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PRESS RELEASE
(For a PDF
version of the Press Release CLICK HERE)
HAPPY DAYS ENNISKILLEN INTERNATIONAL BECKETT FESTIVAL
PRESS RELEASE 19 APRIL 2012
SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2012 PROGRAMME
TICKETS ON SALE FOR SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS FROM
THURSDAY 19 APRIL 2012
HAPPY DAYS, the
Enniskillen International Beckett Festival, today announced tickets
will be on sale from 10am Thursday 19 April for selected highlights for
its inaugural Festival, 23 to 27 August 2012.
The programme
will present a diverse mix of international theatre, music, art, comedy
and conversation from world class Irish, UK and international artists
and writers. The full HAPPY DAYS programme will be announced in June
2012. Tickets available from www.happy-days-enniskillen.com.
Early highlights
include four projects that are part of the London 2012 Festival, the
spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from 21 June until 9
September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world
with the very best from the UK.
The London 2012
Festival events are the UK and Irish Premiere of Robert Wilson
directing and starring in Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape; Britain's
favourite living composer, Gavin Bryars with his Ensemble performing
The Sinking of the Titanic, alongside the World Premiere of the HAPPY
DAYS commission, The Beckett Songbook; Antony Gormley's Godot Tree,
unveiled for the first time in the Grand Yard at the National Trust's
Castle Coole; and film-maker Atom Egoyan, nominated for two Palme D'Or
Awards and two Academy Awards, presenting his installation Steenbeckett
(2002), a work from The Artangel Collection that is premiering in
Ireland prior to its accession by the Tate.
To celebrate the
60th anniversary of Castle Coole being in the care of the National
Trust, Antony Gormley's Godot Tree will be in place for 60 days from 2
July and throughout the HAPPY DAYS festival.
Other highlights
announced today include the Vienna Piano Trio performing some of
Beckett's favourite composers; Perrier Award-winner and Bafta-nominated
comedian, Stuart Silver; Tenor Ian Bostridge singing Schubert's
Winterreise accompanied by pianist Julius Drake; and Lyr Williams
performing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Castle Coole, built in 1789,
the year of the French Revolution, will also be the venue for the
closing recital of French song and opera arias by mezzo soprano Ruby
Philogene MBE, accompanied by Julius Drake, in honour Beckett's adopted
homeland.
Writers and
poets discussing their relationships with Beckett and the lasting influence
of his work.
will include
Edna O'Brien, Lady Antonia Fraser, and John Banville amongst others.
Edna O'Brien will open the Festival's programme on Thursday 23 August
at the Ardhowen Theatre, with an in-conversation event with William
Crawley.
HAPPY DAYS,
based in Enniskillen at the heart of the beautiful Fermanagh Lakelands
in Northern Ireland, is the world's first annual Festival dedicated to
Nobel Prize-winning writer, Samuel Beckett. The Festival will celebrate
Beckett's work and influences and present some of the many
international artists, writers, musicians and performers he has
inspired.
Samuel Beckett,
like Oscar Wilde before him, spent his formative years at Portora Royal
School in Enniskillen. This remarkable island town is the perfect centre
for HAPPY DAYS, a major, new destination cultural Festival embracing
the entire Fermanagh Lakelands experience.
Some of Northern
Ireland's most extraordinary landmarks will host HAPPY DAYS, including
Enniskillen Castle, Castle Coole, Portora Royal School, Mount Lourdes
School, Blakes of the Hollow, St Michael's Church and St Macartin's
Cathedral.
HAPPY DAYS is
funded by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Arts Council Northern
Ireland, the London 2012 Festival and Fermanagh District Council.
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT ANNA VINEGRAD
0207 609 8905
0781 3808 487
_____________________________________________
EDITORS' NOTES
SELECTED
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HAPPY DAYS 2012 PROGRAMME
Concessions
prices to be announced
Good Godot! Free
Opening Concert
St. Michael's
Church, Enniskillen,
Thursday 23rd
August, 9pm
Beethoven's
'Moonlight Sonata' (played twice). Llyr Williams - Piano
Free
Young British
great, Llyr Wiliams, performs Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
Robert Wilson:
Krapp's Last Tape
Ardhowen
Theatre, Enniskillen
Friday 24th- Monday 27th August
Friday (preview), Saturday, Sunday at 8.30pm / Sunday & Monday at
3pm
£20 all tickets (Fri preview)
£25 all tickets (all other performances)
World theatre
icon, Robert Wilson directs and stars in Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape.
In association with Change Performing Arts. UK and Irish Premiere. Part
of the London 2012 Festival.
Antony Gormley: Godot Tree
The Grand Yard
at the National Trust's Castle Coole, Enniskillen
Monday 2nd
July-Monday 27th August
Free
World famous
sculptor, Antony Gormley designing a stage element (to form part of a
production of Waiting for Godot for HAPPY DAYS 2013), installed and
publicly exhibited for the first time. World Premiere and part of the
London 2012 Festival.
Atom Egoyan:
Steenbeckett
The Clinton
Centre,
Enniskillen
Saturday
11th-Monday 27th August
Free
Atom Egoyan,
nominated for two Palme D'Or Awards and two Academy Awards, presents
his installation Steenbeckett (2002), a work from The Artangel
Collection that is premiering in Ireland prior to its accession by the
Tate. Part of the London 2012 Festival.
Ian Bostridge:
Schubert's Winterreise
Evening Music +
Words series
St Macartin's Cathedral, Enniskillen
Sunday 26th
August, 6.27pm
£15.00 all tickets
One of Europe's
favourite tenors, Ian Bostridge singing Schubert's Winterreise,
Beckett's most-favoured
piece of music. Accompanied by brilliant UK pianist, Julius Drake.
Gavin Bryars
Ensemble: The Sinking Of The Titanic and The Beckett Songbook
Evening Music + Words series
St Macartin's Cathedral, Enniskillen
Saturday 25th August, 7.12pm
£12.50 all tickets
Britain's
favourite living composer, Gavin Bryars with his Ensemble performing
his most famous work, The Sinking of the Titanic, alongside a World
Premiere of The Beckett Songbook, a HAPPY DAYS commission. Part of the
London 2012 Festival.
Vienna Piano
Trio
Morning Music
series
Mount Lourdes
School,
Enniskillen
Saturday August 25th,
10.30am
£15.00 all
tickets
The Vienna Piano
Trio performing trios from some of Beckett's favourite composers,
Haydn, Schubert and Beethoven.
Ruby Philogene
MBE (mezzo soprano) & Julius Drake (piano): French Song & Opera
Arias
Evening Music & Words - Closing Recital
Celebrating 60 years of Castle Coole being in National Trust care
Entrance Hall, Castle Coole, Enniskillen
Monday 27th August, 6pm
£15.00 (includes glass of wine)
Castle Coole was built in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. To
celebrate the Revolution and Beckett's love of France, a night of
French Song by Faure and French opera arias (Bizet's Carmen, Saints
Saens' Samson et Delilah) plus Schubert and Richard Strauss, for a
touch of Oscar Wilde. The recital is preceded by a short reading from
Jean Rhys' autobiography Smile Please (the Paris Years).
Stuart Silver
The Small Hard
Stool (Comedy Programme)
Full details to
be announced.
Perrier
Award-winner and Bafta-nominated comedian, Stuart Silver
Edna O'Brien in
Conversation with William Crawley
Opening
Event
Thursday 23rd August,
7.30pm
Ardhowen
Theatre, Enniskillen
£15 all
tickets
Lady Antonia
Fraser
In Conversation
Friday 24th August, 6.00pm
Steele Hall, Portora Royal School, Enniskillen
£10 all
tickets
John Banville
& George Craig In Conversation
Writer's Talks
Sunday August 26th, 4pm
Mount Lourdes School, Enniskillen
All tickets £10
John Banville is one of Ireland's most outstanding writers, a
Booker Prize winner and a great admirer of Samuel Beckett's work.
George Craig is an Editor & Translator of the highly acclaimed
The Letters of Samuel Beckett, Volume 2.
TICKETS FOR
ROBERT WILSON + EDNA O'BRIEN ONLY ARE ALSO AVAILABLE
ONLINE www.ardhowentheatre.com
TELEPHONE (028) 6632 5440
London 2012 Festival
in Northern Ireland
The London 2012
Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of
the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Spread over four
years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of
London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture,
especially among young people.
The culmination
of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, a
spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading
artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, from
Midsummers Day on 21 June and running until the final day of the
Paralympic Games on 9 September 2012.The London 2012 Festival will
celebrate the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK's
world-class culture including dance, music, theatre, the visual arts,
fashion, film and digital innovation, giving the opportunity for people
across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games.
In addition to
co-commissions for the HAPPY DAYS Enniskillen International Beckett
Festival, other London 2012 Festival highlights in Northern Ireland
includethe spectacular Peace One Day "Global Truce 2012"
concert in Derry-Londonderry; Land of Giants - the largest outdoor arts
event ever seen in Northern Ireland; NI Opera's staging of Benjamin
Britten's Noye's Fluddeat Belfast Zoo; internationally renowned German
artist Hans Peter Kuhn transforming the Causeway Coast with his project
FLAGS; Joel Simon's new Macropolis animated film centring around a
story of disabled toy characters on an adventure through the streets of
Belfast; and the Golden Thread Gallery's Draw Down The Walls series of
events with a leading international artist in communities in North
Belfast. People of Northern Ireland will also have the opportunity to
participate in a number of London 2012 Festival events taking place right
across the UK - including Martin Creed's All the Bells, through which
people are encouraged to ring bells as loudly and quickly as they can
at 8.00am on 27 July 2012 to welcome the 205 competing nations on the
first day of the Games.
ENDS
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