July 2013 Galway Fringe Festival

: The Galway Fringe Festival takes place from 12 to 30 July and features art, music, readings, comedy, exhibitions, workshops and theatre. A number of the events will take place in the Cube Theatre, Áras na Mac Léinn, NUI Galway.

Darren Coppinger, Venue Manager of the Cube Theatre, NUI Galway, said: “When preparing our programme, we wanted to present an exciting line of new, fresh voices. Most of the groups performing are students themselves or have recently graduated from university, and are beginning their own careers in the performing arts. So, it’s a really wonderful mix of styles on offer.”

Among the productions scheduled at NUI Galway is One Last Drop which runs from 22-25 July. From the choreographer of last year’s most successful Fringe show Rewind, Claudia O’Sullivan, in collaboration with Kori Kilduff, will premier the Fringe’s only dance piece. Both women have been choreographing in collaboration for children and young adults since 2005 and are graduates of NUI Galway. In One Last Drop, we follow the stories of man and woman as they struggle with an addiction to alcohol. Watch as their stories unfold through dance and music and see how quickly life can fall from happiness and belonging to destruction and numbness.

Made to Shiver by NUI Galway student Rory O’ Sullivan runs from 26-29 July. The stories of this work are rooted in the context of last summer with the events that unfolded at the Swedish House Mafia Concert and Katie Taylor’s Olympic exploits. With friendships forged from pain and a family crippled by shame, the characters look back to that cold tickle in their chest that warmed and changed their lives forever. The play was highly successful at the University’s Jerome Hynes One Act Play Series, as part of the NUI Galway Theatre Festival, where it won Best Actor and Best Sound.

The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband Theatre byDebbie Isitt is a darkly comic take on contemporary love and marriage. The show was selected from among 40 others to represent Trinity College at this year's Irish Student Drama Association (ISDA) Awards, where it won Best Director and Best Actor, as well as being nominated for numerous awards, such as Best Production. It runs in Galway from 21-24 July.

Theatre company 'Play Dough Productions' will present This is the Day, a new piece of writing by the up and coming playwright Cristin Kehoe, a participant on acclaimed new artist development programme 'Play On' (as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, 2012).  The play offers a snapshot of present day rural Ireland – staging a community where everyone knows everyone and everything is as it’s always been and always will be. This is the Day runs from 15-18 July.

La Petite Famille, who are travelling from France for the festival, will perform Tomorrow’s Dawn, a musical about love and friendship. The work explores intergenerational relationships between young people and parents, young people and teachers, and young people between themselves. The music seeks to immerse its audience into the heart of what it means to be young today. This new musical, which is performed in English, runs from 12-16 July.

According to Riona Hughes, Society Officer at NUI Galway: “'The University Societies participation in the Galway summer festivals and the theatre programme in the Cube as part of the Galway Fringe are a testament to the talent and creativity of the students involved in societies. It is particularly gratifying for me that this year the summer programme, now in its third year, is being directed and managed by students with a very exciting and diverse selection of productions both featuring our students and guest productions. I hope that the city and its many visitors will come onto campus to enjoy our beautiful grounds and to enjoy the high quality shows and I wish all involved in the Galway Fringe a very successful festival.”

The summer programme for the Cube Theatre will be launched on Wednesday, 10 July at 5.30pm in the Cube Theatre. During the launch artists from the Festival will present excerpts from their work. There will also be readings from Galway writers Kernan Andrews, Arts Editor with the Galway Advertiser, and Ruth Quinlan, the recent winner of the Hennessy First Fiction Literary Award 2013, plus a performance by the new NUI Galway Staff Choir. 

A selection of music, dance, theatre and readings will also take place at a variety of locations around Galway City. Tickets are from €10-12 and are available from the Fringe Box Office or online at www.galwayfringe.ie, and from the SocsBox, Áras na Mac Léinn, NUI Galway. See www.festivals.nuigalway.ie for more details.

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