This time next week we’ll be over the first Brexit hurdle but what’s to come? It could be great or it could be awful depends who you listen to. As someone said the other day: “We’ll be all right sure didn’t we build the Titanic.”
The pure white Christmas Rose has just put in an appearance amongst the dead weeds and manky remains of mint. A lovely time of year celebrated by the pristine snowdrops and the hellebores to give it the correct botanical name. A remarkable plant with a most unusual variety of colours when it flowers.
It’s a pity the Dundonald Old Mill and gift shop has closed. It was a great spot to meet for coffee or a delicious lunch and of course the largest waterwheel in Ireland it’s thought, turning gently, a reminder of the days when it was part of first of all linen bleaching and then a corn mill.
The busy shop downstairs always had something to attract and many a present for the present drawer was bought there. Then upstairs for something to eat. But even though it was well run and great value, modern times caught up and apparently custom fell away making it impossible to continue trading. Many thanks to owner Carolyn Hamill for the delights of the Old Mill.
And all good wishes to Fergal Keane BBC journalist and their Africa editor. He has brought to us many harrowing stories and covered many war situations and it’s not surprising he needs some time off having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Although This weekend is the celebration of the Chinese New Year it won’t be celebrated in Wuhan
Gong Xi Fa Cai in Mandarin or, in Cantonese, Gong Hey Fat Choy to all enjoying this special time of colour and fun. We have a large Chinese community in Northern Ireland and I wishing you joy and prosperity in this year 2020, the Year of the Rat, an animal that symbolises wealth and the beginning of a new day. I read that washing clothes, using scissors and sweeping floors are some of the easier omens to sidestep. However, parents might find it difficult to dodge crying children and – on the more extreme end of the scale – women might find it difficult to avoid leaving the house all day.
IT WILL BE A SOLEMN FEW HOURS TOMORROW EVENING IN THE CITY HALL IN BELFAST WHEN WE GATHER TO REMEMBER THE MILLIONS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING THE HOLOCAUST. EVERY YEAR ON 27TH JANUARY, THE DAY AUSCHWITZ AND BERGEN-BELSEN WERE LIBERATED AND WE HEAR OF THE ATROCITIES WHICH MILLIONS OF PRISONERS EXPERIENCED. AUSCHWITZ IS A DIFFICULT PLACE TO VISIT BUT THE LESSONS ARE IMPORTANT BUT WILL WE EVER LEARN.
REMEMBERING SAM
Why has actor Karl O’Neill shaved off his beard and grown a moustache? Why has he been taking walking tours of Dublin, visiting Pearse Street and sitting on a bench in Dun Laoghaire?
Following his death in February last year, Joan McCready determined to remember her husband Sam on the stage of the Lyric Theatre. On Monday 10th February there will be a evening of tribute to the man who was so loved and so talented.
Last week, with a final show this afternoon at 3 p.m, Karl O’Neill presented Sam’s one man show on the life and times of Percy French. He went to the extreme and shaved off his beard and grew a moustache, visited Percy French favourite spots in Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. The show was directed by Joan who goes into rehearsal herself and will be presenting Coole Lady on Wednesday 5th February. the story of Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory, written by her husband Sam as a present for their 30th wedding anniversary.
“27 years ago! I call it the gift that keeps on giving as I’ve played it all over the world yet it never becomes run of the mill, no matter what the play I always find a little extra during a performance and every single audience gives something that is different. Like the night I was about to go on stage with Time to Speak the story of Helen Lewis, a story of courage and survival in the Nazi concentration camps. The audience settled as the house lights went down, stage light and music should have followed before I walk on – but nothing happened. I could feel the audience getting restive, so I walked into darkness and silence and prepared to start when a voice boomed out of the blackness: ‘Excuse me Joan we’ll have to start again the computer has frozen.’ I thought if my friend Helen Lewis survived the Holocaust we can survive this.”
The Sea of Galilee
On another occasion a young woman’s glass of water tipped over on the side of the stage and the water spread everywhere. “I was concentrating on an intense part where cattle trucks were being loaded up with men and women going to Auschwitz and all the time the water was getting closer like the Sea of Galilee!” She was dodging the tide when there was a huge commotion at the back of the auditorium and an angry member of the audience shouted ‘we can’t hear you with this noise’. It transpired that someone had been taken ill and the girl who spilled the water on stage was a doctor and went to the rescue.” Another stop start situation but the young woman was forgiven!
Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (née Persse 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932)[1] was an Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from Irish mythology. Born into a class that identified closely with British rule, she turned against it. Her conversion to cultural nationalism, as evidenced by her writings, was emblematic of many of the political struggles to occur in Ireland during her lifetime.
Lady Gregory is mainly remembered for her work behind the Irish Literary Revival. Her home at Coole Park in County Galway served as an important meeting place for leading Revival figures, and her early work as a member of the board of the Abbey was at least as important as her creative writings for that theatre’s development. Lady Gregory’s motto was taken from Aristotle: “To think like a wise man, but to express oneself like the common people.”[2]
Joan excels in her portrayal of famous women; in Coole Lady, sitting in her estate at Coole Park, County Galway, Lady Gregory reflects on her life, her family, the famous people she knew and worked with and of founding the Abbey Theatre with her close friend W.B. Yeats. She recalls those times when she was the centre of Ireland’s literary life, a playwright, an actress and a woman to be reckoned with.
“Also times of personal tragedy and national struggle, proud and indomitable on the outside, a woman with a passionate nature and a deep vulnerability that engages our sympathies. I’ve performed Coole Lady many times, it’s a tremendous piece and Sam has managed to include so much of her remarkable life in the writing.” Joan agrees this month will be emotional. “It’s not the same without Sam’s warmth and presence around, but you know, I‘m still being guided by him, Sam’s with me all the time.”
A night of tributes to Sam McCready. Seven Ages of Sam takes place on Monday 10th February at 7.30. It’s free but booking in essential. Also throughout February an exhibition of his art will be on shown in ArtisAnn Gallery at 70 Bloomfield Avenue in Belfast.
Details at www.lyrictheatre.co.uk/event/percy-french and What’s On
