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Culture Dublin's rich literary culture has led to a flourishing film industry and varied theatre repertoire of Irish classical and contemporary works. Recent developments include the opening of the Hot Press Irish Music Hall of Fame, 57 Middle Abbey Street (tel: (01) 878 3345), which provides an interactive insight into Dublin's music scene. In the pipeline are ambitious plans for a performing arts and music centre. The Temple Bar district is the cultural centre. The annual highlights are the Dublin Theatre Festival in late September/early October and Dublin Film Festival in March. In between, there is a richly varied programme to choose from. Most tickets can be bought on the night for anything from Ir£3 to Ir£44 (for the best seats at the opera). Tickets are also available at outlets of HMV in Henry Street and Grafton Street, from the Tourist Information Centre, Suffolk Street (bookings in person only) or from Ticketmaster (tel: (01) 456 9569; website: www.ticketmaster.ie). Music: Opera Ireland (tel: (01) 453 5519) and the innovative Opera Theatre Company (tel: (01) 679 4962 or 670 8326), the contemporary group Concorde (tel: (01) 522 867) and the more conservative National Symphony Orchestra (tel: (01) 208 2773) all perform regularly at the city's venues. Although these do not include an opera house, the Gaiety Theatre (see Theatre section), the National Concert Hall - Dublin's main classical music venue - and Hugh Lane Gallery, Charlemont House, Parnell Square North (tel: (01) 874 1903), are perfectly sufficient. The largest concerts (classical and popular) take place at The Point, East Link Bridge (tel: (01) 836 3633) - a thriving venue. Riverdance, classical music and ballet performances are held here, as well as major pop performances - All Saints, Manic Street Preachers and Fatboy Slim have all performed there over the last few years. The RDS (Royal Dublin Society) Concert Hall, Ballsbridge (tel: (01) 688 0866), caters for both large pop/rock events and smaller classical concerts. Theatre: Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey Theatre, is located at 26 Abbey Street Lower (tel: (01) 878 722; website: www.abbeytheatre.ie). Set up by WB Yeats in 1904, it is a historic and reliable venue for high-quality Irish drama. The Peacock Theatre, in the same building as the Abbey, has a more experimental repertoire. Orson Welles and James Mason began their acting careers at The Gate Theatre, 1 Cavendish Row (tel: (01) 874 4045 or 874 6042), which is still going strong. The city's first music hall, The Olympia Theatre, 72 Dame Street (tel: (01) 677 7744), and Gaiety Theatre, South King Street (tel: (01) 677 1717; website: www.gaietytheatre.com), put on anything from the Irish classics to pantomime. The poetry readings, drama and dance of the Projects Arts Centre, 39 Essex Street East (tel: (01) 679 6622; website: www.project.ie). Dance: Dublin's dance groups include CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Rubato Ballet and Irish Modern Dance Theatre, who perform a potent mix of poetry, music and drama at Dublin's theatres. The Association of Professional Dancers, De Valoise House, 5 Meetinghouse Lane (tel: (01) 873 0288), provide information on performances and festivals, including Riverdance (website: www.riverdance.com). Anyone can join in traditional Irish dancing after a pint or two at the O'Shea's Merchant Pub, 12 Bridge Street Lower (tel: (01) 679 3797). Film: Dublin's first public screening took place on 20 April 1896 and James Joyce opened the first cinema, Volta, in 1909. Irish film culture is considered to be going through a Golden Age, with Dublin at the forefront. John Houston lovingly adapted a short story from James Joyce's Dubliners into his final film, The Dead (1987). Two years later, Jim Sheridan's film adaptation of Dublin writer-artist Christy Brown in My Left Foot won international acclaim and an Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis. John Boorman's The General (1999) is one of the most recent films to have captured Dublin on celluloid. Alan Parker's The Commitments (1991) told Roddy Doyle's story of gritty young Dubliners to audiences worldwide. As for Roddy Doyle, he has his own production company: Deadly Films. Art films are shown at the Irish Film Centre (IFC), 6 Eustace Street (tel: (01) 679 3477), and the Screen, D'Olier Street (tel: (01) 671 4988). Mainstream cinemas include the faded charm of the Ambassador, O'Connell Street, and the Savoy, 16-17 O'Connell Street Upper (tel: (01) 874 8487). The Irish Times, Evening Herald and Irish Film Centre publish cinema listings. Cultural events: The main cultural event of is St Patrick's Day, March 17, when the entire city comes to standstill for the year's greatest celebration of Ireland and all things Irish. In summer the first two weeks of June see the AIB Music Festival, with top class chamber music coming to various Georgian houses throughout the city. Bloomsday, June 16, is the major literary event of the year, as the seminal works of James Joyce are celebrated on the anniversary of the day that Joyce's protagonist Leopold Bloom took his fictional walk around the city. The first two weeks of October see another cultural highlight - the Dublin Theatre Festival at various venues around the city. Late November strikes a lighter note with the Murphy's Unplugged Comedy Festival, showcasing the finest of local and international comedy talent. Literary Notes Dublin's literary history dates back at least to the sixth-century with the Book of Kells. The real Dublin heavyweights, though, date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the nineteenth century, Dublin-born Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. His house at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, and family crypt at St Michan's Church in Dublin are open to vampire lovers worldwide. Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and, most of all, James Joyce, later took up the mantle for European, not just Irish, literature. James Joyce's difficult Ulysses is considered by many literary critics to be the finest novel ever written. The Nobel Prize for literature was won in 1923 by WB Yeats, in 1925 by George Bernard Shaw, author of Pygmalion (1916) and by Samuel Beckett in 1969. The McDaid's pub on Harry Street inspired famed writer and drinker, Brendan Behan, author of The Borstal Boy (1958) and The Hostage (1965). Contemporary writers include Christy Brown, author of My Left Foot (1989) and Roddy Doyle, whose novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha won the Booker Prize in 1993. |
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