, any of which could, if not executed well, plunge the production into lameness. While costume designer Kathleen Geldard and lighting designer Dan Covey achieve satisfying results, it's the pinpoint bullet-pings off the walls and the spurts of red, well, everywhere that give this evening its professional finish. Whoever the blood wranglers are, they should get curtain calls of their own.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore, by Martin McDonagh. Directed by Jeremy Skidmore. Sound, Mark Anduss; fight choreography, Dale Anthony Girard; dialects, Leigh Wilson Smiley. About 1 hour 50 minutes. Through Nov. 16 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Cambell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit http://www.signature-theatre.org.

"One of the greatest achievements in the history of Irish theatre" The Irish Times more »

The prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is presenting

Galway's Druid theatre company in a double bill of The Shadow of the Glen and The Playboy of the Western World in the Terrace Theatre next month as part of the Center's etcetera! series. 

The two-play production is directed by Garry Hynes and is part of the company's "DruidSynge" - a celebration of the life and work of one of Ireland's greatest writers, John Millington Synge. 

Written in the summer of 1902, The Shadow of the Glen was the first of Synge's plays to be staged.  The one-act play is set in an isolated cottage in County Wicklow and tells of a loveless and decaying marriage of convenience between Nora and Dan Burke.  Synge's most famous work, The Playboy of the Western World tells of a man who boasts that he killed his father, only to become a local hero.  The play was first performed at Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1907 and caused rioting due to the depiction of loose morals in a rural Ireland.

Born in County Dublin, Ireland in 1871, playwright and poet John Millington Synge wrote six plays before succumbing to Hodgkin's disease at age 37.  Synge's travels in Western Ireland inspired his best-known works including the plays The Playboy of the Western World, Riders to the Sea, and The Well of the Saints, as well as his manuscript The Aran Islands.  He later served as a director of the Irish National Theatre Society and penned several articles focused on the troubles in West Ireland.

Founded in Galway in 1975, DRUID is the first professional theater company in Ireland outside Dublin and has been at the forefront of the development of Irish theater. DruidSynge, the company's critically acclaimed production of all six of John Millington Synge's plays on the same day, premiered at the Galway Arts Festival in 2005 and has since toured to Dublin, Edinburgh, Inis Meáin, Minneapolis and New York.  The company has had two artistic directors: Garry Hynes (1975-91 and 1995 to date) and Maeliosa Stafford (1991-94).

The actors in The Shadow of the Glen and The Playboy of the Western World appear with the special permission of Actors' Equity Association. The cast of The Shadow of the Glen will feature Tom Hickey as Dan Burke and Catherine Walsh as Nora Burke.  The cast of The Playboy of the Western World will feature Simon Boyle as Christy Mahon and Sarah-Jane Drummey as Pegeen Mike.

The plays are helmed by DRUID's founding artistic director, Garry Hynes, the first woman to win a Best Director Tony Award.   Set Design is by Francis O'Connor, Costume Design is by Kathy Strachan, Lighting Design is by Davy Cunningham, Sound Design is by John Leonard, Movement is by David Bolger and the original music is composed by Sam Jackson.

The Kennedy Center's etcetera! series features edgy international programming as well as companies from the United States.  Known for its standout originality, the interdisciplinary series of contemporary work began under the name Something New in 1991.  The series will present Australia's Bangarra Dance Theatre October 13-14, 2008.  Past performances in the series have included Happy Days with Fiona Shaw, and Ireland's Gate Theatre production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

FOUR Irish schools were forced to close classrooms last year because of rat infestations, the Department of Education has admitted. Two schools shut for three days, while another had to demolish its home economics room. A fourth was judged unfit for human occupation.

Kilronan vocational school on Inis Mor, had to demolish its home-economics classroom. Micheal O Goill, the principal, said: "We . . . got €20,000 from the department to build a new domestic-science room." Eglish national school in Galway was given a health warning from a pest control firm last year.

Schools pay for routine pest control from their capitation grants or minor-work allowances, but can apply to the department for emergency funding in cases of "infestation". Four schools received this funding last year when they were "overrun" by vermin, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. Principals blame ageing buildings and run-down pre-fabs.

Rahan national school near Mallow shut for three days. Gerry Lynch, the principal, said: "The timber-frame pre-fabs were 22 years old, well past their lifespan." St Brigid's national school in Suncroft, Co Kildare closed for three days. "We had to pay €4,700 to make the school habitable," said Derry Enright, management board chairman. "Eventually [the department] gave us €3,600."

The department said health and safety should be addressed by school authorities, and that €4.5 billion was being invested under the National Development Plan. "Close to €600m of this will be provided this year [and will] significantly improve the building stock."

Whales and dolphins don't recognise borders and some 25 percent of the world's whales and dolphins are under critical threat.
A 2008 IUCN (World Conservation Union) re-categorization of the status of whale and dolphin species globally places many on the IUCN Red List. And for many others, a question mark still hangs over their heads.
Since so many followers of Aran-Isles.Com are based in America (more than 50%) we draw attention to an entertaining and art-filled evening on behalf of our cetacean friends.
 
A Whale Affair, is the Whale and Dolphin Society North America the  WDCS' first annual fundraiser and it begins at 7pm at the Isaac Winslow House in Marshfield Massachussetts and highlights the importance of whales and dolphins in our lives and imaginations while connecting people of on both sides of the Atlantic to whales and the environment.

Mark Simmonds, Director of Science for WDCS said: "We expect that many of the ocean's great whales, including the humpback whale, will be affected by the changes in the seas caused by climate change, and particularly those found in polar regions. In fact, most of the world's great whales feed in polar regions where climate-driven changes are now happening swiftly."

"The IUCN has taken the affects of climate change into consideration in the case of the polar bear, and the same now needs to be done with the humpback whale and other whale species."


Climate change can affect the distributions of whales, with the potential for a cascade of effects such as exposure to new diseases, competition with other species and changes in prey populations. As local conditions change, populations of krill, which Antarctic great whales depend on for food, may decline.

The Cape Cod Mermaid and WATD radio are making A Whale Affair a whale of a good time. A tax-deductible donation of $35 will include a catered evening with Harpoon beer, entertainment, whale and ocean themed art, and a chance to bid on truly unique experiences during a silent auction. All the art will be whale, dolphin, or ocean themed, so come be inspired while raising money for crucial WDCS programs that help protect whales and the oceans. In addition to selling art by professional artists, we will also be  exhibiting and auctioning whale art by world renown scientists and conservationists.  Also up for auction are trips, such as a weekend retreat to Key West, or an unique day researching whales with WDCS staff.

We have also planned a musical evening with sea shanties sung by the Rum Soaked Crooks, sea stores by renown folklorist Dillon Bustin and a live broadcast by WATD radio station. To see more of A Whale Affair visit http://awhaleaffair.org/, where you can also purchase tickets.

WDCS is an international non-profit working to protect cetaceans and their ocean habitat locally and around the world. Our North American office, located in Plymouth, MA. To learn more about WDCS, visit http://www.wdcs-na.org/

 
Sarah McQuaid  has traveled a journey from magazine editor to folk musician. Born in Madrid, raised in Chicago and holding dual Irish and American citizenship, the singer/guitarist and songwriter lived in Ireland from 1994 to 2007. She has since moved with her husband and two children to the home formerly occupied by her parents near Penzance, Cornwall.
She has released a striking album that reveals her true American roots. I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning, is the long-awaited follow-up to her acclaimed debut album When Two Lovers Meet, and marks a distinct change of focus. Whereas her first album was a feast of Irish music, this is an enchanting celebration of old-time Appalachian folk, with Sarah's arrangements punctuated by her own fine compositions and a cover of Bobbie Gentry's classic Ode to Billie Joe. She returned to Trevor Hutchinson's Marguerite Studios in Dublin, where her debut album had been recorded some ten years previously, to make the new album with Gerry O'Beirne once again in the producer's seat.

Here is an intriguing article she wrote in July for a"Roads Taken and Not Taken" series.

A FERRY service linking Co. Galway to the Aran Islands has been suspended until next spring as soaring fuel costs mount. Aran Direct, which is one of two ferry services that provide transport to the islands, suspended its service on Sunday for six months.

It is not expected to resume until March.

The company, owned and run by islanders, has been operating between the Connemara port of Ros a Mhíl and the isle of Inis Mór for more than three years.

Aran Direct is blaming a lack of grant aid and the high cost of diesel for the suspension.

The ferry service is the latest operator to be hit by rising fuel charges.

The 159^th annual Blessing of the Grapes in Livermore Valley California was held on 19 September 2008 at Concannon Vineyard  which was founded by am emigrant from Inis Meain. The blessing was held  in conjunction with their 125^th consecutive harvest celebration. Third and fourth generation family members Jim and John Concannon cut a grapevine to officially inaugurate the new Concannon winemaking facility.

As part of a $30 million renovation, Concannon Vineyard recently purchased a new 21^st century European-built basket press. Ironically, it works the same way as the winery's original 19^th century European-built basket press. After abandoning the original, for more "modern" methods several decades ago, Concannon is returning to its celebrated past. As it turns 125 years old, Concannon Vineyard is reclaiming its heritage as one of California's earliest and longest continuously operating wineries while it invests for the next 125 years and continues the Concannon family's involvement.

According to Livermore Vice mayor, John Marchand "The Concannons have always had a strong sense of family, and the community has always been part of that family. The community has benefited from Concannon's generosity and commitment for generations." Chris Chandler, executive director, Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association continued, "The Concannon family has been involved with wine grape growers as partners to promote the continued growth of Livermore Valley for four generations."

"Although the Concannon Estate is one of the most advanced solar-powered, organically farmed operations in the world, we view it as a rediscovery of the pastversus a winery of the future," said David Kent, CEO of The Wine Group LLC, Concannon's parent company. "It's extraordinary that an international company like The Wine Group recognizes Livermore's potential which is having a ripple effect in stimulating our community to do even more," said Dale Eldridge Kaye, President and CEO, Livermore Chamber of Commerce.

Nowhere is the connection between past and the present more evident than in the Cask Room. Here 16 giant French oak casks, each holding the equivalent of fifteen thousand bottles of wine, have been painstakingly restored so that Concannon's famed Petite Sirah - America's first - can be crafted just like it was when the wine made its debut in 1964 (with a 1961 vintage).

Other renovations at Concannon that preserve and enhance its historic legacy include:

• Improving the 200 acres of preserved vineyard land surrounding the winery. These vineyards were the first in the Livermore Valley to be placed under a permanent conservation easement. These prized soils at Concannon are among the last few acres of their kind in the Bay Area that have not been paved over. In the process of replanting, blocks of old, time-tested Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon were retained and the grapevine clones that Concannon pioneered in California were perpetuated.
• A return to traditional methods of farming and crafting of grapes for Concannon's flagship wine- the Concannon Vineyard Heritage Petite Sirah. Other varieties planted in this way are Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cinsaut, Mourvedre, Zinfandel, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Semillon. A demonstration vineyard planted with different varieties will complete the new landscape plan.
• The restoration of the historic 1883 Concannon family home, extensions to the estate's vast system of stone walls, patios and arbors, and the doubling in size of its park-like setting. Last year the old Victorian house - complete with mature palm trees - was moved from a now-busy traffic intersection to a new location deeper within the estate. The new front lawn has become the summer home for the Livermore Shakespeare Festival. Once completed, the house will be rededicated in honor of James Concannon's wife, Ellen Rowe. The final phase of the estate's redevelopment, a complete renovation of the tasting room and hospitality center, will begin early next year.

Kent explained, "When we purchased Concannon Vineyard in 2002, we knew we were acquiring an important piece of California wine history. All of us at The Wine Group enthusiastically embrace our mission to be good stewards of the Concannon brand and its vital legacy."

Founder James Concannon's grandson and namesake, Jim Concannon, has worked on the property for over 50 years but his dedication has never waned. "I believe in each bottle of Concannon. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here," Concannon states. "I have my heart in this business and am confident that The Wine Group is also here for the long haul. Their plan is quality all the way. The Concannon brand is now well positioned for the next 125 years."

A founding California wine family, Concannon is celebrating its 125 year history as a leader of the wine industry. For four generations, the family has been deeply involved in the Livermore Valley, a region that put California on the world wine map. Concannon stayed open during Prohibition, introduced America's first varietally labeled Petite Sirah in the 1960's, and led with the introduction of Cabernet Sauvignon clones 7 & 8 in Napa. Concannon is committed to sustainable practices throughout its vineyard and winery operations to protect the environmental quality of the region

The remarkable story of James Concannon a  fascinating man who kept heading west has been made into a documentary. James left his home on Inis Meain/Inishmaan in the Aran Islands off the West coast of Ireland  in 1865 to seek his fortune in America. James was a pioneer, a prospector and a profiteer. He seized every opportunity possible, from hotel manager to book seller to rubber stamp sales man to America's first Irish vintner. Concannon's escapades also brought him to Mexico City where it is said he became friends of the famed dictator Porfirio Díaz.

His legacy still thrives at Concannon's Vineyard in the Livermore Valley today - one of California's oldest wineries. Deirdre Ní Chonghaile, a member of the Concannon family still living on the Aran Islands, traveled with Neal Boyle, Director/Producer of 'Fíniúin Inis Meáin', and the Esras crew tracing the footsteps of her ancestor.

Filming on the Aran Islands, across Mexico and in San Francisco, the Cogar ends in Livermore California on St Patrick's Day 2006 where family and friends gather in the vineyard's barrel room for a special celebration on the birthday anniversary of James Concannon.

'Fíniúin Inis Meáin' is an Esras Films production for TG4 and is produced by Neal Boyle and Conall Ó Móráin

Adapted from Irish author John Boyne's critically acclaimed internationally best-selling novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is an unforgettable story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences
 It offers a unique perspective on how prejudice, hatred and violence affect innocent people, particularly children, during wartime. Through the lens of an eight-year-old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II, we witness a forbidden friendship that between Bruno and Schmuel. Though the two are separated physically by a barbed wire fence, their lives become inescapably intertwined.

Limerick seems unable to live down its reputation as Ireland's Stab City? Here a former mayor complains about the media and a journalist says the name "Shotgun City" would be more accurate. Hat tip to The Limerick Blogger

Editorial:
Limerick seems more worried about the damage moniker Stab City does to its reputation as a place of random violence. I say suck it up and get over it. Hire an Elliot Ness-style prosecutor (why not try Rudy Giuliani as a gun for hire?) to clean up the city and turn the urban myth into a Hollywood money spinner for Limerick. Jem
 

The former mayor Diarmuid Scully blames the media. They always do.

"The name Stab City comes from the 1980's and was actually invented or first coined by a newspaper, The Limerick Tribune, in reference to a single event that happened outside the what's now the Trinity Rooms, a nightclub in the city. But it got a place and it became a sort of a shorthand for crime in Limerick."

It seems that when Limerick had the lowest crime rate of any city in Ireland it was known as Stab City.

These days, he complains,  The Irish Times and the Irish Independent both claim that Limerick is the murder capital of Europe, something "completely and utterly false."

Scully blames Wikipedia for repeating the "most violent city in Europe" line from a Sunday Independent article from April of this year. "It is one of the most extraordinary pieces of journalism ever written in Ireland." says: The headline is "Limerick is now the official murder capital of Europe". And "murder capital" is in inverted commas.

It begins "the latest murders in Limerick have tipped the statistical scales and made the feud blighted city in the murder capital of Europe overtaking Glasgow to claim that dubious distinction.

The Irish Independent's correspondent, Barry Duggan says to blame the media for inventing the moniker is far too easy. "The term is now outdated and all you have to do is venture into the streets of Limerick any day to hear  "shotgun city" adopted on a much more regular basis by the younger generations."

He explained that the name originated in 1983 when Thomas Coleman was stabbed to death in October of that year and no one was convicted. Two months later, brothers Thomas and Sammy McCarthy died from stab wounds after a pub fight broke out between the pair. Such was the fear of the person who was responsible for this murder that every person who was witness to this said they were in the toilets at the time. More than 60 people were in the pub toilets on the night the brothers were killed.

"With the city still reeling from the death of three local men the country was left shocked when on Christmas Eve a Libyan student walking in the center city was stabbed to death with a screwdriver. Revulsion spread around the nation at the death of the foreign student and the worst nickname ever given to a city was born. It was born from events in the city and not from the country's news source. Not false statistics."

"In 1994 of the total number of homicides which took place in Limerick 75% of them were stabbings. The countrywide proportion of homicides due to stab wounds for the same year was markedly less at 26%. These are Gardia statistics. In 2004 disproportionate Limerick fell to 43% but this is still far greater than the number of stabbings in the country from the same years, 23%."

"Now almost 20 years after it originated the unwanted term still stuck and cases coming before the local district court testified to the amount of knives used and carried by the city's criminals. In July 2001, Judge Tom O'Donnell who's still the sitting judge here in Limerick, wondered aloud whether Limerick deserved its nickname before he jailed a man for a double stabbing in a late night?"

Judge O'Donnell said, "It never ceases to amaze me the fact that citizens cannot go about their business in Limerick or for an evening's entertainment without someone somewhere producing a knife."

     
  
 

  

EARTH'S largest living animal, the blue whale, the has been photographed for the first time off the Blasket islands on the the southwest coast of Ireland.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) calls the sighting is particularly significant as the species faced extinction 50 years ago. "We've waited a long time, for some of us a lifetime, but we are delighted to announce that blue whales have been observed and photographed in southwest waters," said IWDG sightings co-ordinator Pádraig Whooley.

"Recently a very diverse range of both whale and dolphin species have been seen off the south and southwest coast, but this sighting was an extremely unusual event."

The blue whale was spotted by the crew and passengers of the MV Atlantic Explorer, a vessel used for whale-watching trips by Cahirciveen-based Kerry Marine Tours. The sighting was recorded on Monday along a continental shelf some 80km (50 miles) off the Co Kerry coast.

Henry Macaulay, the skipper, told The Irish Times he never expected the trip to become such a big deal. "At 2.30pm we were watching a fin whale mother and calf blowing dead ahead when, all of a sudden, this incredibly large creature surfaced 15-20 yards off our starboard side," Mr Macaulay said.

"We all watched in stunned silence as the blue whale cruised alongside for a good five minutes, all the while being surrounded by fin whales . . . Everybody was stunned by the sheer size of the animal - the closest thing to a submarine breaking the surface as you're likely to see."

Blue whales were plentiful in most oceans until the beginning of the 20th century, but 40 years of whaling caused numbers to dwindle until the mammal was protected under law in 1966. It can grow to more than 30 metres (98ft) long, weighs 100-150 tonnes and lives for about 110 years.

Acoustic monitoring studies conducted in the North Atlantic by Cornell University in the US indicate more than 50 blue whales pass through Irish offshore waters in autumn and early winter on their southbound migration, but sightings have been rare. Blue whales were spotted off Bantry Bay, Co Cork, in 1957, and from Magilligan Strand, Co Derry, in 1907.

 Monday September 15^th 2008 2.00a.m.:

	We left Cahirciveen Marina and headed west for the Continental shelf. On 
	board were skippers Henry and Barry Macaulay, First mate Brian Griffin, IWDG members Darina Healy and 
	Ivan O' Kelly who were on whale watching duty constantly and digital 
	recording when whales were encountered. We steamed in a Westerly direction 
	till 5.45 am and started trolling for Albacore tuna. While we troll 
	everybody is on lookout for whales and normally we see plenty of fin whales, 
	the second largest whale in the sea. The fin whales duly appeared and were 
	all around us. The Atlantic Explorer has a fly bridge (see photo) which 
	makes her ideal for whale watching as you are above the action and get a 
	great viewing angle. We trolled and searched all morning amongst the fin 
	whales, and the French and Spanish tuna boats (see photo) till lunchtime. At 
	2.30 pm we were watching a mother and calf blowing dead ahead when all of a 
	sudden this incredibly large creature surfaced 15-20 yards off our starboard 
	side. Everybody was stunned by the sheer size of the animal. The closest 
	thing to a submarine breaking the surface as you're likely to see. We all 
	watched in stunned silence as the blue whale cruised along side for a good 
        five minutes, all the while being surrounded by fin whales.

Big Oil Protesters and Supporters in County Mayo
                  
National rally in Dublin, Oct 2005                     Proposed site of Rossport gas pipeline
           
Estuary along site of pipeline                 Field where pipeline would run
  
Rossport Five released from jail          Willie and Mary Corduff

 
 

 
Pro-Erris Gas Group: supports Shell's plans for the Corrib gas refinery, and includes business interests in Mayo. Secretary is retired garda, Brendan Cafferty of Ballina.

 Shell to Sea: formed as a national opposition campaign following the jailing of five Mayo men for contempt of court in June 2005. The men, the Rossport Five, were opposed on health and safety grounds to Shell's plans to lay an onshore high pressure pipeline which had been exempted from planning approval and which ran within 70 metres of one of the men's houses.

Pobal Chill Chomáin: was formed earlier this year by key Mayo Shell to Sea supporters to back a compromise plan for the refinery drawn up by three Erris priests from Kilcommon parish. The group undertook a visit to Norway and received support from SAFE, the oil and gas workers' federation, which is critical of Statoil's role in the Corrib project. It has lodged complaints with the OECD and the European Commission. Chaired by Vincent McGrath, one of the Rossport five.

Pobal Le Chéile: a group of business interests in Erris which also backs the compromise proposal for the refinery, chaired by Ciarán Ó Murchú, a former Air Corps pilot running the Coláiste Uisce adventure centre in the Erris gaeltacht.

Rossport Solidarity Camp: was established on land belonging to one of the Rossport Five, Philip McGrath, in 2005, and then moved to Glengad, site for the pipeline's landfall, in spring 2006. The camp was evicted by Mayo County Council last year and agreed to leave the area in January, 2008. It has relocated to a house in Pollathomas, close to Glengad, and has close contacts with Shell to Sea.

Hunger strike continues into eighth day
by LORNA SIGGINS and CONOR LALLY, The Irish Times
SHELL  Ireland and Erris community groups have called for "calm" following the discovery of an explosive device on the steps of the Shell headquarters in Dublin on Monday. As a result of protests the offshore pipelaying by Shell is suspended. This has been blamed on a  reported "technical problem" with the world's largest pipelaying vessel, Solitaire.
Meanwhile the Labour party president Michael D Higgins has called on Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan to provide leadership in relation to resolving the Corrib gas controversy.

Mr Higgins has also asked Mr Ryan to explain why the Naval Service was used to provide protection for several vessels contracted to Shell, flying flags of convenience in breach of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Two Erris community groups which have proposed a compromise location for the Corrib gas refinery have issued a joint statement "unreservedly" and "totally" condemning the placing of a device which was detonated by the Army's bomb disposal squad in Leeson Street, Dublin, on Monday night.

The two groups, Pobal Chill Chomáin and Pobal le Chéile, have described it as an "appalling action", while Pobal Chill Chomáin spokesman John Monaghan has called for an "immediate suspension of activities on every side to allow for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to Corrib that doesn't put lives recklessly in danger".

A senior Garda source said the device comprised a drinks bottle filled with petrol which was attached to a battery and a clock. It was also attached to a can of paint, which would have sprayed out had the device exploded.

But sources said that while all components for a viable device were present, the ensemble was not wired properly and, therefore, could not have exploded.

Gardaí believe the incident was linked to protests surrounding Corrib.

However, the identity of those behind the device is unknown. Mr Monaghan said: "It is time for everyone to take a step back, and for Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan to live up to his responsibilities."

Pobal Chill Chomáin and Pobal le Chéile also said that the time for a solution was now and "it is we who speak for the majority of the residents of the Chill Chomáin parish".

Shell to Sea and the Rossport Solidarity Camp in Mayo have said that the device was "nothing to do with them". A spokesman for both groups, Niall Harnett, said they were "not into the politics of condemnation".

Separately, Dublin Shell to Sea said it rejected completely an "unfounded insinuation" by Shell that the device was "made and placed by Shell to Sea supporters".

The Pro-Erris Gas Group has said that the device was "a further sinister attempt at intimidation and proof, if proof were needed, that this campaign has a large element of subversive activity attached to it, which some sections of the media do not address".

Shell EP Ireland has described the device's placing as a "sinister development" and has said that the work currently being undertaken on the Corrib project has "all the necessary consents and permissions required by the various statutory bodies which oversee the project".

"This is a time for calm assessment," the company's statement said. "We remain open and willing to talk to any individuals or groups who continue to have concerns about our project."

Earlier this week, Labour Party TD Michael D Higgins called on Mr Ryan to provide leadership and respond to the compromise proposal for the gas refinery made by three Erris priests almost a year ago. Mr Ryan was making no comment yesterday, but Green Party Galway councillor Niall Ó Brolchain said it was time for "reflection and dialogue". He said that he had visited the area last week and had "great respect for the local community in Erris".

Shell EP Ireland says it is still assessing the reported damage sustained by the Allseas pipelaying ship, Solitaire, a week ago which led to the vessel's withdrawal to Killybegs, Co Donegal.

Maura Harrington has said that she will not quit her hunger strike, now entering its second week, unless she receives written confirmation that the Solitaire has left Irish territorial waters.

Seamus Heaney described the Aran Islands as "three stepping stones out of Europe"; Inisheer is the smallest of the three Aran Islands in Co Galway. However Inisheer is closer to Co Clare and is an extension of the famous Burren with its rugged landscapes and beautiful flora.

The rest is in the over hyped language of the estate agent, but you get the general picture....pity about the car on such a small island that it takes 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other and 5 minutes to walk to the pier

"When you step onto Inisheer or Inis Oírr, 'the island of the east', you will discover a different world where there are few motorised vehicles and only some 300 people. This really is a haven of peace and tranquillity away from the hustle and bustle of the rat race.

Smith auctioneers is offering a cottage and lands for sale by public auction. The cottage is situated only a short stroll from the pier that welcomes the boats ashore and the beautiful Strand beach with a white sand shoreline. As you would naturally expect from a property on a small island there are sea views. The accommodation comprises two bedrooms, kitchen/living room, dining room, entrance porch, and bathroom. There are gardens and some outbuildings outside the residence.

The lands are divided into several parcels at the front and back of the island which all enjoy fine views, some onto the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. The lands are traditional for their location with well maintained stone walls, good land where it has been reclaimed, suitable for livestock or sowing vegetables, and some with rock landscapes.

Inisheer is serviced by its own airstrip with flights to and from Connemara Regional Airport at Inverin and by ferry to and from Rosaveal in Co Galway and Doolin in Co Clare.

For further information or to register your interest in this rare opportunity call Austin Payne of Smith auctioneers, 39 Prospect Hill, Galway, phone (091) 567331.

They are not of course man made, but they attract hordes of tourists nonetheless and can justly be called Ireland's version of the Great Wall of China. The Cliffs of Moher get mor popular every year, an estimated 1 million visitors a year make their way there, a thankfull few never to return as they romantically throw hem selves over the edge.
 Now O'Brien's Tower, the highest point looking out over the Cliffs of Moher where an estimated one millions visitors flock flock every year to gaze out on the Atlantic ocean towards Aran and, on a clear day, as far south as the Kerry Mountains, is getting a makeover.

Mayor of Clare Madeleine Taylor Quinn said the completed restoration would encourage even more people to visit. "O'Brien's Tower is not just a county landmark, with great historical significance, but also a place to which many throughout Ireland and the world have fond and warm attachment," she said.

The Aran Islands lie eight miles into the Atlantic ocean, scattered somewhere between sea and sky, out there on the edge of Europe with their very own place in our cultural imagination. Here on Inis Meain, (or Inishmaan), the middle and thankfully least despoiled of the islands that seems especially so. Aran-Isles.com is for anyone who has dreamed of Aran or been there on the tiny plane or the ferry. Perhaps you have seen the astonishing art of Sean Scully, the plays of Martin MacDonagh or JM Synge. Aran's influence and people scattered across the globe, from the Concannon Vineyards of Northern California to MacDonagh's plays on Broadway.The islands unspoilt environment is an ideal laboratory for monitoring global warming, which is starting to happen. But the islands are also threatened by cowboy development, unsustainable practices and a lack of wise leadership. Aran-Isles.com is a wake up call for anyone interested in the future prosperity and protection of the islands. Get involved

     
For the 4th day Maura Harrington, remains locked in her car, at the Shell gates in Glengad on hunger strike on behalf of Shell to Sea. She continues to refuse food until the the vessel Solitaire leaves Irish territorial waters. At present it is still in Killybegs, Co. Donegal. Read on

Martin McDonagh's first play Beauty Queen Of Leenane was premiered by Galway's Druid Theatre on 1 February 1996, launching the career of the most oustanding playright of modern times.
He has been described as the perfect playwright for "People Who Dread Theatre". This is because much of the popular culture reflected through his plays comes from film and TV. His caracters watch reruns of The Sullivans, moan about shite Irish biscuits or trying to drown out Republican protest songs with blasts of heavy metal.
McDonagh quickly became known as the most successful playwright of the Western World.
By the age of 27, he had four plays running simultaneously in the West End. Not since Shakespeare as a playwright had such an honour in the thespian capital. By 1999 he was the most frequently performed playwright (after Shakespeare) in North America.

Beauty Queen won the 1996 George Devine Award, The Critics Circle Award and The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Beauty Queen and McDonagh's subsequent plays soon took Broadway by storm as well and he has been showered awards ever since. Beauty Queen itself bagged four Tony Awards.
The greatest honour, for MacDonagh may be the sheer number of his plays in production aournd the world at any one time, in a host of different languages. See some of the prodctions here
His plays have been sold to mure than 60 countries in 36 languages. US regional theatre is especially enamoured with his work and hardly a week goes by without another production of "Cripple" or "Lieutenant" being staged. See here.

McDonagh's recent move to cinema has been more uneven. True, he won an Oscar for his debut short, Six Shooter, but his directorial first, In Bruges has been less well received. MacDonagh himself says it is not his best work.

But more than 12 years since Beauty Queen's premiere, McDonagh is back in Galway working with the aclaimed Garry Hynes for a new Druid production of The Cripple of Inishmaan.

He met up with the writer Charlie McBride of the Galway Advertiser this week in the Town Hall Theatre to talk about the play and opened with his memories of Beauty Queen, his momentous debut.

"It was tremendously enjoyable," McDonagh recalled. "I couldn't have hoped for a better director or a better set of actors in Beauty Queen. With Garry especially, for me as a first time writer, she was completely open and allowed my voice to be equal to hers in the room. At the time I assumed that's how it always was but since then I've worked with other directors who can be very uptight about the writer being around.

"The freedom we all had then was great, it was one of my fondest experiences doing Beauty Queen and then the Leenane Trilogy. It was like the first time I'd really gotten out of the house! Up until then I was just at home scribbling away. I didn't have a lot of friends, so socially as well as artistically it was an amazing time for me."

The Cripple of Inishmaan

The Cripple of Inishmaan was first staged in December 1996 by the Royal National Theatre and was subsequently produced in New York. It's a black comedy set against the backdrop of the filming of the famous Robert Flaherty documentary Man Of Aran.

Set on 1930s Inishmaan, the inhabitants are excited to learn of a Hollywood film crew's arrival in neighbouring Inis Mór to make a documentary about life on the island. 'Cripple' Billy Claven, eager to escape the gossip, poverty, and boredom of Inishmaan, vies for a part in the film, and to everyone's amazement, he gets his chance.

McDonagh discloses the genesis of the play: "I'd already written Lieutenant of Inishmore then got the idea for a trilogy with one play set on each of the Aran Islands. I wrote Cripple fairly quickly even though I didn't have much idea what it was going to be about when I started it.

"I mainly wanted to do a play with more characters than Beauty Queen had. Then I had the idea of using Man of Aran as a backdrop - I wouldn't say I was a fan of the film to be honest but that and The Quiet Man were held up as the two great kind of Irish cinematic landmarks when I was growing up."

One reviewer noted that the play could easily have been titled The Cripples of Inishmaan with Billy's physical handicap being mirrored by the emotional crippledom of many of the other characters. McDonagh concurs, admitting that "in some ways Billy is the least crippled of them all".

MacDonagh was born to a working-class Irish family in south London, he left school at 16 and spent five years signing on, writing radio scripts and working, briefly, for the civil service.
While the play has those trademark flashes of cruel humour recognisable from much of McDonagh's work, in Cripple these are leavened by notable instances of kindness.

"I hope so," McDonagh observes. "I think to show heart you also have to show the darkness for the heart to stand out. I don't think they should just be wearing their good intentions on their sleeve; I try to keep those hidden and hopefully they pop out of their own accord. But nothing I've written has been out of any cruelty or misanthropy - just the opposite I think. Like any kind of work, just to sit down on your own and try to write a story or a play is in itself a hopeful act."

So does this new production of the play bring out any aspects that perhaps didn't emerge in previous stagings?

"There's a lot of humour in the play but I think with earlier productions they were maybe weighted too far towards that," McDonagh notes. "This time I wanted to focus a bit more on the darker side of the play and the truthfulness of the characters rather than the knockabout comedy.

"Yet strangely, it then becomes even funnier the more truthfully it's played. But that's also the case in, for example, The Beauty Queen. If you just go for the laughs, you end up losing both the laughs and the sadness whereas if you play the truth of it you get to a much more interesting place. And I think with this cast, which is a really good one, the humour and the darkness are both coming through and the desperation of Billy's journey is also coming out much more distinctly."

McDonagh and cinema

While McDonagh's plays continue to enjoy frequent productions, in recent years he himself has been working more on film, and taking on the dual role of writer-director with both Six Shooter and In Bruges.

"I think I always wanted to direct a film," he reveals, "whereas I never had any burning desire to direct a play - I still don't. I think that's because with plays when I've worked with directors in theatre, the good ones allow you to have as much a say in a production as I would ever need.

"But with film the writer's is the lowest voice in the room, their opinion isn't respected and they're shoved out at the earliest opportunity. So to get a vision across in film you pretty much have to direct it yourself. In theatre, when you're working with good people you don't need to fight quite so hard. Though I still don't have a desire to direct a play I enjoyed the process of directing the film.

"We had a long rehearsal period for it and during that I realised what I'd learned over the last 10 years of observing people like Garry and working with actors, that those experiences stood me in good stead."

While McDonagh's plays are still frequently staged it is notable that they all date from that prolific period in the mid-to-late 1990s. So now that he has made his mark in film will he be working more in that medium in future?

"Not at all," he responds. "I'm actually in the middle of writing a new play. I find writing plays easier. To make a feature film takes up so much of your life, like two years pretty much dedicated to that. That aspect of it I found quite hard. The process itself is fun but just having to give so much time to it, I didn't like so much.

"So at the moment I'm back here involved in this production and I'm writing plays again and I'll be concentrating on theatre for the next year or two. I won't be doing anything film-wise in that time; my whole thinking was to make one film and then leave it and see if it was fun or if I could do it. Now I've achieved that and I haven't been put off it as much as I thought I could be - but I'm not going to rush back to film immediately."

Do the new plays he's working on have Irish settings? "Quite consciously not," he declares. "Their settings are more American or non-specific like in Pillowman. I will go back to an Irish play or two at some point. There's the final part of the Aran Island trilogy, Banshees of Inisheer which I'd like to finish - its current version isn't right yet, but there's something about the story which could be good. I will definitely do more Irish stuff but not for a while yet."

These days there is an explosion of Irish theatre - from McDonagh's contemporary, Conor McPherson, to other names like Marina Carr and Gary Mitchell. McDonagh is in another league however. he is a fan of traditional storytelling and much of his subject-matter has been rural Ireland (his parents come from Galway where he spent every holiday  as a child). Many critics have hailed him as the modern successor to JM Synge and Sean O'Casey.
These days, Ireland is a swashbuckling affluent, modern country, full of the trappings of the consumer lifestyle. As The Independent's Liz Hoggard asked Mac Donagh in a 2002 interview, when so many recent Irish books and films are being set among the trendy bars and hotels of Dublin, why does McDonagh remain fixated on rural matters?
"The Ireland I know is more the West," he explained. "I've never been madly keen on Dublin, and whatever you think about the whole Celtic Tiger thing, my natural instinct would be to see the underside of all that - the people who fall through the cracks. None of my plays are especially accurate pictures of the other side either - they're all just stories - but I think it's more interesting to start from a darker place and see where that goes."

A screen grab taken from a video released by the French Coastguard of the Asgard II as it sinks

In a huge blow to Irish sail training, the national vessel Asgard II has sunk off the French coast, about 20 miles southwest of Belle-Île-en-Mer near La Rochelle. The crew of the brigantine sent out several distress signals on the night of 10 September after it began taking on water.

THE 5 crew and 20 trainees had earlier abandoned the vessel Tin two lifeboats in the early hours of the morning after she started taking water. The Asgard was heading from the Cornish port of  Falmouth to La Rochelle in France or some minor maintenance.
The alarm was raised and the distress signal was picked up by the UK Marine Coastguard at Kinloss in Scotland.

The Iirsh Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) will be co-operating with its French counterpart on the inquiry into the sinking and interviews will be held with the ship's master, crew and trainees. The crew of the Asgard II  were rescued by a French coastguard vessel, which filmed the dramatic events and taken to Belle Ile in the Bay of Biscay where they were described as safe and well and "in good spirits".

The ship's captain Colm Newport said he had no idea what had happened to the ship, but that it had suffered a "severe ingress" of water at about 3am "ship's time" which contributed to critical instability. The crew and trainees were evacuated in an "orderly fashion" and were off the vessel in "four to five minutes", he said.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Newport said it had been a "traumatic" experience for those involved, but they were now being looked after very well in a hotel and were in touch with their families back in Ireland.nAsked if he had any idea whether the ship had hit something that had resulted in its sinking, he said he had "no idea" and that it would have to be investigated.

"It would be very foolish of me to speculate on this matter."

The Asgard ll was built and launched in Arklow, Co Wicklow in 1981 by the late former taoiseach Charles Haughey. The Old Bog Cabin points out that Asgard II took part in the Tall Ships Race of 1991 but she has been a regular visitor to the port since she went into service after completion in 1981. It was at the time of the Tall Ships race that the Cork singer / songwriter Jimmy Crowley wrote the song "My Love is a Tall Ship" dedicated to the Asgard.

The name "Asgard" resonates through Irish history. The original Asgard, owned by Erskine Childers (later President of Ireland) was used in the Howth gun-running incident of 1914 in which German guns were imported into Ireland for use in the uprising which eventually took place in 1916. The first Asgard (from the Norse name for the "home of the gods") sailed to Hamburg with Childers, his wife Mary and two others to to collect the guns which were landed in Howth in July 1914.

In 1968 the Asgard I was bought by the Irish government who established the Coiste an Asgard as a new sail-training authority and the ship was used for training young people in navigation and seamanship until it was retired and replaced by Asgard II. The first Asgard is now being restored but it is unlikely it will ever take to sea again.

Asgard II, a 106 foot brigantine, was built by Tyrell's Boatyard of Arklow, County Wicklow, under the personal supervision of designer, the late Jack Tyrell.

The loss of the Asgard is a huge blow to Ireland, not just because of her importance in sail-training but as a symbol of this country and the good work she has done in promoting tourism she has also been involved in work with a social element along with involvement in research and environment.

It is of course very good news that the crew of Asgard II are safe. We still don't know if there is any possiblity of raising the vessel. That will, no doubt emerge in time.

Here is the official French account of the rescue:

L'épave de la goélette Asgard 2 qui flottait entre deux eaux depuis son naufrage ce matin au large de Belle-Ile, a disparu à la vue et au radar vers 08h30, laissant supposer qu'elle avait sombré.

Le patrouilleur des douanes Kermorvan s'est rendu cet après-midi sur la zone de naufrage pour une investigation. Il a constaté le naufrage de la goélette, dont la position sur le fond a été vérifiée avec le concours d'un chalutier. Le Kermorvan a ensuite récupéré les radeaux de survie et un morceau de mât de l'Asgard 2. Après cette opération, il a mis le cap sur le Palais (Belle-Ile) pour remettre ces éléments aux enquêteurs de la gendarmerie maritime.

Ce mouvement clôt l'opération de sauvetage

   

 

PAT JENNINGS, known locally as at Pat Cheoinín and one of the last of a generation of Galway hooker skippers, has died at the age of 93. The poster, above, by artist Joe Boske features Pat Jennings who lived in Carna and Long Walk, Galway. The inset is his old Nobby . "Columbia" . Pat continued to fish and sail until fairly recently. His contribution, and that of his family, has been has been a vital part of the revival of the  Hookers in Galway Bay.

Dr Michael Brogan of the Cruinniú na mBád hooker festival in Kinvara, described Mr Jennings as "pivotal" to the revival of the traditional boat movement. he went on to call him one of the finest helmsman and sailmakers of his generation.
Mr Jennings "maintained a link between the days of working sail and the traditional boat revival, and his knowledge of all aspects of traditional craft was unparalleled", Dr Brogan told The Irish Times.

Mr Jennings grew up on Feenish island in Connemara and fished until he was in his 80s. He was a skilled sailmaker, competed at traditional boat events and made model craft.

He was a "repository of knowledge on every aspect of traditional sailing and its cultural and linguistic heritage", said Catherine Jennings, neighbour and colleague in the traditional boat movement in Connemara.

Pat's son, Mairtín was lost at sea, when an Aran vessel sank off west Cork several decades ago.

By The Irish Voice
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has ancestors who came from Ireland during the Famine.

Palin, 44, was born Sarah Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Sarah Heath (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles Heath, a science teacher and track coach. Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. Palin has strong English, Irish and German ancestry.

According to genealogist Meghan Smolenyak Smolenyak, Palin's family on her mother's side (the Sheerans) emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in the mid 1800s.

"After doing some poking around I found that Michael Sheeran emigrated in the 1840s," Smolenyak told the Irish Voice on Friday.

Although not sure what part of Ireland Michael came from and still unclear where he first arrived to, Smolenyak said that he and his wife Mary wound up in Vermont in 1852, then moved to Illinois and then Minnesota, which is where the family settled.

And the trail doesn't end there. Smolenyak, through her work with ancestory.com, discovered that Michael and Mary's son, Michael junior married a Maria Ellen Burke, whose parents were also born in Ireland.

"Now all four candidates have an Irish connection," said Smolenyak, referring to the two presidential candidates and Senator Barack Obama's running mate Senator Joe Biden's Irish ancestry.

Although it is believed Palin, who was elected governor of Alaska in 2006, never visited Ireland, some reports have stated that she did stop over at Shannon Airport last July while en route to visit with soldiers of the Alaska National Guard's 3rd Battalion 297th Infantry Regiment at the Life Support Area in Kuwait.

The stop over only consisted of refueling.
 

"Comedies don't come any blacker than The Pillowman, the spellbinding stunner of a play by Martin McDonagh.....what The Pillowman is about, above all, is storytelling and the thrilling narrative potential of theater itself. Let's make one thing clear: Mr. McDonagh is not preaching the power of stories to redeem or cleanse or to find a core of solid truth hidden among life's illusions. And he is certainly not exalting the teller of stories as a morally superior being."
- The New York Times Read On

In a dramatic escalation of the standoff between protesters and Shell, local Campaigner Maura Harrington has begun a Hunger Strike to coincide with the arrival of the Solitaire, pipe-laying vessel in Broadhaven Bay. Ms Harrington stated in a letter handed into the Solitaire in Killybegs yesterday that she was placing her life in the hands of the Master of the Solitaire, Mr Simon van der Plicht. She warned that her hunger strike will end in one of two ways, either that the Solitaire leaves Irish territorial waters or her death. Read on

8th September 2008.
This afternoon three Shell to Sea activists, one carrying the Irish Tricolour, boarded the Solitaire to hand a letter of protest (1) to the Captain of the ship following his failure to respond to previous communication (2). The three men were part of a crew of five Shell to Sea activists in four vessels who paddled out to the Solitaire in Donegal Bay this morning.
The letter asks the Captain of the Solitaire to reconsider his, and the ship's, participation in the Corrib Gas development. The Captain was also invited to Rossport Solidarity camp  to meet with the local community affected by the Corrib gas project and to hear their concerns.
The boarding is just one of many recent marine based actions carried out by Shell to Sea (3). Campaigners have vowed to prevent the Solitaire from carrying out pipeline work in Broadhaven Bay. Protestor John O Connell at Killybegs stated, "Resistance to the Corrib gas project will continue. New marine activists are joining us every day and if necessary we will blockade both Killybegs Harbor and Broadhaven Bay to stop vessels involved in the work. There is no consent for Shell's project and it will not be completed."

Notes
1 : Copy of letter:
Shell to Sea
8th September 2008
Dear Captain Van Der Plicht,
Further to our previous correspondence of 19th August, we feel the need to reiterate a few key points about your ships proposed activities in Broadhaven Bay.
·         The Solitaire is not welcome in Broadhaven bay to do work on the Corrib Gas project due to the serious safety and environmental concerns of the local community.
·         As activities by Shell to Sea in the last 2 weeks proves, we have a committed and experienced marine team that will attempt to prevent any work that the Solitaire and its supporting vessels try to undertake.
·         Over the last few years our community has strongly resisted Shell at every opportunity. Despite continued Gardai violence and intimidation this struggle will continue.
In order to protect our livelihoods, families, communities and environment we urge you to not enter Broadhaven Bay.  We would like to emphasise that we do not seek confrontation with you or your crew but will attempt to prevent any work you try to undertake in relation to the Corrib Gas project.
As stated in our previous correspondence should you wish to contact us please telephone             085-114-1170 or email rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com
 
Yours respectfully
Shell to Sea
2 : On the 19th AUGUST a team of Shell to Sea kayakers delivered a first letter of protest to Captain Simon Van Der Plicht of the Solitaire. Although the letter was received by the Captain he failed to make contact with Shell to Sea regarding their concerns. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/407190.html
3 :  The last few weeks have seen repeated actions halting off shore pipeline work as dozens of people have taken to the water to stop work. On the 21st of August eight were arrested and photographs of Shell machinery dumping debris on a protesters head provoked a national outcry.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0822/1219353251618.html http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/407235.html On Thursday the 4th of September seven people in inflatable boats were arrested in Broadhaven bay attempting to stop the attachment of a winching cable in the landfall area at Glengad.  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/09/408161.html, 
4 : On Saturday afternoon at 4pm, in an implicit endorsement of direct action by the local priest Father Nalan, all Shell to Sea vessels were blessed and prayers said for the safety of the Shell to Sea mariners and their craft.

   

 Irish Navy  arrives in Broadhaven Bay 

The Shell to Sea campaign says wildly inaccurate reports recent disturbances in Mayo are part of a campaign of media manipulation. The Daily Mail's Irish edition has led its coverage of the protests with a sensationalist front page story on the arrival of the Irish navy, accompanied by an unatributed quote:  "This is the first time we have been used against civilian protesters, says Navy as gunboat is sent to protect Broadhaven Bay pipeline." The Irish Times, meanwhile has run a report not supported by the facts.

The campaign to stop the gas pipeline warns of "stories planted in the press" in an attempt "to smear Shell to Sea campaigners." In particular it cites widely publicised allegations that 'None of the seven was from the Co Mayo area' and that a later arrest of a local man occured '"following an incident when a car was rammed into the gate of the Shell compound at Glengad."

The campaign has issued a point by point rebuttal to the Irish Times report and has demanded a retraction. Whatever about the merits of this, the real issue is attempt to smear the campaign with the suggestion that it is somehow not a "local" protest, being driven by activists from the UK.

Here is the short Irish Times story that Shell to Sea is complaining about.

Garda warns over danger of sea protests

A Garda superintendent has advised demonstrators at the Corrib Gas pipeline site in Co Mayo about the dangers involved in putting to sea in flimsy, unsafe craft.

Supt John Gilligan was speaking yesterday following the release without charge of eight Shell to Sea activists who were arrested at Glengad on Thursday night.

He said some of those arrested had used "blow-up inflatables suitable only for a day at the beach". Eleven small craft from the Solidarity Camp resisted Garda and Navy security personnel for about an hour on Thursday night.

Seven people were arrested in connection with the offshore incidents, five from the UK and two Irish. None of the seven was from the Co Mayo area.Later on Thursday night, a local man was arrested following an incident when a car was rammed into the gate of the Shell compound at Glengad.

GALWAY BAYS fleet of hookers is being restored ahead off next year's Volvo Ocean Race stopover. Six Claddagh based vessels are expected to benefit immediately from the project which is being funded by the Heritage Council and Galway City Council.

The traditional craft with their calico sails, took turf to the fuel-less Aran islands and brought back fish. The Hookers are synonymous with Galway Bay but are prohibitively expensive to maintain.

To the West of the city, traditional boat owners have availed of Gaeltacht grant-aid to offset  the maintenance costs associated with wooden vessels.

Lorna Siggins of The Irish Times, writes that Galway City Council's heritage officer Jim Higgins said the new programme for non-Gaeltacht vessels had been developed with Báidoirí na Cladaigh, the Claddagh Boatowners' Association.

The Heritage Council and Galway City Council have each promised €10,000. Mr Higgins hoped other bodies would provide finance to ensure a fleet of Claddagh vessels would be seaworthy in time for next year's Volvo Ocean Race stopover.

"It would be wonderful to witness the traditional craft leading the modern fleet into the docks," he said. "We also want to ensure that many of the skills associated with the craft are maintained, and that vessels can remain on the water where they belong."

The vessels may include several gleoiteogs, the smaller version of the Galway hooker, with the oldest having been built about 150 years ago on Long Walk.

While a number of Connemara boatbuilding families developed reputations for constructing the cargo-cum-fishing craft with their "tumblehome" hulls, the centre of expertise in the early 19th century centre was on the Claddagh.

The Claddagh fleet had up to 250 boats in 1824. The initiative coincides with the death of one of the last original working skippers, Pat Jennings (93), who is to be buried today.

By Kenneth Jones
04 Sep 2008

Casting has been announced for Signature Theatre's Washington, DC, premiere of the viciously bloody comic satire The Lieutenant of Inishmore, to play Sept. 23-Nov. 16 in Signature's ARK Theatre in Arlington, VA.

Tony Award nominee Martin McDonagh's violent comedy about terrorists, monomania and revenge will be directed by Jeremy Skidmore and will feature Karl Miller as Padraic and John Lescault as his father Donny, Casie Platt as Mairead and Matthew McGloin as her brother Davey, Jason Stiles as James, Tim Getman as Christy, Michael Glenn as Brendan, and Joe Isenberg as Joey.

According to Signature, "On a lonely road on the island of Inishmore, someone killed an Irish Liberation Army enforcer's cat. Padraic may be a terrorist, but he loves that cat more than life itself, and someone is going to pay for kitty's execution as soon as Padraic returns from his stint of torture and bombing in Northern Ireland. This witty, ironic, and wild look at the hypocrisy of violence escalates from mayhem to a hilarious surprise ending that leaves audiences gasping for breath."

Director Skidmore stated, "This playwright always pulls his audiences into aggressive worlds. And with the ultra-adrenaline pumped into this play, I think that everyone sitting in the 112-seat ARK should ready themselves for a real 'in-your-face' experience."

The creative team includes set designer Dan Conway, costume designer Kathleen Geldard, lighting designer Dan Covey, sound designer Mark Anduss and fight choreographer Dale Girard.

Irish writer McDonagh's plays include Beauty Queen of Leenane, Cripple of Inishmaan and The Pillowman. He won an Academy Award for "Six Shooter," and wrote and directed the 2008 film "In Bruges."

The Lieutenant of Inishmore opens Sept. 28. For more information call Ticketmaster at (703) 573-7328 or visit www.signature-theatre.org.

 
    
By Charlie McBride

REMEMBER THE Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West, and A Skull in Connemara? Well Druid and Academy Award-winning writer/director Martin McDonagh (Six Shooter, In Bruges) are back with more.

On September 16, at the Town Hall, Druid will open its new production of McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan. Premiered in 1997 by the National Theatre of Great Britain, this darkly funny play will undertake an extensive tour of Ireland - including a one-week run at the Olympia Theatre as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival - followed by a short run in Britain in the Lowry in Salford and the Oxford Playhouse, before transferring to the Atlantic Theatre, New York.

The Cripple of Inishmaan is partly inspired by the story of the real life filming of the documentary Man of Aran. Set on the small island community of Inishmaan, c1934, the inhabitants are excited to learn of a Hollywood film crew's arrival in neighbouring Inis Mór to make a documentary about life on the island.

'Cripple' Billy Claven, eager to escape the gossip, poverty and boredom of Inishmaan, vies for a part in the film, and to everyone's surprise, the orphan and outcast gets his chance.


Among the Druid cast is noted Irish actress Kerry Condon, whose stage  and screen credits include leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the recent big-budget HBO series Rome. Indeed, most of Condon's work these days is in the US and Britain, so she's relishing this opportunity of being onstage in Ireland again.

"It's great to be back and to be able to meet with friends and family," she asserts during a break in rehearsals. "That said, I'd only have come back for something really good and Cripple of Inishmaan is a wonderful play. I also always wanted to work with Garry Hynes so that was an added bonus."

Tipperary-born Condon made her professional acting debut at 16 in Alan Parker's film of Angela's Ashes and within a couple of years she had graduated to the RSC. There she had a leading role in Martin McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore and, at 19, became the RSC's youngest actress to play Ophelia.

"I remember when I went to the Angela's Ashes auditions, I was sure beforehand I was going to get the part," she recalls. "Acting was just something I'd always desperately wanted to do, I was very driven. It wasn't that I wanted to be famous or anything, it was acting itself I loved.


"I probably had that youthful confidence and self-belief which helped me in the film. At the RSC, I loved the role of Mairead in Lieutenant of Inishmore, she was such a feisty character. Being honest, Ophelia was more difficult. I remember being conscious that I hadn't gone through drama school and got that kind of classical training so I had to do a lot of extra work on that production - doing voice work for instance and sessions on the Alexander technique which was very demanding."

Cripple of Inishmaan sees Condon renew the fruitful acquaintance she has enjoyed with McDonagh's work. She also appeared in Lonesome West and reprised her role in Lieutenant of Inishmore in a 2006 Broadway production that was nominated for a Tony Award. A further McDonagh connection is furnished by her appearance in the film Ned Kelly, scripted by Martin's brother John.

"You'd be crazy to turn down roles like these," she asserts. "Martin writes great female roles and it's seldom enough you come across parts like that. We've been friends for year now and doing Lieutenant in New York with him directing was an unbelievable experience."

In Cripple of Inishmaan Condon plays Slippy Helen.

"She's 16, sharp-witted and clever," says Condon. "She won't let anyone take advantage of her, she's funny and intelligent. She's another one of those feisty female roles Martin does so well. It's unusual to see a 16-year-old written like that, specially by a man. It's a dream of a role to play!"

These days, Condon is more often to be seen on screen than stage, with HBO's Rome among her recent notable credits.

"The first series of that was great fun to do, because it was filmed in Rome and it was very enjoyable being there," she says. "With the second series though, I had to leave the New York production of Lieutenant of Inishmore so that felt a little bit like going back to school!"

Condon also features in the forthcoming film, The Last Station, about Leo Tolstoy, alongside Helen Mirren, Ann Marie Duff, and James McAvoy. While she may now ply much of her trade on the big screen, she retains a strong commitment to working in theatre.

"I want to be a working actor for the rest of my career and theatre offers more good roles for older women than film tends to do so I absolutely see myself continuing to work on stage," she says. "It's been great working on this production, where everyone in the company, onstage and off, are all in it together for the good of the play."

The Cripple of Inishmaan runs at the Town Hall from Tuesday September 16 to Saturday 27. For tickets contact the Town Hall on 091 - 569777.

Sinn Fein is making much of what it describes as the government's lack of concern about island and west coast communities. Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin has been running the party's The West's Awake campaign with visits to the islands of Cape Clear, off West Cork, and Inis Mór, but not the other two Aran islands
Just when old models of boom and bust economic development are being discredited, Doherty is putting together a report, that is destined to gather as much dust as its predecessors on what is needed to develop the counties along the west coast of Ireland.
In Galway, Doherty met with Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann as well as Galway's Chamber of Commerce. Then he flew to Inis Mór to meet with Comhair Chumann Árann.  He might have gone to Inis Meain where the Co-op is in difficulties but did not.
Speaking after meeting with Cómhdháil na nOileán and Comhar Chumann Árann, Pearse Doherty said: "It is quite clear that the future of the islands off the west coast does not feature very prominently in the minds of Government policy makers. Each Government minister, when devising policy, must begin to take the unique nature of our islands into consideration if they are to survive.  Just because a policy might be suitable for the mainland does not mean it will be effective on our islands."
The Sinn Féin focused on increasing accessibility to the islands by increasing ferry and plane services which meets the needs of the island communities particularly to the smaller islands. Consideration also needs to be given to the transportation of goods and equipment to and from the islands. And he emphasised that there also needs to be a drive to attract people to relocate to the islands.
"This obviously means investment in services such as broadband and attracting people who could possibly work from home or establish new businesses and enterprises on the islands.  There must also be a major focus on the promotion of micro enterprises.
"It is time for the Government to take notice of the neglect of our island communities.  The very future of these communities is at stake if proper action is not taken."
Its all standard stuff. Nothing  very innovative here from the party that prides itself on being at the cutting edge.