Event type: Comedy

This exhibition documents Liverpool’s role in the foundation of the Global Irish Famine Way and reveals how Liverpool came to be involved. ❤️??

The first section briefly tells the story of The Walk of the Bronze Shoes, whilst the second considers the resilience of Liverpool’s people through the research and expressions of contemporary participants. Featuring collaborative community artworks — led by local artists

Lydia O’Hara
Tadhg Devlin
Pam Sullivan, and
Nicola McGovern.

The works respond to the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail’s plaque sites, telling rich stories with how people connect with the history, their heritage and how what happened then maintains a connection with what is happening in our world today.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, this exhibition includes art works, artefacts and memories. Everything you see was created in 2024, though items may have roots and references going back through the generations.

………………………………………………………………………………

The Docklands Trail is a volunteer led organisation that have loaned us their spaces to show this work in partnership with them. We are very grateful.  Our known opening times will be:

10am-1pm, on Wed and Sun until closing date.

This exhibit takes place in a shed and a container. This means there is a step to get into each space and they are not large spaces. We will do all we can to accommodate those with walkers or mobility aids, but it is worth understanding the limitations before setting out. There will be volunteers on hand to assist. Please do call for them, should you require assistance.

Saturday Girl is a brave body of work that — in its entirety — spans thousands of portraits, many cities and a colossal number of shows. ♀️❤️??

The brainchild of Casey Orr, the portraits began when Casey realised how hair was being used to reflect and project identity. Aspects of the work were first made and shown in Liverpool during LOOK/15. Five-years ago, we showed this work at TATE, as part of the TATE Exchange programme. 

These images are printed on blue-back paper, a staple of the music and entertainment industry. They are impermanent, time-specific and time-limited. They are expected to depart, degrade, devalue and yet here they are, five-years on. Is there something subversive about using a temporary material to produce an artwork or document a life? 

Shot in Liverpool and Belfast we wonder if you can guess which is from where? We’re also asking viewers to think about what these images say to us about leaving our youth behind; about whether COVID changed how we get ready to go out and whether the term ‘girl’ is ok in today’s woke world?

Casey is a an artist well known to Liverpool, after her first ever solo show — Saturday Town — was shown at Open Eye Gallery earlier this year.

This is a self-guided exhibit, which takes place in The Shed, 49 Jamaica Street, in behind 92 Degrees Coffee. Use this Google map. Open during building opening hours (subject to The Shed’s use). The building is open daily between 9am-6pm. To ensure the gallery is open, visit between 9am-5pm Fri 18-Sun 20 Oct or Fri 25-Sun 27 Oct. These times have been reserved for Festival visitors. 

Find out more about Casey’s incredible work at caseyorr.com. 

This exhibition has been extended to run until 21 Nov, being taken down on Fri 22 Nov 2024, with thanks to Baltic Creative.

In May 2024, the Festival’s Artistic Director and CEO, Emma Smith, and the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail’s History Research Group leader, John Maguire, teamed up with c.15 walkers to bring a pair of bronze shoes from Strokestown to Liverpool. ❤️??

Walking along the National Famine Way and helping to forge a new Global Irish Famine Way, the shoes are the official emblem of the Strokestown National Famine Museum, Estate and Way. 

Whilst on their pilgrimage, Emma and John created a series of daily postcards. They took photos and wrote daily messages, to document their journey. Presented in this exhibit are the nine post card fronts and backs. These have been enlarged, reproduced and transcribed, detailing the walkers’ experiences, feelings and events. 

Shown in Northern Lights, where the Festival has an office, these post cards document 220km walked nine-days and the full journey of the bronze shoes coming to Liverpool. In time, the shoes will find a permanent home. Right now – just like the 1,490 migrants forced from Strokestown in 1847 — their forever home is yet to be found. Visitors interested in seeing the shoes up close, and learning more about the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail, should visit the Revealing Trails exhibition (see listing). 

This is a self-guided exhibit. The work has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The exhibition is on the wall opposite Ryde Café’s as you walk towards the entrance to the Royal Standard gallery (5 Mann Street, L8 5AF).

This exhibition has been extended to run until 21 Nov, being taken down on Fri 22 Nov 2024, with thanks to Baltic Creative.

An early evening event to celebrate the launch of Ray Rooney’s debut novel, Devlin -The Ancient Future.

Performances — by Ray and friends — will include original songs about the West coast of Ireland, where much of the story is set. Plus songs from Merseyside and readings from the book. With the new novel being available, it promises to be a lively and engaging evening. Come along to get your copy signed by the author.

Readers may remember Ray’s name from #LIF2019 when we launched his biography of the Liverpool Céilí Band The Spirit of the Reels. This is Ray’s first fictional novel. Help us celebrate a local talent by coming along to hear him read.
Book competition

Answer a quick question about the name ‘Devlin’.

Get it right and you’ll be entered in to a prize draw. If you win, you’ll receive a signed copy of the book. Just answer the question correctly, give us your name and phone number and we’ll do the rest!

The competition has now been drawn. The winner was Pauline Rowe. Ray will be in touch soon.

Conradh na Gaeilge Learpholl, in partnership with the Liverpool Irish Festival, are pleased to present the third annual Tony Birtill Lecture.

On 21 Oct 2021, Liverpool (and Ireland) lost a great Irish Language supporter; Tony Birtill. His invaluable contribution to the conservation, promotion and teaching of the Irish Language on Merseyside will be remembered for many years to come. A Gaeilgeoir (fluent Irish speaker) and walking enthusiast, Tony was also a keen historian and language activist.

Enter to music from Tony’s friends, in a space he knew all too well. This year’s memorial lecture: Frongoch University of Revolution will be, fittingly, delivered by Gwyn Siôn Ifan, Welsh/Irish language activist and Tony’s close friend from the Welsh language society.

Join us for what promises to be a very interesting talk.

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Léacht bliaintiúl in omós Antón Birtill
21ú Deireadh Fomhair ag 6in ag an Ionad Éireannach Learpholl
Léacht an-suimiúil Frongoch – Ollscoil na Réabhlóide
Gwyn Siôn Ifan, dlúthchara Tony ó Chumann na dteanga Bhreatnaise.

Fáilte go cách.
Bígí linn.

Download a PDF flier for this event.

Written and performed by Manchán Magan and produced by Once Off Productions, Arán Agus Im (Bread and Butter) is supported by Culture Ireland.

…………………………………………………………………

We need to find a way of talking about the Irish language… About the sublime beauty and profound oddness of this ancient tongue (that has been spoken on the island for 2,500-3,000 years), which is now slipping slowly from our grasp.

What can the word for the lonesomeness of a cow bereft of her calf – diadhánach – teach us about our current methods of food production? Why does one need to orientate oneself to the sun to give directions in Irish? To what degree is the Otherworld embedded in words for cancer? What’s the word for the sound horses make when they meet after an absence?

Arán Agus Im (Bread and Butter) is a theatrical performance in which Manchán Magan bakes sourdough bread while offering insights into the wonders of the Irish language. During the show, he’ll explore potent words of landscape, terms of intuition and insight alongside phrases that bring the mysterious glory of our natural world to life.

The show is a celebration of language, land and local Irish food. It invites audiences to slice freshly-baked traditional sourdough bread and to spread it with butter they’ve churned from Irish cream.

Knowledge of Irish/Gaeilge is not required.

Please note: there is a 5.30pm and an 8pm showing, both on 18 Oct 2024. Ensure you select the correct ticket for the performance you want to attend.

The Liverpool Irish Festival would like to thank The Institute of Irish Studies at University of Liverpool for helping to bring this show to Liverpool.

…………………………………………………………………
Manchán Magan: “I just knew that I wanted to take people out of the norm, which is what theatre does. But I didn’t want all the conventions and trappings of theatre, of a three-act play. I imagined creating this little sanctuary on stage in which flour from Irish fields and water from Irish rivers could be transformed into a potent metaphor for our connecting to language, landscape and life.”

…………………………………………………………………
Creative Team
Written and performed by Manchán Magan
Presented and Produced by Once Off Productions
Generously supported by Culture Ireland
Design – Tom de Paor
Producers – Sadhbh Barrett Coakley and Maura O’Keeffe
Producing Assistant – Morgan Steele
Construction – Barry Rogerson
Costume – Hazel McCague
Funded by Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Ireland
Originally produced in collaboration with the Abbey Theatre and with funding from Foras na Gaeilge.

Adieu suggests a temporary ‘so long’, but migration often is not…

Taking their cue from the North American farewell wakes, held across Ireland in the 1800s, the George Ferguson Dance School and Melody Makers perform a specially curated evening of song and dance which references leaving. 
This engaging 2-hour programme features over 50 musicians and dancers from across Merseyside. The performance takes place in one of Liverpool’s most emerald spaces: the ever magnificent Sefton Park Palm House.
Not to be missed!

This is a 2-hour show, with the addition of an interval. Though it may sound obvious, standing seats will not be provided with chairs. Please bear this in mind when making your ticket choice. It is anticipated these tickets will be used by the guardians/transporters of performers. We have standing seats in order to enable low cost tickets, whilst working within the fire limitations of the building. If you are there to enjoy the show for all it’s creative beauty, we strongly recommend buying a seated ticket.

Seated tickets are sold at two prices: £15 and £12.

£12 tickets (concessions) are for anyone in receipt of benefits or for under 16s. People who are not in receipt of benefits, or are over 16, are asked to pay full price. All proceeds will be split equally between Sefton Park Palm House, Melody Makers, George Ferguson Dance School and the Festival.

Having partnered with Liverpool Irish Festival over many years, Bluecoat Display Centre hosts, for #LIF2024, a retrospective of previously showcased artisans, including more that are seen through their annual portfolio of creatives. ❤️??

With silver, ceramics, glass, paintings, textiles and more besides, there is something to suit every budding creative, interest and price point. Whether you’re just looking for the sheer fun of it or searching for a unique gift, this is an exceptional display of contemporary talent in one of the longest serving display centres in the country.

Be sure to pick up our article on Irish Makers, which will follow shortly.

Dispersed, Dislocated is a poetry book for dipping in and out of.

Flora Small first became known to the Festival as a member of our History Research Group, working behind the scenes on the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail. Sticking with us since 2021, Flora is a proud local woman, mother and poet.

Flora’s work on the Trail has shown her that legacy is important. What will be there in your place, when you are no longer around to ask? Thus, Flora has created a book of poems, available throughout the Festival and beyond. Called Dispersed, Dislocated it’s 58-pages (plus cover) and includes a number of illustrations by her son, Ben.

To get Flora’s special book rate of £8 (+£2 post and packaging), in the run up to and during the Festival, contact Flora directly on: flora59.small@gmail.com  Alternatively, grab a copy at News From Nowhere (Bold Street, Liverpool) or from Art Quarter in the MetQuarter (Whitechapel, Liverpool).

We’ll have Flora read a couple of poems at our Festival launch at the Liverpool Irish Centre (17 Oct 2024) and another at our Family Day on 26 Oct 2024 at Museum of Liverpool.

Here’s what Flora has to say about her book:
Dispersed, Dislocated
a collection of sensitively illustrated poems celebrating
what it is to be Liverpool Irish.  And the connection
over many hundreds of years, relating
to the foundation of the town in 1207, and before.
The mass migrational flood of the Great Irish Famine
and the subsequent waves that battered our shore,
creating the unique identity of this great town,
as it blended its many cultures, creating diversity, unity:
a river of  flow and change that we call our own.
Flora Small, 7 July 2024.

Written and performed by Manchán Magan and produced by Once Off Productions, Arán Agus Im (Bread and Butter) is supported by Culture Ireland.

…………………………………………………………………

We need to find a way of talking about the Irish language… About the sublime beauty and profound oddness of this ancient tongue (that has been spoken on the island for 2,500-3,000 years), which is now slipping slowly from our grasp.

What can the word for the lonesomeness of a cow bereft of her calf – diadhánach – teach us about our current methods of food production? Why does one need to orientate oneself to the sun to give directions in Irish? To what degree is the Otherworld embedded in words for cancer? What’s the word for the sound horses make when they meet after an absence?

Arán Agus Im (Bread and Butter) is a theatrical performance in which Manchán Magan bakes sourdough bread while offering insights into the wonders of the Irish language. During the show, he’ll explore potent words of landscape, terms of intuition and insight alongside phrases that bring the mysterious glory of our natural world to life.

The show is a celebration of language, land and local Irish food. It invites audiences to slice freshly-baked traditional sourdough bread and to spread it with butter they’ve churned from Irish cream.

Knowledge of Irish/Gaeilge is not required.

Please note: there is a 5.30pm and an 8pm showing, both on 18 Oct 2024. Ensure you select the correct ticket for the performance you want to attend.

The Liverpool Irish Festival would like to thank The Institute of Irish Studies at University of Liverpool for helping to bring this show to Liverpool.

…………………………………………………………………
Manchán Magan: “I just knew that I wanted to take people out of the norm, which is what theatre does. But I didn’t want all the conventions and trappings of theatre, of a three-act play. I imagined creating this little sanctuary on stage in which flour from Irish fields and water from Irish rivers could be transformed into a potent metaphor for our connecting to language, landscape and life.”

…………………………………………………………………
Creative Team
Written and performed by Manchán Magan
Presented and Produced by Once Off Productions
Generously supported by Culture Ireland
Design – Tom de Paor
Producers – Sadhbh Barrett Coakley and Maura O’Keeffe
Producing Assistant – Morgan Steele
Construction – Barry Rogerson
Costume – Hazel McCague
Funded by Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Ireland
Originally produced in collaboration with the Abbey Theatre and with funding from Foras na Gaeilge.