Heather Humphreys TD Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht today (Saturday 16th August, 2014) extended her congratulations to the Irish artists on their award winning success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Yesterday Dead Centre production of Lippy received the Fringe First Award in recognition of outstanding new writing premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Today Riverrun secured the Herald Angel Award and Olwen Fouéré won the much coveted Archangel award in recognition of her significant contribution to theatre for her performance of Riverrun. This follows on from her earlier success from last week at the festival where Olwen won the Stage Award for Acting Excellence.
Congratulating the artists Minister Humphreys said, “The international recognition of the high level of Irish creative talent will help further develop a global platform for Irish work and artists. The success of Irish artists in such a competitive marketplace with over 4000 shows on offer is testament to the outstanding talent of Ireland’s artists. Having seen Olwen in Riverrun in Edinburgh this week I was overwhelmed by her outstanding performance. The awards are justly deserved for one of Ireland’s most treasured actors. The award for Dead Centre is a huge achievement for a recently established Irish theatre company. Congratulations to all of these worthy award recipients.”
Minister Humphreys travelled to Edinburgh earlier this week for the Culture Ireland networking event for international promoters and presenters. This networking opportunity attracted a strong group of promoters from around the world, including from New York and New Zealand, who are seeking new work to programme over the coming years. Both Lippy and Riverrun have already received significant international touring offers.
Lippy will be showing at the Abrons Arts Centre, New York in October 2014 and at the Young Vic, London from mid February 2015. Riverrun has already completed a very successful run at the Barbican in London and next month Riverrun will premiere in the US at the Next Waves Festival at BAM, Brooklyn, New York. From February 2015 to April 2015, they will tour in Australia.
Culture Ireland, has been supporting Irish artists at Edinburgh since 2008 in venues across the length and breadth of the city. Irish artists have offered audiences and promoters a snapshot of the diverse and exciting new work being created in Ireland and have consistently won awards. Last year included the Beckett productions by the Gate Theatre and Pan Pan Theatre, presented as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, won The Herald Angel Award. Eh Joe, I’ll Go On and First Love were presented by the Gate Theatre and Embers and All That Fall were presented by Pan Pan Theatre. The Abbey Theatre production of Owen McCafferty's Quietly, Donal O'Kelly’s solo work Fionnuala, and Deirdre Kinahan’s These Halcyon Days attracted Fringe First awards. brokentalker’s Have I No Mouth won a Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing with Form and Paddy O’Kane won The Stage Best Actor Award for his role in Quietly.
This year Culture Ireland has supported performances and readings by some of Ireland's most exciting emerging and established artists. The work selected for support is of exceptionally high quality and is being presented in prime venues. There are four shows being supported by Culture Ireland at Edinburgh Festival Fringe – two theatre and two dance and 10 authors attending the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Culture Ireland has already made significant progress in its objective to secure further touring opportunities for Irish work through its Edinburgh showcase.
Ends.
Editors Notes:
Culture Ireland's 2014 Edinburgh Festivals showcase is taking place in three key venues across the city, Traverse, Dance Base and Charlotte Square Gardens. Culture Ireland has developed these relationships over many years and it is critical for artists in such a competitive environment that they are in well recognised and promoted venues if they are to be well promoted and reviewed.
LIPPY- Dead Centre's Lippy being presented at the Traverse is a success of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2013. With the support of Culture Ireland it will also be showing at the Abrons Arts Center, New York in a co-production with the Irish Arts Center, 10 October - 2 November 2014 and at. the Young Vic, London 16 February - Sat 28th March 2015, both high profile opportunities for Irish companies. Abrons Arts Center previously hosted a very successful run of Dead Centre's SOUVENIR in 2013.
MISSING – at Dance Base is presented by Coisceim, a well established Irish dance company headed by choreographer David Bolger. Performed by the outstanding dancers Emma O’Kane and Scotland’s Tom Pritchard, Missing sold out completely when it premiered at the Dublin Dance Festival last year and was voted one of the Top 10 shows of 2013. Culture Ireland's support of Dance Base presenters to travel to Dublin led to the selection of this show for presentation in Edinburgh.
SWING at Dance Base Created by Fishamble Theatre Company who has previously won Fringe Firsts for their plays Fogotten and Silent. .Swing is a play about dancing. It was recently presented in New York by the Irish Arts Centre to critical acclaim. Its international success arose from being presented as part of "Show in a Bag" to international delegates to Dublin in 2013 and at Dublin Dance Festival earlier this year.
RIVERRUN presented by TheEmergency Room and Galway International Arts Festival in association with Cusack Projects Limited at the Traverse. Riverrun has been noted in The Scotsman Critics choice 30 great shows to see.This show was presented at Galway International Arts Festival last year and was initially seen by international presenters as work in development when they were supported by Culture Ireland to attend the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2012.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place in the Charlotte Square Gardens and is curated by the festival. It traditionally has a strong Irish offer and this year includes 10 writers and includes special events to mark the friendship between one of Scotland's most respected novelists of the twentieth century, Neil M. Gunn, and Kerry-born novelist Maurice Walsh, whose story was turned into the Oscar-winning movie The Quiet Man.