Last Friday I went to a run through of the show S. is doing in the Fringe. I am going to be designing the lights so I went to see what I was getting myself into. The play is based on S. and her friend K.'s experiences growing up in Ireland as women and the general cultural and social views of women in Irish society. It is very interesting and timely and should be a great show!
Over the weekend I went to Cork, one of Ireland's larger cities, and once claimed to be the capitol of Ireland so there is a great rivalry between Cork and Dublin. For a relatively large city (by Irish standards) it has a very small town feel. At one point I found myself in a pub that looked like it was out of the 1950's. It was one very small and narrow room around the bar with a few stools and old benches. The woman working behind the bar looked like she had been there since 1954 herself, even down to her clothes and hair. There were bottles of Bulmer's cider tucked away on the top shelf covered in dust that had to be at least fifty years old! Clearly this was a pub of true character and attracted many characters. I kind of wanted to be the old lady behind the bar. Oh yes, I have big ambitions for when I retire. There was also a gaelic football match on which was very exciting. Summer is the season for the gaelic sports and the Irish are quite passionate about them. Cork lost to Mayo which was a big upset, though I was glad that the underdog won.
Thursday I went to Leitrim with my boss and a new temporary intern from Austria who is updating our website. We are having a seminar there in September and F. thought it would be nice to get us out of the office for the day to go up and take a look at the hotel where we might be holding the conference. It was a scenic drive of course (I don't think there isn't one in this country) and there were many green fields, horses, sheep and cows to be seen. I am looking forward to going back for the seminar.
Thursday evening I made a last minute decision to go see a new version of the musical Peter Pan. You see I have had a slight obsession and love for Peter Pan since I was two and felt that I would be depriving myself if I did not go see this new version. Alas, it was not very good and I was disappointed and left feeling very reminiscent for Mary Martin and my childhood. This new version (from the UK) attempted to modernize the story (completely unnecessary) so the Darling children were the grandchildren of the original Wendy (kind of like Hook, only it did not really work). The songs were campy and some of the costumes on the women chorus members were quite revealing which is not really appropriate for a play intended for children if you ask me. There were some good parts and I really wanted to like it but I could not. Oh well. There was a woman sitting next to me who started chatting away as Irish tend to do, her neighbor's son was one of the Lost Boys, so that made the evening a bit more enjoyable.
Saturday I went to the Royal Dublin Society Horse Fair. Oh yes I am posh. Never in my life would I have pictured myself at an equestrian show watching horses jump over fences. Yet there I was and I was enjoying it tremendously. It is very impressive seeing a horse gracefully scale a six foot wall. Everyone in the stands holds their breath till the horse and rider have safely landed on the ground. And everyone gasps when a horse knocks down a post or the rider falls. One took a bad spill but was able to get up much to everyone's relief. Yes, I felt that all I needed was an outfit from Ralph Lauren and I would have fit in perfectly, though I was glad I chose to wear a nice pair of leather boots to try and look more equestrian. There were also people from Kyrgyzstan (I think that was the country) who did crazy tricks while riding, it was really cool.Also, racehorses and show horses have ridiculous names! Apparently this is so that there is no overlap of names, but they are still pretty silly.
That's all for now!
Oh Lili!!!!! Okay one of these days I'm gonna come to Ireland cuz I want to see Our Lady of Knock, and then after I see her will you take me on adventures to sweet little pubs and pretty horses? love, kathleen
ReplyDeleteWhew! Finally caught up with last several posts!
ReplyDeleteFeeling a bit inebriated (at 9:30 a.m.) from the reading, but had a really good time on all your adventures! Thanks for keeping this up, it really is a delight. When does the U.S. of A see you again?