FESTIVAL DIRECTOR'S GUIDE WEEK 2

SUNDAY
First night for K:The Iowa Project from brilliant Cork theatre company Hammergrin.
Julian Fox in You’ve Got To Love Dancing To Stick To It at the Half Moon. This was by far my favourite show at the Edinburgh Festival last year – sad, warm and very funny.
Cork Guitar Poets play a lazy afternoon in the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent followed by The Last Resort.

MONDAY
Week 2 has lots of great new shows opening. If you didn’t catch K:The Iowa Project or You’ve Got To Love Dancing To Stick To It tonight might be a good night as there are loads more treats later on in the week. Corcadorca have a preview performance of the much anticipated The Hairy Ape. Can’t wait – I’m going on Tuesday, the opening night. We’ve a family show up at the Firkin Crane: Aesop’s Fabulous Foibles and Fables runs all week at 11am most days. Meanwhile in the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent lunchtimes kick-off with auditions for our very own Midsummer Festival talent show Yurah Langer! Whether your showing off your hidden talents or you’ve just come to gawk at the pot-pouri of human oddity (whoops! Meant talent, honest!), it’s a great way to spend a lunchtime. If you fancy something a bit artier for lunch then there’s a great piece of animation theatre starting today at the Unitarian Church – Cleaner runs from today till the end of the festival (we give them Sunday 29 June off for good behaviour). That night back at the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent Cork band Jodavino launch their new album with an exclusive gig and later at The Last Resort you can catch the unstoppable David Hoyle as he unleashes the lunchtime heat winners of Yurah Langer! onto an unsuspecting public…. Anything could happen when David’s around and probably will (as those of you who saw the first night of The Last Resort already know!).

TUESDAY
First night of The Hairy Ape. Last chance to see You’ve Got To Love Dancing To Stick To It. Aine Duffy and Rulers of the Planet play an exclusive double bill Disco Boogie for Death Rockers in the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent (if only I was earning a tenner every time I write that!). Catch more of Yurah Langer! at lunchtime. All ends with late night japes at The Last Resort – comedy, karaoke, dancing the night away with the house band Toninio dos Santos and The Fire Angels.

WEDNESDAY
We’ve added an extra performance of Sensazione – be the first to see this amazing show at this exclusive preview performance at 7.45pm at Mardyke Walk. Be the envy of all your friends. Once is just not enough. I’ve seen this show over 4 times now and there is simply so much going on, it’s such a feast for all the senses that I’ve never managed to see or do absolutely everything on offer. It’s suitable for families but there are some rides where height restrictions may apply. I went with an 8 year-old and a 5 year-old in London. The 8 year-old could go on all the rides except for one of them and the 5 year-old loved the actors, the stories and the carnival. It’s a piece which really has the power to bring out the inner child in everyone. Simply the most fun to be had in Cork this week. For music fans we’ve got another exclusive gig at the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent: The Frank & Walters play their seminal album Grand Parade in its entirety.

THURSDAY
First night of Sensazione. There are 3 start times: 6.30pm, 7,45pm and 9pm. If you come to an earlier session you can actually stay for as long as you like. Each session lasts around 80 minutes at which point the show starts again and new ticket holders enter. There is simply so much to do: follow a story, visit the fortune teller, ride the Big Dipper or the Globoswing. If you help out by powering one of the rides they give you a token which entitles you to a drink at the free bar. Thursday also sees the first of 3 concerts performed by the legendary Scullion each night at Triskel. For each concert they will be joined by different special guests. We’ve also got the first preview of The Magic Tree at the Granary Theatre: written and directed by UCC graduate Ursula Rani Sarma this is a great new Irish play by one of Ireland’s most exciting young playwrights. If you liked Braakland be sure not to miss The Magic Tree. There’s a day packed full of nostalgia at the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent (might just call it the Examo-Spieg for short): a Summer Afternoon Tea Dance followed by Cork’s favourite swingsters in Doublteime Goes Overboard. Fancy something to do at lunch then Audio Detour and Cleaner are still running till the end of the festival and Yurah Langer! is sure to lower the tone of any lunchtime.

FRIDAY
There are two great shows opening up at the Firkin Crane today. A fab kids show called I Can’t Sleep by comedian and children’s author David O’Doherty. It’s performed by David himself and Cork comedian Maeve Higgins. It’s a real treat. We’ve also got a great dance piece from Croi Glan. Croi Glan is a great new physically integrated dance company combining the skills of disabled and able-bodied dancers. Their work is passionate, intensely physical and very visceral: they are my big recommendation for Friday. Also today, the much anticipated Taste of Cork comes to town for a 3 day stint up at Cork City Gaol. Once you have eaten your fill why not get yourself down to Red Hot Gypsy Soul Night at the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent: sure to be steamy and passionate (go easy on the garlic there now lads!).

SATURDAY
This is going to be a great day. There is simply so much on. Why not start the day with a little Audio Detour while your partner takes the kids to see one of our great family shows at the Firkin Crane. Then there’s Cleaner at the Unitarian Church. Get to Taste of Cork in the afternoon followed by Sensazione to work it all off as you power our recycled funfair. The evening will be electric with so many great shows and gigs to choose from: whether it’s a big theatre spectacle like The Hairy Ape, the weird and wonderful K: The Iowa Project, a night with Scullion or reliving the past at the Ballroom of Romance at the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent, you’re sure to have a ball. For theatre-heads the brilliant Victoria theatre company from Belgian make their Cork premiere with Propositions: 1 & 2. Victoria have had 2 smash hits in recent years at the Dublin Theatre Festival and this piece is pure magic. It’s set in an empty retail unit behind the Reel Picture Cinema in Blackpool Retail Park. And why not wash it all down with a glass of The Last Resort (groan!) with sommelier David Hoyle (his is a white wine spritzer). I happen to know David’s going to have some very special guests joining him Friday and Saturday night. Also Saturday is press night for The Magic Tree.