George Bernard Shaw
Along with the weekend-long East Coast Celtic Supporters’ Feile in Philadelphia—most events are at The Plough and the Stars at 123 Chestnut Street—you have an opportunity to absorb some Celtic culture (that Celtic race, not football club) this week.
The Inis Nua Theatre Company’s latest production, “Long Live Little Knife,” opens at the Off Broad Street Theater at First Baptist Church. The playwright David Leddy will be on hand on Wednesday, February 4, to talk about this work which features Corinna Burns and Tim Dugan as husband and wife con artists who want to become the world’s best art forgers. The show runs through February 22. Inis Nua produces contemporary plays from Ireland, Scotland, and Great Britain.
At the Kimmel, catch “Oscar,” an opera based on the works of Irish writer Oscar Wilde, which starts a short run of five performances on Friday, Feb. 6. It’s the East Coast debut of the work.
“Misalliance,” a rarely produced play by one of Ireland’s most honored writers, George Bernard Shaw, is being mounted by The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, a Philadelphia-based theater company best-known for illuminating, challenging and humorous interpretations of absurdist-leaning plays, at Walnut Street Studio Five in Philadelphia. In the preface to this play, Shaw apparently foresaw the state of entertainment—and a few other things–in the new millennium: “A new sort of laziness will become the bugbear of society: the laziness that refuses to face the mental toil and adventure of making work by inventing new ideas or extending the domain of knowledge, and insists on a ready-made routine.” The show runs through February 22.
No, we didn’t forget The Superbowl! You can enjoy it from the warmth of your own home, at a bar (Irish Times in Philly is doing its annual pig roast), or even at the Irish Center, where there are at least four TVs, food, and if you’re not interested in hearing Katy Perry, you can get up and dance to some live half-time entertainment.
On Saturday night, catch Jamison at RP McMuphy’s in Holmes.
On Tuesday, celebrate James Joyce’s birthday with story and song at McShea’s Pub in Ardmore.
On Wednesday, Gerry Timlin continues his history classes at McCarthy’s Red Stag Pub with the conquest of Ireland, part 2. A lot of people would have done way better in history if, one, they’d held classes in a pub, and two, Gerry Timlin taught it.
Get a respite from the cold and snow on Thursday at Bistro St. Tropez in the Marketplace Design Center in Philadelphia, where Irish Network-Philly is holding its monthly networking event with drink specials and appetizers.
Also on Thursday, people who already know a little Irish are welcome to an Irish conversation group at Villanova University’s Falvey Library, Room 204.
Thursday is also the launch of a photographic exhibit by local music historian Robin O’Brien Hiteshaw called “The Face of Irish Music: at the Consulate General of Ireland’s headquarters at 345 Park Avenue in New York City.
With the loss of pubs like the Shanachie in Ambler and Molly Maguire’s in Lansdale, there’s a dearth of venues for Irish music sessions in Montgomery County. But AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 is stepping in to fill he void. The AOHers have formed a committee to have music at their Swedesburg club house on a regular basis. There will be a session there on Saturday, February 7, between 7 and 10 PM. You don’t have to be an AOH member to attend.
Check our calendar for more details–and check back frequently, since latecomers often add events during the week.
