PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release: 17 December 2009

RAW in association with Project Arts Centre presents the World Premiere of:

OFF PLAN

A new adaptation of The Oresteia by Simon Doyle

Directed by Rachel West

Project Arts Centre | Space Upstairs | 11-27 February 2010

We’ve built ten bedroom mansions on our hillsides, tarmaced over our boglands, hooked up CCTV to our ironclad gates. We’ve burnt through the easy money and now we’re reeling, searching for who we actually are.

OFF PLAN is the world premiere of a new adaptation of Aeschylus’ Oresteia by Simon Doyle, especially commissioned by critically-acclaimed Irish theatre company RAW (nominated for three Irish Times Theatre Awards 2008).

OFF PLAN is a bold new production which, through the lens of this powerful classical Greek text, puts its finger on the pulse of modern Ireland, making us take stock of where we are and how we got here. Forcefully engaging with the dilemmas of our globalised world, OFF PLAN explores the eternal themes of power and morality, justice and revenge, but also poses questions of identity, both on the home front and on the international stage.

OFF PLAN is written by Simon Doyle, whose recent works include Obegon, Thwaite and Oedipus Loves You (Pan Pan), and is directed by Rachel West who was nominated best director at the Irish Times Theatre Awards for RAW’s production of Splendour in 2008.   OFF PLAN was commissioned by the company and developed during a series of workshops and readings with members of the ensemble.

Rachel West is an associate artist of Project Arts Centre.

CAST includes: Anthony Brophy, Maebh Cheasty, Alan Howley, Paul Mallon, Emma McIvor, Gary Murphy, Mary Murray.

CREATIVE TEAM: Set: Alyson Cummins, Costume: Monica Ennis, Sound: Judith Ring, Video: Martin Rottenkolber, Lighting: Sarah Jane Shiels, Print: Paul Smyth.

BOOKING DETAILS / LISTINGS INFORMATION:

RAW, in association with Project Arts Centre

present the World Premiere of:

OFF PLAN

An adaptation of The Oresteia

by Simon Doyle

Where:

Space Upstairs | Project Arts Centre

39 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

Opens:

11 February 2010

Previews:

10 February 2010

Until:

27 February 2010

Time:

8pm

Tickets:

€22/€18 (conc.)

Booking:

Project Arts Centre 39 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland

www.projectartscentre.ie

+ 353 1 8819613

For further information please contact:

Layla O’Mara | Layla@laylaomara.com | + 01 254 2221 | +353 86 3977832

Aisling Mc Grane | aisling@projectartscentre.ie | + 353 1 881 9613

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON RAW

RAW is a Dublin based company which aspires to remain a flexible theatre production unit, working in co-production and collaboration with other artists, existing companies, free-lance practitioners and institutions, both national and international. RAW is committed to introducing a repertoire of new and innovative world drama to Ireland, by staging Irish premier’s of international work and contemporary re-interpretations of the classics.

Rachel West of RAW is a free-lance theatre director and has been responsible for the Irish debuts of leading international playwrights including Jon Fosse, Biljana Srbljanovic, Falk Richter, Abi Morgan and Gesine Danckwart.

RAW has worked mainly in association with Project Arts Centre, Dublin but also with the Dublin Theatre Festival, Goethe Institute, the Norwegian Embassy and the Heidelberger Stückemarkt creating translations and exchange of new writing, presenting the work of international writers in Ireland and Irish writers and theatre companies abroad. www.rachelwest.net

2. BIOGRAPHY FOR DIRECTOR RACHEL WEST

Rachel West studied German and drama at Trinity College and lives and works in both Dublin and Berlin.

During her time as assistant director at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin, she directed Misterman by Enda Walsh, Alles. In einer Nacht by Falk Richter, Fluchtpunkt by Jessica Goldberg and several staged readings.

As a free-lance director she has also worked for Theaterhaus Gessneralle, Zürich, Schauspiel Frankfurt, the Münchner Kammerspiele and is an assoicate artsist at Project Arts Centre, where she directed the Irish premieres of Winter by Jon Fosse, Family Stories by Biljana Srbljanovic (B*spoke), The System I&II (Electronic City and Under Ice) by Falk Richter, Splendour by Abi Morgan and Daily Bread by Gesine Danckwart (DYT).

She was director of European Stages for the Dublin Theatre Festival 2002/2003, curator for the Irish season at the 2004 Autorenfestival in Heidelberg and the Biennale in Wiesbaden.

She has tutored and directed students from The Tish School of Arts, NYU, Samuel Beckett Centre, TCD, DYT and Drama League of Ireland. She has directed readings for B*spoke, Fishamble and The Abbey and has translated several texts from English to German including plays by Vincent Woods, Enda Walsh and Conor McPherson.

3. BIOGRAPHY FOR WRITER SIMON DOYLE

Plays include: Snooks! (1996; after Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi); The Cave (1997); The Sandman (1998; after E.T.A. Hofmann’s short story); The Truth Of The Moon (2000); and There Where (2001).  Opera libretti: Obegon (2000; score by Simon O’Connor); Thwaite (2003; score by Jürgen Simpson, directed by Dan Jemmett), produced by Almeida Opera and staged in London, Aldeburgh and Dublin.  In 2006 he co-wrote Oedipus Loves You for Pan Pan, with director Gavin Quinn, which has toured extensively in Europe and North America, and travels to Australia in January 2010.  Works in progress include a new script for Pan Pan entitled Robots (freely adapted from R.U.R. by Karel Çapek); Gas, an opera libretto to be scored by Donnacha Dennehy and directed by Selina Cartmell; and a script about a North Korean Godzilla movie entitled ¡Zap!.  He lives in Dublin. /ends

OLWEN FOUÉRÉ STARS IN WORLD PREMIERE

OF NEW ROUGH MAGIC PRODUCTION BY LAURENT GAUDÉ

Rough Magic, in association with TheEmergencyRoom, is back with its first show of 2010 – the World Premiere of Sodome, my love by Laurent Gaudé. This exciting new production will be directed by Lynne Parker and is the first time that Gaudé’s work has been presented in Ireland. The production also sees Olwen Fouéré play her most striking role to date.

Sodome,
…city of joy and excess.
You know that name…
You imagine the orgies, the nights without end, the wine flowing on the torsos of men.
You imagine and you are right.

The sky breaks, the rain falls. The downpour slowly awakens a woman caked in salt, buried for centuries, the only survivor of the city of Sodome. Here, now, amongst us, she begins to speak. This is her story…

Rough Magic has compiled an outstanding creative team for this World Premiere, with the work performed and translated by Olwen Fouéré, one of Ireland’s most prolific and daring actors, directed by Lynne Parker, designed by John Comiskey, costume designed by Monica Frawley, sound design by Denis Clohessy.

Laurent Gaudé has written a number of plays, mostly performed in France, and recently his novels have greatly added to his literary reputation. He is winner of France’s most prestigious literary honour, Prix Goncourt and is best known for his novel Le Soleil des Scorta (The House of Scorta) which has been published in almost twenty countries.

BOOKING DETAILS / LISTINGS INFORMATION:

Rough Magic, in association with TheEmergencyRoom
present the World Premiere of:

SODOME, MY LOVE by Laurent Gaudé, translated by Olwen Fouéré
Where: Space Upstairs | Project Arts Centre
39 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Opens: 16 March 2010
Previews: 12, 13, 15 March 2010
Until: 27 March 2010
Time: 8pm
Tickets: €25/€20 (conc.)
Booking: Project Arts Centre 39 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland

www.projectartscentre.ie
+ 353 1 8819613

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. ABOUT ROUGH MAGIC
Rough Magic Theatre Company was founded in 1984 and has established itself as one of  the leading independent theatre companies in Ireland.

Under the leadership of Lynne Parker, Artistic Director and co-founder of Rough Magic, the company has in recent years become a major force in Irish Theatre, winnig the Irish Theatre Award for Best Production four times in six years. In Edinburgh, the company has won two Fringe First awards (Midden 2001, Take me Away 2004).

The company is committed to developing and producing new Irish work for the stage, commissioned from leading playwrights and theatre artists.  Rough Magic presents the best of contemporary international writing and innovative productions from the classical repertoire.  The wide ranging work to date includes over 40 Irish premieres and the professional debuts of many Irish writers. The company is also committed to the on-going professional development of the artists with whom it works and fosters new theatre artists by means of a strategic development inititative, known as the AIB SEEDS Programme.

Rough Magic is a non-profit company and is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council and Culture Ireland. The company is also supported by its Corporate Partner, AIB, and many individual patrons.

2. ABOUT TheEmergencyRoom
TheEmergencyRoom (a necessary space) is a combined artistic and production concept created by theatre artist Olwen Fouéré for the development of projects in need of immediate attention. The eventual production of each work is facilitated by a creative partnership between the individual theatre artist and an established production company.

Fouéré recently received an Artists Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland to further the idea of TheEmergencyRoom and the projects it currently holds. This includes the production development and translation of Sodome,my douce by Laurent Gaudé and two future projects involving similar collaborations which have both an Irish and an international dimension.

3. ABOUT OLWEN FOUÉRÉ
Born Olwen Fouéré was born in Ireland of Breton parents. She has played leading roles in numerous world premieres by Irish playwrights including Hester Swane in Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats… and created the title role in the original Steven Berkoff production of Wilde’s Salomé at the Gate. Her work includes numerous collaborations with directors Michael Keegan-Dolan and Selina Cartmell, international directors Olivier Py and Calixto Bieito, composer Roger Doyle and several installations by Irish artist James Coleman which are exhibited internationally.

She has made many appearances in the UK including at the Barbican, Royal National Theatre, RSC, English National Opera, Edinburgh Royal Lyceum and the West End. Recent projects include: a French adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s Paula Spencer, la femme qui se cognait dans les portes which she toured in France including at the Bouffes du Nord, Paris; Under Glass with the Clod Ensemble commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and The Rite of Spring with Fabulous Beast at the London Coliseum. She will perform her translation of the world premiere of Sodome, ma douce by Laurent Gaudé in conjunction with Rough Magic in early 2010.            /ends

We’ve built ten-room mansions on our hillsides. Tarmacked over our
boglands. Hooked up CCTV to our iron-clad gates. We’ve burnt through
the easy money and now we’re reeling, searching for who we actually
are.

OFF PLAN is a new adaptation of Aeschylus’ Oresteia by Simon Doyle,
brought to you by the multi-award nominated company that has staged
critically acclaimed Irish premieres of international playwrights such
as Abi Morgan, Falk Richter and Jon Fosse.

OFF PLAN will engage with performers, fine artists, composers, video
artists and electronic music performers to create a piece of total
theatre that, through the lens of this powerful classical text, will
forcefully engage with the dilemmas of our globalised world.

Reviews for RAW:
“Outstanding cast, directed with acute precision.” Fintan O’ Toole, Irish Times.
“utterly compelling” Fintan O’ Toole, Irish Times
“a thoroughly engaging and thought provoking production” Peter Crawley, Irish Times
“It is an intriguing structure which Rachel West’s production presents with impressive clarity” The Guardian

For more information on RAW click here.

PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release:

FISHAMBLE: THE NEW PLAY COMPANY presents the World Premiere of:

STRANDLINE

by Abbie Spallen

Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs

17 November – 5 December, 2009 | €22/18

IF YOU PUSH TOO FAR, SECRETS WILL OUT…

Fishamble: The New Play Company is delighted to present the World Premiere of Strandline by Abbie Spallen, one of Ireland’s most exciting writers and winner of the Stewart Parker Trust Award.

One month after the death of her husband, Máirín, an artist and an outsider living in a small coastal village, gathers three women to her house. Each of the women gathered has a reason for being there and a bloody good reason not to be there. These women have secrets. This community has secrets. And, as the evening passes, Máirín learns more than she bargained for about the man she had loved.

This richly comic, searing drama is brought to the stage by the award-winning Fishamble, who so far in 2009 have produced Handel’s Crossing, Forgotten, Noah and the Tower Flower and The Pride of Parnell Street, which has just returned from a hugely successful run in New York as part of the 1^st Irish Festival. Strandline promises to be a must-see theatre production this November.

Strandline stars Fiona Bell (Casualty, Eastenders, BBC; Trainspotting, Channel Four Films; Present Laughter, The Gate Theatre), Cathy Belton (Only an Apple, Abbey Theatre; Solemn Mass For A Full Moon In Summer, Rough Magic Theatre Company; The Clinic, RTE), Samantha Heaney (Pumpgirl, The Lyric; This Other City, Tinderbox), Conor MacNeill (Anseo, Wildfire Fire Films/TG4; The Old Curiosity Shop, The Gate Theatre) and Eleanor Methven (Solemn Mass For A Full Moon In Summer, Rough Magic Theatre Company; The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Project Arts Centre; Wide Open Spaces, dir. Tom Hall; Anseo, Wildfire Fire Films/TG4).

The production is directed by Jim Culleton (Handel’s Crossing by Joseph O’Connor, Forgotten by Pat Kinevane, The Pride of Parnell Street by Sebastian Barry, Noah and the Tower Flower by Sean McLoughlin). Lighting design is by Paul Keogan, set design is by Sabine Dargent, costume is by Leonore Mc Donagh, music & sound design is by Denis Clohessy, and the production is produced by Orla Flanagan. The script of Strandline will be published by Faber.

www.fishamble.com

LISTINGS INFORMATION:

FISHAMBLE: THE NEW PLAY COMPANY presents the World Premiere of

STRANDLINE by Abbie Spallen

Where: Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs

Opens: 19 November, 2009

Until: 5 December, 2009

Time: 8pm (matinees at 3pm)

Previews: 17 & 18 November, 2009

Matinee: 28 Nov & 5 Dec, 2009

Tickets: €22/18

Booking: Project Arts Centre 39 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2,

Ireland

www.projectartscentre.ie

+ 353 1 8819613

For further media information please contact:

Highlight Productions

Marie Rooney | 01 660 5302 | 087 2371129 | marie@highlightproductions.ie

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

1.     ABBIE SPALLEN

Abbie Spallen is the recipient of the Tony Doyle Award 2007 for her first feature length screenplay ‘Seven Drunken Knights’ and was nominated for The Irish Times Theatre Awards prize for “Best New Play” for Pumpgirl.  Abbie has just been awarded the Stewart Parker Trust New Playwright Bursary. She is currently on attachment to the National Theatre Studio.

“Abbie Spallen comes out all guns blazing, with writing so sparky and intricately observed, it seems as if it might spontaneously combust” **** The Guardian (reviewing Pumpgirl)

“A fiercely observed, unflinching play, emphasising the staggering force of good storytelling”
NY Times (reviewing Pumpgirl)

2.     FISHAMBLE FACTS & FIGURES:

In 2008, 16,200 people attended Fishamble  productions / readings and 65 writers took part in playwriting courses and workshops

The Company employed over 60 theatre artists and practitioners during 2008. This figure will reach over 70 employees in 2009.

Following 108 successful performances during 2008, the Company looks forward to over 97 during 2009.

Mark O’Rowe, Joseph O’Connor and Marina Carr are among the 35 playwrights debuted by Fishamble

Fishamble has toured 12 productions to 9 countries to date, with lots more in the pipeline.

Fishamble runs Play Time, a year-round programme of training, dramaturgical and development projects for emerging playwrights, companies and theatre artists.

Fishamble responds to over 200 unsolicited scripts per year.

“In order to keep vibrant, theatre requires constant transfusions of new plays. This life-providing role is fulfilled enthusiastically and with wonderful results by Fishamble. Without them, Irish theatre would be anaemic.” Brian Friel

/ends

Photo credit: Colm Hogan. Visit his website by clicking HERE