An indoor beach at Cork City Hall: ‘It’ll be an incredible spectacle to witness’

WITH 30 events/productions in this year’s Cork Midsummer Festival (CMF), Lorraine Maye says the main thing she has learned about the event as its director since 2017, is that “nothing stays the same”.

She says: “You have to keep moving forward. One of the things we’re committed to is representing the city as much as we can through the festival. Artists are very plugged into what’s happening socially and politically, as are communities. The fact we’re mostly focused on new work means the festival is relevant and current.”

With the closure of renowned theatre company Corcadorca, Lorraine says her job was to think about how to bring the legacy of the theatre company forward.

“They had such a long legacy with the festival, around 17 shows over 20-odd years, which is extraordinary. Through Corcadorca, the city became known for site-specific work and for the ease with which doors opened to them. I’ve been wondering how we ensure that sense of scale of site-specific work. How do we still keep audiences engaged that would have been Corcadorca audiences?”

If the hype surrounding ‘Sun & Sea’, that will see Millennium Hall at City Hall transformed into an indoor beach, is justified, then Lorraine will have hit on a winner.

Described by The New York Times as “one of the greatest achievements in performance of the last ten years,” this interdisciplinary show from Lithuania combines opera, visual art and theatre installation. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, the production has been celebrated for its humorous and powerful exploration of our relationship with the planet and climate crisis.

We’ll be bringing in 15 tonnes of sand and we’ll put scaffolding along the perimeter of Millennium Hall. Audiences will go up on the scaffolding and will watch the show from there. 

"They’ll be looking down on a beach with about 40 people in swimwear, 14 of whom are vocalists. The rest of them are a community cast from Cork,” said Lorraine.

“I saw the show (which has been staged all over the world) in Barcelona a few months ago. I thought it would be a perfect project for Cork. It’s an incredible spectacle to witness.”

Socially engaged work is all part of the CMF programme. This year, the Cork Migrant Centre and the Kabin Studio are collaborating at Central Hall, Marina Park, in an event called Fusion Avenue.

“These two groups have been working together, doing workshops in the run up to the festival. They’ll present brand new music with DJ sets inspired by hip hop and rap. It will be a really vibrant celebration of music.

“The Cork Migrant Centre does a lot of work with the Glucksman and people like Stevie G. We’re proud to have them in the festival.”

To Be What We Are at St Peters is an installation made by young Traveller artists which is about a creative laboratory exploring artistic play. It’s a place “where children transform to monsters, artists and magical creatures and where values, traditions, cultures and myths are born, rehearsed, believed and turned on their head” explained Lorraine.

The CMF has a budget of €900,000.

A big chunk of the box office in the budget is going back directly to artists and arts organisations so the actual budget that we spend on the festival is more like €750,000.

The Arts Council funding comes to €440,000 with €70,000 coming from Cork City Council.

“There is other funding from different schemes such as Creative Ireland. We’re always thinking about how we might be able to diversify our income so we can continue to present work of scale.”

While Lorraine says that Cork is blessed with “beautiful venues that we use all the time, the city could really do with a 200-seater black box space which would enable artists to realise a different kind of work and potentially tour shows.”

The festival will present two productions that have aerial features. There is Freefalling at the Everyman directed by Lynne Parker from Rough Magic and performed by writer and actor, Georgina Miller. This piece of circus theatre will tell “an extraordinary true story brought to life in an incredible way.”

The aerial flight “captures the joy of living life to the fullest, and the terror of being trapped in a body that refuses to function”.

Then there’s Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre that will present A Handful Of Dreams at Fitzgerald’s Park. It promises a new world “where we can dance in the sky” and is inspired by The Stolen Child by WB Yeats and The Celtic Twilight book of fairies, ghosts and spirits. It also features a musical score.

BAFTA award-winning Cork woman-of-the-moment, Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls, The Great Pottery Throw Down) plays Winnie in Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play, Happy Days, at the Cork Opera House.

“I’ve seen it online,” said Lorraine. “The show by Landmark Productions came together over the pandemic. But seeing it online will be nothing like seeing it live. 

It’s the world stage premiere at the Cork Opera House.

“It will be the first time a live audience gets to experience the production. The role of Winnie (buried up to her waist under a relentless sun) is extraordinary.”

Lorraine describes as “absolutely stunning” Max Richter Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons which will be performed at the Cork Opera House on midsummer’s night. It will be played by London’s string orchestra, 12 Ensemble, “a pioneering un-conducted string ensemble.”

The CMF audience is primarily from Cork, with about 30% from outside of the city.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

• John Redmond Street will be covered with oceans of multicoloured foam by artist Stephanie Luning.
• New work from Circus Factory Cork.
• Two new plays from Broken Crow; The Settling by Gavin McEntee, starring Raymond Keane, Katie Honan and George Hanover at the Granary; and Found, inspired by writer and performer Aideen Wylde’s deep connection to Newfoundland at Graffiti Theatre.
• Amanda Coogan, of Dublin Theatre of the Deaf and Cork Deaf Community Choir, will perform Ode to Joy through the unique perspective of Deaf culture, at the lecture theatre at the Crawford Art Gallery.
• A new show from one of Ireland’s exciting drag acts, Candy Warhol, at the Cork Arts Theatre.
• The second annual Midsummer Parade will be a riot of colour, celebrating the creativity and diversity of Cork communities on Oliver Plunkett Street, with the grand finale on the Grand Parade.
• A large scale dance performance by professional dancers alongside an intergenerational community cast with Mayfield Men’s Shed Choir and young participants, choreographed by Helga Deasy at Dance Firkin Crane.
• New works from choreographer and performer Andrea Williams, emerging theatre-makers Loom, Aaron O’Neill – and lots more...

• The Cork Midsummer Festival is on from June 14-25. See www.corkmidsummer.com