Abbeyknockmoy poet goes Over the Edge

THE first Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2012 takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, January 19, 6.30-8 pm. The featured readers are Dearbhaile Houston, Damian Cunniffe and Leanne O'Sullivan. This is a very special occasion as it is now exactly nine years since Over The Edge was established in Galway City Library in January 2003. Damian Cunniffe is from Abbeyknockmoy. In 2011 he was longlisted for the Fish Publishing International Short Story Prize, the Ink Tears Prize and was joint winner of the Lonely Voices Short Story Introductions competition run by the Irish Writers Centre. He was also runner-up in the fiction section of the 2011 Over The Edge New Writer Of The Year competition. His work has been published in Crannóg and the Cúirt Journal. He is currently working on a play and a collection of short stories. Dearbhaile Houston grew up in Co Galway. She is in her first year of New Media and English at the University of Limerick. She began attending creative writing classes with Susan Millar DuMars last spring and recently won the Seán Uí Riordáin prize for poetry in the Oireachtas na Gaeilge Literary Competition 2011. Leanne O'Sullivan was born on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork in 1983, and now lives in Cork city. As usual there will be an open-mic after the featured readers have finished. New readers are welcome. Nee's up in the Town Hall IT GOT a great reception during the Tuam Arts Festival, and had a highly successful run in the Earagail Festival in Donegal. Now Little John Nee's The Mother's Arms comes to the Town Hall in Galway on Monday and Tuesday, January 16 and 17, and for this show he is joined by the Highly Strung Orchestra. The show is set in The Mother's Arms Singing Lounge â€â€ the previous proprietor has recently been sent to prison and his daughter Rose has returned from a failed marriage in the Florida swamps to run the place, but the banks are circling like vultures. It's been a long time since there was any singing here. On a beautiful summer's morning a vintage automobile struggles up the hill, driven by Taxi McDermott, founder member of 'The Caledonia Highly Strung Orchestra' and there begins a curious tale ... The Mother's Arms  is a show littered with wonderful moments.  There's a 70 year old woman who describes the details of her recently acquired tattoos. Then there's Rose, the pub's landlady, who managed to escape a Deliverance-like fate in Florida. For one scene, two headlights are raised over our host's head as he takes on the persona of a boy racer. Welcome to Planet Nee! The Highly Strung Orchestra features Jeremy Howard, Andrew Galvin and Orlaith Gilcreest. The trio play piano, saxophone, clarinet, guitar, bazoukis, petrol cans and more throughout the performance. Booking is open at the Town Hall Box Office, 091 569777 or www.tht.ie   Classic and trad meet in concert for Athenry MS THE term 'crossover' is nowadays broadly being used to describe the clash of any two or more musical styles. The truth is that the crossing over of different epochs is not a new concept and is indeed the essence of artistic development. Because of their musical backgrounds the musicians of the Elatha Trio bring naturally the old and new together and if terms are necessary, folk and classical. Zoë Conway is one of Ireland's most outstanding traditional fiddlers but received also a classical tuition and shifts easily between the two styles. Guitar player Brendan Walsh had folk music in his ears from an early age growing up in Co Clare but went on to study classical music to the highest level. Ailbhe McDonagh's versatility lies in performing the most complex new music to the classical masterpieces. All of these musicians have played solo with orchestras, are competition winners and have played at prestige venues across the globe. Their diverse influences heavily affect their music programming. They perform classical music repertoire to their own folk arrangements and composition. Their concerts are on Thursday January 19 at Galway Cathedral, 8pm, €15/€10 and on Friday January 20 at Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry, 8pm, €10/€7 in aid of the Athenry Music School. The Athenry Music School is a not for profit community school with 24 faculty and a student body of nearly 400.   Chekhov Workshop with Max Hafler MAX Hafler will teach four Sundays in January and February on the Chekhov technique, which uses body and imagination as the springboard for voice and character. This course is for people with some experience of the Technique. Each morning participants will focus on a particular aspect of the technique in some depth and move on to create scenes from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure in the afternoons. To apply, please email coretheatrecollege@gmail.com.