Behind the Scenes Archives - The Phoenix Magazine

Behind the Scenes

THEATRICAL LICENCE AT THE ABBEY

December 12, 2019
VERY LATE in the day, the Abbey Theatre has got around to advertising the three long-unfilled vacancies on its board. Unusually, however, the call... Read more »

BUCZKOWSKA JOINS ARTS COUNCIL

December 12, 2019
GOOD TO report that the Arts Council is back up to full strength following the resignation for personal reasons at the end of October... Read more »

KATE O’RIORDAN’S RTÉ DRAMA

December 12, 2019
AT A time when Dee Forbes and RTÉ have again been crying wolf about the death of public-service broadcasting, Montrose has given a plum... Read more »

MOYA DOHERTY’S STRIKE OFF NOTICE

December 3, 2019
GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see some of the companies owned by Moya Doherty and John McColgan listed for striking off by the Companies Office... Read more »

JIM SHERIDAN’S GOOD NEWS

November 28, 2019
IT IS three years since Goldhawk reported on the then prospects for Jim Sheridan’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture (see The Phoenix,... Read more »

QUESTIONS FOR THE ABBEY

November 28, 2019
EARLIER THIS month, the Abbey Theatre published its 2018 annual report, which generated mainly positive media coverage. However, there are some unusual entries that... Read more »

ORLAITH MCBRIDE’S NEW JOB

November 14, 2019
CONGRATULATIONS to outgoing Arts Council director Orlaith McBride, who has landed the I100,000 pa job of director of the National Archives of Ireland (NAI).... Read more »

SUDDEN EXIT AT ARTS COUNCIL

November 14, 2019
IT LOOKS like we will have to wait a while longer to have a full Arts Council following the sudden resignation of one of... Read more »

SINÉAD O’CONNOR’S TAX BILL

October 31, 2019
IT HAS been hard to avoid Sinéad O’Connor (aka Shuhada’ Davitt) recently and her media outings have successfully generated huge interest in her return... Read more »

ALL ABOARD AT ARTS COUNCIL

October 31, 2019
THE LONG-overdue appointment of new Arts Council directors is to be welcomed. The incoming trio includes Claudine McMahon, Vodafone Ireland’s head of, er, talent,... Read more »

JOHN ARKINS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

October 31, 2019
HALLOWEEN MAY not be the most auspicious date on which to close submissions for the audit by the Work Relations Commission (WRC) of the... Read more »

LEO’S HOLLYWOOD LUVVIETHON

October 16, 2019
WITH LAST month’s coast-to-coast luvviethon in the US – which saw Leo Varadkar hobnobbing with Jimmy Fallon and NBC/Universal in New York and then... Read more »

LABHRÁS Ó MURCHÚ’S NARROW ESCAPE

October 16, 2019
ALTHOUGH MINISTER for Culture Josepha Madigan was happy to boast after the Budget of a €5m hike in funding to €80m for the Arts... Read more »

TAXING MATTERS AT VISUAL IN CARLOW

October 16, 2019
WHAT ON earth is going on at VISUAL, the multi-million euro contemporary arts centre in Carlow? The board has lost eight directors and there... Read more »

THE ABBEY’S CASTING CHALLENGE

October 3, 2019
STILL NO sign of a new board member at the Abbey Theatre, where there is a vacancy for someone who knows how to write... Read more »

BROWN BAG FIGURES

October 3, 2019
CONGRATULATIONS to Brown Bag studios founder Cathal Gaffney, who is in the middle of a purple patch. Figures just filed by a company called... Read more »

GOOD TIMES AT THE GATE

September 19, 2019
THERE HAS been a cast change at the Abbey where its head of producing, Sarah Lynch, has decided to exit stage left after barely... Read more »

RUTH MCGOWAN’S SPONSOR

September 19, 2019
WHILE THE Dublin Theatre Festival is yet to kick off, Ruth McGowan’s Dublin Fringe Festival is just winding up its 25th hooley. She will... Read more »

JOHN CRONIN’S NEW ROLE

September 19, 2019
THERE IS a new cast member at the Dublin Theatre Festival (which kicks off next week) in the form of high-flying legal eagle John... Read more »

JOSEPHA’S FAMOUS FIVE

September 5, 2019
LAST WEEK, culture minister Josepha Madigan announced the first €20,000-a-head winners of the Markievicz Awards – the minister’s new bursary scheme to commemorate the... Read more »

BREXIT’S NO-DEAL HORROR PLOT

September 5, 2019
THE LIKELY ‘no-deal’ Brexit scenario is a horror plot for the Irish film and TV industry, since a high proportion of the players depend... Read more »

ARTS COUNCIL VACANCIES

September 5, 2019
MINISTER FOR Culture Josepha Madigan is finally to get around to filling those empty Arts Council seats, given that the closing date for applications... Read more »

EUGENE DOWNES’S LOW-HANGING FRUIT

August 22, 2019
WITH THE 2019 Kilkenny Arts Festival (KAF) having just finished, it was the first outing for the new director, Olga Barry. Her predecessor, Eugene... Read more »

ADDING UP AT KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL

August 22, 2019
THE 2017 loss at the Kilkenny Arts Festival (KAF) led to a number of steps being taken to bring the festival back into the... Read more »

KEEPING UP WITH JOHN McDONOUGH

August 8, 2019
INFORMATION is fairly thin on the ground at the Department of Culture when it comes to discussing the filling of the €100,000 pa approx... Read more »

JOHN HEDIGAN’S REPORT

August 8, 2019
WITH A new Director soon to head up the National Archives of Ireland, it is to be hoped that whoever does land the five-year... Read more »

O’DONOGHUE DELIVERS FIRST REPORT

July 25, 2019
THE CASH-STRAPPED Irish Heritage Trust (IHT) is advertising for a general manager at one of the handful of properties for which it is responsible... Read more »

NGI SEEKS NEW FACES

July 25, 2019
TWO SEATS on the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) board are up for grabs and would-be directors have until August 15 to apply for... Read more »

JOSEPHA MADIGAN’S UPLIFTING TIMES

July 25, 2019
JUST AS culture minister Josepha Madigan was emerging unscathed from swing-gate, a happy distraction arrived in the form of a nihil obstat from the... Read more »

EUGENE DOWNES’S NEW GIG

July 11, 2019
GOOD NEWS for fans of Irish cultural promotion abroad. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has finally offered the new position of... Read more »

SHARON ALSTON’S ANIMAL CHARITY

July 11, 2019
THE MUSIC festivals just keep coming and there is now fierce competition for music fans’ moolah. While Electric Picnic is still going strong, other... Read more »

BRENDAN HALLIGAN’S CHINESE FRIENDS

July 11, 2019
THE RECENT debut of the China Ireland International Film Festival – which took place at assorted Dublin cinemas as well as the UCD Confucius... Read more »

KEVIN RAFTER’S BAPTISM

June 27, 2019
LAST WEEK, the new chair of the Arts Council, Kevin Rafter, oversaw his first meeting of the board – a bruising two-day annual session... Read more »

SCREEN IRELAND’S DISTRIBUTORS

June 27, 2019
FINANCIAL hand-outs in Screen Ireland’s 2017 annual report will no doubt be of interest to incoming boss Désirée Finnegan, who replaces James Hickey. Distribution... Read more »

JENNIFER ZAMPARELLI’S REVIEW

June 12, 2019
THE NEW look 2FM has been attracting mixed reviews following its makeover, but one of the players, former Breakfast Republic co-presenter Jennifer Zamparelli, might... Read more »

KATIE HOLLY’S IMPRESSIVE CUT

June 12, 2019
IS THERE any state agency, aside Screen Ireland (chaired by Annie Doona), where some 8% of its ‘loan’ budget is mopped up by interests... Read more »