Beyond Drawing: Group Exhibition
Official Opening: Thursday 5th March, at 5pm
Beyond Drawing is a celebration of contemporary drawing, exploring how artists use drawing to examine themes including identity, place and memory, pushing the boundaries of the medium further than ever before.The Artists featured in the exhibition are: Marleen Kappe, Romy Muijrers, Marisa Rappard (all from the Netherlands); and Kiera O’Toole, Mary-Ruth Walsh, Felicity Clear (all from Ireland).
Beyond Drawing is curated by Dutch artist Arno Kramer (from the Netherlands), who curated Human Chain, a drawing exhibition with Ballina Arts Centre, in 2017. This collaboration is part on ongoing relationship between Arno and Ballina Arts Centre and
runs until 25th April.
FREE Admission. ALL Welcome.
Fiona Cawley: A Shared Space
Official Opening: Saturday 7th March @ 4pm
Artist Fiona Cawley’s Solo Show ‘A Shared Space’ presents a series of paintings exploring themes such as human and animal relationships, their coexistence and the impact of the man-made on the environment. Through the intertwining of expressive painting and dramatic subject matter the artist paints fictional scenes based on memory and the imagination depicting interiors and landscapes populated by creatures such as birds in flight, running deer and the female figure. Originally a native of Ballina the artist now lives and works full time as a painter in Co. Galway.
Runs until 25th April.
FREE Admission. ALL Welcome.
The Family Shark Show
Official Opening: Saturday 14th March @ 1pm
Jolly Promotions Present A fantastic all singing & dancing theatre production ,suitable for boys and girls age 1 to 7 years old featuring Baby Shark and a host of other colourful characters and amazing stage sets.
Jon Kenny: Crowman
Official Opening: Saturday 14th March @ 8pm
Crowman staring Jon Kenny is Dan Lonergan’s account of the hilarious characters that inhabit his life on a daily basis and a true love story that never was. By turns poignant and comic, Kenny carries the audience on a roller-coaster ride from his childhood to middle-age, from the hurling pitch to the pub and from one uproariously funny character to the other. It is about lost love and the sense of belonging and not belonging to a small community. Most of all it is about the humanity and decency of the local characters found in every rural village and town in Ireland.
As Dan himself surmises ‘Some people never had the dance that I had and some people never hear the music.’
“Kenny is brilliant in the role” – The Irish Examiner
Tickets: €18 / €16. Early booking advised.
Marina Carr: The Mai
Official Opening: Friday 20th March @ 8pm
The Mai is an epic tale, both wildly funny and humorously tragic, of three generations of a family inspired by love but shattered by inescapable reality. The eponymous Mai is a formidable forty-year-old woman and teacher, whose husband Robert, a musician, has always felt stifled by her ideals of perfection. The play opens in her home in the midlands, on the banks of the legendary Owl Lake, on the day of Robert’s return after an absence of four years.
A starry three generation ensemble is led by Maeve Fitzgerald as the Mai, Stella McCusker as Grandma Fraochlan, and her grandchildren, Rachel O’Byrne as Millie alongside Leslie Conroy as Connie. The two family aunts are played by Marion O’Dwyer as Julie and Joan Sheehy as Agnes.
Director Andrew Flynn leads a sterling creative team which includes Ciaran Bagnall (Set & Lighting Designer), Carl Kennedy (Composer/Sound Designer), and Niamh Lunny (Costume Designer) to bring this production to the stage.
Tickets: €18 / €16. Early booking advised.
Glow For It: Art Exibition
Opening Hours: Saturday 21st March @ 8pm
Working together, we’ll be turning one of our art room walls into a large CORAL REEF!
Using psychedelic, fluorescent paint and markers we’ll create a Magical Underwater Scene complete with Tropical Fish, Coral, Sharks, Octopuses and Divers. The Finished ‘Mural’ will look great under normal light BUT when we kill the lights, crank up the music and switch on the black lights….Our creation springs to life!
This Fun Workshop aims to inspire and make Art accessible to ALL Participants and to assist with creativity, we supply stencils, templates and reference images so ALL artistic abilities are catered for.
This is a Three hour Workshop suitable for 8-12 year olds @ €15 per child
Facilitator: Jim Mulroy
The Star Of Chester’s Lane
Official Opening: Tuesday 24th March @ 8pm
Quintessence Theatre (In association with An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk) proudly present
THE STAR OF CHESTER’S LANE
Quintessence Theatre (Winner of Broadway World Ireland 2019 ‘Best New Play’ Award) follow their 2018 Islandwide Tour of CRACKS with this bawdy, energetic, witty & uniquely Irish comedy
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BALLINA ARTS CENTRE, Mayo
Date: Tuesday, 24th March 2020
Time: 8pm
Tickets: €18/€16
Boxoffice: 09673593 www.ballinaartscentre.com
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“This is a man’s world: always has been. Or has it…?
1854: Christopher McGrath has fallen to his death working on the building of the Boyne Viaduct Bridge, leaving his wife, Catherine, alone to fend for herself. What’s a poor woman to do…?
…Put on his clothes, of course, and take up his place in the world!”
Kate McGrath was a navvy by name and navvy by nature:
Navvy, hawker, drunkard, comedienne, trailblazer, and tale-teller.
An Irish woman well beyond her time, she loved, and laughed, and lived a fascinating and colourful existence, packing several lifetimes of adventures into her 60 years as one of Ireland’s most infamous residents.
In this original play, devised by the company, Quintessence Theatre use their dazzling physical ensemble theatre techniques to reimagine bustling 19th century Ireland and the remarkable true story of one of the country’s forgotten street characters, Kate the Navvy: the Molly Malone of Louth.
The Drogheda Arts Festival 2018 Commission Winner, The Star of Chester’s Lane is an original comedy that breathes bawdy new life into Irish history and uproariously celebrates the great tradition of the storyteller.
Cast
Leah Rossiter
Fiona Keenan O’Brien
Anthony Kinahan
Crew
Director – Anna Simpson
Executive Producer – Paul Hayes
Lighting Designer – Colin Doran
Videographer – Steve Larkin
Graphic Designer – Linda McConville
Audience Reactions:
“Bawdy, irreverent, tragic, energetic … a local story that could be told anywhere … I can see Kate the Navvy will be our Molly Malone”
Alison Comyn, Drogheda Independent (& Sky News)
“Brilliant … madcap, Marx Bros meets Monty Python comic treatment that managed nonetheless to make a serious point … a daring comic approach to a quite serious subject matter”
Declan Gorman, Anaverna Productions
“Energetically physical production with all the trademark wit, intelligence, ingenuity and talent that I have come to expect from this company”
Niall O’Brien, Droichead Arts Centre.
Queen Of The Travellers: Martin Warde
Official Opening: Saturday 28th March @8:30pm
Fresh from his sold-out and totally ad libbed show, Martin Beanz Warde embarks on a new mission, blending hilarious stories and poignancy live on stage for the first time. The show will have less audience interaction and more tales of what life was like growing up as a Gay Traveller man within the Irish Traveller community in a small West of Ireland town.
Queen of the Travellers will take you on a pilgrimage through time and society. It’s a show not to be missed.
Beanz has performed at all the major festivals in Ireland, including Electric picnic where his humorous take on societal issues was branded by the Irish Times as the best discussion at Minefield during the festival. Beanz has also been a regular in Irish Radio and TV over the past number of years and is currently writing his first sitcom, although he still maintains his comedy musings on his social media pages, where his videos have amassed views ranging well over 1 million.
Tickets: €18 / €16. Early booking advised.