OnTheTown: 'Hi yez," were the cheeky opening words of Joe Conlan, dressed for the part of Sleeping Beauty's nanny in this year's Lyons Tea Panto at Dublin's Liberty Hall Theatre.
"Tanks a thousand," said Conlon, after his dramatic entrance via helicopter to the kingdom of Beckingham, which is ruled by King David, played by Damien Douglas and Queen Victoria, played by Aoife Cogan.
The cheering audience roared and laughed at Conlan's swagger.
"Ah janey-mack, that's brutal," chided co- producer and founder Alan Hughes, in his part as Sammy Sausages, urging the girls and boys to cheer louder. "I'll try again! How are you, boys and girls?"
Hughes, well-known as a presenter on TV3, started in panto 15 years ago. "He puts his arms around the audience and gives them a great big hug," said Karl Broderick, the panto's co- producer and scriptwriter. The show "is like The Simpsons, it appeals on different levels. Kids are happy once their parents are laughing."
Dubliner Patricia Gallagher brought her five children over from London for the opening night, joining her friend Pat Cogan, mother of the panto's beautiful queen, for the fun.
The panto's success depends on "keeping true to the actual story; you keep the focus on the prince's fear, that he has to save the princess - the kids have to believe that's true," said Broderick.
Also in attendance on opening night was You're a Star judge and Cinderella's wicked stepmother in last year's panto, Linda Martin; singer Lorraine Nolan, Hassan and Lorraine Elkhouly and their children Cheyanne (11) and Jermaine (10) and RTÉ Radio 1's Brenda Donohue and her family, including Ali (six) and Robyn Cousins (four).
The Lyons Tea Panto Sleeping Beauty will run at the Liberty Hall Theatre, Eden Quay in Dublin 1 until Sun, Jan 21, 2007
Meet me in St Ann's
Close to a thousand souls gathered on a frosty night in Dublin's St Ann's Church this week to enjoy Christmas hymns and songs ranging in style from Rachmaninov to Benjamin Britten.
The 12th annual concert from Glória, Dublin's lesbian and gay choir, which is free, with mince pies and mulled wine afterwards, was held on Tuesday. The award-winning choir was formed in 1995 to provide a safe and comfortable space for members of the gay community to meet and sing together, and to promote a positive image of gay and lesbian life in Ireland.
"We've heard the choir before, they are excellent, you are never disappointed," said Brenda Palmer, from Carrickmines, Dublin 18, her friends, Helen Walmsley and Mary Martin nodding in agreement.
John Beattie, a conservation consultant from Omagh, Co Tyrone, brought along his friends, Milan Oravec from the Czech Republic and Alcides Cortez from Brazil, to enjoy the music.
The singers "can do a hushed pianissimo, which can still an entire concert hall", said the choir's proud musical director, Michael Finlay.
"They are very eager to try and get as perfect a sound as they can from whatever they do," he added.
"This little babe, so few days old, has come to riffle Satan's fold," sang the choir, performing music by composer Britten to words by the poet Phineas Fletcher. Unlike slower pieces, this is "very energetic and runs along at rate of knots", said Finlay.
In a new arrangement by Finlay, the choir closed with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which was first sung by Judy Garland in the film classic, Meet Me in St Louis. It is "a very bitter-sweet Christmas song. It's about profound sadness, about friends not being there and quite a tender song," said Finlay.
"I absolutely love being in the choir," said Ian Doyle, one of the 48 singers in the choir. "It's two hours every week of joy."
Parallel histories merge in art
The paintings were all "rather strange and lovely", according to fashion designer, Karen Regan, from Ballivor, Co Meath.
The work of artist Katarzyna Gajewska, in a solo show called, Beyond the Clouds, went on view this week in the attic space at One Gallery, 3 Clare Street, Dublin 2.
"As an artist living in this country," said Gajewska, "the idea of bringing Irish and Polish history together is very important in a personal dimension.
"The idea was growing for a long time. I think what happened in Northern Ireland (in the 1970s) was quite similar to what happened in Poland in the 1980s," she said, of her first Irish show, which was organised by gallery director Davey Moor.
Gajewska was there with her boyfriend, architect Marcin Rosolsky, who works at Anthony Reddy & Associates. She came from Warsaw to live in Ireland, she said smiling, "in the name of love".
In attendance at the opening night was Dublin-based Polish artist Adam Kos along with Patrick Quigley, chairman of the Irish Polish Society; artist and film-maker Joby Hickey and journalist Klementyna Kasprzyk, who organised the first Polish Film Festival, which was held at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin recently.
Others who attended the opening event included cartoonist Wojtek Kucharz; T'ai-chi teacher Francisco Lerdo de Tejada from Seville in Spain and Aga Sliwa, an architect from Krakow in Poland.
"My favourite painting is City, city why you eat me like a cake? because I saw something in this picture," said Sliwa. "I like to see pictures that have different meanings. For me it is a beautiful meadow in summer. Sometimes I really miss real summer."
Tom Hopkins, director of the multimedia company, One Productions, where the two-year old gallery is based, said he loved the painting called Walls. "I like anything that evokes an emotion, that is bold and where things are ambiguous," he said.
Beyond the Clouds at One Gallery, at One Productions, 3 Clare Street, Dublin 2, is open today between noon and 5pm, or by appointment by calling One Productions on 01-6784077
Riposte to a cowardly stabbing
It was a night to laugh at comedians, puppeteers and multiple hip-hop riffs.
"Yo-yo, yo-yo, yo-yo . . . men of a certain age, they love beige," rhymed comedian David McSavage.
There were stars and cheering revellers at Whelan's bar in Dublin for a fund-raising event on Monday night, but Kariso Fea, the charismatic limbo dancer, who was stabbed in Temple Bar earlier this year while giving a performance, was the true star of the event.
Although absent from the special comedy night, he was the centre of attention.
"I just wanted to show him that people have goodwill.. He's had such a horrible experience, I wanted to show that people are disgusted by it and here's some money to help pay for your hospital fees," said McSavage, who organised the night.
He said people were shocked by the multiple stabbing and also by the fact that someone would invade the space where someone was performing. "There's something sacred about that space," he said.
Fellow street performers talked about Kariso, who has been unable to return to performing on the streets since the attack.
"He's shocked. He does not want to go back any more. He's afraid to go back," said Richard Kiarie, a limbo dancer from Kenya. "He was just out there making people happy and then somebody came and cut him."
"He was lucky to be alive. It was bad," said another friend, Ally Futto, from Tanzania. Somalian Azia Toffi nodded in agreement.
"I remember Kariso," said Aislinn O'Loughlin. "I've seen him so many times. The guy is almost an icon.
"It felt wrong not to come along. You have to do something. It would be like not coming out for your friend. I saw him perform a limbo dance. He's really charismatic." Her friend Priscilla Ní Cheallaigh agreed.
Among those who came along on Monday night were PJ Gallagher of the television show Naked Camera; comedian Bernard O'Shea, puppeteer John Paul DeJong and Tony Ferns, producer and director of The Battle of the Axe night at Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge Inn.
"He was very jovial, happy go lucky," said comedian Declan Rooney from Omeath in Co Louth.
"He was part of Dublin, part of the street, similar to the Diceman," he added. "Hopefully he'll come back."