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This is social warfare

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Last week THEATREclub’s Theatre Machine Turns You On Vol. II took up residency in the Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar with no less than 4 shows a night for 5 nights.

The cast of ScratcherOn Thursday the smashing bunch from Devious Theatre in Kilkenny brought their production Scratcher to a Dublin audience for the first time.

Not an easy feat cutting your theatre cloth to suit your measure when it means trimming a 60mins + production into less than 45 but they did it and did it well with fantastic performances by the all the cast.

Scratcher is very much of the moment – a snapshot of the dole queue as a slice of life for many living or trying to make one in Ireland in 2011. The college graduate who just wants to get that first foot on the career ladder, the builder who won and lost in the property gamble to the civil servant behind the screen just doing his job as he always has and more.

Is it time for revolution? Do we care enough to make a stand? Or should we bother? Is it every many for himself or time to band together shoulder to shoulder?

This condensed production of Scratcher was fast, sharp, funny and thoroughly entertaining despite the real and gloomy subject matter. I can imagine that parts of the piece will do better when allowed to breathe with the original running time restored when it hits Kilkenny this week.

I would love to be able to catch it but I don’t think I’ll be able to unless the teleporter kicks into action this week. It hits No. 76 John Street from Feb 22nd – 26th at 8pm. Tickets are a steal at €12 and on sale via the website and the Kilkenny Arts Office.

Here’s hoping Dublin sees more of Devious in 2011.

Reviews

WHERE DO I START? Short & sweet review.

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Tonight kicked off THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON: VOL II at The Project Arts Centre [PAC].

I was originally heading down for one show tonight but a kind offer of spares for WHERE DO I START? came my way.

A 10pm half hour show can’t be the easiest sell but the venue was almost full. Nyree I have seen in a few productions at the PAC in the last year or so most recently As You Are Now So Once Were We which has since had a run at The Peacock. This is a solo show for Nyree where Nyree tackles the notion of identity and what it means for a 24 year-old female half Armenian actor who has never broken a bone living in Dublin.

It’s short, sweet, funny and refreshingly personal touching on themes including emigration, family and what it’s like being a 20-something in Ireland in 2011.

If I say much more I’ll ruin the fun for you. Go catch it tomorrow (Tuesday) night in the PAC at 10pm – tickets here or on entertainment.ie/tickets or at the box office.

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Turn, turn, turn…

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The all important side breathingWeek 4, just beyond the halfway point and thankfully the instructor made the decision to let us carry on with whatever stroke seemed to come more naturally to each of us.

For me it’s front rowing. I’d love to get the hang of the breastroke but I’m sure it’ll come in good time once I’ve got one stroke figured out and manage to get to a point where I won’t drown myself.

This was a challenging and exhausting one, not just because of my fear of how my recent injury would react to chlorine (thankfully ok).  Like another piece of the puzzle emerging from the pile it started to click into place. Breathing was where I failed last time I tried to learn how to swim. I never got the hang of it and it in itself is the most important part of the thing.

I was told to “glide”on my side, arm outstretched, ear in the water and kicking like crazy to keep buoyant. This turning on my side and getting the notion of “gliding” into my head was the key piece of the puzzle. Not the most pleasant of things as it left me with some kind of an airlock/water stuck in my ear which was sore for a few days but definitely not as bad as the scraped arms!

I was then able to swim a couple of lengths in comfort with rhythmic breathing and feeling a lot more confident in the water. I was swimming!

Being away this weekend means no practice has been done which makes me a little worried so I’m throwing myself in for an hour tonight to try and cement what I learned.

Week 4 verdict: things are looking good, more practice needed to get my body position corrected & damn is this guy a good teacher!

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Beware of the pool noodles

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Pool noodles - looking all fun and innocent

Lesson #3 and focus turned towards the breaststroke. Once upon a time I tried to learn this but couldn’t for the life of me get the hang of the frog-like leg kick.

And things weren’t hugely different this time around. The arm stroke wasn’t too bad and a far less tiring alternative to front rowing but once I try to combine the two it was a total disaster and I just sank.

So off I popped on Sunday to practice. All was going a bit meh until the pool emptied and I decided to take advantage and stay at it for another half hour. Some progress was made but all with the aid of what I now know is a “pool noodle“.

After an hour of effort I hit the shower with my trusty mint shower gel – one of the few things that kills the stink of chlorine. I almost screamed when I felt my armpits burning up. On inspection I discovered lovely big swollen red patches of skin along the underside of my arms, some of it broken where the noodle had been positioned to stop me sinking.

I had to bandage up before bed as I couldn’t bare it rubbing off bed clothes or PJs. It feels marginally better today but I’m afraid I might be able to take part in this weeks lesson as a result. Rats.

Week 3 verdict: crunch time is fast approaching, still hopeful but BEWARE OF THE NOODLES!