Six For Your Radar: Colin Farrell as the Penguin, West Cork festivals, and more...
Niamh Regan is at Clonakilty International Guitar Festival; Crosstown Drift takes place this weekend
Celebrating ‘20 years fretting’, Clon Guitar Fest is a more stripped back affair this year, but is no less packed with events — most of which are free. Preston Reed and Niamh Regan are some of the bigger names there this weekend, but from new local ‘supergroup’ the Kates to Dublin’s latest hyped guitar band Search Results, there’s a wide range of music on offer. But it’s the encouraging local community who always leave the biggest impression. See clonguitarfest.com
Crosstown Drift returns to Garinish Island after its inaugural outing last year with an expanded programme. On Friday, there’s basket weaving and a music walking tour, among other events. Saturday features talks on the Atlas Of The Irish Civil War and a poetry walking tour, while there’s a walking tour with novelists on Sunday. Alongside all that are gigs by Cormac Begley and Lisa Hannigan. See thegoodroompresents.com
We enjoyed spotting an unrecognisable Colin Farrell in in 2019. Ahead of that film's sequel in a couple weeks, Farrell reprises his role as Oz Cobb/The Penguin in this eight-part TV series.
Farrell says it inhabits a similar world to the Sopranos — there are heavy mafia overtones — and it looks and feels dark and murky.
The reviews have been glowing and the star ratings flowing in for this 2.20-hour body horror/dark satirical comedy. Starring Demi Moore as a fading celebrity, she decides to use a black-market drug — the Substance — to temporarily create a younger, better version of herself.
Also starring Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, it’s the second feature by the French auteur Coralie Fargeat and is reportedly incredibly gory. We can’t wait.
What became of the likely lads? Well, Carl Barat and Pete Doherty grew up, matured even, and in a coup for Cork, their band the Libertines play a relatively intimate show on Sunday.
It’s over 20 years since they first made their name, but the debut album still sounds like a drunken thrill ride. It may not be Oasis levels of hysteria that greet them, but there’ll be a lot of love in the room.
The fourth novel by the Irish writer, is about brothers Peter, a lawyer in his thirties, and Ivan, a competitive chess player. It centres on love stories with a significant age gap, but with Rooney’s typical ruminations: On religion and belief, our cultural life, and of course Dublin. At around 450 pages, Intermezzo is also Rooney’s biggest book to date. One to sink into as autumn takes hold.
