The Front Row: the show must go on

The Dublin Theatre Festival (DTF) will run from 24 September to 11 October. It will be like none before, and hopefully it will be staged in a fashion that does not become the norm. With small and socially distanced audiences, the scale of previous years simply could not be maintained from a financial perspective.

In the midst of the greatest challenge to our social life, and with innovation and great faith shown on both sides, organisers and artists alike, the 2020 version of the DTF is about to get up and running.

In terms of stage performances, there are 11 major productions. With reduced numbers able to attend, these are set to sell out. The good news is that three of them will be available online and you can see them from the comfort of your own sofa. Additionally, a number of other events, including some fascinating international pieces, will also be accessible from home.

The Party to End All Parties takes the audience on a journey that moves between 18 April, 1949, the night that Ireland became a republic, and now. This 20-minute piece will be staged at a variety of locations.

Representing Wales and England are artists Sonia Hughes and Jo Fong. In To Tell You the Truth, they have invited six people who live here in Ireland to participate in a one-to-one dialogue. Each day a short film of these conversations will be released. Intriguingly, the creators tell us that though the questions are deceptively simple, the answers are incredibly complicated.

One of the most-anticipated productions wants you to participate. To Be A Machine (Version 1.0) is based on the multi award-winning debut book of the same name, by Mark O’Connell. Among the prizes it was awarded was the 2019 Rooney Prize, a €10,000 award presented by Peter Rooney. This was the first time that the prize was granted to a work of non-fiction. The theme of To Be A Machine is transhumanism and if you want to be involved go to the website.

Monica Frawley remembered

On 14 February this year the acclaimed designer Monica Frawley died. Now her husband Vincent Woods and niece Katy West, the latter a designer and curator based in Glasgow, have produced a book which will be launched on 26 September. The event will be streamed live from the Abbey Theatre. With a foreword by the playwright Marina Carr, the book contains over 40 character drawings and sketches, interviews with Monica, a biography and photographs of her work on stage.

The book charts Monica’s career, and the costume drawings she produced, from her time at The Central School of Art and Design in 1981 to the staging of The Red Shoes at the Gate Theatre in 2017. Monica used drawing and printmaking to produce detailed illustrations of the characters in plays, opera or dance shows, and her designs for their costumes. One of Ireland’s most-respected set and costume designers, Monica’s work included the premiere productions for celebrated Irish dramatists such as Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Frank McGuinness and Marina Carr.

Monica received the Judges Special Award at The Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2019 in acknowledgement of her work. This limited-edition hardback book (500 copies) features drawings of costumes from By the Bog of Cats, At the Black Pig’s Dyke, Da and The Wolf and Peter.

This book was a project that Monica herself was working on prior to her death. For that reason its publication will definitely have her imprimatur. The book costs €45 at monicafrawleycostume.ie. For full details of all the events at DTF this year go to dublintheatrefestival.ie

Read more

The Front Row: a class act (of kindness)

The Front Row: bringing audiences and artists back into the same room