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Briefs
Sunday, October 22, 2006 -
Written by Abie Philbin Bowman Wexford Arts Centre November 3-4

Jesus Christ returns to earth for his long-awaited comeback tour. He’s a bearded, Middle-Eastern guy, fully prepared to die as a religious martyr. He doesn’t get past US immigration and is immediately detained under the Patriot Act.

In His first one-man show for almost two millennia, Jesus talks candidly about his detention in Guantanamo, his controversial relationship with his Father, and his on-going legal battle with Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Jesus: The Guantanamo Years received rave reviews when it was performed as part of the Fringe at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Writer and performer, Abie Philbin Bowman here brings his performance to the Wexford fringe. Tickets are priced €12 and €10 (concessions) and can be booked at 053–9123764

CINEMA - LEONARD COHEN: I’M YOUR MAN Directed by Lian Lunson At selected cinemas, cert PG One of the lesser-known facts about Bertie Ahern is that he enjoys the music of Leonard Cohen. After the month he’s had, the Taoiseach might well be tempted to go and see this new film, a documentary homage to the famously reclusive Canadian poet and singer.

I’m Your Man is essentially a record of a touring tribute concert to the grand old man of bed-sit angst (which recently played at the Dublin Theatre Festival), featuring such high-profile fans as Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker and many others. Their performances are interspersed with archive footage of Cohen in the 1960s as well as clips from a recent interview.

Now 72, Cohen in conversation seems both amused and bemused by all the fuss being made of him. He is a difficult man to get on camera at the best of times, and his playful, slyly humorous comments provide most of the film’s highlights. He talks freely and engagingly although you get the impression that all those years studying Eastern philosophy haven’t been wasted, however, as he somehow manages to conceal as much as he reveals.

Sadly, all of this is overshadowed by the ubiquitous Bono and U2, who seem to have styled themselves as the world’s most important Cohen fans and the documentary’s unofficial narrators.

The basic problem with this approach is that hagiography, no matter how worthy the subject, is inherently boring. As a result, I’m Your Man often feels like a bonus feature on a DVD rather than something for which it’s worth making a trip to the cinema.

Rating: ** Reviewed by Andrew Lynch

FESTIVAL - GUINNESS JAZZ FESTIVAL Various venues, Cork October 27-30

As one of Ireland’s most successful arts and cultural events, the Cork jazz festival continues to present audiences with a diverse selection of some of the best jazz acts on the international scene. This year’s festival will feature over 1,000 musicians from 36 countries.

They include American Jazz stars Branford Marsalis, Lou Donaldson and Randy Weston. Also featuring in the multicultural lineup are Brazil’s Catia & Carlos Quintet, Azerbaijan’s David Gazarov Trio and Japanese pianist, Hiromi.

This year’s artist in residence is New York drummer Sherrie Maricle, who is a member of the Diva Big Band. Maricle will work with jazz students at the Cork School of Music and University College Cork and perform with her quintet Five Play. Festival sponsors Guinness will host the Guinness Music Trail which will offer a wide range of jazz music, mostly free of charge, in over 70 venues citywide.

For further information see www.corkjazzfestival.com.

THEATRE - HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON? Adapted from a novel by Jennifer Johnston Helix Theatre, DCU November 9-24

Following its successful run in 2005, the Second Age Theatre Company is re-releasing its production of How Many Miles to Babylon. The play, which is based on the novel by Jennifer Johnston, was adapted for the stage by Alan Stanford.

A new cast will tell the tale of two young men from opposite sides of the tracks and their experiences during World War II. Stanford’s adaptation of Johnston’s novel is a moving story of the tests that war poses to friendship and trust.

The opening night’s performance is a benefit show in aid of the Haughton Institute for Lung Cancer Research at St James’ Hospital and in memory of Rupert Murray, who was one of Ireland’s leading theatre and event designers for many years.

Evening tickets cost €22, concessions €17. For information or to book contact www.thehelix.ie or tel 01– 7007110.

EXHIBITION

With some 83 paintings and watercolours drawn from public and private collections in both Ireland and Britain, A Time and a Place: Two Centuries of Irish Social Life is a visual journey through 200 years of Irish history.

The exhibition was officially launched last Wednesday in the Millennium Wing, National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. From now until the end of January interested browsers can enjoy the works of a range of Irish artists from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including William Conor, Muriel Brandt and Sean Keating.

The paintings explore themes such as sport, music, dance and religion and provide a colourful visual insight into life in days gone by.

THEATRE - THE FLAGS

By Bridget O’Connor Andrews Lane Theatre Dublin, Until October 28

In her new play, The Flags, playwright Bridget O’Connor blends aspirant Americanisms with Irish ineptitude to create a slovenly pair of lazy lifeguards who are looking for a transfer to the pinnacle of the Irish lifeguarding business: the beach at Banna Strand. There are certain obstacles they have to overcome first: spelling the word ‘directorate’ for their application, stiff competition from the Castlegrey twins, the ten-tonne passion of their prospective boss’s sister, and a suicidal bride who cannot manage to die.

However, apart from its setting, there is nothing entirely original about The Flags, which resurrects the cartoon caricature of the Oirishman that has bought Martin McDonagh critical success all over the world. Yet where McDonagh’s savage mix of violence and comedy courted controversy, O’Connor’s play finds an audience so well attuned to her macabre melodrama that there is little sense of shock or surprise about her play, even if there is much wicked humour.

Whatever insecurities McDonagh’s plastic Paddies once aroused in an Irish audience can now be celebrated as comic genius. And there is something genius about this production of The Flags, which has transferred to Dublin after the success of its premiere at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. The set, designed by Laurie Dennet, is a grotty wasteland of a beach, a sandy scrapyard with half-buried car-wrecks serving as the lifeguards’ look-out posts.

Greg Hersov’s direction adapts well to the limitations of the Andrews Lane space, finding entrances and exits in unlikely, off-centre places. Francis Magee is a convincingly conniving JJ, Kieran Cunningham is suitably slimy and malevolent as Brendan, and Siobhan McSweeney is scarily off-kilter as the mad jilted bride. However, Jamie Beamish’s gormless Howie is the production’s greatest revelation, his physical and psychological creation of his dim-witted character hilarious, sympathetic, and quite chillingly real.

Where a poor production can ruin a play’s chances of critical success, a good production can transform a mediocre play into a commercial hit. There may not be many surprises or challenges in The Flags, then, but international success for O’Connor is surely just a Broadway production away.

Rating: **** Reviewed by Sara Keating