Review: John Banville as Benjamin Black
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This was a wonderful opportunity to sit back and catch one of Ireland’s greatest writers wax lyrical about crime fiction for an hour. And more specifically, about the creation of his alter ego Benjamin Black.
Disappointingly, John Banville didn’t show up looking like he had walked out of a detective novel. He looked an awful lot like, well, John Banville. No harm anyway, they’re the same person, right?
So while my expectancy was a noirish vibe of lamplight, dark rooms and in character readings, what I got instead was Benjamin Black laid bare and a chance to listen to John Banville talk in depth about his love of crime fiction and he goes about writing it.
Interviewed by Michael Wood, Banville talked at length about his reasons for creating the ‘6 year old’ that is Benjamin Black, namely a mixture of monetary and recreational reasons. For a man who claimed that he doesn’t do holidays and only likes to work, it was clear that Benjamin Black is John Banville’s working holiday away from being John Banville. It was really interesting stuff and showed distinctly how the working methods of Benjamin Black and John Banville differ. Banville said that he rarely plans his Black novels and works off of a rough idea, allowing himself to shape and mould the plot as he writes. He also said that the perfection of sentences that he strives to achieve in his other work is not something he struggles to attain in his Black books. The interview painted a picture of a man who really enjoys writing as Benjamin Black, dislikes the formalities of ‘genius’ and enjoys the freedom his alter ego gives him.
The mics weren’t working the best in the Parade Tower and so the Q&A session ended up being a bit ramshackle but Banville answered any question honestly and with a lot of his deadpan wit, touching on subjects like the upcoming tv version and his use of the weather. The best example of that deadpan wit was when one person criticised him for adapting a real life Dublin abortionist from the 50’s into a fictionalised version for Christine Falls. Banville looked at the man as if to say ‘And?’ before replying that he’s a writer, and thus a magpie. ‘Nothing is original’ he said. Certainly, the myth of genius was quite cruelly dissected by Banville at any opportunity. It was a witty, casual and ultimately inspiring talk.
Although it did strip away the lot of the mystery of Mr. Black himself, the mysteries that make up the Quirke novels seems to be in no shortage for the coming years.
John
Review: T With The Maggies
On Tuesday night last, a packed St. Canice's Cathedral audience were treated to what could only be described as a magical performance by some of the country's top traditional Irish musicians.
Coming from a family steeped in trade music, and having seen some of those on stage in various other guises over the years, I could only stand in awe for the time I got to spend at the T With The Maggies, accompanied by Donal Lunny on bozouki and guitar and, in an additional to the original program, Galway's Jim Higgins on bodhrán and percussion.
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Chatting with John Scott about Body Duet
We sat down with John Scott, artistic director of Irish Modern Dance Theatre, ahead of the premiere of Body Duet at the Watergate Theatre. In the video above he discusses the background of the show and what people can expect from this new production from IMDT.
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Review: Holy Mary
This was my first opportunity to catch something on the children’s strand of the festival. More shame to me. But I definitely caught a good one.
Holy Mary is written by Eoin Colfer, the acclaimed author of the bestselling Artemis Fowl books. It tells the story of young Mary (played by Aileen Mythen) getting ready to make her first Holy Communion but she has to overcome obstacles like her burnt out mother, their lack of money and the constant taunts and insults from local bully Majella Barnes.
This is a hilarious, inventive and touching piece of theatre. And like the best children’s theatre, the adults were laughing just as much as the children were. In short, there was something here for everyone. The dialogue just snapped and crackled with childish insults and retorts that were so wickedly funny that I’d fear some of them are getting stored up for use in playgrounds this September. There were some great one liners and lovely word play, communion bread being described as ‘slices of Jesus’ in particular was one that had me cracking up.
The performances were spot on. Aileen Mythen was, as always, on the ball and used her strong vocal skills to create an entirely believable 8 year old girl. It was a marvellous performance and one that hit every joke and emotional beat with the same precision. Iseult Golden did a wonderful job of creating every other character in the play. Everything she did was fluid, sharp and crystal clear. She also played a lot of the live score which was even more impressive. Their scenes together as mother and daughter were particularly strong.
Props must go to Liam Halligan for his precise direction and presentation of Colfer’s story. A fantastic piece of children’s theatre, Holy Mary needs to be seen by as many people as possible. And not necessarily just children either!
John
Preview: Saturday August 13
We're on to the second last day of the festival so here's a quick overview of what's coming up today with a lineup that features two sell out shows from Luka Bloom (at Set Theatre) and Gemma Hayes (at St. John's Priory).
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Preview: Drums Off Chaos
The living legend that is Jaki Liebezeit took time out from rehearsals this afternoon to chat with our Wired Curator Matthew Nolan ahead of tonight's gig in the Set Theatre.
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Review: Agnes Obel
The St Canice’s Cathedral setting, perched as it is above the main streets of Kilkenny, could make many performers look good. But you feel that were Agnes Obel to perform in a cowshed she would still keep the audience enthralled. Still, we’ll certainly take the church setting.
Cian Nugent opens proceedings with his impressive guitar work. His singular style provides a suitable warm-up. From the very beginning the emphasis is on showcasing an impressive technique. The ambitious, epic compositions would suit a dark, animated short. In the Cathedral the music speaks for itself, but a visual backdrop for future shows could be a successful addition.
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Review: Tobias Wolff and David Vann
The biggest crowd I’ve seen so far in the Watergate Theatre were in their seats early for one of the biggest events on the literature strand of the festival.
After being introduced by curator Colm Toíbín, David Vann was up first, his second consecutive appearance at Kilkenny Arts Festival. In fact, he made a joke about how he had begged to return this year such was the fun he had last year. This certainly wasn’t disingenous. And it definitely worked. We had met Mr. Vann for an interviewing at last years event and he was definitely one of the friendliest and most engaging artists that we had the pleasure of interviewing. Which considering he was promoting a book with the dark overtones of Legend Of A Suicide came as somewhat of a surprise to us at the time.
This time around he was reading from his newest novel Caribou Island, a novel he described as about marriage, something he inadvertantly ended up focusing on much to his wife’s chagrin. His affability shone through in his introduction and his two excerpts from the book went down exceedingly well. He stopped suddenly, afraid he was going to risk ruining his book and thanked everyone before walking away to a huge ovation.
Tobias Wolff certainly was the bigger draw here but he was most gracious on giving a rub to David Vann, giving over his introduction to talking about his friendship with Vann and how much he admired his work. The great American writer first read from his 2003 novel Old School, introducing it by talking about the autobiographical elements within. To the delighted of the assembled crowd he finished his reading with an entire short story, the profane and violently funny Bullet In The Brain. He introduced it by saying how he had wanted to call his entire collection at the time Bullet In The Brain but was persuaded otherwise by Colm Toíbín who had told him that his mother would never buy a book with that title. The story went down a storm with the audience and again ensured a huge ovation at its finish.
There were no shortage of questions in the post show Q&A and again Wolff deigned to deflect most questions pointed at him towards Vann. They spoke about the humour in their novels, how short stories manifest themselves and Vann gave a very humourous and insightful description of his struggles to make it as a writer. It was highly illuminating and entertaining stuff. For this reviewer, it was certainly the highlight of the literary strand so far (although I’ve got John Banville’s Benjamin Black reading tonight so I may need to hold my praise) and the packed audience were certainly captivated.
Both writers held court in the foyer of the Watergate signing books for audience members. Suffice to say, they holding court for a very long amount of time.
John
Review: The Great Natural Resources Debate
Considering it was clashing with two other events, there was an impressive turnout for this debate on Ireland's natural resources which just goes to show what a hot topic it is.
The debate's chair, Fintan O'Toole - Assitant Editor of The Irish Times - opened by saying that none of the speakers believe that Ireland has a 'pot of gold' that, in one swoop, will solve all our problems. Instead, he said, they would focus on what we can do to ensure we maximise those resources we do have.
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In Video: Laoise O’Brien
Laoise O'Brien has been seen in many spaces in and around the Kilkenny Arts Festival, my first meeting with her back in Dublin at the launch of the programme this year. On Day 7 (Thursday) of this year's festival, I was invited along to sit in on Laoise's rehearsal at The Parade Tower before her lunchtime concert titled 'How Happy For The little Birds'. Read on for two videos from Laoise performing works from her lunchtime programme.
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