Event type: Comedy

Dedicated “to everyone struggling for a world free from exploitation, injustice, and oppression” The James Connolly Reader chronicles one of the leading figures in Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising against British rule.

Join editor Shaun Harkin to discover Ireland’s greatest revolutionary.

Widely recognised as one of the most significant and innovative thinkers and activists in the socialist tradition, Connolly played a significant role in the Irish independence movement, which is recognised across the political spectrum, and internationally, due to Connolly’s unparalleled contribution to working class politics in Scotland and the United States. This is the most extensive collection of Connolly’s writings and speeches available, which Shaun Harkin (Editor) places within their historical context to draw out Connolly’s contemporary relevance.

5 June 2018 marked the 150th anniversary of Connolly’s birth and so, as a migrant who has left a continued mark on the world, we honour him with this event.

£5 (redeemable against the purchase of The James Connolly Reader on the day). It doesn’t say this on the Ticket Quarter page, but it will be deducted if buying a book at the event.

Two Plays does just what it says on the tin!

#LIF2018 presents Baggage and When Nora Met Jim. Both plays have been written in Liverpool and feature local actors.  Expect this presention to be low-fi in terms of tech, but high-fi in terms of impact. Strong performances, resonant texts and compelling stories.

Baggage
written by Bev Clark and produced by Hand In Hand Theatre.

Sandra is doing her Christmas shopping. She is loaded with bags and waiting for the bus. Exhausted and stressed she faints on the bench and when she wakes a bag-lady is leaning over her. Convinced she is being robbed, Sandra turns on her but then realises the scruffy woman was trying to help. The women find a common place where they can come together as friends and Sandra offers Annie a hope for the future.

When Nora Met Jim
written by Tom Mclennan and produced by Scriptshop

Dublin, June 1904. The great Irish writer, James Joyce, is contemplating his future, certain only that it lies outside Ireland. His financial resources are limited and his writing career has barely lifted off. His family and friends look on with concern at his dissolute behaviour. Then, in steps Nora Barnacle, a young Galway girl, who fled her home and works as a hotel chambermaid in Dublin. At first sight they seem an ill-matched pair- Joyce, a middle-class intellectual obsessed by bookish lore; Barnacle, working-class with little formal education. But their mutual hatred of convention sparks a fire in them that will last a lifetime.

Scriptshop will also perform a pay-as-feel version of this piece at 8pm on 14 Oct at 81 Renshaw Street.

£10/£8.

Michael Lamb (Liam Neeson) is an idealistic young Brother, living in a brutal, west Ireland reformatory.

The recent death of his father and growing anger at the mistreatment of a resident boy (Hugh O’Conor) prompts Lamb to take dramatic action; cash in his inheritance and flee with the boy to England. Depicting an unconventional relationship between a naïve young cleric and a troubled child, the film is vivid and unsettling. Unlikely to have been made later -as scandals of clerical abuse became rife- it features Neeson in his first lead film role plus the remarkable debut of Hugh O’Conor (four years before his Oscar nomination for My Left Foot).

This is an adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s acclaimed novel, directed by Colin Gregg.

£4/£3.

Delivered in partnership with Empty Spaces Cinema and Irish Film Institute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ladies Who Punch in association with Mend & MakeDo Theatre Company are proud to present the UK tour of stage production Corner Boys by award-winning writer John MacKenna.

The time is 1963. The place is a small village in Ireland. For the two young women working in the local drapery shop, the visit of American President John F Kennedy to the country is all important. But for the corner boys, who spend their days on the village square, the concerns are different – women, money, devilment and darker doings fill their empty lives.

£12/£10.

Also showing at The Crown Hotel on Mon 22 Oct 2018 and linked to the Your World workshop on Sat 20 Oct 2018.

A talk about hope, the arts and community.

Dr Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh, Dr Michael Pierse and Professor Phil Scraton celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Belfast’s Féile an Phobail, and the publication of Féile Voices at 30, an unprecedented book of community memoirs uncovering the fascinating story of a nationally and internationally significant cultural and political festival. Drawing on the personal written accounts of many of Féile’s key activists, advocates and supporters spanning over three decades, Féile Voices at 30 explores the myriad ways that the West Belfast community organised, campaigned and struggled for recognition and against widespread demonisation in the face of often seemingly insurmountable odds. It includes the powerful narratives of an eclectic and diverse mix of individuals, including community activists, leading politicians, actors, playwrights, LGBT advocates, writers, singers, music promoters, environmentalists, academics, human rights lawyers, journalists and Irish language activists.

With access to the insider views and stories of Féile’s founding activists, Féile Voices at 30 demonstrates, details and explores the challenges and triumphs channelled through a community’s resistance to its exclusion, and the expression and transformation of its culture through the cohesion offered by the joy of a ‘festival’.

Dr Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh is author of Language, Resistance and Revival  focusing on the Irish language revival and on the experiences of Republican prisoners during the Conflict in the North of Ireland. He is an academic researcher and community activist.

Dr Michael Pierse is Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University, Belfast and author of Writing Ireland’s Working Class. His principal research interests are Irish literary and cultural studies, most particularly drama and fiction of working-class experience.

Prof Phil Scraton is Emeritus Professor at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is author/ editor of numerous books including Hillsborough: The Truth and several texts on prisons, childhood and conflict in Ireland.

£5.

Presented by Writing on the Wall in partnership with Liverpool Irish Festival.

Ladies Who Punch in association with Mend & MakeDo Theatre Company are proud to present the UK tour of stage production Corner Boys by award-winning writer John MacKenna.

The time is 1963. The place is a small village in Ireland. For the two young women working in the local drapery shop, the visit of American President John F Kennedy to the country is all important. But for the corner boys, who spend their days on the village square, the concerns are different – women, money, devilment and darker doings fill their empty lives.

£8/£5.

Also showing at Liverpool Irish Centre on 21 Oct 2018 and linked to the Your World workshop on Sat 20 Oct 2018.

In:Visible Women is a concept, platform and trail that runs through our festival.

Held as an event within the Liverpool Irish Festival, In:Visible Women was generated by conversations with artists, academics, activists, audiences and communities about the role of women in Irish society and creativity – today and historically. In:Visible Women is both an event and and a trail through the #LIF2018 programme, embedded in to the very fabric of the Liverpool Irish Festival.

Reflecting the difficulties still presented to women – particularly those in Ireland or of Irish descent – and the space gained in the last 12 months, contributions come from women progressing women’s rights, incredible artists and the hottest emerging performers, including (but not limited to)

Jude Kelly (Liverpool/London) – Director of Women of the World Festival
Carrie Barrett (Limerick) – rising playwright and performer
Julie McNamara (Limerick) – established artist, Director and live performer
Afrah Qassim (Liverpool) Founder and Director of Savera UK, a leading organisation in preventing domestic abuse.

With discussion, engaging presentations and a positive, welcoming atmosphere, this event is open to all, but will be of particular interest to fourth wave feminists, those who supported repealing the eighth and any one keen to meet like-minded, spirited women.

The event is ideally paired with The Guilty Feminist later the same day.

This event has been supported by the Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust.

Peeled Pomello Fruit (image) has been used courtesy of Charles Deluvio (Montreal) via unsplash.

£8/£5*.

* A select number of bursaries are available to those who apply direct to info@liverpoolirishfestival.com stating their interest. This is to enable barrierless access.

 

Historian, former Liverpool Irish Festival Board member and author Greg Quiery leads a facinating walking tour of the city.

A perfect companion to the Irish Heritage and South Liverpool Heritage walks this tour is led by local historians, exploring Liverpool’s world famous dockland district, its Irish traditions, connections to the Easter Rising and forgotten graveyards and tunnels.

£6/£4.

Marian Brophy (Director of The Corner Boys) facilitates a workshop encouraging participants to reflect on their world – past, present and future.

Using games, play, story-telling and shared experience, whilst focussing on identity, the workshop will explore how individuals have adapted from one way of life to another; what it is like to long to belong to a new place and how to achieve this without losing your roots. Suitable for all generations of Irish descent, from those who left home at a young age, as well as second, third, fourth… generations.

£5.

This workshop is delivered in association with Ladies Who Punch and Mend and Makedo and is a forerunner to the production of The Corner Boys, featuring at #LIF2018. See Sun 21 and Mon 22 Oct 2018 listings for more details.

Taking inspiration from Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa, LJMU Masters student, Corey Harbinson, takes a modern approach presenting new text, music and songs he has written based on Friel’s story using hymn, folk and a capella styles.

Showcasing Friel’s characters – five sisters- audiences witness the expectations placed on Irish women alongside the factors that influence and shape their circumstances, revealing the fight between family loyalty, tradition and the oppression of ‘modern’ life. Friel’s work suggests that for Ireland to progress it must modernise and become more like the UK. Harbinson likens this to Ireland within Brexit, though in 2018 perhaps Ireland’s passport and free movement gives them the upper hand?

£6.