Written by 12:55 pm Devious News

Be Thankful For What You’ve Got

A very happy new year from all of us to all of you! We’re currently in the process of tidying ourselves, our HQ and our archive up at the moment. As you can see from the below picture, our Night Of The Living Dead DVD’s are all done, packaged and awaiting distribution to the relevant parties and a little bit of filing. Our costume department is getting back to normal, the mess is a little less messy and the dust is settling on what was a busy and productive 2012.

We don’t want to blow the proverbial load on our 2013 wares just yet but we can, to an extent, talk about what we’ve been brewing up. Not only that, but there’s a lot of stuff we’re looking forward to in 2013. With so much doom and gloom about arts cuts and the lack of funding doing the rounds, we want to put the sunny side out! Here’s what we guess, is a preview of what we’re excited about… utilising lucky number 13.

1. It’s been 4 years since we won a PPI radio award for The War Of The Worlds. It’s taken us a lot longer than we thought to follow that one up and get back to radio theatre. In the past 12 months, we’ve been quietly developing three works for radio and you should see at least one of them hit the air this year. Our own Ken McGuire is a now a full disc jockeying member of the KCLR96FM staff and is in a great position to put his grand radio theatre ambitions into action. We’re gonna be all up in your ears.

2. John Doran and Kevin Mooney have been working on something that we’re very excited about. Watch this space.

3. Last year was a great year for development and workshopping of scripts with two of John Morton’s new plays Punctured and War Of Attrition getting the development treatment from Fishamble Theatre Company and Dublin Theatre Festival respectively. The follow up to Scratcher is on its way…

4. Niamh Moroney of this parish has also been developing some very exciting new work and very enticing new projects. It’s great to have her back in Kilkenny after a long and productive run in Cork and it’s even greater to see the fountain of ideas that she has spewing forth.

5. John Kennedy is working on a new play. This is a very good thing. John has been an integral member of our company ever since we took him onboard as associate writer for In The Future When All’s Well in late 2010. Shifting and Phantasm were two huge successes and he is currently working on a new play for us. It won’t be produced this year but we’re definitely excited about seeing what ‘An Scribhneoir’ is going to deliver.

6. Development time! We had the luxury of development time and funds last year and we’re in the very lucky position to have more of it again this year. New year! New work! New play!

7. The theatre scene in Kilkenny is really starting to heat up again which is great for everyone involved in theatre in the city. Spark Productions have claimed their crown as the exciting new kids in the county (check out the crowds for Brownbread, below), KATS came back with serious style and packed out houses and Barn Owl Players delivered a series of great productions in 2012. We’ve also seen a preview of Kilkenny Youth Theatre’s new show and it’s going to rock socks. With a brand new piece from Barnstorm Theatre Company on the way and Watergate Productions expanding their programme, it looks like it’s going to be a great year for theatre in the motherland.

8. We’re terribly excited about what this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival theatre programme is going to deliver in 2013. Every year it brings something different and this year should be no exception.

9. We were very lucky to participate in THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON: Vol 2 in 2011 with Scratcher and we’re even more excited to be watching the wares that are en route for this years festival which kicks off next week. We’ve already done a preview on it but we suggest you check out the programme and see what is going to be a fuck tonne of exciting theatre for very reasonable prices.

10. Festival season! We’re excited about the ever increasing amount of festivals kicking off in Kilkenny, not to mention our other favourites like Cork Midsummer Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival. Whichever way you break it down, there will be lots to see and do and many a reason to pillage your own bank accounts.

11. Hanging out in our gaff. 2012 was the first full year where we had the pleasure of taking advantage of having our own place. Being part of the This Is Not An Empty Space initiative from Kilkenny Arts Office has been an absolute gift and joy for us and we’re looking forward to another 12 months of meetings, rehearsals, workshops, brainstews, spitballs, mindfarts and all the times where people bring cakes and buns.

12. Progress. Every year since 2006 has seen us take bigger and bolder steps. This year is going to be no different. That’s something to get excited about.

13. You guys. We’re looking forward to meeting the audiences we haven’t met yet, the makers of theatre who we haven’t yet connected with and clapping our hands at the great shows we haven’t yet seen.

There’s a lot to be excited about this year. The future is brighter than you think.

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