Spectacular visuals and fiery theatre at day two of Drogheda Arts Festival

Drogheda Arts Festival second day was just immense, with spectacular visual arts from Helena Gorey, live music with Rónán Ó’Snodaigh and Myles O’Reilly and fiery theatre with Quintessence.

There was a great turnout at the Highlanes gallery for the launch of Helena Gorey’s ‘Understory’ exhibition which is a moving collection of personal works inspired by her love for wildlife and the memories she has of being in nature.

Helena’s love for wild plants, shrubbery and hedges in our everyday surroundings translates into an enthralling and transcendent collection of works. The launch included talks from Highlanes Curator and Director, Aoife Ruane, as well as the artist speaking about her process, inspiration and work. 

The atmospheric Gerrard’s Church proved to be the perfect venue for Tá Go Maith, a much anticipated show of new music from Rónán Ó’Snodaigh and Myles O’Reilly.

Rónán engaged the audience with honest and at times vulnerable musings about his inner workings and relationship to the songs that he was performing. The audience was brought on a journey of his own personal experience as both an individual person and as a collective human which was at times happy and at times challenging.

The crowd however held on with every word and every note following him on the musical journey as they related to the sincerity of the performance. As Ronan pours his heart out to us the animated presence of his gestures are beautifully complemented by the zen like presence of Myles sitting on the floor beside him enthralled in his synths which bellow out ethereal drones and sounds that add a hypnotic, trance like quality to the music and the ambience.

A truly mesmerising performance, it gave the audience so much and was enjoyed by all. As we emerged from the church there was a sense that we were healed and happy to be able to be sharing these special moments together as an audience once again!

Over at The Droichead Arts Centre, Quintessence Theatre were back live on stage for the last of three performances of the festival with their production of Behind Locked Doors, a dark drama exploring the shadow pandemics of Ireland’s lockdown: domestic violence and parental alienation.

Quintessence delivers some exceptional performances and they exhibited great bravery in tackling this difficult topic. The audience cannot ignore the realities of this struggle, one that has affected many during lockdown. The cast move from performing a beautifully written script to incorporating contemporary dance which conveys the emotional state of the characters.

The use of phone texting and social media as a projection was very effective and captured modern life in a way that was stunningly relevant! The performance was followed by a talk with members of Treoir, and Womens aid which discussed this difficult yet current topic.

Today is day three of five of Drogheda Arts Festival with  the Drogheda Drill Music collective A92 bigging it up at a music workshop in Boomerang Youth Cafe with A92 a Drogheda based drill music collective.

At 4 O’Clock in The Droichead Arts Centre a very special exhibition was launched Objects and Oscillations, an exhibition by Brian Hegarty who explores the transverse between the visual and sound, using a combination of collage, appropriation and audio elements. Over the last few years the vinyl LP cover has become his medium of choice, folding together an interest in cultural imagery and a love of music. This event will coincide with the Paramount Styles show at 8pm.

This evening there are TWO live music events to look forward to. The  Ficino Quartet play a concert of music curated by Professor Desmond O’Neill in Gerrard’s Church.

Dr. O’Neill combines his love of music and medicine to curate a concert that reflects loss and music and at 7.00 pm he will give a pre-concert talk on music as an inspiration for overcoming death and loss.

Also tonight, Paramount Styles will play their exclusive first Irish performance In the Droichead Arts Centre. Internationally acclaimed musician Scott McCloud has toured internationally with musical legends such as the Foo Fighters, Garbage, Rage Against the Machine, as well as guitarist of Girls Against Boys and Soulside for over 30 years.

So that’s Drogheda Arts Festival Day Three in a nutshell – Just two more days of amazing events left!

For more information and to buy tickets log on to droghedaartsfestival.ie

Highlights for tomorrow, Sunday include:

LouthYouth Folk Orchestra at the Barbican Theatre

Upstate Theatre Project’s The Morning Side of the Mountain, in Droichead Arts Centre 

ROGU Double Bill – two street performances in the stunning surroundings of Millmount – an evening of fire, mystery and magic.