Behind The Scenes at the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival

Still haven’t booked your tickets for the 2011 Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival and need help deciding on what show you should go see, fear not the UBDTF staff are here to the rescue!

Here is an opportunity to get the inside load-down about the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival programme and to see the people who work extremely hard behind the scenes to make this Festival happen. Take a look at what the UBDTF Box Office and Admin staff recommend and why they are so excited about their choices.

Theresa Garrihy, Box Office Assistant – I ♥ Alice ♥ I 
I’m very excited about I ♥ Alice ♥ I by Amy Conroy, a fantastic writer and director who has won two Absolut Fringe awards in 2010 including the Fishamble New Writing Award. The diversity of the show has completely drawn me in given the era that the two ladies who this love story is based on are from. I think I ♥ Alice ♥ I will be a fresh and human love story that defies all stereotype and will appeal to a broader spectrum of audience. This will be exactly what I need after a hard days work at the Box Office!

Aoife Madden, Box Office Supervisor – La Voix Humaine

I have to see La Voix Humaine by Toneelgroup this Festival, a play that was originally written in 1930, particularly as Loughlin, the Festival Artistic Director has been trying to programme them for the past 5 years so it must be worth the wait!  I have always been interested in Jean Cocateau’s work and the various mediums that he uses as modes of expression especially his use of the telephone in this work as a single prop to investigate human communication.

I’ve heard such great things about this play in how it relies on a delicate balance between silence and the voice of Halina Reijn. I think La Voix Humaine will be affecting and exciting and one of the best performances of the Festival. 

Lisa Towell, Office Assistant – 16 Possible Glimpses

16 Possible Glimpses is the show that I will be definitely catching this Festival in between all the madness. I’m a huge fan of Marina Carr and I think she is one of the best female playwrights in Ireland.  I’m very excited about the fact that this production is based on the life of Anton Chekhov, an individual who fascinates me. In my opinion Marina Carr’s work is magnificently dark, introspective and absorbing. I think this particular production that reimagines life and death of the elusive Chekhov through glimpses into his world will be no exception. It also helps that this performance is running for the entire Festival which makes it that bit easier for me to get to it! 

Danielle Lynch, Box Office Friends Specialist – The Wild Bride

I’m really looking forward to seeing Kneehigh’s The Wild Bride this Festival.It is going to transform the Gaiety like nothing we have seen before. The storyline sounds like really good fun and the fact that it’s a dark fairytale makes me want to see it even more!

If online images and reviews on our website and Facebook are anything to go by, it is going to be a very magical performance. This is the show I’m recommending to all the Festival Friends!

Adam Eager, Box Office Supervisor – The Lulu House

I first saw Camille O’Sullivan perform at the spiegeltent as part of the Fringe Festival and I thought she was excellent. The Lulu House is definitely at the top of my list for this years Festival. I’m looking forward to seeing Camille alongside Lorcan Cranitch in the extraordinary venue where The Lulu House is set – The James Joyce House (The Dead), one of the most important literary and Historic buildings in Dublin. This is the house where James Joyce set his famous story, “The Dead” so it will be interesting to witness this house first hand.

The fact that there is a multimedia aspect to the production also intrigues me, with the use of film, music, performance, installation, I am looking forward to seeing  how this is going to be presented within this unique, historic building.

Geraldine Fitzsimons, Administration Intern – Slattery’s Sago Saga

Slattery’s Sago Saga, set in the Rathfarnham Castle sounds like the best fun ever! Adapted for the stage by Arthur Riordan from the unfinished novel by Flann O’Brien, the plot involves a Scotswoman’s evil attempt to eradicate the potato from the Irish soil and replacing it with Sago: a glutinous creamed substance sourced from the Sago tree. Add in a politically correct leprechaun and a tycoon TD to the mix and I think it’s going to be an absolutely hilarious set up for her downfall. Set in the supposedly “haunted" Rathfarnham Castle adds a little bit of extra excitement to this site specific show and it’s a wonderful opportunity to see the castle from the inside. The inner kid is definitely coming out in me and I really cannot wait to see this show!

Ciara Harrison, Box Office Assistant – The Speckled People

Having read Hugo Hamilton’s memoir The Speckled People, I was delighted to hear that a stage adaption would feature in the Festival programme. I am excited to see how Hamilton’s parents will be portrayed on stage and the approach Hamilton will take to show the audience the core of the story which deals with the connection between language and the home. The book is a captivating read and with Hamilton’s own adaption combined with the skills of Director Patrick Mason, the play will be an engaging and enthralling performance.

Caoimhe Mac Andrew, Sponsors, Funders Specialist – Gardenia

If I had to choose one show from the 2011 programme that I’m most excited to see it would have to be Gardenia. This will be my first time to see any work by les ballets C de la B but I’ve heard amazing things about them not to mention their famous director - Alain Platel. 

I’m really interested in the fact that it will be documentary theatre where the performers are portraying their drag queen stage personas and their real live stories. I’ve heard it’s supposed to be a really moving and uplifting performance, and it looks like a lot of fun too!

For more information check out www.dublintheatrefestival.com