Cork Midsummer Festival is a seasonal treat on Leeside
THE focus of this year’s Cork Midsummer Festival (June 19-23) is the wealth of artistic activity in the city.
Festival manager Lorraine Maye says it is going back to its roots. When the festival started, in 1997, its brief was to act as an umbrella for all the arts activity happening in the city.
“That’s what we’re doing this year,” says Maye. “We’re basically promoting what’s happening in the arts and providing festival space for the various arts organisations and our audiences. The arts scene in Cork is really thriving, from visual arts to dance. There was an increase this year in City Council funding of arts projects. It’s really heartening that so much is happening.”
But this year is challenging for the festival. “The festival has consistently punched above its weight, in terms of funding, but this year is particularly challenging. We lost our EU funding and box-office targets weren’t met. But we have been incredibly buoyed up by the amazing support we received in the last few months.
“There is clearly a huge hunger for a major arts festival in Cork. Audiences and local businesses take great pride in the festival and it’s down to them that it’s still here. We have weathered the storm and we’ll be coming back bigger, and better than ever, in the future. This year, it’s about celebrating the city,” she says.
The festival’s budget is less than half of last year’s, with Arts Council funding down from €170,000 to €85,000. It also has funding from Cork City Council and Fáilte Ireland, as well as from a public funding arm, idonate.ie.
Maye says the festival had to go back to the drawing board. “What the Arts Council gave us made sense in terms of the scale of the festival this year. We plan to grow and develop for 2015, and beyond. We have fundraising targets that we want to hit before the end of the year.”
Events will be on in all the major arts venues in the city, and outdoors, such as the five-hour Picnic in the Park, at Fitzgerald’s Park on June 22. It is free and for families, and encompasses music, circus, dance, storytelling and food stalls.
There are two outdoor events at Elizabeth Fort, off Barrack Street. The first, ‘Inferno’, is on June 19-20. The local Passe Partout Circus crew will light up the fort with three fire performers. “They’ll be doing a brilliant fire display and will be using circus skills.”
The second will be put on by the Cork Circus Factory. “There will be 14 performers taking part in a fantastic show of aerial feats and showcasing various circus skills.”
The highlight of the June calendar of events is the Everyman and Cork Operatic Society’s production of the opera, Der Vampyr. Maye says it will be impressive. “It’s the same team that was so successful with its production of Pagliacci in 2012.” This vampire opera, directed by Michael Barker-Caven and John O’Brien, will be performed by international singers, a large local chorus and actors playing vampires and witches.
At the Cork Midsummer Festival Tasting Trail, on June 20 and 21, there will be food from local restaurants and markets. A guided walk will include tastings en route. On June 21-22, there will be an opportunity to sample in-season West Cork strawberries and East Cork potatoes.
The Backwater Artists’ Group has an exhibition at the Wandesford Quay Gallery. “This is an example of the arts community rallying around the festival and getting behind the idea for promoting what’s happening in the city,” says Maye. The show is a selection of new work.
At the Granary Theatre, from June 20-21, Playing the Maids will be staged by Gaitkrash, the Llanarth Group and Theatre P’Yut. Inspired by Jean Genet’s classic, Playing the Maids explores power and servitude, wealth-as-privilege and the politics of intimacy.
Two pairs of maids, Irish and Korean, as well as a Chinese Madame, a sound artist and a cellist, will “weave together a rich web of musical, textual and gestural language to create a compelling theatrical experience.”
‘Raising the Curtain on Cork’s Theatrical Heritage’ is a free event on June 20. Theatre historian Dr Fiona Brennan will lead a walking tour of Cork and its theatre heritage of three centuries.
“Fiona will bring people to places that used to be the sites of the likes of the Theatre Royal and the Apollo. She will bring the history of Cork theatre to life, going back to the 1700s.”
‘Beyond These Walls,’ at the Triskel, will explore the work of the TDC (Theatre Development Centre) on June 21-22. For the last three years, 68 shows have been developed at the Triskel, since this Corcadorca initiative was established.
Theatre companies work on plays, and rehearsed readings are presented to the public. ‘Beyond These Walls’ will assess the TDC and what direction it should take for the future.
Maye says that there are many plans for fund-raising for the future. “We aim to build on the audience we already have and to increase it. We are planning to explore more funding options and hope to expand our funding base, particularly in Europe.”
- Der Vampyr, the vampire opera at the Everyman, will have a late performance on its opening night on June 21 and continues until June 27.
- Radio in the Dark, is at Triskel Christchurch on June 21. This free event is an audio exhibition of stories by Cork writers and set against a backdrop of archive photographs. The stories of Frank O’Connor, Conal Creedon, Patrick Galvin and William Wall have been recorded by Cork actors including Cillian Murphy, Martina Carroll and Niall Toibín.
- The Lords of Strut will present their latest show, Chaos, at the Half Moon Theatre on June 18-22. The Cork duo is renowned for their acrobatic skills.
- Ireland Professor of Poetry, Paula Meehan, will read at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery on June 19 as part of the ‘The Great Book of Ireland’ exhibition. The exhibition explores the creation of the manuscript.
- A Dance Concerto at Millennium Hall on June 19 is a community dance project by choreographer Laura Murphy, in collaboration with composer Irene Buckley.
www.corkmidsummer.com
