If you haven’t already made plans for next weekend I would advise you to get yourself into Merrion Square, the earlier the better. Last year myself and my family had a great day out at the Street Performance World Championships in Dublin. It was so good on the Saturday that we went back for more on the Sunday. This event happens over 2 weekends – the first took place yesterday and Saturday in Fitzgerald park in Cork and from the tweets seemed to have been a big hit, regardless of the weather.While it was very busy last year, particularly on the Sunday, we were nearly always able to get a good view and we didn’t feel crowded.

Apart from the contiortionists, sword swallowers, breakdancers and acrobats SPWC are organising a world record attempt which we can all participate in on the Sunday. If you would like to break the world record for the number of people bouncing on space hoppers at the same time, your dream can become a reality on Sunday at 2pm. You just have to register by emailing worldrecord@spwc.ie.

The competition kicks off at 12pm on Saturday and the last performances are scheduled to take place at 6.30pm on Sunday. While most of the performers don’t take the competition too seriously, you can vote for your favourite act throughout the weekend. Make sure to bring along plenty of fivers or change to pay the performers. They do not get a penny except what they can persuade you to part with after their performance. Some of them are very persuasive!

The SPWC website includes maps (don’t worry about not being able to print it – they have plenty available at the event), timetables and lots of info about the competing acts. A favourite with the kids last year were the wooden games so we’ll see you there and challenge you to best us!

I’m happy to post this guest article written by my friend, Melanie. Melanie has many years of experience in the arts and particularly in acting and she offers unique insight into the Dublin theatre scene.

Tom Creed, originally from Cork, has been living and working as a freelance theatre director in Dublin since 2006. Well known in the theatre community as a young and prodigious talent, his work is at once prolific and varied. Beginning his theatre work in Cork, he then trained with Rough Magic’s SEEDS programme, which seeks to identify and develop young theatrical talent. He got what he calls the ‘golden ticket’; he was made an Associate Director of the company, which allows him to work under their well established banner as well as pursuing some of his own work.

His latest departure is Una Santa Oscura, a theatrical staging of the music of Ian Wilson, inspired by the life of 12th century Christian visionary Hildegard of Bingen. Presented at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin’s Temple Bar, Tom is adamant that there’ll be no nuns on stage! Rather it’s an interpretation of a cloistered day interrupted by ecstatic visions, brought to life in a contemporary apartment setting and performed by a single musician, violinist Ioana Pectu-Colan. Although he wouldn’t call himself religious, Tom is intrigued by the collision of the sacred and profane and found himself fascinated by the life of this extraordinary proto-feminist, fundamentalist Christian nun who was famed in her own lifetime as a composer of hymns, expositor of theology and receiver of visions.

While many young creatives veer straight towards the apparent glitz and glam of film and TV, Tom Creed was drawn to the theatre for the pure ‘liveness’ of it. ‘It’s useful,’ he says, ‘it’s good to be made to imagine things. It helps us to think.’ His influences are wide and far reaching, including the visual arts and ‘dead Russian people’ but he is interested in psychology and substance. His great passion is creating theatre for the 21st century and while this show will be heavy on the use of the digital arts, he doesn’t feel that multimedia is always necessary to be cutting edge or contemporary.

Life in Dublin for the director revolves around the Project Arts Centre, which despite a radical cut in funding from the Arts Council recently (‘disproportionate’ according to Tom), continues to be a hub of a lively, creative community. Certainly, the day I popped in to interview Tom, there was at least five notable theatre makers at laptops using the foyer as a makeshift office. ‘It’s a home for emerging and established practitioners and [the work it does] is invaluable.’

The Project Arts Centre, as well as many other established arts practitioners and venues, has felt the cold, hard reality of recession lately. I asked Tom whether he was personally affected by the rough winds of change. ‘I feel quite alive at the moment,’ he responded, shrugging his shoulders ‘and it doesn’t feel like people are stopping and it feels like people are having to be resourceful.’ And to the perennial question of whether theatre can survive at all, Tom gives a snort of derision. ‘Audiences are coming to see work. There’s a need for it among people and it’s an opportunity to bring people together. And it’s not very expensive. Times like this give artists an opportunity to reaffirm what they’re there for.’

(Una Santa Oscura by Ian Wilson, directed by Tom Creed, design by Ciaran O’Melia runs at Project Arts Centre, Theatre Upstairs from the 4th to the 6th of March 2010.)

Melanie Clark Pullen is an actor and writer living in Ireland. She lives by the sea with her husband and daughter and ekes out a living from the arts. She’s passionate about theatre, film, literature, creativity, spirituality and long evenings spent with good friends over food and a nice Chilean Merlot.

Big thanks to Declan for letting us know about a gig happening in The Button Factory this Friday night to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. Attention Bebe and Mob Fandango headline the show and The Button Factory have offered their venue for free so that all proceeds can go to Partners in Health in their efforts to bring relief and humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti. CLICK HERE to see the Facebook event page. Tickets are €10 at the door.

This morning, as I was getting some work done, my attention was drawn to the MySpace page of a collaborative music project assembled by Mark Garry called Sending Letters to the Sea. As I let the music play in the background, I found it very relaxing and yet interesting enough that it actually began to distract me. It doesn’t seem to have any pretenses of being an ambitious hot new act in Dublin. Instead, one gets the sense that this is a collective of artists who merely wanted to get together to express their creativity, and in the process had a lot of fun and (maybe accidentally?) created something rather special. Be sure to have a listen for yourself and tell us what you think.

Letters to the Sea will be releasing their first album and performing on the 19th of this month at St. Columba’s Church in Swords, where much of the album was recorded. After having a listen to the tracks on their MySpace page, I have a feeling that there will be no better place to experience this music than inside the walls of an old stone church.

Our friends at The Dubliner magazine are at it again (you know, that sassy, satirical, ‘progressive’ publication that occasionally gets into some controversy with golfers’ wives) with Old City, New Dreams. This year finds an expanded list of events and venues to play host to the lively debates involving various Dublin luminaries.

Only problem is, if you haven’t ordered your free tickets by now, you’ve only got a few choices left. Most of the events next week are all booked, leaving only two left, as of this afternoon. I’m hoping to get to the ‘Fluffy Capitalism’ event myself. But only after I convince a friend who works in finance to come with me so he can feed me questions to throw out that make me sound like I know what I’m talking about.

And while you’re looking through The Dubliner blog, be sure to check out the ‘Dublin’s 10 New Commandments’ posts. After walking through the city centre in the rain today, I can really appreciate this one: Thou shalt not carry a golf umbrella through the city.

The annual Open House Dublin is on again this year, in fact it’s on next weekend October 8th to 11th. It’s a wonderful opportunity to visit some of the iconic buildings in Dublin. For photographers there is the opportunity to go up onto the viewing deck of Liberty Hall to take photos of the city skyline. For political fans there is the chance to visit Leinster House and Government Buildings. It’s well worth having a look at the schedule, some buildings require an advance booking others are on a first come first served basis.

The free Mind the Gap Operetta will be running again next Friday night, as will a few other public art exhibitions in conjunction with Fringe Fest. And yes, there will also be plenty of buskers and stag do/hen party folks around next weekend. Can’t guarantee that we’ll see another group of Austin Powers look-a-likes running around (anybody else see Elvis suddenly appear in that video?), but in Temple Bar, you just never know.

Want to take a ride with 7 times Tour de France winner and all round good guy Lance Armstrong in Dublin tonight? If so, be at the roundabout of Fountain Road and Chesterfield Avenue in the Phoenix Park at 530 this evening to meet with Lance.

This is Lance’s tweet about it

After the brilliant Street Performance Festival one week ago the next interesting festival in this year’s event calendar will start next week – the Temple Bar Circus Festival.

For four action-packed summer days Dublin’s Cultural Quarter will echo with peals of laughter and gasps of amazement as the streets and spaces spring to life, offering you the chance to experience a full and exciting spectrum of circus skills; from dazzling acrobatics and aerial shows, daring Chinese pole and contortion, to outdoor movies and musical mayhem!

An colourfull mixture of acrobatics, dance acts and even outdoor movies will be on display in Temple Bar from July 9th to July 12th – and the best thing about it is that’s everything for free! You will find the complete programme (PDF) here.

A really interesting combination of competition, event and exhibition for all photographers and photo aficionadas has started in April at the No. 3 venue on Fade Street:

On Monday nights from 7.30 -11.30pm, No. 3 hosts SHOOT-OUT, an evening of cutting-edge music and photography. Each night, the work of 5 photographers is showcased on flat screen TVs and projector screens. Throughout the night, patrons are given voting cards and invited to choose their favourite image. The photographer behind the winning image joins 9 other winning photographers over three months to compete for the grand prize. The final is co-adjudicated by public vote and a panel of experts.

I attended yesterday’s  showcase and was really impressed by the quality of the works on display – not to mention that it was quite difficult to pick one “winner” out of the evening’s 50 pictures.  You can view all participating photographers and their works here. If you are interested in participating yourself, you’ll find the application form on the website of the Shootout Crew. A very neat idea indeed.