Page 9 - Sligo X North West

Arts 9 Second coming
of a creative hub
The Hawk’s Well theatre in Sligo is an institution. It is producing eye-catching drama and enjoying a new sense of vibrancy.
Snow covered the ground the night the Hawk’s Well opened its doors to the people of Sligo - leading to drama on and off the stage.
It was January 12, 1982 and President Patrick Hillery was to conduct
the opening of the first purpose-built theatre west of the Shannon but his car could not get through the snow. CIE ended up laying on a special train in order to get the President to Sligo for what turned out to be a spectacular night.
Sligo is steeped in the arts with drama and theatre - from amateur dramatics to high-brow theatrical productions - holding a special place in the hearts of the people.
Despite there being many performance spaces in the county; for many people in Sligo, going to the theatre only means one thing: The Hawk’s Well.
The theatre, which is located on Temple Street, in the centre of town, was born out of the local amateur dramatic movement and there is a feeling of ownership of the venue by Sligo people.
In 1974, after intense lobbying by the Sligo Drama Circle, the then bishop grant- ed lands to the project. Funding followed
from the Arts Council, North West Tourism and the local authorities and the Hawk’s Well - named after a W.B Yeats play - was established.
It was an instant success and touring companies were tripping over each other to get on the programme. This feeling of
a bustling, in-demand theatre is some- thing that has returned to the Hawk’s Well recently under current director Marie O’Byrne.
Relaxing in the Green Room at the Hawk’s Well, a humble Marie plays down the glowing praise that has been heaped on her by others but her passion for the venue is evident.
Originally from Ennis in Co Clare, Marie previously worked for seven years at Glor arts centre in her home town. Before seeing an ad for the position of Director of the Hawk’s Well in early 2011, she had only ever been to Sligo once before.
“I knew nothing about Sligo before
I came here. I came on holidays once to Rosses Point when I was a child but I didn’t remember anything except the beach. But I really wanted the job.” When Marie took over, the Hawk’s Well
was going through a period where it was just “ticking along” and it had more or less dropped off the touring circuit.
“It was old and everything from the staff structure, the building and the productions that were being held in the theatre needed to be overhauled,” said Marie. “I had come from a multidiscipli- nary arts centre so I just picked up the phone and started asking people to come here again.”
Since 2011, new life has been breathed into the Hawk’s Well which is now firmly back on the touring circuit. “Now, people think of us immediately and are coming here. The theatre is a good size, we have fantastic facilities and our location is perfect.”
However, in order
to keep operating at
this level, fundrais-
ing is crucial for
2015. The theatre is a
charity and, although
it receives Arts Council funding and some local funding, it will next year be focusing attention on increasing its income from local supporters - both members of the public and local businesspeople.
The other thing that Marie has achieved since she took on the role was to reintro- duce the Hawk’s Well’s in-house produc- tions - from dance, traditional music and children’s productions.
Some of the bigger productions include The Second Coming (a co-production with Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre) which premiered in the Hawk’s Well on May 10, 2014. Directed by Mikel Murfi with music composed by harpist Michael Rooney, it has played to sell-out audiences in Limer- ick as part of the Limerick City of Culture Programme.
This month, The Second Coming (called after a Yeats poem) has been selected to show at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival in January 2015 before a five-week tour in Germany at the end of next year.
“Celtic Connections is such a huge platform for us. We would be hoping that different promoters from different coun- tries will see it and want to take it on,” said Marie, who is also hoping to bring The Second Coming back to Sligo next year.
The Hawk’s Well connection with highly-respected Mikel Murfi is also a bonus for the theatre. His one-man show ‘The Man in the Woman’s Shoes’, originally commissioned by the Hawk’s Well and Sligo Arts Service, has won several awards and is also going to Germany, on a six- week tour, next autumn.
Life at the Hawk’s Well is intense as it is one of the busiest theatres in the country.
Marie O’Byrne, director of the Hawk’s Well since 2011.
Second Coming: premiered at the Hawk’s Well
It doesn’t close during the year and has a huge diversity of events - from music and comedy and appreciation nights to musi- cals, children’s productions and drama.
A snapshot of recent events illustrates this. Last week, it hosted the premiere of Mikel Murfi-directed The Far Off Hills, which is now on national tour, and tonight sees Swan Lake performed by Ballet Ire- land. Legendary songwriter Jimmy MacCa- rthy performs tomorrow night while
on Friday night Panti Bliss will preform her hit comedy show, High Heels in Low Places.
This true diversity is what makes the Hawk’s Well the thriving theatre it is today.
www.hawkswell.com
THE FACTORY
The original structure of the Factory Perfor- mance Space was a dockland warehouse and dates from the early 1800s. In 1991, it was converted into the 100-seat, multi-purpose performance venue by the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company, which is the venue-based professional theatre ensemble.
The Blue Raincoats produce between four and six professional productions every year with an emphasis on staging modern European classics, new writing and new adaptations for stage. It has just finished a run of its adaptation of Playboy of the Western World.
In January, the company will host the fourth annual Blue Raincoat Theatre Acad- emy. It provides multi-disciplinary training for all artists and performers. Academy 2015, which runs from January 5th to 23rd, consists of two separate workshops in Voice and Movement.
The Voice Workshop, conducted by David Goldsworthy, will take place from January 5th to 9th. This will be followed by the two- week Movement Workshop conducted by Jorge Correa Bethencourt and Sandra O Malley.
www.blueraincoat.com
THE MODEL
The Model is one of Ireland’s leading con- temporary arts centres with an extensive and vibrant programme of visual and performing arts. The building started off in 1862 as a Model School and the current building has been extended twice, with a redevelopment in 2010 seeing The Model increase by a third in size to create a world-class visitor centre. It also includes a restaurant, bookshop, gallery circuit, a pur- pose-built performance space and a suite of artists studios. This December the centre hosts a season of festive events from music afternoons in the atrium to family-friendly film screenings, theatre shows, exhibitions and gallery tours.
The Model is also home to The Niland Collection, one of Ireland’s most significant public art collections that features work by many of Ireland’s most acclaimed twentieth century artists. It also hosts contemporary art exhibitions by international and Irish artists in the newly redeveloped suite of galleries. Current exhibitions include Into The Field featuring work by Odey Curbelo, Olafur Eliasson, Spencer Finch, HelenMcMahon,TumiMagnusson,William McKeown, Paula Stokes, Norbert Vollath, and Jack B. Yeats. The Model will host a leading Yeats exhibition as part of the Yeats 2015 celebrations.
www.themodel.ie
26 November 2014
Irish Independent