It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. I had a vague notion to visit Marsh’s Library in town as I had never previously been there. I put a comment on Facebook to ask the internet if it had any other suggestions for me. Lo and behold, a friend was going to the seaside – and wanted to know if I was interested in joining. I didn’t need asking twice. I sprinted to Connolly station and we boarded the train to Dun Laoghaire. Continue reading By the sea
With ‘Mother’s little treasure’ on hiatus I have much more free time. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than on an exploratory walk through my neighbourhood. This has been an ongoing project of mine for several years now – to properly explore the city I live in. Considering the size of Dublin, I will never be finished. It remains a satisfying pursuit nonetheless. Continue reading Saturday in Dublin
Yesterday evening was a quite horrific experience. I had an appointment at 7.30pm. An employment opportunity – in reality more a chance to talk about potential, future opportunities. I was in attendance at an event called ‘Move West’ which was a meet and greet with an agency to discuss employment possibilities in the west of Ireland. Continue reading My dystopian nightmare
Three shows have now been performed in the run of ‘Mother’s little treasure’ at the Pearse Centre. The audience has increased night on night, which is satisfying. Tonight being Friday and tomorrow being Saturday we are now entering the special nights. These were always going to be the blockbuster nights. Continue reading Last chance saloon: ‘Mother’s little treasure’
Opening night is complete. What a buzz. My fingernails are bitten to the quick. I took the executive decision last night to sit among the audience to laugh loudly at the places I thought they should be laughing. Just in case they needed any encouragement. It’s not that I am being arrogant. Or as delusional as the main character Maureen Moore is about the classiness of a leopard-print wardrobe. I was just nervous that they would sit there in stony faced silence and crush all my dreams by falling asleep. The house lights went down. The voiceover began.
‘Good evening ladies, gentlemen and others. Welcome to Firedoor Theatre’s production of Mother’s Little Treasure…’ I gulped and grasped the side of the seat in a vice-like grip. The show was on the road. Continue reading Opening night: ‘Mother’s little treasure’
One of the deeply glamourous side effects of diabetes is blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy. This is where diabetes induced damage is caused to the retina. Over 80% of diabetics who have had the disease for 20 years or more will get retinopathy. Not all people with retinopathy will go blind thankfully. I have been diabetic for forty years since I was but a toddler. For some bizarre reason my eyesight is still intact. Every year I go to a special eye clinic where a nice woman takes a photograph of inside my eye, sends it away to a lab for analysis and issues the result. Continue reading The smokey eyes of Midnight Murphy
Today was the official ‘get in’ day to the theatre – the day which we can start preparing the theatre – the backstage; the sound and light desks; the prop desk etc. And have a few run throughs on stage before the tech and dress rehearsal on Monday. All in anticipation of the main event – opening night on Tuesday. Continue reading Our first audience: ‘Mother’s little treasure’
I am sitting in my apartment, with the balcony door open, listening to the silence. It is quite surreal. I live in a block of flats that is beside a busy road with constant traffic from about 6am to 10pm each day. It never bothers me – traffic is noise that can be blocked out. It is only noticeable when it is absent. I first noticed this during one of those climate change storms last year when work was cancelled because of hurricane style winds. I ignored Met Office advice and ventured outside to locate a shop to buy an emergency supply of Jammy Dodgers. The vacant streets, the lack of cars and buses was quite memorable. Continue reading The silence of the leopards
I remember the Pope’s visit to Ireland in 1979. I had recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and had just started primary school. Pope John Paul 2’s visit entranced the land. It was like Garth Brooks had risen from the dead and was playing his comeback concert in Ireland. Everyone was talking about it at school. Beatlemania had nothing on this. John, Paul, George and Ringo held far less sex appeal than John-Paul. John-Paul in fact stirred feelings in the loins of people of all ages and sexes. A million people gathered in the Phoenix Park to shriek their appreciation of the Body of Christ – the largest single gathering of Irish people ever. It was all very intense. Continue reading He’s got the whole world in his hands
