Here’s the spiel:

WERK // PERFORMANCE.ART.CLUB.

In a late-night haze of neon and performance, live art and discotheque, the belly of the Abbey Theatre is being put to WERK. Underground club and performance roulette – this new monthly cocktail of ideas is an epic night out in the making. Irreverent, bold and trashy; WERK is the house of outrageous investigation, abnormal talent and unnatural beauty. It’s a party. Clock in – WERK out.

Seems like an interesting and unique cultural mix for Dublin and it’s great to see the Abbey opening up for some late night entertainment.

The dates:

• Saturday 8 May 10pm-2.30am
• Saturday 12 June 10.30pm – 2.30am
• Saturday 10 July 10.30pm – 2.30am

Tickets are €10 in advance or €12 on the door. You can grab some now at the Abbey Theatre website and find out some more about the event here. Hopefully see you there!

At the O2. And then off to the Odyssey in Belfast to do my little bit on Saturday night.

Looking at Darragh’s post about it, the enormity of the production is starting to sink in.

I’m ridiculously excited and nervous all at once.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend though, eh?

Playhouse is a project that’s running as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival which takes place in Dublin from September 24th to October 11th, sponsored by Daft.ie.

Playhouse

“Powering the display are 100,000 low-energy LED lights, installed into 330 windows on the south and west faces of the building. These lights can illuminate each window as a solid colour turning it into a tiny pixel that’s part of a giant display.”

The most awesome thing about this project is that you and I can get the creative juices flowing and make an animation that will be brought to life on the face of Liberty Hall. You just need to grab yourself the lovely easy-to-use app from the (sexy) website, animate away to your hearts’ content and submit your creation. There’s even a video importer option and a processing app available if you’re feeling a bit more ambitious! Check them all out there.

I was lucky enough to be at the launch of Playhouse a few weeks ago when we got to see some sample animations brought to life on the building and it looked fabulous. I never thought I’d ever call Liberty Hall “beautiful” but I stand corrected. – for 2 weeks at least it will be a sparkling gem on the Dublin skyline. Simply can’t wait!

Here’s a wee video Darragh took on the night to give you a flavour of what to expect, questionable soundtrack aside

The English Gents

So what’s all the fuss about? I went along to the opening night last night and I can safely say I have not seen a show as spectacularly entertaining or breathtaking in my life. And I can’t wait to go back for more.

To me, La Clique is a marvellous mixture of traditional and contemporary circus performance, music and comedy with a sexy, energetic twist. With the gorgeous velvety surroundings of the Spiegeltent, it felt at times like I was caught up in a scene from Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge

I don’t want to give anything away as the surprise and (at times) shock factor is all part of what makes the show so entertaining. At the very least it’s a showcase of some truly amazing talents and a visual feast.

Bath Boy

I laughed till I cried, I squirmed, I gasped, I sang, I danced, I whooped and hollered and left the Speigeltent simply buzzing. If you only go to one Fringe show this year, go and see La Clique. I’m going back for more before it ends on Sunday 20th. If you go tonight, you’ll get a lovely 20% off. And if I haven’t convinced you then maybe Darragh will.

I popped in briefly to the launch of the Dublin Fringe Festival 09 last evening – my was it a lively event! Still sifting through the packed programme of events to see what I might get to see but first impressions are awesome. Check the site for all the info you need and keep an eye on culch.ie for extra nuggets.

Autumn is creeping upon us ever gradually and with it comes the usual flux of awards events for the design world. While it’s a little quieter this year with the IIA Net Visionaries moved to the month of May as of this year, there’s still plenty opportunity to try your hand at getting something tasty for over the fireplace. The IDI Awards and Irish Web Awards are accepting nominations till the end of the month. The Golden unmentionables are taking place also and still charging ridiculous amounts for seats at the awards ceremony (€300 per head) and a saucy €150 per nomination. Stick with either of the previous I think.

SPWC – I had never heard of it before some time in March when Darragh started mentioning it & how he was going to be involved & how much he was looking forward to it. What started out as a trip to Cork to see some SPWC & visit my sister turned into volunteering for both the Cork and Dublin leg of the festival. I had no idea what to expect but was more than pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.

Grant Goldie as 'That Man'

Out of the 2 legs, Cork was my favourite purely down to the venue (Fitzgerald Park) being able to cater better for the festival and the crowd it attracted. I was mesmerised by the sheer range of stuff I saw from fire juggling to a man going through a squash racket to a man on a 12ft unicycle. And loads more besides. My personal favourites from the festival were ‘That Man’ (Grant Goldie) and Mr. Toons, both for different reasons. The ‘That Man’ show was magical – it combined more “traditional” street performance trickery such as juggling but Grant had the very special skill of being able to interact & click with the audience down to a tee. And all without speaking a word. His contact juggling piece had me totally hypnotised, absolutely beautiful to watch & there are some beautiful shots of this on pix.ie.

Mr. Toons was amazing just for the sheer uniqueness & craziness of his show. From the 12ft unicycle to the giant balloon into which he climbs it’s just mind boggling to watch let alone wonder how on earth he came up with such an idea. Check out the pictures on pix.ie – has to be seen to be believed.

'Relaxed' by Phil O'Kane (click for more)

It’s rare to see such a mixture of generations all mixed together enjoying the day & that for me is one of the things I loved most about SPWC. Anything that gets families, friends, kids & big kids out, about & laughing together is a winner. Being able to do that for free & in the open air (& thankfully sunshine for the most part) was icing on the cake.

One thing that also struck me over the two weekends is how much the performers themselves seemed to love doing their shows. From time to time I’ve had chats with my dad about various professions, our own included & how most of the time you can take a step back and say “funny way to make a living!”. Certainly applies here too to all involved from the performers to the organisers and everyone in between! But I’ll bet they wouldn’t have it any other way.

'Blowing Bubbles #2' by Phil O'Kane

Thanks all for a fantastic experience & hopefully we’ll do it all again next year

SPWC facepaint - can't wait for more!

I’ve had a fantastic week that starts and ends with the Street Performance World Championships. I’m volunteering at the Dublin leg this weekend so hopefully see you around Merrion Square at some stage – no doubt it’s going to be as much if not more fun than Cork!

Monday was a trip to the Olympia to see DCU Drama Soc’s production of Rent. I had never seen the musical before & I was gobsmacked by the performance of the guys n gals on stage. A really tough production to pull off & they did a fab job of it. It’s running till Saturday.

Tuesday was a trip to the Transformers 2 premiere with the Culch.ie gang. There’s a whole mixture of reviews and reactions over there to it! I loved the first one which it doesn’t live up to, but then again what sequel does? Boo factor: long, scattered & possibly weak plot, some dodgy humour. Win factor: CGI is beautiful, loads of machine action and again, it looks amazing.

During the days, I was working on some exciting web projects at X Comms some of which will be going live next week all going well – whoop! Will post links when they’re up and away.

I went to a talk about M.E. (or CFS if you’re so inclined) and learned a heck of a lot about something I was pretty ignorant to. Had forgotten how complicated the human body is to boot

My mum passed all her college exams, my little sister got herself a summer job & my dad is back to being himself after a nasty bug. I’m loving hanging out with this crazy mofo and having a fantastic time with my brand new friend Toro

It’s awesome to be alive

"Love at the high place 1" by Li Wei

My thanks to Jen for sharing this article on the amazing work of Li Wei. It’s performance art meets photography and I love it. Excerpt from the article: 

After dropping out of art school and dabbling in oil painting, Li decided to focus on action art because, as he puts it, only it “offers a chance to experience an action’s message through one’s own body.”

Darragh is jumping/being thrown out of a plane in the name of charity next weekend. Here’s where you can make your donation. If he manages to TwitPic it on the way down, I’ll give him another fiver

Dublin City Soul Festival is hitting Dublin this weekend and it’s shaping up to be awesome.

McAWilliams has some beautiful shots from his first wedding shoot on Pix.ie.

Peter is putting it up to RTE and Richard Corrigan over slaughtering animals on telly.

Ikea Dublin is opening in just 9 weeks on July 27th. God help my bank account. 

Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club are at the Academy in Dublin this Saturday & they give me my choice of song for the day: