Review: Little Gem at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin

"Love, sex, birth, death and salsa classes. Three generations of women. One extraordinary year"

I'm delighted I took the opportunity to go to tonight's opening performance of Little Gem, the award winning play by Elaine Murphy, running at the Peacock Theatre until February 27.

Starring Anita Reeves, Hilda Fay and Sarah Greene, Little Gem is a wonderfully touching, sentimental and - though I dislike the word for its maudlin overtones - heartwarming story of a year in the life of three women, three generations in the one family, told by each of them in turn.

"I loved this play, i went from laughing out loud to wiping a tear from my eye!  The characters are so real, you end up wanting to be part of their family!"

(Review by Norma Quinsey from the Abbey website)

The Peacock Theatre really is an ideal venue for a play like this. Its intimate size means that you're close to the actors, close to the stage and quite part of the story, and indeed, the audience play a part in this by just listening. What do I mean?

Well, each character, first Amber, the 19 year old on her way to the debs, then Lorraine, her mother who works in retail on Mary St and then Kay, Lorraine's mother and Amber's grandmother all tell us their stories directly, stories of their days and their memories, which weaves itself into a very ordinary story told in what seems an extraordinary way - there's no interaction or dialogue shared between the actors.

The set is simple. Three chairs on a stage, one lamp, one tartan effect plastic shopping bag, the backdrop of a sitting room. It struck me while waiting for the play to begin that the three chairs were all very different, but put it down to a simple mismatch, rather than design. That assumption I made followed me throughout the play and surprised me in so many pleasant ways that at the end of the play I was giving a solo standing ovation.

"She drags me out. Haul Dean and his mate Lee onto the middle of the dance floor and gyrate like a pair of lezzers in between them. The lads are all over us like a cheap pair of jocks from Japan - Henry Street, not the country"

When Amber starts her monologue of debs preparation, we're immediately transported to the front room of a Dublin home - it's probably northside, definitely not D4. I loved listening to Sarah Greene, despite her accent slipping ever so slightly the odd time, because her mannerisms and her presence conveyed that certain energy that girls the age of her character tend to have.

The audience, all probably invited guests, chuckled along to some of the funnier lines but when Hilda Fay started her story of her day working in the shop is when the script really kicked into gear and the laughter resounded around the theatre.

"Is there anything you want to share with us, Lorraine?" He says. Afraid to say anything, don't want to stretch my mouth open wider to fit my other foot in. "Are you sacking me, Mr Grant?" Looks at HR bird and then back at me. Wonder if he's riding her?"

Stories written in a Dublin accent tend to be a bit hit and miss. While there's no denying the success of stories like Brendan O' Carrolls 'The Mammy' and Paul Howards Ross O'Carroll Kelly saga, there's also what I'd term the Sunday World version of Dooblin, where situations, personalities and especially use of language are exaggerated and you're left with a sense of knowing what the author is trying to convey, but being unconvinced because you've only heard of people like the characters, never actually experienced them.

Not so with Murphy's creations. While Amber and Lorraine are both wonderful characters, it was Kay, the granny, played by Anita Reeves that I adored. Reeves' performance is excellent, but the script shines through bringing this lovely, aging woman to life and delivering us laughter and loneliness time and time again. Telling us about her recuperating husband, she says

"He's not the easiest of patients. In fact, to put it mildly, he's a cantankerous oul' fuck. I don't mean to go down this road but sire I've started so I'll finish. I'm dyin' for me bit. We've always been very compatible in that department, which is a miracle by itself, because by the time you get to our age you'd normally be lacing the cocoa with arsenic not Viagra."

and by the time she described her journey on the 42B to Ann Summers to buy a certain object recommended to her by Marjorie Burke, not only was everyone in the audience laughing, but I could see the smiles of the actresses on stage, all who had no doubt heard the script hundreds of times, smiling at the audience reaction and knowing there was more to come.

Scribbling notes throughout, I scribbled one to Niamh beside me "This is VERY good" while a woman behind me whispered to her companion "She's great" as Hilda Fay took her seat after another brilliant delivery. Tonight's audience were a delight to experience - they laughed in the right places, were silent in the poignant moments and I'm sure more than me had a tear in their eyes at the particularly emotional and personal points.

There-in lies the charm of Little Gem - there's no high dramatic ideals here, no allegories or inaccessible language, no moral or intellectual lessons being delivered - it's a story of an ordinary family and what happens there, and that's why it has the power to affect people the way it did.

The applause at the end of tonight's performance was loud, sustained, well deserved and full of appreciation. While I'm sure the cast must be tired after their recent return from the run in New York, they put in a marvellous performance, one which, by the end, we wanted to continue, and to find out more about. "That was brilliant" I heard one person say on the way out, "Really surprised by how funny it was." Another woman was wiping her eyes, tears streaming down as she assured her male companion "I'm fine, love, it's just with dad passing, well, it's all so real".

In her author's note, Elaine Murphy, herself an actress (Prosperity, The Clinic, Pure Mule), whose playwriting debut was Little Gem, says

"When you start out writing, people always say: 'Write about what you know.' being an actress for the last couple of years, I always had a yearning to write something myself. Decent parts are thin on the ground and I rarely recognised any of the women portrayed on the stage in front of me.

I work part-time in a women's health organisation. Little Gem grew from there. It's a mishmash of all the women I've met over the years: hardworking, not particularly rich or poor, ignored by the Celtic Tiger, and the recession probably won't make much of a difference to them either, you know women like us, getting on with it."

Her play, staged in conjunction with the Civic Theatre Tallaght (21 years old this year!) by the multi award winning independent Gúna Nua Theatre Company, founded in 1998 by Paul Meade (who directs this production) and David Parnell has won the Fishamble award for best New Irish Writing and the Best Female Performance at the Dublin Fringe Festival, 2008. It also featured in last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won the Carol Tamber Best of Edinburgh Award and has just completed (on Jan 16) an 11 day run in the Flea Theatre in Tribeca, New York.

If I could offer you five reasons to see the play, they are, in no particular order:

1. It will make you laugh long and hard because it's a great script.
2. It will make you want to hug someone after, because it's a story you'll recognise
3. Anita Reeves as Kay
4. Sarah Greene as Amber
5. Hilda Fay as Lorraine

I'll be back to see it. Genuinely. I'll be bringing my parents. I'll be going with my friends.

It plays at the Peacock, as above, until February 27. Tickets are from €20 and can be booked online or from the Abbey Box office at +353 (0)1 87 87 222.

Following its run in the Peacock Little Gem will tour to 5 venues around Ireland: Draíocht in Blanchardstown; The George Bernard Shaw Theatre in Carlow; The Belltable in Limerick; The Axis, Ballymun and back to the Civic Theatre, Tallaght.


Thanks as always to David in the Abbey Press Office for the tickets. I owe you a pint.

BODIES... The Exhibition in Dublin: I'd go again when it's quieter

Last Sunday, Sinéad, Jen and I went to see the BODIES exhibition in Dublin's Ambassador Theatre. Opening weekend as it was, the place was packed, the queue for tickets long and the experience rushed. Given that, I came away with some learnings.

TICKETS:

If possible pre-book your tickets online. Again, it was opening weekend so crowds were probably higher, but the difference between the queue outside at 2pm and 2.15pm was actually a good twenty people. However, those with prebooked tickets can just walk right in.

We braved the queue and bought our tickets for a later time so could do the same. To give you an example, below is the queue outside on Sunday at 2pm, before they put up the barriers and formed multiple lines just an hour later.



BAGS AND CAMERAS:

Neither are allowed in. I was quite disappointed about the camera rule, given that photos could serve to only pique curiosity rather than repulse most people, but there you go. There is a free cloakroom where you can deposit your stuff. If it's busy, I'd recommend putting your coat in as well - it gets warm!

On a side note, I'd forgotten notebook and pen so scrawled down my impressions on the back of postcards with a borrowed biro. Therefore the below may be subject to inaccuracies as I try to decipher my almost illegible scribbles.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Well, they've painted the Ambassador apparently, so the short walk down to the first room is not as foreboding as you might imagine. Signs are placed on the walls, reading:

The specimens in this Exhibition have been treated with the dignity and respect they so richly deserve

and

Why all this interest in the human body? The answer to this question seems quite clear to me. Your body is the one thing that you carry with you from the moment you are born until your very last breath.

- Dr Roy Glover, Medical Director

Photo from National Geographic

HISTORY: Where the bodies come from

Dr. Roy Glover is "Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Michigan and the chief medical director of the University of Michigan Medical School Polymer Preservation Laboratory. He serves as Chief Medical Advisor and spokesman for BODIES... the exhibition". That's according to Google anyway.

In the various articles I've researched, a couple of things come up - how were the bodies acquired, what was done to them and if it's ethical.

Firstly the website for Bodies Revealed reads:

"How were the specimens on display in our exhibition obtained and prepared? All of the bodies and organs came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science for the purpose of study and education."

A recent Irish times article reads how the exhibition has been:

'... dogged by controversy with suggestions that the exhibits were either executed Chinese prisoners or were people who had not given their consent to have their bodies shown after their death.

Dr Glover said: “We have practiced due diligence in obtaining the bodies. We work with a partner that we have the utmost amount of trust in – the Dalian Plastination Facility in Dalian, China.

“The person I work with it is a personal friend of mine. We have been in the same professional organisations for many years. He has sworn affidavits to the effect that the bodies were those who have died of natural causes.

“We have examined every one of the bodies who come into the show for any evidence of trauma or any kind of physical abuse.”'

A 2007 interview with the Washington Post reads:

All of the bodies were obtained through a credited medical university in the People's Republic of China. Asia possesses the largest and most highly competent group of dissectors in the world, and they are highly skilled in preparing the bodies for educational and scientific purposes. Currently, human specimens in medical schools in China, the United States and other countries throughout the world are donated or unidentified bodies.

Finally in a 2006 article on NPR.org:

Roy Glover, spokesman for BODIES... The Exhibition, says its cadavers -- all from China -- did not come from willing donors.

"They're unclaimed," Glover says. "We don't hide from it, we address it right up front."

So there you have it. They are bodies from China that may or may not have been willing participants in the project. Does that matter? Does it make a difference to your knowledge of the exhibition once inside? For me, not really, because far from being the 'ghoulish' and 'gruesome' spectacle the ever-reliably tabloid Indo claims it to be, the bodies are displayed in a museum or gallery exhibit format.

There's not much to be squeamish about and the Polymer Preservation process involved was by far much more of interest to me.

ROOM ONE: Entering the exhibition.

You walk down a hallway and into a big room with a lot of glass cases and "models" on display, and, in my case, a lot of people. I'm not a crowd person so before I joined the fray I spent a bit of time just observing. Though not of the Dublin exhibtion, of which there are few photos that I can find, the below should give you an indication.





On the walls around the exhibition are signs and projections. They both feed back into the educative theme behind the exhibition, telling you things like 'Compact bone tissue carries your weight' or how the projections are artists impressions of the cells and tissues in your body. 'More than 200 different kinds of cell and 75 trillion cells in total make up the body'; 'Fibroblast cells build and maintain cartilage, skin and bone' and so on.

The first few exhibits I crowded in to see were bones - knee joint cartilage, an elbow joint, the top of a skull, the sacrum and lower vertebrae. Interesting stuff indeed, though not really that awe-inspiring. As the crowds parted I got my first glimpse of a body, behind which a sign proclaimed

'The study of human anatomy has always operated on to see is to know.

This exhibition uses dissected human specimens to provide you with a visual textbook to your own body, offering you a profound insight into your body, its functions and its needs or health and longevity.'

THE BODIES:



This Dara Mac Dónaill/Irish Times photo of Dr Glover with one of the specimens should give you an idea of what you'll be seeing, far better than those on the website. They are as they're advertised - bodies without the skin, but showing everything (minus the blood) that's beneath.

One model shows muscle attachment and layering, showing the four muscle layers separated from their points of origin but connected to the points of insertion. One case held the muscles of the arm and leg, giving you the opportunity to see both limbs up close.



You can walk around most of the full figures. The one above (adapted from an Irish Times photo) shows a male figure, metal filling still in teeth, which purports to "illustrate the nearly countless number of tasks the brain executes from basic to highly complex actions".


Image from The Seattle Traveller

Another fascinating exhibit was the seated figure with an exposed brain. The meningus gyrus and grey matter were apparently prominently visible, but the poignancy of the piece overlooking a case containing disected brains was quite something.

Again, each part in the case was labelled clearly and familiar parts from crime novels or CSI episodes became much more than "somewhere in the head".

ROOM TWO

Room two was dedicated to blood - the vessels, the muscles, the arteries and valves. Special dissections revealed blood vessels and specimens like the heart with coronal cut, the arteries of the kidneys and those of the stomach and thorax are, pardon the pun, very illuminating.

"Using a technique called corrosion casting, the blood vessels were first injected with a coloured polymer which hardened, The remaining body tissue was then chemically removed, revealing the delicate matrix that transports the blood."

The full body blood vessel map of a male body has to be seen to be believed.

ROOM THREE

"On average a pack of cigarettes shaves 3 hours and 40 minutes off your life. Leave your cigarettes in this gallery and stop smoking now".

Smokers beware - this is not a good room for you. Given that the first specimen in this example of smoker's lungs (I didn't embed it because it's quite gruesome), while it may not put many smokers off the habit, it's certainly a warning for the rest of us not to start, especially when compared to the model of the healthy lungs.

This room also went into the digestive functions, with a body displaying how the whole viscera, the vital organs of respiration, digestion, circulation and reproduction are all contained within the thoracic, abdominal and pelvic cavities.

There is also a specimen showing the distribution of fat on an overweight female, sectioned as she is, vertically, into four or five pieces.

EMBRYONIC AND FOETAL DEVELOPMENT

At this stage now I was tired. Tired of the crowds, of being hurried from exhibit to exhibit as more people crowded around to see the next in line. Hardly the organiser's fault but it was quite an assault on the stimuli. The sign outside this room read

Please pause a moment and consider if you wish to enter. All foetal and embryonic specimens perished in utero from complications during pregnancy as well as birth defects teat occurred during this time

I learned a couple of interesting facts in this room. One, that the sperm is the smallest cell, the female egg is the largest. Two, that the phrase "miracle of life" is indeed very apt and three that foetal development is an astounding process.

On one side of this small room, we see foetal bone development at 11, 13, 15 and 16 weeks due to a process involving Alizarin, a dye which binds to calcium to measure the stages of skeletal development. In others we get cross sections of foetuses in various stages.

I came out from there ready now to go, as awe inspiring as I found that particular section. On the steps outside was a young fella, possibly around 13 or 14 in floods of tears for some reason.

ROOM FOUR:





The last room was much bigger and contained interesting specimens of bodies in cross section, diseased or cancerous parts of the body and so on. I didn't linger though, I just popped into the very pricey gift shop (t-shirts €22, keyrings €5) and then headed out.

Before I left though, I spotted and wrote down the following from a sign, that quite probably should be at the start of the exhibit:

'We live in a world surrounded by technology, information and cement; fast paced living with little time for reflection.

When an illness is severe and our mortality comes into question, we may take this time to stop and ponder our existence. But cured, we are off again, not thinking about the extraordinary, complicated human beings we are.

Our bodies are indeed intricately more complex than all the computers and gadgetry that surrounds us today. Yet many of us do not really know what lies beneath our skins, how our bodies function, what they need to survive , what destroys them, revives them.

BODIES... the exhibition is an attempt to remedy this unfortunate set of circumstances. Take the knowledge gained from this exhibition, expand on it and use it to become an informed participant in your own healthcare. This involves more than improving your diet or beginning a long overdue exercise program.

It involves partnering with your doctor to understand what you - and your unique body - need to sustain a full and rewarding life.'

Taking all that into account, BODIES... The Exhibition is well worth seeing. The price is hefty at €20 and repeat visitors should be offered half price tickets. I think too there should also be "quiet hours", where, once the initial rush has died down, the organisers offer to let only a set amount of people in to see the exhibition and to take their time. Given it's booked for six months, this may become a reality.

You'll need to take one, maybe two hours to properly see the entire exhibition. We entered at 3pm and were out by 4.05pm but that was more due to the crowds and the heat. It sparked interesting conversation, but ultimately each of our experiences were personal, were unique and we all saw things the others didn't.

Would I recommend it? Yes, definitely. It left me with a high regard both for the human body and the healthcare professionals who deal with it. Reading all the recent articles regarding how right it is, the rights of those whose bodies are being used, of their families, the sourcing of the bodies and indeed the promotion of the show as an educational rather than a commercial experience, I still feel a sense of awe for the process, the intricacies involved, importantly the science behind it and most importantly the delicate but fascinating chance to see what's under the skin, in a human body, up close.

Steph has her review here while Aonghus recommends not getting the audio guides as they have the same information as the display cards.

I uploaded two short videos from the BODIES The Exhibition website today. Take a look. Though American and obviously promotional, they'll perhaps give you a better idea than the Dublin website can:





The exhibition is open 10AM to 8PM Sunday to Thursday and 10AM to 10PM Friday and Saturday. You'll find more information on the website here.


All photos in this post are sourced from here and here unless otherwise stated.

Camille O' Sullivan at the Olympia Theatre

Take a stage with cello, a harp, a piano and keyboard, steel drums, ordinary drums, a saxophone, three electric guitars, a banjo, an accoustic guitar, a trumpet, a clarinet, a flute, a harp, five gold dresses - one a sparkly, glittery gold - a handbag and a shawl all suspended from the ceiling, a mannequin head, a bottle of wine and wine glass and the sweet strains of John McCormack's Mo Chuisle echoing through an expectant Olympia Theatre and you get some idea of the set up for Camille O Sullivan's concert this week.

It's my first time to one of her shows, though I've seen her perform at the Olympia before. Born in London of an Irish father and French mother, Camille grew up in Cork, studied Fine Art and graduated as an architect from UCD. As a performer though she's performed sell out seasons in Australia, New York, the UK and Ireland.

The transition makes sense to her: "I think with performing and the dressing up and glamour element, the thing that it has in common with painting and with architecture is creativity" she says in a recent interview. "I think I found something I was really interested in and that kind of performing suited me very well as I'm not very good at doing reality".



She sang to us of her death, waiting. However Bowie performed the song, surely Jacques Brel wrote My Death to be sung like this. Huskily, emotion filled, angrily. While it waited for her, she sang to each of us. Individually, her incredible voice came to tap us on the shoulder, embrace us and let us know she was happy we were there, that somehow, in some small way, we were her salvation.

My death waits to allow my friends
a few good times before it ends
so let’s drink to that and the passing time

But what ever lies behind the door,
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don’t care, for in front of that door…
there is you.

No happy tune this, no fanfare to life, no forced jollity, ah isn't life great mentality. Here was a woman, her songs and her bottle of wine. The audience loved it.



If you've ever been to a Camille gig before, you'll know costume changes, fishnets and that fantastic body of hers plays a part. As the music started for Marc Almond's The Bulls, she began her transformation, rawwwrring at the audience, greeting the front row with "See, if you're scared, that's when I'm gonna come for you". The percussion provided by a curtain rail and rings, she indulges in the evocation of the bull ring, of the crowd and of the audience reaction.

On Sundays the bulls get so bored,
When they are asked to show off for us
There is the sun, the sand, and the arena
There are the bulls ready to bleed for us
The moment of triumph when grocery clerks become Nero
The moment of triumph when the girls scream and shout the name of their hero.

"I'm exhausted", she says at the end of the song. "Someone took up the hem of this dress. I need to talk to them. It's highly undignified. Are you having a drink?" She turns again to the front row as she sips her own wine. "You'll need one. For those of you who might not have seen me before... good luck."

She speaks of her obsession with the music, of her love of cabaret songs, of characters and stories as in the writing of Nick Cave, of Tom Waits and of course of Brel. In the recent interview with Jade O' Callaghan in Temple Bar Magazine, when asked how she chooses her repertoire, she said

"Well the Brel stuff would be because I am half French and my parents had a great record collection, and I started listening to songs that were more like storytelling and had characters, and I like dark and dramatic tales.

If I hear something and it resonates with me then I'll look into doing it. It's more about the story within the song than singing the song sometimes.... It is always a personal thing, and it's always about being sincere with a song rather than it just being about my voice".

As she starts into Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, one of Bowie's last songs for Ziggy Stardust, you begin to understand where Camille is bringing us. The journey she has started is no fairy tale, we're invited into her life, into her space as she shows us who she is

Oh no love! you're not alone,
No matter what or who you've been, no matter when or where you've seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain, I've had my share, I'll help you with the pain. You're not alone

In the same interview: "As a woman too I think that it's important to shake that image of yourself, and not just be the femme fatale in the fishnets and heels singing. It's important that you show every aspect of yourself; that you can be vulnerable, that you can be tough or angry or gentle.

What I love best is humour and charm and that's what I love about the intimacy of being on stage; you can use all these aspects of your personality to lock in with the audience, it's not just about singing to them, you're very much with them".



As she starts into the Tiger Lillies' Crack of Doom, she laughs. Here's one she will delight in, indulge in, have fun with.

And so your life's been a success, and you have pleasure in excess. Don't worry it will all end soon,
The crack of doom is coming soon.
And so your future's looking bright and you've reached the giddy heights. Don't worry it will soon end.
It is all shallow and pretend.

And so she continues through Act One. Harpist Sinéad Ní Ghearailt joins her for Nick Cave's Little Water Song. Tom Waits' All the World is Green is next - "The moon is yellow silver on the things that summer brings. It's a love you'd kill for" - followed by Cave's Brompton Oratory. "I wish that I was made of stone so that I would not have to see a beauty impossible to define". Time and time again I'm impressed with the lyrics - I haven't heard (m)any of these songs before, so being new to me, the way Camille communicates them seems the way they were written to be sung, composed to be performed.

The Port of Amsterdam comes next with crowd favourite In These Shoes rounding out the first act. A new friend comes down to me, a lover of music, a new Camille disciple, just over from London for the weekend "She's amazing mate. Really stunning. That vibrancy and energy is incredible." He's right. it is that energy that is infectious. It's that that has us clapping along to her version of Mack the Knife, intertwining Nick Cave's version from September Son into a sordid bilingual feast. Her version of Hurt rivals the Johnny Cash version for fidelity to the Nine Inch Nails original. It is her talent to make the song sound original, sound believable. There are no theatrics here other than her voice. It's enough.



Dillie Keane's Look Mommy, No Hands has the girls reaching for the tissues. Knowing her own mother is in the audience seems to amplify the intensity and cause her to cry all the more. It's her hesitant phrasing, her understanding of when to pause, when to inflect and when to go for the jugular.

Remember the daughter and all that you taught her
She's grown up at last with a child of her own
She struggles alone as the years all fly past
But now you're no not there to answer her calls.
You're not there to catch her when she stumbles and falls.
Look mummy no hands.
I'm having to do it all by myself
Look mummy no hands.
I used to dismiss you. Now I just miss you.

With lyrics like this you can understand how she feels she is "like and actress signing a monologue and interpreting something that's often dark or sad." When asked if she's ever thought about writing her own lyrics, she says "No, I think because I am scared that it would be rubbish. How can I write after singing Brel and Nick Cave, I mean they are phenomenal writers."


Image from here.

The Weill/Brecht 1928 What Keeps Mankind Alive brings us further into harsh reality. No fluffy kittens or rainbows here. She dons her white make-up to sing:

The fact that millions are daily tortured.
Stifled, punished, silenced and oppressed
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
in keeping its humanity repressed.

Bowie's Suffragette City follows, then Nick Cave's People, They Ain't No Good. She seems too young to sing this, but does so despite that and with a vengeance. As her foot stomps to herald the opening of Waits' Misery Is The River Of The World, we're drawn back into this spinning dervish existence.

"I'm exhausted." She says after, "I don't know how the hell you are." She goes on to thank her parents for being there "If you want to know how crazy I am, they look like me. You can find them." and amid the applause and laughter she says "If you thought I was mad, I'm now going to go a bit further with you."

And further she goes, introducing us to meow, an audience and performer making cat noises at each other. "It doesn't make sense to anything or anyone. It's just makde me happy in the last few months." she says. "You've got to do it subtly. Walk past a stranger and say meow. If it gets to eye contacts, it's over. Over." she laughs.



Her last song. Will she leave us on a high? Something jaunty to send us on our way in a cold December night? Not a bit of it. We get a haunting version of Bowie's Five Years "News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying. Cried so much, his face was wet, then I knew, he was not lying" before the encore of Brel's Marieke and then, she's joined onstage by the wonderful Jack L who dances and duets with Camille for Fairytale of New York.



It is though when she starts the opening lines of Nick Cave's The Ship Song that we are reminded that though we may want to, we can't spend the evening in the company of this siren, songstress and artist, who has painted the evening with lyrics of heartbreak, of life, of solace, and, as Lottie says, afterwards "We stepped back into the colour and cold of a 21st Century Dame Street".

She left the stage with this, singing the last verse without any music, just her and the band. No better way to end it.

Your face has fallen sad now for you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings and you, you must try to fly.

Come sail your ships around me and burn your bridges down.
We make a little history baby every time you come around.

Camille O' Sullivan plays London's Roundhouse on January 14 and 15, 2009. Her website is here and My Space is here and you can buy any of her four CDs or live at the Spiegeltent DVD through Celtic Note.

Gloria - Ireland's lesbian and gay choir - sing Christmas

We were lucky to get the last two tickets for the Glória Christmas concert last night in St Ann's Church on Dawson Street. I hadn't heard them live before and seeing as my date for the evening cancelled, we decided to get in the festive spirit with a few tunes.



I bring a few things with me everywhere I go. Phones, camera, pen, notebook, wallet etc. The notebook keeps me occupied, noting thoughts and ideas that spring up, often much to the bemusement of those sitting near me. I didn't take photos last night out of respect to the choir members, but the sight of them in black with pink stripey ties was enough to put a smile on everyone's faces.

Listening to the opening songs of "A Jubilant Gloria" and "The most wonderful time of the year" last night, I scribbled down "It's almost a pity that Glória label themselves a 'gay and lesbian choir' because they're much more than just a "something" choir, they're fantastic." If the reaction of the crowd - actually, if the numbers of the audience were anything to go by, here is obviously a group of people that puts a huge amount of work in, has a lot of support and benefits from same. Why the tag?

Voices soared last night. Musical director John Francis Murphy seems to understand the balance between male and female, between tenor, alto and soprano and used it to create great harmonies, interesting contrasts and an extremely pleasant sound. The interpretations of the songs were clever - neither rigidly traditional nor over the top gospel, we were treated to some acapella, some jazzy numbers and some where the choir just seemed to love the song.


Photos from Gloria.ie

'Away in a Manger' was the first sing-along song and, truth be told, I almost laughed. We'll sing along in pubs, on pitches, in cars, at concerts but put people in a church and we revert to that public shyness; the fear of being told to stop singing or being laughed at seems to be something only alcohol or social events can dispel. Looking around a very mixed audience, it seemed the men were staring fixedly at anything but other people while the ladies sang along, oblivious of the male awkwardness. No, I didn't sing, I just scribbled furiously. I was as shy as the rest of them.

Our MCs on the night were entertaining and informative. "Join in", one urged, "just don't necessarily compete". Murphy, introducing Sleigh Ride, told us that this was the 100th anniversary of composer Leroy Anderson's birth and the song was 60 years old this year. It was during this tune that I noticed a very enthusiastic gentleman standing apart from the choir, smiling, singing and signing. It was hypnotic.

On the way in we'd noticed a large group of people using sign language, and so, the signer's presence made sense. Darren and Senan from ISL put more work in than anyone last night, communicating the lyrics and music of each carol through sign language in an inimitable style. Their round of applause (both claps and hand waving) at the end was well justified and the support from the community much appreciated.

Name the song this verse is from:

The sun is shining, the grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway
There's never been such a day
In Beverly Hills, LA
But it's December the 24th
And I'm longing to be up north

I didn't know until last night that this was the first verse of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Neither did I know that the gifts for the 12 groovy days of Christmas ("remember, this was the 70s, okay?") were

Twelve lava lamps, eleven sticks of incense, ten sets of door beads, nine paisley blankets, eight disco balls, seven giant earrings, six leisure suits, five golden mood rings (oo oo), four Volkswagen bugs, three headbands, two platform shoes and an 8-track by the Partridge fam'ly.

Frosty the Snowman, a lovely version of Silent Night, O Holy Night, an emotional version of Breath of Heaven, O Come all ye Faithful (a song I haven't sang in Latin in about 15 years) and Ring Christmas Bells ("Is it wrong I wanted to sing the Garmin version?", Niamh asked me) rounded out the show. By the time Adeste Fideles came around, nerves had softened and the audience was louder than the choir.



Thought the concert was free, there was a charity collection on the night. The beneficiaries were the choir's costs, Gay Switchboard and MarriagEquality. Gay Switchboard has been in operation for 30 years and is Ireland's longest running LGBT resource. It's staffed entirely by volunteers (they're recruiting at the moment) and is an important resource for the community.

MarriagEquality is a single issue charity - granting equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples on the basis that lesbian and gay people and heterosexual people are equal in the law. "We may not want to marry", our MC told the audience "but the choice should exist.", promoting one of the biggest cheers and ovations of the night.

It's when he spoke of "increasing visibility of gay people in Ireland" that I finally got what Gloria is about. It's not a label or a tag, it's just a fact. From reading their website:

Glória was established to provide a safe and comfortable space for gays and lesbians to meet and sing together and to promote a positive image of gay and lesbian life in Ireland.

Last night they did just that. St Ann's was a welcoming place for fans, friends and family. There were many hugs shared afterwards, lots of greetings and catching up with people over a glass of mulled wine and a minced pie. Events with such warmth and support are rare in a very commercial Dublin, so the organisation of this concert was equally important for the choir, their supporters and those who love to hear good music.


Glória are performing their second 'Breath of Heaven' concert in St Ann's Church, Dawson Street on Thursday 18 December. Free tickets will be available on the door from 6pm but turn up early - if last night is anything to go by, they'll be gone in 15 minutes. You can find out more about supporting the choir here. I'm already looking forward to their next event!

Visiting the Nora Dunne Gallery: Ben Dunne knows art

A quick google search on Ben Dunne reveals a few things. Firstly he's a "business tycoon". Secondly, he believes in "real, better value" and thirdly he's opening an art gallery. In a recent interview he said:

"The Nora Dunne Gallery will be a friendly place, a place of quality.

"It will be a place where everybody will be welcome, where people will buy many, many pictures and get lots and lots of pleasure out of looking at those pictures."

I find art one of those tricky things to talk or write about. While I can appreciate the creativity, hard work and effort that goes into a piece, I have difficulty envisioning it hanging above the fire place. The price tag on most Irish art in galleries is also forbidding.

Take a quick walk at the top of Stephen's Green Shopping Centre to look at the art in their gallery. Here's a portrait of Bono for €3,700. Try a still life for €2,700. Even a simple watercolour of Connemara will set me back €570. All lovely pieces of art in their own right, but not right for me.

I've never bought a piece of art other than photographs. I've never been able to afford it or see it as an investment.

This, however is something that Dunne wants to change for people with his gallery. He told Ronald Quinlan :

"The whole way that people sell art or buy art in this country will be changed with the opening of the Nora Dunne Gallery. It will change an awful lot of the old ways of doing business in art.

People think because they spend big money on a picture, that it must be very good. The first thing they want to remember is that if they buy it from a gallery, 50 per cent of what they're paying at least is going to the gallery. In my case it's going to be 25 per cent maximum."

Certainly looking around the gallery yesterday highlighted just how he plans to bring this to life. Ably assisted by curator Karen Harper, one of the most genuinely friendly and enthusiastic people I've ever met, gathered in this gallery is a wide range of art at very reasonable and realistic prices.







From cityscapes to seascapes, photographs to stained glass, huge oil paintings to small portraits, Karen's choices represent a huge range of the best of Irish art. "I have a simple criteria" she tells me. "If I could do it myself, I wouldn't sell it here"

Certainly with artists including Philip Gray, Ailve McCormack, Rita Pettigrew, Vincent Keeling, Gerry Flaherty, Elsie Sheridan, Tony Murray, Anne Louise McDermott and a pleasant surprise for me, Sean O Dwyer, there's a unifying theme or choice in the paintings - they are paintings that you could envisage in your home.


Yvonne O' Neill's work.

"Black suit lovers
Red lips pout
Perfect poise...
Lashes flutter
Red nails flash

Swinging hips the dance begins...
Intimate strangers
Perfect partners"

"We're not out to suit the 4% of art collectors", says Karen, "They're catered for. We want to provide the general public with art at affordable prices. I wouldn't choose anything for here that I couldn't see in somebody's home". Indeed, with almost 40 sales since they opened on October 14, it's difficult to argue with such a sentiment.



Comments in the guest book reflect the welcoming nature of the place: "The gallery is lovely. Very relaxing place. Great variety of pictures" writes Claire from Rathmines. "Great to have such a lovely gallery in the area - great art" is written by Shirley from Kimmage. "Well done, will be back again". "Very impressed will be back". "Well done, Ben Dunne." others add.

Even the ones that ask for a coffee shop will be catered to. "That's on the way", says Karen. "Ben thought it better we focus on one business first without worrying about two. But we have all the facilities in place. He's passionate about this place. He wants it to be right".



The coffee shop won't be the only addition. "We've got space upstairs for classes", Karen says, "There's been great interest already. Between felting, patchwork, jewellery, oil, pastels and life drawing, this place will be a hive of activity. The gallery itself can be rented out for occasions too".

Karen, herself a jewellery designer and experienced curator knows every artist exhibiting personally at this stage. "The application process is simple - we ask them to email in three images of their work including the sizes and the price they see it as selling for. If I like it, I take it from there. Ben has seen every piece of art in the gallery - so much so that he came in recently and told me one of the images on the website was upside-down. He's given some of his personal collection to the gallery also."



Indeed the artists themselves seem to have no elitism or snobbery attached to their work - they present it and themselves as simply as possible. Rather than the usual qualification and CV based biographies in some galleries, this gallery chooses to present the artists as they are, real people.

Ailve McCormack: "My Art work doesn't have a specific theme running through it. If I like something I paint it. I am not interested in recreating a scene from relity but more concerned with capturing a particular moment in time."

Gabriella Szazo: "I have never studied the art of drawing or painting, I don't think it is necessary to use studied methods at all. I hope my paintings speak for themselves"

Elsie Sheridan: "I am a self taught artist. Having loved to paint all my life, it was not until 2001, when I gave up working full time to concentrate on painting that I made real progress. I put a lot of effort into developing my own way of expressing my reaction to whatever visually stimulates me. I paint in a strong passionate style using paint liberally.

I see painting as a challenge to improve and grow as an artist. This challenge will take the rest of my life, but what a joy it is to be able to do the one thing I love to do. Paint."

As for the name - it's named after Ben's mother, herself an artist. When asked, Ben said

"It means that I'm going to stick at it, and I hopefully will make it successful. You don't name something after your late mother without it stirring up a certain amount of emotion and love, and a desire for it to be successful and stand for the standards that my mother had."

When asked to choose my favourite piece, I hesitate. My familiarity and respect for Sean's work points immediately to The Traveller (above), but Elsie Sheridan's work (and story) has grabbed me too. I find Vincent Keeling's work so impressive but would happily have Rick Mettler's Phoenix above the fireplace. There's so much choice, so much expression, it's so accessible and attractive that I find it difficult to choose a piece I don't like.



In the end I settle for Phillip Gray's I see the light. A massive canvas, it presents a stark landscape with two figures in the distance. The photo above does it no justice - as indeed the photos I've taken can't capture the gallery's real essence - I'd have happily looked at it for ages, something Karen admits she enjoys from the vantage of the reception desk where herself and the lovely Catherine Michael are ready to welcome people.



The gallery is having its official opening tonight, Saturday 29 November from 6 to 8pm. "Come experience the atmosphere for yourself" is the invitation. All are welcome, though the rumour that Bono will be there may not, in fact, be accurate. With this sort of place and welcome though, you'd never know who'll walk through the doors. I'll certainly be back, hopefully with a credit card.

The Nora Dunne Gallery is open Monday to Friday 11am to 7pm and Saturday 11am to 5pm. It's based on Kimmage Road West and you can see more of their art here and find their blog here.

A review of the Late Late Toy Show 2008

*Meh*

That's about it really. Nothing majorly memorable, though I thought the choir from St Mary's School for Deaf Girls (website here) was interesting.

Nothing traditional or what you'd be alright seeing - no Billy Barry kids, no Zig and Zag, Podge and Rodge, Dustin or Soky, no June Rodgers or anything related to Irish acts or performances on over Christmas.

No focus on Irish toymakers or manufacturers. No memorable appearances from major celebrities or personalities apart from Top Gear presenters Jeremy, Richard and James. Nicky Byrne dropped in with the twins. Sarah Ferguson popped in for a minute or two basically to say she was in Eason's of O' Connell Street tomorrow at 12 noon. McFly put in a mediocre performance. There was a video plug from Ben Stiller and Chris Rock for Madagascar 2. Nothing worthwhile, nothing unique.

As David pointed out, only two Irish authors mentioned in the book reviews, they cut to ad break during Kilkenny's St Canice's Jazz band performance - who had arranged a special medley for the show and no doubt practised loads and Pat referred to the whole I don't want the tickets incident of last week so much that it became tedious.

As Suzy said, the camera work during the dance-fusion exercise by the Hood Rats was appalling. Some of the young presenters - Gabriella, the book reviewer, Robert the milkshake maker and Mark Boylan from Offaly were excellent, but overall it was stilted, over rehearsed and wooden.

More and more it's just one long advertisement with little personality, humour or soul. There were few aww moments, no opportunities for children to shine, no inspiring or emotional moments.

Fine, The Late Late Toy show, Irish tradition that it is, has never been brilliant, but surely to God it could be better? In fact, the only thing that made it any way interesting were the conversations on Twitter and the live blog, something Anton seems to have agreed with.

Is The Late Late Toy Show only on because it's a tradition, not that there's a need for it?

Did you see it? If so, what did you think? And if not, did you purposely not watch it?

Sea Sew Sunday

"... you don't know if I can draw at all
or what records I am into
if I sleep like a spoon or rarely at all
or maybe you would do? maybe you would do..."

I spent the day today in the company of a splishy, splashy, twirly, mellow, gentle, plinky, plonky, plunky, lyrical album that I've become very partial to. I think it will become an integral part of my soundtrack for the rest of the year.



It would be nice to think that Lisa Hannigan may see the reviews of her first album, Sea Sew, some day. I'd like her to think of this particular blogger grooving in the kitchen today, elbows deep in sudsy water as I sing along to her words, swaying and sliding to the lyrics, lost in my own revelry, immersed in the melody of harmonium, the cello, the upright bass and guitar.

It provided an enchanting escape from the mundane tasks I was completing and sent the musical part of my brain into hyperdrive, while my feet moved along to their own pattern, part waltz, part glide, part just tapping along. I'm glad I was alone.

I also love the album sleeve itself. Printed on paper the little touches are personal and appropriate to the music, knitted as it was by her mother Frances, and stitched by Lisa herself.



Is it good? I think so. With 10 songs, nine written by herself, this provided a lovely soundtrack to a not-so-nice day. I recently saw her live and the album doesn't disappoint in capturing the unique sound of a group of musicians who, you can almost tell, have an intimate knowledge of their instruments and what would suit each song, as well as having fun doing so.

I don't know - the track I quote above - is my favourite so far, its upbeat percussion and violin and cello sounds working with the trumpet and glockenspiel (I think it is) to give something to at the very least click your fingers along to. The lyrics are just wonderful - among the happiest I've read or heard in quite a while.



There's also songs like Venn diagram, Teeth and Courting Blues that seem to be deeply personal, the lyrics emerging like waking memories - the type that surface in conversations with friends. Splishy Splashy, dedicated to Mic Christopher, is a lovely creation, and if its a tribute, you'd imagine he must be smiling.

It's the simplicity of the lyrics, secondary to the sound of her voice, a beautiful instrument in harmony with the others that makes each line special - something as simple as "a note, penned clumsily in this century's type-ruined hand, saying gone down to the shops for a walk" somehow seems like we're reading her diary, a sentimental insight into this young woman's life, and it's almost a privilege to be allowed do so.



When we were buying the album, the surprisingly helpful young man in HMV Blanchardstown said, unprompted, to us "It's really good actually. I've had it on here today. It's not like Rice at all. It's much happier." and he's right. In fact the comparison is unfair, despite the association - this album is pretty unique, and completely hers. Whereas Rice's lyrics seem pain racked, harsh and emotionally raw, this is more an album to feel good with.

I don't mean it's happy clappy music, I mean it's glass of red wine, book and possibly a candle music. It's slip away from the crowds and sit in the park on a sunny day listening to it music. It's ignore the crowds on the bus or the dart and just look out the window, probably moving in time to the beat and smiling despite yourself, blissfully unaware of the people around you who look on, envious you're lost in your own little world kind of music.



It's an album that will stay on my iPod for a long while. If you see me in town at some café, smiling despite the queue, the weather and the service, tapping along to whatever's playing in my earphones, it'll be a safe bet to guess what I'm listening to.

The album is out now and can be bought through her website on www.lisahannigan.ie. The full track listing is Ocean and a rock | Venn diagram | Sea song | Splishy splashy | I don't know | Keep it all | Courting blues | Pistachio | Teeth | Lille and the song lyrics to some are included in the album sleeve, or all available on her site.

Sea Sew would make a great gift but I think you'll want to keep it for yourself. If you get it, please do let us know what you think.