Four years after Disco Pigs was the hit of the Edinburgh Fringe, Corcadorca playwright Enda Walsh is back in Edinburgh in style: the film of Disco Pigs, directed by Kirsten Sheridan, is screening at the 55th Edinburgh International Film Festival, while Bedbound, his two-hander, is making an impact on the Fringe. This Eircom Dublin Theatre Festival production, directed by its writer, is playing at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh's leading forum for new writing. Bedbound is "theatre marooned on a squalid bed with two characters," writes Lyn Gardner in the Guardian, "a crazed father who talks frantically about his past in furniture sales and his daughter who talks no less compulsively just to fill the terrifying silence in her head". The two performers, Liam Carney and Norma Sheahan, "deserve medals for sustaining such a forceful emotional charge without collapsing. Even when it subsides the beautiful heartbreak at the play's core leaves one reeling," writes Neil Cooper in the Herald. In the Daily Telegraph, Charles Spencer adds: "What's remarkable is the vividness and economy of Walsh's writing as he offers a terrifying yet often blackly hilarious account of the father's murderous monomania . . . And, in its final moments, this bleak and frightening drama suddenly does something even more surprising, offering a beautiful glimpse of redemption . . . Bedbound is an uncomfortable, unforgettable tour de force."
Art class
Alastair Rowan, the principal of Edinburgh College of Art, has been appointed the first professor of art history for the newest undergraduate subject at UCC, writes Mary Leland. Beginning in October within the arts faculty, the course is the culmination of a process begun by Dr Joachim Boeg and Professor (now President) Gerry Wrixon, who established a visual-arts committee and appointed a visual-arts officer. The development coincides nicely with the college's decision to build an art gallery, to be designed by O'Donnell & Tuomey, beside the River Lee.
Born in Ulster, Rowan spent 13 years as professor of art history at University College, Dublin, during which he founded the Irish Architectural Archive and was elected Slade professor of fine art at Oxford University. His appointment will be marked by a reception for the first group of art-history students at the opening of the Picasso-drawings exhibition at the Crawford on September 14th.
UCC has amassed a significant collection of modern paintings and sculptures, including Flame by the late Alexandra Wejchert, commissioned by the anatomy department. UCC also holds - some might say hides - the Treasures of the Honan Chapel, the 1913-16 archive of embroidered vestments and altar cloths, jewelled altar vessels, missals, linen and furniture produced at the height of the Celtic Revival and discarded after the Second Vatican Council. One of Rowan's most important jobs might be to help the college's heritage committee bring this unique collection back into the light.
Staging post
Greenlight Productions is holding an introductory training course in theatre design next week, in association with Project Arts Centre in Dublin. It is aimed at those with some experience of theatre or film design who want to find out more about what is involved. It's a welcome development, as anyone pursuing a career in this demanding field has, at present, to study abroad. The six-day course will be led by Sarah Paulley, who runs the design school at Glasgow's Tron Theatre. Through a series of workshops, students will develop a design for performance, which will be presented in model form at the end of the week. Guest tutors include Frank Conway (set design), Barry Conway (lighting design), Leonare McDonagh (costume) and Alex Johnston (playwriting). The course runs from Monday August 13th to Sunday August 19th at Project, Temple Bar, Dublin. Further information from 1850-260027.
Edited by Helen Meany
frontrow@irish-times.ie
