Colette Sheridan reveals her highlights from 2015

One of our regular arts writers, Colette Sheridan, selects her highlights of the year

What were the best three events you were at in 2015?

1. Kevin Barry’s readings are always a joy because as the writer has said, he is a frustrated actor with an ear for accents and idiosyncratic phrasing.

At a packed-out Waterstones in Cork, Barry read from his excellent new novel, Beatlebone, in which he imagines a creatively blocked John Lennon’s odyssey to his tiny island on the west coast of Ireland. At the reading, Barry gave us an entertaining insight into his writing life — which involves cycling around Sligo where he lives, seeking inspiration and getting away from the solitude of his writing desk.

2. Corcadorca’s site-specific production of Enda Walsh’s Gentrification in the former Cork Savings Bank saw the neo-classical building impressively transformed with various installations, sets, music from Eat My Noise and the tense play itself acted out in the boardroom.

3. Young stained-glass artist, Peter Martin’s solo exhibition, Wrapped in Walls, at the beautiful Sternview Gallery, was one of the visual arts highlights in Cork in 2015.

Using traditional stained glass techniques and a contemporary sensibility, Martin explores the architectural fabric of Cork city with depictions of everything from the docklands to the city’s churches.

Best interview you did:

Children’s author, Michael Morpurgo, below, who was in Cork reading to 1,000 young fans at Millennium Hall, was a thoughtful interviewee who compared his innocent childhood to the childhoods of today. Wearing two knitted poppies on his lapel, a white one (to denote peace) as well as the traditional red one, he said that children can no longer be protected from the harsh realities of the world given the ubiquity of the media.

Best book:

The Green Road by Anne Enright, about the dynamics of four grown-up children and the matriarch of the family, is a compelling novel, full of astute observations, beautifully written, sometimes stark and other times aching with longing.

Best film:

I initially resisted Brooklyn because of the way it was advertised, suggesting a chick flick. But this adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel, directed by Cork-born John Crowley, is utterly beguiling, thanks to Saoirse Ronan’s emotionally intelligent performance, which just may win an Oscar.

Best TV:

I caught the repeat broadcast of RTÉ’s searing documentary, A Storm in the Heart, which tells the troubled life story of Dolores Keane, once described by Nanci Griffith as ‘the soul of Ireland.’ She came across as a strong likeable character that has battled her demons and is devoid of self-pity.

Lowlight:

The news that the Abbey Theatre’s 1916 centenary programme features just one female playwright was a blow for women, but it sparked the spirited movement, Waking the Feminists, which all the best male cultural commentators are now embracing. A real wake-up call for the lads.

Looking forward to in 2016:

Having been enthralled by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, I’m curious to see how this odd story will be transferred to the silver screen, directed by Lenny Abrahamson. It’s about a five-year-old boy who has lived all his life in one room with his incarcerated mother.