'A nod to the harbour and to change': Sea themes inspire Kinsale Arts Weekend
Something for everyone: Kinsale Arts Weekend brings culture to life for a wide range of audiences.
That this is the seventh consecutive year of Kinsale Arts Weekend (KAW) is quite the accomplishment, given that two of those years were pandemic-driven, lockdown ones.
“Yes, we ran the arts weekend during Covid. We had to adapt,” says Anna Mulcahy, chairperson of KAW, recalling the stage in the community centre carpark, on which a whole series of events (theatre, talks, music) was performed.
“We limited performance times to 40 minutes, so people could sit in their cars and tune their radios into the sound or listen with their windows down. We encouraged dashboard dining — people could eat, drink and enjoy. For two years we did that. It was hugely successful.”
This year, KAW runs from Thursday, July 6 to Sunday, July 9 and its informing theme is inspired by the sea, which is such an integral part of Kinsale’s identity.
“The team came up with the idea of looking to the water and looking to the seal — because there is a seal that swims around the harbour here,” says Mulcahy.
And so the idea of the Selkie was born. Mulcahy explains that marine legend talks of people who are half-fish, half-human, and that the selkie is often seen as a mermaid or as a seal-woman — in the water a seal, but on land they shed their skin and take on human form.
“The folklore behind the selkie is around shape-shifting, so this theme is a nod to the harbour and a nod to change and to people having to adapt. Covid and its aftermath required a lot of shape-shifting, adapting to a constantly changing world, with one example being working from home.”
KAW highlights include performances from folk singer/songwriter Lisa Hannigan; writer Manchán Magan — exploring the insights our folklore/landscape offer into the role of women and female energy in our culture, as well as our relationship with the land and the sacred dimensions beyond; and The Love Buzz, “purveyors of psychedelic punk and all things heart pounding”.
These three performers will each stage their magic in St Catherine’s Cultural Centre, which Mulcahy points out is a beautiful old church with a graveyard beside it, looking down over the harbour. “It’s inspiring before ever you layer on poetry readings and musical events.”
Also featuring on the programme are US poet Francesca Bell, who’ll give poetry readings and workshops; local writer Donal Hayes bringing together a group of friends to interpret a selection of his essays on life in Kinsale; and ‘A Selection of Scenes Set in a Pub’. This piece is written and performed by Eve O’Mahony and an ensemble of actors and is inspired by the stereotypical stage Irish persona of the last 100 years.
Told with “comedy and sardonic wit”, it features a publican giving an American some advice, a stepmother and daughter forced to share living quarters and a woman on the verge of an existential crisis meeting her foremothers in a snug on Women’s Christmas.
“We like the idea of people sampling events, small bite-sized events — 30 minutes here, 45 minutes there, that aren’t too expensive,” says Mulcahy, who loves the high-summer timing of KAW.
“I love that people come to Kinsale expecting to have gourmet food and see the sights, but not expecting to have poetry readings, workshops for children, theatre events and other visual arts events. In this way, Kinsale is up-delivering.
“So when people go back to where they come from, they’ll say ‘Ireland is beautiful — and we heard a poetry reading in Charles Fort Tea Rooms’.”
Find out more about Kinsale Arts Weekend and download a copy of the 2023 programme at www.kinsaleartsweekend.com
