Dr Claire Kinsella (Staffordshire University) considers the tensions and contradictions between Irish identity, migration and the high-rise built form.
Often viewed as a rural backwater, Ireland’s connectivity with low- and high-rise regeneration, global corporations and digital futures seems at odds with this potentially outdated reputation. Dr Kinsella posits the idea that urban, high-rise living did not migrate to the imaginations of most Irish politicians -or even the urban fabric- as Ireland currently struggles with urban sprawl. Challenging perceptions about Irish ruralism and shining a light on international examples, this talk reveals where Irish people have actively built such structures.
£5.
Delivered in partnership with RIBA North.
Image: Dublin, Redevelopment at Capital Dock (detail only) (c) David Dixon under CCL.
The Liverpool Irish Festival is proud to support a number of seisiúns/sessions running across the city.
Hosted by local pubs and taverns, this is where many of the Festival regulars, founders and Board have cut their teeth and continue to play. You’re welcome to join them at any of these, too!
Regular seisiúns/sessions also occurring during #LIF2018
8pm, Thurs 19 and 25 Oct, The Old Bank seisiún, Aigburth
9pm, Fri 19 Oct, Trad session at PKs (Peter Kavanagh’s)
9pm, Mon 22, Trad at The Eddie (The Edinburgh)
10pm, Fri 26 Oct, Trad session at the Liverpool Irish Centre
7pm, Sun 28 Oct, Trad session at Kelly’s Dispensary.
Liverpool author, Carol Maginn (Daniel Taylor, Ruin), turns her sights to the 1830s and Derry woman Kitty Wilkinson.
Please note: The actual performance date is Thurs 25 Oct – not Wed 24 Oct – as outlined in the #LIF2018 brochure and some listings. We are extremely sorry for any confusion.
Commemorating the significant influence Kitty played in Liverpool by helping to turn the tide on an epidemic spreading through the city; cholera. Echoing many of the class and gentrification issues still at large today, Kitty’s indefatigable work to help the poor of Liverpool in the face of terrific adversity continues to show how migrants help their destination cities, sometimes in unimaginable ways.
This play takes place in the same space at Responding to Robert Tressell: A Panel, an intriguing set of short talks that look at the social conditions followings Kitty’s watershed moment. Why not book both?
£5.
Image (c) Andrew AB Photography.
Returning for the second year, the Celtic Animation Film Festival celebrates and encourages new and emerging Celtic and international animators to forge an ongoing global community to share practice, tell stories and reflect on Celtic culture and concerns.
Awards are offered for Best Celtic* Short Film, Best International Short Film and Best Student Short Film, judged by an elite industry panel. Curated by CAFF Directors Kate Corbin and Eleonora Asparuhova this is an incredible event in which to witness diaspora stories, contemporary approaches to animation and the preoccupations of the industry.
*Please note, the category is best Celtic not best Professional Short Film (alongside Best International Short Film and Best Student Short Film). Liverpool Irish Festival apologise for any confusion.
Additionally, times have altered since the publication of the brochure to 1pm-5pm, from 11am-6pm.
£5. Free tickets for students. Student ID will be required on entry.
Image: Still from Myth (detail only).
Cheerful brilliance from this County Clare band as part of #LIF2018.
Having gained a fan-base gigging around the west of Ireland, this exciting three-some –Shane Hayes, Aodán Coyne and Fiachra Hayes- have recently started touring further afield and have been well received for their modern traditional style and energetic approach to music. This, combined with an acoustic musical interplay, three-part harmony and an obvious love for live performance, compliments the traditional essence of both tune and songs in a fresh and entertaining way.
Supported by Wet The Tea.
£15.
Walk though Liverpool’s historic Rodney and Hope Street areas, discovering colourful characters and long-lost histories.
Who was the White Angel and where is she now? Who came for the weekend and stayed for 20 years? And, did a Bishop really get stoned? These ever popular tours are led by historian, author and former Headmaster Greg Quiery (Newtownards, County Down).
£6/£4.
Featuring artists David Jacques and Patricia Mackinnon-Day (also an LJMU academic) this panel is led by Patricia’s colleague and fellow academic Deaglan O Donghaile.
Please note: The panel date will be Thurs 25 Oct – not Wed 24 Oct – as outlined in the #LIF2018 brochure and some listings. We are extremely sorry for any confusion.
The panel will consider Robert Tressell’s work The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, lauded internationally as a seminal text for socialists. Tressell (aka Robert Croker (and, occasionally, by his mother’s maiden name Noonan); b.1870, Dublin; d. 1911, Liverpool) had various professions and aspirations, but this book reveals him as a radical emigre. Join the speakers to find out more.
The panel takes place on the set of Kitty, a play which also looks at social welfare in the 1800s. Why not book both? Bookers may also be interested in The James Connolly Reader event on Tues 23 Oct 2018.
£5.
This event is held in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University
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.
