Article Category: Behind the Scenes

AFTER COLGAN AT THE GATE

June 17, 2016
WHEN NEWS of Michael Colgan’s retirement as director of the Gate Theatre surfaced last week, media attention quickly focused on his legacy. But the... Read more »

STAR WARS Vs THE TAXPAYER

June 17, 2016
AN INTERESTING detail was included in the congratulatory press release issued by the Irish Film Board (IFB) at the start of the month, when... Read more »

ORLAITH McBRIDE’S CONTRACT

June 17, 2016
The plenary session of the Sheila Pratschke-chaired Arts Council (which is currently three members shy) is set to discuss the renewal of McBride’s contract.... Read more »

LENNY’S ARTS SALVO

June 1, 2016
HARDLY HAD the ink dried on Heather Humphreys’s appointment as Minister for Farms and Arts, than Oscar-nominated film director Lenny Abrahamson launched a salvo... Read more »

CIARÁN LENNON’S STUDIO

June 1, 2016
SPARE A thought for artist and Aosdána member, Ciarán Lennon, who has been embroiled in a legal spat over access to his Dublin studio.... Read more »

ARTS COUNCIL ON THE MOVE?

June 1, 2016
COULD the Arts Council be moving out of Merrion Square? This may depend on the outcome of the appeal by its landlord – moneybags... Read more »

JIM SHERIDAN’S ‘SECRET’ PROBLEM

May 18, 2016
IT’S A far cry from 2003 for film director Jim Sheridan. Back then, he was finishing his autobiographical opus, In America, and fronting a... Read more »

FEARGHAL O’BOYLE’S EXAMINATION

May 18, 2016
THE PUBLISHING business in Ireland is a tough one and the latest company to feel the heat is The Columba Book Service Ltd, which... Read more »

DISHARMONY FOR ROYALTY AGENCIES

May 5, 2016
INTERESTING to see two of the music royalty agencies facing off over the proper amounts due to performers and record labels. Record Artists Actors... Read more »

FILMMAKERS FOLLOW THE MONEY

May 5, 2016
WHOEVER LANDS the arts gig in Enda Kenny’s limbo government will be faced with plenty of begging bowls and nowhere more so than the... Read more »

LIMERICK’S TROJAN HORSE

April 21, 2016
WHEN plans were being hatched to turn Limerick’s former Dell plant into a film studio, there was plenty of PR guff about Ireland’s drastic... Read more »

ELIZABETH GARRAHY’S DURROW DRAMA

April 21, 2016
FOLLOWING A trip to the District Court to get an extension to file its overdue accounts, the charity Arts For Peace (AFP) has got... Read more »

ED GUINEY’S AWARD WINNING PERFORMANCE

April 7, 2016
ONE OF the obligatory functions of a state agency is to ‘lay’ its annual report before the Oireachtas in order that deputies and senators... Read more »

Helen O’Neill’s Seat

April 7, 2016
THE LATEST addition to the board of Limerick University’s Concert Hall is Ballsbridge-based academic Helen O’Neill, hailing from UCD, where she is Professor Emeritus... Read more »

PHANTOM’S EXPENSIVE GHOST

April 7, 2016
THE INVESTORS in TXFM (formerly Phantom105.2) have taken a bath, with Denis O’Brien failing to escape the worst of the hit despite having got... Read more »

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES

March 24, 2016
THE RETURN of author Ken Bruen’s Jack Taylor detective series to Galway has largely gone under the radar, perhaps because of the series’ chequered... Read more »

KCLR Sue Nunn

March 24, 2016
THE SUNDAY TIMES got a frosty reception when it lobbed in some queries about a dispute between radio station KCLR in Carlow/Kilkenny and its... Read more »

A VISUAL CHALLENGE

March 24, 2016
THERE HAVE been a number of comings and goings in Carlow’s arts sector in recent weeks, with changes at the Éigse Carlow Arts Festival... Read more »

LIGHTS, CAMERA, BUBBLE

March 9, 2016
TO ALL appearances, it’s full steam ahead for John Kelleher, Siún ní Raghallaigh and Ossie Kilkenny’s Troy Studios play at the former Dell plant... Read more »

COUNCIL’S “CONCERN”

March 9, 2016
WHILE THE backlash against the Abbey Theatre’s testosterone-fuelled 1916 centenary programme – ‘Waking The Nation’ – was well-ventilated, it turns out that the members... Read more »

OPERA IRELAND’S FINAL SHOW

March 9, 2016
STRANGE GOINGS-ON at the defunct Opera Ireland, where a skip-load of documents have just been filed in the Companies Registration Office in order to... Read more »

IRISH NEED NOT APPLY

February 25, 2016
WITH THE Oscar hype keeping the Irish film sector centre stage (well, just behind the election), the absence of females in Irish Film Board-funded... Read more »

YET ANOTHER NCAD DIRECTOR

February 25, 2016
STILL NO sign of the 2013 accounts for the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), but at least the latest interim director is... Read more »

The Other awards ceremony

February 25, 2016
THERE WAS a time when a relatively brief eruption of showbiz excess appeared in the press to coincide with the BAFTAs and the Oscars. Now,... Read more »

BRIAN SPOLLEN’S MOMENTUM

February 25, 2016
INTERESTING TO see MCD promoter Brian Spollen setting up a company to run the Life dance music festival in Belvedere House, Co Westmeath, this... Read more »

HEATHER HUMPHREYS’ EMPTY SEATS

February 11, 2016
AS THE politicians go about trying to get re-elected, it’s business as usual on the various state boards. In the case of the arts... Read more »

Evicting Paddy Dunning

February 11, 2016
‘MR TEMPLE BAR’ Paddy Dunning is used to being on the wrong end of bad news in recent years as a number of his... Read more »

LORETTA CLARKE’S SETTLEMENT

February 11, 2016
DÉTENTE has broken out in Mayo, where a rather interesting looking defamation action has just been settled in Castlebar Circuit Court. The case in... Read more »

TANIA BANOTTI TO CHAIR FILM BOARD?

February 11, 2016
WITH the general election campaign under way, time is running out for the Government to appoint a safe pair of Fine Gael hands to... Read more »

OPEN AND CLOSED AT THE ARTS COUNCIL

January 28, 2016
WITH BUCKETLOADS of cash being dished out to various artistic and cultural projects under the 1916 centenary umbrella – Culture Ireland is the latest... Read more »

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO…

January 28, 2016
IN ANTICIPATION of the Irish run at the Oscars on February 28, there has been much editorial hot air expended on the case for... Read more »

NO DRAMA FOR IRISH TIMES AWARDS

January 28, 2016
SPARE A THOUGHT for the theatre industry luvvies who, just over a month from now, will squeeze into their fancy frocks and file into... Read more »

THE TOLLMANS’ TAX BILL

January 28, 2016
HAVING acquired Ashford Castle on 350 acres in Co Mayo back in 2013 for a handy looking €20m, South African hotelier Beatrice Tollman and... Read more »

FUNDING THE ‘REBELLION’

January 14, 2016
THE AUDIENCE for RTÉ’s much-hyped 1916 drama Rebellion, which debuted last week, may not be aware that this programme is effectively owned by an... Read more »

THE ABBEY’S LABOUR OF LOVE

January 14, 2016
THE BACKLASH against the Abbey Theatre’s testosterone-fuelled 1916 centenary programme – ‘Waking The Nation’ – has been well-ventilated. Rather less has been said about... Read more »

WEXFORD OPERA’S STRAINED FINANCES

December 17, 2015
STILL NO sign of the overdue March 2015 accounts for Wexford Festival Trust, the organisation behind the annual Wexford Festival Opera (WFO). Given the... Read more »