Review – Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho, Leicester Square Theatre, 19th March 2015

The Real Chrisparkle

On our first foray to the Edinburgh fringe last summer we saw some spellbinding productions. Riveting drama, glamorous revue, exciting dance – but nothing funnier than Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho, late at night under a circus big top. So when the Divine Diva got resurrected for another hoorah week at the Leicester Square Theatre, we couldn’t resist re-dipping our toes into the seedy world of 1980s Soho. We also knew that our friends my Lord Liverpool and the Countess of Cockfosters would find it irresistible, as they have been leftie agitators since they were connected to the placenta. Thus it was that the four of us snuck downstairs into that vibrant little arty hub that is the Leicester Square Theatre to see a slightly extended version of the show that won this year’s Chrisparkle Award for Best Entertainment – Edinburgh (I know, catchy category.)

The time – the…

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Review – The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ The Musical, Curve Theatre Leicester, 21st March 2015

The Real Chrisparkle

I don’t think there can be many lives who haven’t been affected by the character of Adrian Mole in one way or another. I can remember when the original book came out, and the Dowager Mrs Chrisparkle bought it for me as part of my Christmas Present Package. I thought it was brilliant, and over the subsequent years bought and read all of young Mr Mole’s diarised works. The TV series with Julie Walters and Stephen Moore was great too. Moley was one of the author Sue Townsend’s greatest creations, and definitely her most successful. Sue Townsend herself was from Leicester, as is Adrian Mole, and she based his school environment and council estate home on the places where she was educated and lived. So it’s entirely appropriate that The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ The Musical should start life at the Curve in Leicester. Young Adrian…

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An experience at the 2015 Irish National Maidens Debating competition (Part 1)

“I had not been planning on writing any such thing as a report on the “National Maidens” competition, at the time when I had been asked – I was reflecting on what the experience really said about me, and my place in the world of Irish University Debating circles. ” but he did anyway! 🙂

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 35 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Shamrokon – The European Science Fiction Convention August 2014 Dublin 2015 is in sight pet!

Ireland has a long tradition of writers, this is not news to most but, we also have a long tradition when it comes to fantasy, science fiction and horror which has been very influential. From the fantastical tales of Jonathon Swift, to Lord Dunsany, (who influenced writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, J.R.R Tolkien to even Neil Gaiman.) to C.S. Lewis who not only wrote about Narina, but wrote science fiction as well and then there are the Gothic Horror writings of Joesph Sheridan le Fanu. Ireland also had a tradition of writers moving to live here, from Anne McCafftery, Harry Harrison, Diane Duane and CE Murphy.The national Irish science fiction convention Octocon has been running from 1990, and last August they the 36th European Science fiction convention Shamrokon in Dublin. The 3 day event which is expecting over 1,000 attendees (of which 900 have already signed up) is being held in the newly refurbished Double Tree by Hilton Hotel on the Burlington Road.

http://esfs.info/ The European Science Fiction Society decide who will host each year and at Shamrokon the The European Science Fiction Society Awards will be presented.

Our quests of Honour are:

The Golden Blasters Irish Scifi short film festival will be taking place with awards for best script, two for best film one voted upon by the judges and one by the audience members.

Shamrokon also has an Art show which will feature some of the oringals from one of our Guests of Honour Jim Fitzpatrick.

Dr Sketchy’s Dublin are coming to run thier wonderful Anti Art School.

As this year is the 200th birthday of J Sheridan le Fanu, they will have a series of panels and discussion on his work & his influence on Gothic horror.

There will be many, many panels, a writers workshop, a cosplay photo shoot, a LARP and much more.

You can sign up for a membership ticket on our website: http://www.shamrokon.ie/content/membership

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Role Play In Class

Irish Media Man

Role-Play Introduction:

Including role-play into the classroom activities adds diversity, a change of pace and occasions for a lot of language production. It can be an essential part of the class and used for a wide variety of learning procedures.

Simply put; Role-play is any speaking activity when a student either put themselves into somebody else’s shoes, or when they stay in their own shoes but put themselves into a make-believe situation.[1]

With role-play students can ‘become’ anyone they like A film star, a pop star, a sports star or some such celebrity they care to be, the choice is entirely their own. Role-play can also be used by splitting the class into two and creating ‘for’ and ‘against’ teams and given a statement, non-political (preferably humorous) and as harmless as possible, which they have to support or refute.

Some Sample Statements Are:

1. Coffee should be banned.
2. Smoking in public…

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Witness: changing attitudes through theatre.

Max Hafler - Radiating /Receiving

The other day I went to see a show called Witness written by Cecilia Parkert translated by Kevin Halliwell and performed by Andrea Kelly. It was a work-in-progress soon to be seen in full production in Galway Theatre Festival. She had been invited by the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway to perform this hard hitting 50 minute one person show for stuðents. The play concerns a translator working in Sweden during investigations of the war in Bosnia in the 90s.

It was performed in a lecture theatre with no lighting or costume. The lecture theatre venue enhanced the power of the piece as there was no set, music or costume cushion to distance us from the action .

The translator character is to be disciplined by a panel after ‘crossing a line’ with one of the interviewees, a victim of atrocities. We the audience are the panel…

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Local Mom Inspires Twin Sons As She Closes In On Golden Gloves Boxing Crown

Yeats Needs You!

Magnumlady Blog

Come and join Sligo Tidy Towns in their record-breaking attempt on St. Patrick’s Day. Come along to the Mercy Gym, Sligo between 10-10.30 wearing black trousers, black shoes (no runners) and a black top and we’ll make you look like WB Yeats! Refreshments will be served before the parade. All ages are welcome but children must be accompanied by an adult.

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“The House Would Re-Legalise Ecstasy” – Report (12/03/15)