Tributes to Cork theatre icon Alf... and what's on stage this week

THEATRE lovers all over Cork will have been greatly saddened by the recent passing of Alf McCarthy.

Those of you who actually saw him just a couple of weeks back in the Burt Bacharach Sunday Songbook show at the Everyman will hardly be able to believe it.

Alf has been known and loved for almost half a century, whether in his career with RTÉ or his work with TV comedy and satire series, including and Shortt Circuit, The Usual Suspects, and Bull Island.

Retiring from RTÉ in 2015 meant pastures new, as he presented the Later With Alf music podcast and worked on Down Memory Lane with Linda Kenny and Maurice Healy, in which they presented songs from yesteryear in libraries and nursing homes. As well, of course, as the ever-popular Sunday Songbook shows at Everyman where his energy and infectious good humour delighted audiences.

The team behind that show are, naturally, devastated, since every theatrical show is, for its duration, a close-knit family, all the more so since Sunday Songbook has become a firm fixture.

“We simply can’t begin to process our profound loss,” says Linda Kenny. 

Words fail us. All we can think is ‘We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when’. Rest easy, dear Alf.

And so say all of us.

WHAT IS ON AT CORK'S THEATRE VENUES THIS WEEK

The Italian Film Festival opens in Cork tomorrow (Friday) at the Arc (Gate) cinema, and runs to Sunday with six screenings (all subtitled in English). Io Capitano, Il primo giorno della mia vita, Felicità, Dieci Minuti, Palazzina LAF, and L’ultima notte di Amore are all on the bill. See a report in Downtown today for more

May begins with more delights next Wednesday, when the Choral Festival opens, bringing hundreds of singers from all over the world. The whole city and county will be alive to the sound of music! See www.corkchoral.ie for all the details, including what’s on where, and also those free events!

And Martin McDonagh’s black comedy, The Cripple Of Inishmaan, is on at the Opera House from May 1-3, presented by Cork-based Bolt Productions. Cast: Owen Warren, Edel Burke, Deirdre Dunlea, Sam Torres, Matthew Real, Ciara Maria ni Tuathaigh, Margaret O’Sullivan, Karl Buckley, and Cian Lehane.

Before that, Frankie Boyle is sold out tonight, but there are still some seats for Roy Orbison Reborn tomorrow, and Studio Wolfe is here Saturday and Sunday with Dance Celebration. Plenty to please there! Call 021 427 0022 or see www.corkoperahouse.ie.

Reggie For President tonight and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday) at Everyman, followed by Emma Doran with Dilemma on Saturday. Sunday brings the final concert of John O’Brien’s wonderful series with The Music Of Faith and Doubt. That starts at 7.30pm, note. From Tuesday to Thursday next week, it’s Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom.

It’s 021 450 1673 or www.everymancork.com for all bookings.

The Echo Boys is at Cork Arts Theatre until Saturday and is a sell-out. Then, from Tuesday to Saturday next week, Romeo And Juliet from that great old group, The Cork Shakespearean Company, or, as we all know it affectionately, The Loft. It’s their centenary celebration, and will be, as usual, superbly presented. April 30 to May 4, 8pm. CAll 021 450 5624 or see www.corkartstheatre.com.

Finally, a new novel, about a truly memorable night of theatre! Ger Fitzgibbon’s Songs For A Burning City, just published, traces the events and the people of Cork on December 11, 1920, when The Gondoliers was being staged at the Opera House, while outside a frightening rampage was building.

Full of the most wonderful dramatic detail, both on stage and off - as you would expect from the former Head of Drama at UCC - with classic Cork characters perfectly delineated. This one you’ve got to read! Available in all good booksellers, €17.50, and also from the publisher at www.menmabooks.eu, postage free.