Cork theatre takes a step back to the fab 50s

THE free lunchtime concert series at the Opera House, in its newly-opened café, Half Moon Place, is proving very popular. These will continue Tuesdays and Fridays 1-2pm throughout the summer, presenting both emerging and established artists across a variety of genres.

Tuesday July 4, it was the turn of folk singer and uilleann piper Seán Lyons to entertain, followed tomorrow, by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Molly Sterling.

From next Monday, there will also be an exhibition of visual art on display as an accompaniment to the concert series. Here is the list of performers for July:

• Tuesday July 11 – Harpanno, Handpan, Harp & Piano
• Friday July 14 – Méabh McKenna, Classical Harpist & Singer-Songwriter
• Tuesday July 18 – Jonathan Murray, Jazz Piano & Trumpet
• Friday July 21 – Rita Lynn, Singer-Songwriter
• Tuesday July 25 – Alannah Thornburgh, Traditional Harp
• Friday July 28 – Lucia McPartlin & Maria Ryan, Fiddle/Violin.

Oh, don’t forget to get your tickets early for the big Cork Opera House summer show, Dirty Dancing, running August 9 to 15. Heart-pounding music, breathtaking emotion and sensationally sexy moves. www.corkoperahouse.ie for all information.

This Saturday Anne Gildea is at the Everyman with her uncompromisingly-titled show, How to Get the Menopause and Enjoy It. Packed houses everywhere so far for this one, and Cork will probably be no exception.

Then this coming Sunday, July 9, sheer nostalgia when The Everyman Sunday Songbook presents Boppin’ at the Drive In: The Fab 50s.

“1950s USA wasn’t just a time of change, it was a cultural revolution,” says singer Linda Kenny.

“‘The Luckiest Generation’ wanted to move on from the penny-pinching years of their parents and explode into this new wonderful world.

“The kids were a hoppin’ and a boppin’ to rock ‘n roll as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino ruled the airwaves.”

Over here in Ireland we watched entranced and amazed at newsreels and magazines showing drive-in movies, diners where the roller-skating waitresses came to your car window, huge bouffant skirts, drainpipes, winkle-pickers… Get it all at Everyman this Sunday with a hit parade of chart-topping songs of the time. 7.30pm start, don’t forget. See https://everymancork.com/

Showing at the Cork Arts Theatre right now, Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes by Neil Titley. Directed by Rebecca O’Connor, and set in 1898 Paris, Will Govan plays an exiled Oscar Wilde looking back on his extraordinarily colourful life and ruminating on love, fame, family and misfortune with his infamous wit and irreverence in this hilarious but ultimately tragic story of a life. Continues until Saturday at 8pm, plus lunchtime performances at 1pm today and tomorrow.

Next week, Once Off Productions presents The Hare, a new play from co-writers Clare Monnelly and Bob Kelly exploring social isolation and the modern disconnect from both the natural world and our unconscious nature. A lonely girl, living out at the back of beyond, we meet her on a day that’s different, when the arrival of an unexpected letter floods her world with the potential for change. Directed by Bob Kelly and performed by Úna ní Bhriain with live music by Steve Wickham. To get tickets call 021 450 5624 or log onto www.corkartstheatre.com.

The West Cork Fit Up Festival opens on July 11 and runs to August 6 with four weeks of performances in Ballydehob. Among the plays on offer will be In The Middle of the Fields, Gom Bean, Sea Wall, King, and Every Brilliant Thing, but at time of going to press, their website was not updated with the full programme and timings, so better check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FitupTheatreFestival/