VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art & The George Bernard Shaw Theatre is one of Ireland’s newest performing and visual arts centres. The centre has won numerous awards including the RIAI (Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland) Award 2010 for Best Cultural Building in Ireland.
Scroll down for January 2012 Events
VISUAL boasts four principal exhibition spaces, and the Main Gallery is recognised as Ireland's largest and most spectacular space for presenting contemporary art. To date VISUAL has hosted an exciting range of national and international high-profile exhibitions. In addition to the gallery exhibitions, VISUAL also runs a number of workshops each season for children, teenagers, adults and families. Workshops have included 3D animation, lace-making, painting & drawing skills, print-making, collage, portrait drawing, jewellery making and African drumming workshops.
Visit http://www.visualcarlow.ie/ for details on the current exhibition. Free admission to galleries.
The George Bernard Shaw Theatre, named after the renowned Irish playwright who had strong Carlow connections, is a 290-seat performance space. The performing arts programme includes some of Ireland's leading theatre companies such as The Abbey Theatre, Project Arts Centre, Lane Productions and Barabbas in addition to a wide variety of live music, film, comedy, theatre, opera and dance from local, national and international performers.
Check out the programme of events at http://www.gbshawtheatre.ie/.
February & March EVENTS
Macbeth
Ireland's award winning theatre company Second Age: is back with a production of one of Shakespeare's greatest and bloodiest of plays, MacBeth. Directed by David Horan (Dancing at Lughnasa), whose last production with Second Age was described by the Irish Times as 'The Best Show in Town', this Macbeth is an arresting and heady take on one of the greatest tragedies of all time. Join us for an evening of madness, deception, treachery and tragedy.
February 2nd and February 3rd
8pm
Tickets €22 / €20
Frankie Gavin & De Dannan
Frankie Gavin is known as the world's greatest Irish fiddle player and holds the 'Guinness World Record' as the 'Fastest Fiddle Player in the World'. Frankie and his band have performed everywhere from 'Beijing Opera House' to 'The White House' and having performed for no less than 3 US Presidents and with 'The Rolling Stones' amongst other musical luminaries, this band knows how to entertain and has talent in abundance!
February 10th
8pm
Tickets €20 / €18
Beckett X3
Enjoy this Beckett Trilogy comprising of a stripped down production of 3 of Beckett's works:
1)Rough for Theatre 2: 2 observers who may or may not be officials discuss a man contemplating suicide.
2)That Time: An Irish labourer after years in Britain looks back on his earlier life and his disappointing career, before he dies.
3)Rockabye: An old woman, sick of life, rocks herself into the next life.
February 11th
8pm
Tickets €15 / €12
Tommy Fleming
Tommy Fleming is now recognised throughout his homeland of Ireland and across the world as one of the finest singers of his generation. Appealing to all ages, musical tastes and cultures, audiences have now recognised Tommy Fleming as a truly unique talent. But the fact remains that Tommy Fleming is his own man, delivering song after song - each more haunting than the next. Be it a cover version or his own original material, Tommy Fleming's velvet-toned voice makes each one his own. After 20 years honing his craft, Tommy is now taking his place at the forefront of popular music across the globe. The mere mention of a Tommy Fleming concert has 'sold out' signs being displayed at venues from Dublin to Sydney within the space of minutes.
February 16th
8pm
Tickets €30
The Magic Flute
Enchanting and evocative, Mozart's final operatic masterpiece The Magic Flute, is a lyrical love story, set against an atmospheric backdrop of fantasy and mischief. Presented by Opera Theatre Company Ireland's National Touring Opera Company.
February 18th
8pm
Tickets €20 / €18
Gemma Hayes
Gemma Hayes is performing a set of special acoustic shows this spring in support of her latest LP, Let it Break. This album, her fourth, is an evolution of Gemma's unique style of music, combining prog rock, folk and electronica. It is another collaboration with longtime producer David Odlum, and features Paul Noonan of Bell X1 and Ann Scott. Over the years, Gemma's songs have appeared in countless TV programmes and films from Grey's Anatomy to One Tree Hill and most recently The Vampire Diaries and the upcoming Abigail Breslin pic, Janie Jones. Gemma's debut album, Night on My Side, was nominated for a UK Mercury Prize and earned Gemma awards as Ireland's best female artist.
February 25th
8pm
Tickets €18 / €15
A Night Of Traditional Music with Christy Leahy, Seamie O'Dowd, Ger Wolfe & Caoimhín Vallely
Four of Ireland's finest traditional musicians combine their individual talents in a refreshing performance of music and song. Bringing together the distinctive musical styles of Cork, Sligo and Armagh, all four are at the forefront of the current wave of musicians featuring on some of the most notable recordings and line-ups in traditional Irish music today.
March 2nd
8pm
Tickets €15 / €10
Tom Crean Antartctic Explorer
Experience Aidan Dooley's award winning one-man play as it tells the heroic tale of Tom Crean, the intrepid, Irish Antarctic explorer. Crean's thirty-six mile solitary trek to base camp during an expedition to rescue his comrades; has been described by Antarctic historians as "the finest feat of individual heroism from the entire age of exploration". He was subsequently awarded the Albert Medal for his bravery. The story, a testament of human fortitude against all the elements of Antarctica, is brought to life in this dramatic solo performance.
March 3rd
8pm
Tickets €20 / €18
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
A brand new musical is created from scratch at each performance of this award-winning production, which has played sell-out seasons in London's West End and at the Edinburgh festival. Audience suggestions help to create a show on the spot, as the all-singing, all-dancing cast, improvise with unpredictable and frequently hilarious results. Packed with drama, dazzling dance routines and catchy melodies, Showstopper! leaves delighted audiences singing all the way home.
March 15th
8pm
Tickets €18 / €16
The Shaw Sessions with Rusty McCarthy
Rusty McCarthy - Singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, and one of the finest Blues and Jazz guitarist on the scene today, with a career spanning three decades and having shared the stage with some of the finest performers in the world. As a free-lance guitarist Rusty has jammed and played with pop's Alanah Myles, Tom Cochrane, Bare Naked Ladies and played Blues with Jeff Healey, Jerome Godboo, The Blues Brothers, and also jazz with Bill Frisell, Holly Cole, Molly Johnson. His musical projects have him travelling the world, most often as band leader and guitarist with Mary Margaret O'Hara.
Most notable shows were in London, New York and L.A. with Mary, sharing the stage with music icons Sting, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithful, Steve Earle, and Elvis Costello and TV appearances that include N.B.C.'s Night Music', BBC 'Top of the Pops," and Much Music. Rusty's latest performances have been ATP festival Somerset, Edmonton Folk festival, Wexford Opera Festival, Pop Montreal and coming up, a season of summer concerts. Along the way Rusty has found time to hone his craft as a songwriter - and is devoting more time to finding his niche in the performance world, and it's being appreciated. In fact, Rusty's song "Baking A Cake" has been included in the upcoming film 'Autumn' - starring the late David Carradine, and written film scores for BRAVO TV's "A Taste Of Shakespeare."
March 23rd
8.30pm
Tickets €12 / €10
Exhibitions at VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art
Eileen MacDonagh - Lithosphere
VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow is delighted to announce a forthcoming exhibition of work by Irish artist Eileen MacDonagh. Working locally to Carlow for the past 21 years MacDonagh has made a tremendous contribution to the arts nationally and internationally. LithoSphere presents new work by the artist and surveys a career that has been dedicated to the tender command of elements; stone, timber and the geometries found in nature.
This exhibition is for VISUAL the most ambitious installation of an artist's work to date. Echoing MacDonagh's Medusa Tree (2009) which sits in the forecourt of VISUAL and the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, the artist has created a forest of 8 metre high trees, taking on the scale the Main Gallery, the largest white gallery space in the country. Alongside this installation other works will illustrate the breadth of her career to date. This is a unique opportunity to experience sculpture in facilities that were designed to showcase the immense affect of large scale work.
DATE: February 5th to May 7th
TIME: 11am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Saturday / 2pm to 5pm Sundays
Free entry / open to the public
The Visual Centre and GB Shaw Theatre also houses theatre bar facilities and a full service restaurant.
Gallery & Box Office Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday 11.00am - 5.30pm
Sunday 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Box Office also open on day of Theatre events from 6.30pm until show start.
Information & Bookings for Gallery workshops or Theatre events: By telephone please call 059 - 9172400
In person please call during box office opening hours
Online at http://www.visualcarlow.ie/ or http://www.gbshawtheatre.ie/ (Discounts may be available for group bookings)
