The City of Derry Drama Festival.
The 31st City of Derry Drama Festival held in March in the Waterside Theatre is now over and what a splendid season of theatre it was. There was a wide ranging choice of plays by playwrights from Ireland England and America so that on the menu there was something to satisfy all tastes. While the production and acting was by amateur groups the standard of work was on a par with professional companies. The productions were well attended.
IN my opinion the only downside to the festival was the play – Kings of the Kilburn High Road by Jimmy Murphy and presented by Droicead Nua from Co Kildare. The characters in this play were stereotype drunken foul-mouthed stage Irish. These were men who had left the West of Ireland in the seventies dreaming of making their fortune in London and returning home as “kings”. Twenty years later, still in London, they gather in a Kilburn pub to wake one of their number who will return home in a coffin. Over the course of the play with raucous singing and foul language they reflect on their lives and their place in an English society that no longer needs them.
To what extent these characters represent the tens of thousands of immigrant Irish workers to England in the 60ties and 70 ties is questionable. The vast majority of these immigrants integrated into English society and they and their descendants became successful and did well in England. The tragedy of these Irishmen is that they never integrated into English society but lived as self imposed exiles, bodily in England but in spirit and mind still in Ireland. The stance of these men to be apart in England reflects the problem of new wave Muslim immigrants in England who will have to integrate into English society or opt to live apart and become a social problem. Despite the flawed nature of the script the actors from Droicead Nua did their best with it and acquitted themselves well.
The cup for best production and the cup for best acting went to the Bangor Drama Club for the play –A View from the Bridge by the American playwright Arthur Miller--. The standard of production and acting by this group was of an unbelievably high order.
The festival adjudicator was a Derry man, Michael O’ Hara, a guru of the theatre who gave an interesting introduction to each play and an insightful constructive evaluation of each play at the end of each performance.
At the end of last year’s festival 2010 the president Maureen Gallagher had doubts that the festival could continue due to a dearth of funds. However this year the festival was assisted by the Derry City Council but even so the festival’s difficulty remains. Maureen said that currently there are 60 season ticket holders but for the festival to be financially viable this figure would need to increase to 200.This Drama Festival is a credit to the city an is a showcase for theatrical talent from all over Ireland .It would be a sad loss to the City if this drama festival were to fail due to alack of funds and support in the city. It behoves all those who have the cultural interests of the City at heart to turn out in strength holding season tickets for next year’s festival in March 2012.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
An Irish Flag acceptable to all is a highly Complex Constitutional Matter
An Irish flag for all is a highly complex constitutional matter.
Seosamh O Hoctain Newry March 23rd wants Martin Mc Guinness and Peter Robinson to design a flag that is acceptable to all. Such a task is not within the remit of the Assembly or Dail Éireann but is within the remit of Westminster. A new flag for Ireland would need to be ratified by Westminster first and then approved by the Irish people in a referendum.
IN my published writing on the British/Irish problem I’ve taken it upon myself to design a flag that could be flown on St Patrick’s Day or the Twelfth of July. In my suggested National Government of Ireland Act there is a redesign of the existing Tricolour in which the red Irish saltire is imposed on the white central panel of the Tricolour along with the Kingdom emblems of the crown (newly designed) harp and shamrock. In the Act the flag would be defined as The Royal Flag of Ireland which is the National flag of Ireland and a symbol of the Federal Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain. A new flag on its own will not solve the historic British/Irish problem, that will require a new constitution for Ireland expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act giving a reformed Crown as Head of State to be democratically elected in Ireland. That is the crux issue in the resolution of the British Irish problem. In my published writing I’ve put forward a suggested National Government of Ireland Act that runs to over 20,000 words.
If Seosamh wises to look into this further a trilogy of works on the British /Irish problem is available from my publisher Authorhouse. The trilogy can be found by using www.authorhouse.co.uk and then by typing my name into the search engine.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Seosamh O Hoctain Newry March 23rd wants Martin Mc Guinness and Peter Robinson to design a flag that is acceptable to all. Such a task is not within the remit of the Assembly or Dail Éireann but is within the remit of Westminster. A new flag for Ireland would need to be ratified by Westminster first and then approved by the Irish people in a referendum.
IN my published writing on the British/Irish problem I’ve taken it upon myself to design a flag that could be flown on St Patrick’s Day or the Twelfth of July. In my suggested National Government of Ireland Act there is a redesign of the existing Tricolour in which the red Irish saltire is imposed on the white central panel of the Tricolour along with the Kingdom emblems of the crown (newly designed) harp and shamrock. In the Act the flag would be defined as The Royal Flag of Ireland which is the National flag of Ireland and a symbol of the Federal Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain. A new flag on its own will not solve the historic British/Irish problem, that will require a new constitution for Ireland expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act giving a reformed Crown as Head of State to be democratically elected in Ireland. That is the crux issue in the resolution of the British Irish problem. In my published writing I’ve put forward a suggested National Government of Ireland Act that runs to over 20,000 words.
If Seosamh wises to look into this further a trilogy of works on the British /Irish problem is available from my publisher Authorhouse. The trilogy can be found by using www.authorhouse.co.uk and then by typing my name into the search engine.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Keep Politics and Irish Culture apart
Keep Politics and Irish Culture apart.
I got an invite recently from Comhaltas Dhoire to attend a meeting in Culturlann Derry to promote the city as host to Fleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann. While this would benefit the city culturally and economically I was amazed to read that Martin Magennis would be the guest speaker at the meeting and not the Minister for Culture. It’s a principle of mine that politics and culture be kept apart but in Culturlann culture and politics were being brought together. I am not alone in this principle of separation.
Douglas Hyde the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge insisted that culture and politics be kept apart. Despite this the Gaelic League was infiltrated by Republicans. In protest Douglas Hyde resigned as head of Conradh na Gaeilge and his place was taken by the Republican Eoin O Neill. In this way Irish culture became synonymous with Republicanism and so it remains. In keeping with the principle of Douglas Hyde I declined the invite from Comhaltas Dhoire giving my reasons for doing so.
Michael Gillespie Derry
I got an invite recently from Comhaltas Dhoire to attend a meeting in Culturlann Derry to promote the city as host to Fleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann. While this would benefit the city culturally and economically I was amazed to read that Martin Magennis would be the guest speaker at the meeting and not the Minister for Culture. It’s a principle of mine that politics and culture be kept apart but in Culturlann culture and politics were being brought together. I am not alone in this principle of separation.
Douglas Hyde the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge insisted that culture and politics be kept apart. Despite this the Gaelic League was infiltrated by Republicans. In protest Douglas Hyde resigned as head of Conradh na Gaeilge and his place was taken by the Republican Eoin O Neill. In this way Irish culture became synonymous with Republicanism and so it remains. In keeping with the principle of Douglas Hyde I declined the invite from Comhaltas Dhoire giving my reasons for doing so.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Ireland Needs a closer Link with the Crown than a one-off Visit
Ireland needs a closer link with the Crown than a one off visit.
It will come as a relief to a partitionist Dail Eireann and a partitionist Dublin that the Royal visit seemingly gives the Royal assent to the border. But the assent will only be partial for as long as there remains no-go areas for her Majesty in the districts of the Falls in Belfast and the Bogside in Derry within the Kingdom. Should the day come when Her Majesty does a walk about in these districts with the people waving Union Jacks and proffering red white and blue posies to the Royal person with the blessing of Martin Magennis and Katrina Anderson while the cathedral choirs of St Peter’s and St Eugene’s chorus-- Rule Britannia-- in the background then partition in Ireland is there for keeps.
That of course is a ridiculous scenario but it isn’t ridiculous to say that the Catholic community in Ireland is brainwashed with Tricolour Republicanism and the Protestant community in Ireland is brainwashed with Union Jack Unionism and as long as that is the case the border will be a bone of contention on the island. When the day comes when both communities are freed from the mental shackles of this sectarianism and thus freed both communities accept a reformed Crown as Head of State of the Sovereign Nation of all Ireland within a Federal Kingdom then and only then will the border be obsolete and the sickness of sectarianism be eradicated from the Island. To achieve this Ireland needs a closer link with the Crown than a one off visit to Dublin.
In having the Republic join the Commonwealth is insufficient and will do nothing to eradicate sectarianism.
Michael Gillespie
It will come as a relief to a partitionist Dail Eireann and a partitionist Dublin that the Royal visit seemingly gives the Royal assent to the border. But the assent will only be partial for as long as there remains no-go areas for her Majesty in the districts of the Falls in Belfast and the Bogside in Derry within the Kingdom. Should the day come when Her Majesty does a walk about in these districts with the people waving Union Jacks and proffering red white and blue posies to the Royal person with the blessing of Martin Magennis and Katrina Anderson while the cathedral choirs of St Peter’s and St Eugene’s chorus-- Rule Britannia-- in the background then partition in Ireland is there for keeps.
That of course is a ridiculous scenario but it isn’t ridiculous to say that the Catholic community in Ireland is brainwashed with Tricolour Republicanism and the Protestant community in Ireland is brainwashed with Union Jack Unionism and as long as that is the case the border will be a bone of contention on the island. When the day comes when both communities are freed from the mental shackles of this sectarianism and thus freed both communities accept a reformed Crown as Head of State of the Sovereign Nation of all Ireland within a Federal Kingdom then and only then will the border be obsolete and the sickness of sectarianism be eradicated from the Island. To achieve this Ireland needs a closer link with the Crown than a one off visit to Dublin.
In having the Republic join the Commonwealth is insufficient and will do nothing to eradicate sectarianism.
Michael Gillespie
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