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Denise Foley

Arts

New Offerings from Inis Nua Theatre Company

A character from "Dublin by Lamplight." Photo by Katie Reing.

The Inis Nua Theatre Company, the only local theater group that produces only contemporary Irish and UK plays, announced its new season of plays and readings this week. The plays include the Philadelphia premier of “Little Gem” by Elaine Murphy which played to sellout crowds at Dublin’s 2008 Fringe Festival and Enda Walsh’s “The Walworth Farce.” Inis Nua has produced Walsh’s play, “Bedbound,” a Fringe Festival first place winner.

Recently, Inis Nua was invited to bring its production of “Dublin by Lamplight” to next month’s New York Irish Theater Festival. (You can help send them there by donating here.) The company is holding an “All-in for Dublin” charity poker tournament on Sunday, August 7, to raise money. It starts at 4 PM at the Latvian Society of Philadelphia at 531 North 7th Street.

Here’s what’s coming up on stage:

Landscape with Weapon by Joe Penhall (From England)
A reading on October 17th at 7pm
A well-meaning engineer has invented a new super-weapon with infinite and wonderful capabilities. That was before issues of financial gain and government control crept into the picture. Landscape with Weapon is a wry account of private anguish, public responsibility and a problem with no solution. By the writer of the award-winning play, Blue/Orange.

The Error of Their Ways by Torben Betts (From Scotland)
A reading on November 28th at 7pm
From a playwright lauded by many as the most exciting new voice in British theatre comes a shattering re-imagining of life as we live it now, set in the context of a bloody revolution. Witness to a brutal political assassination, we are introduced to a society fractured by a lack of belief in anything meaningful, in which everyone has something to protest against.

Random by Debbie Tucker Green (From England)
A reading on January 23rd at 7pm
Random explores a single day in the ordinary life of a black Londoner and the random incident that changes her life and that of her family. Tucker Green’s poetic rhythm and keen details create a spellbinding, elliptical story that shatters stereotypes by humanizing an all-too common inner-city event. Olivier Award winner.
Little Gem by Elaine Murphy. Directed by Kathryn MacMillan (From Ireland)
Philadephia Premiere
January 31-February 19. Location TBA.
This is the Philadelphia premiere of this amazing look into one transitional year in the lives of three generations of a Dublin family. Daughter Amber is taking an unexpected break from binge-drinking with the girls, mother Lorraine is testing the waters of love on the north side of 40; and granny Kay is watching her dear man slip away. Come have a listen. These women will shock, delight, and steal your heart.
Love Steals Us from Loneliness by Gary Owen (From Wales)
A reading on March 19th at 7pm
A drunken evening leads to an argument with repercussions lasting over forty years. This play explores viewpoints and how they change with age. This is playwright Gary Owen’s response to the media frenzy that followed twenty teen suicides in Bridgend from 2007-2010. From the author of Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco.
Didi’s Big Day by Paul Walker (From Ireland)
A reading on May 21st at 7pm
Didi and Peter have planned a beautiful dream wedding. What could go wrong for such a perfect couple? Missing rings, inappropriate speeches, and bridal party brawls collide in this hilarious story of the wedding from Hell.
The Walworth Farce by Enda Walsh. Directed by Tom Reing (From Ireland)
Philadelphia Premiere
June 12th-June 30th at Christ Church Neighborhood House
What can happen when we become stuck by the stories we tell about our lives? Following on the success of Inis Nua’s production of Bedbound in 2010, visit the world of Enda Walsh again in the rundown London bedsit of a seemingly exiled father and his two sons. Twisting and turning, this farce combines uproarious comedic moments with shocking realism to portray a family absorbed by their own personal mythology

August 5, 2011 by
Music, News, People

Benefit for the Fleadh Boys

They could have called it the “Brittingham’s Session Orchestra.” More than 15 Irish musicians crowded into the Lafayette Hill pub’s event space to provide music for the dancers who managed to find a few square feet in which to do their thing.

Alex Weir

And they were all there for a good cause. The event, which included a brunch, raffle, and 50-50, was organized by fiddler (Belfast Connection) Laine Walker Hughes, to raise money to help defray expenses for the families of Alex Weir, 12, and Keegan Loesel, 11, who are traveling to Ireland this month to compete in the All-Irelands, the Olympics of Irish music.

This is Alex’s second and Keegan’s first trip to the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, which draws regional competition winners from all over the world, this year to Cavan Town. To qualify, musicians must come in first or second in the regionals.

The boys have been raising money on their own by busking—that time-honored Irish tradition of playing on the street for donations. In fact, two fellow buskers—teenagers Michael and Eamon Durkan of Wilmington, DE—came to participate in the fundraiser. They met, well, on the street. “We played with them,” said Eamon Durkan. “They’re really incredible players. We came to support them.”

As you’ll see from our photos, so did many others.

Read more about the boys here.

August 5, 2011 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish In Philly This Week

Thrills, spills, and curls!

Irish dancer alert: The documentary “Jig” starts a run at the Bala Theatre in Bala Cynwyd this week. Put on your ghillies and get over there. It was filmed at the Irish Dancing World Championships in Glasgow in March 2010—or, as it is better known, the big, wonking world oireachtas.

 

There’s also a beginner summer Irish dance camp at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy starting Monday. Olivia Hilpl, director of the Rince Ri School of Irish Dance, is the instructor. Kids will be learning slip jigs and reels all morning for a week.

Music lovers alert: ‘Tis the week of Musikfest in Bethlehem and, as usual, they have a fine lineup of Celtic acts, starting with Amarach on Friday night, with those wild rockers from DC, Scythian, taking the stage on Monday night. Barleyjuice is up next on Wednesday with Gaelic Storm closing out Wednesday night. The Jameson Sisters will be performing on Thursday night, and you can catch RUNA next Saturday.

Actually, you can catch RUNA twice this week. Shannon Lambert-Ryan and her merry band of contemporary Celtic music makers are appearing with the Canadian group, The Town Pants, at the Sellersville Theatre on August 11.

Sellersville is feeling Celtic lately. On her way is singer Moya Brennan of Clannad, appearing with harper Cormac O’Barra. (Cormac de Barra’s brother, Fionan, plays with RUNA and is married to Shannon Lambert-Ryan.) Brennan and de Barra are on the bill for August 13. You probably won’t see Fionan sitting in—he and RUNA are at Musikfest that night.

If you’re downashore, Celtic rockers Jamison are playing at Casey’s in North Wildwood on Friday night, at Keenan’s Irish pub in NW on Saturday, and at Shenanigans in Sea Isle on Sunday. The Broken Shillelaghs are at Tucker’s Pub in Wildwood on Saturday night.

Coming up: There’s a benefit to raise money for a new foundation established in the name of Joanie Logan, the Delaware County three-year-old who drowned on Memorial Day, at Keenan’s Irish Pub in North Wildwood on Sunday, August 14.

On August 18, the Young Dubliners come to World Café Live in Philly. Also on the bill, local phenom The John Byrne Band.

August 5, 2011 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Keegan Loesel will be competing in Ireland on the tin whistle.

This weekend 1,300 cyclists will be launching themselves from one Irish Pub to another. No, not a major pub crawl. It’s the annual Tour de Shore sponsored by the Irish Pub in Philly and in Atlantic City that raises money for local charities that support children via its nonprofit Irish Pub Children’s Foundation.

In its 21-year history, the Irish Pub Children’s Foundation has raised more than $1.2 million for nonprofits including The Variety Club of Philadelphia, the Hero Scholarship Fund, the FOP Survivors Fund and Project H.O.M.E. You can cheer the cyclists on from the Irish Pub on Walnut Street at around 7 AM and then meet up with them at the Irish Pub in Atlantic City later in the day.

If you prefer armchair sports, head over to the Irish Center in Mt. Airy on Saturday morning to watch GAA sports televised live from Ireland.

A group of musicians are coming together at Brittingham’s Irish Restaurant in Lafayette Hill on Sunday morning to play and raise money for Alex Weir and Keegan Loesel, two youngsters who will be traveling to Ireland in August to compete in the All-Ireland music competitions (on fiddle and whistle respectively). Laine Walker-Hughes, fiddler with Belfast Connection, has organized this brunch ceili, as well as a raffle.

Also on Sunday, another fundraiser for three New Jersey kids also heading to Cavan town to compete, this one at Christ Episcopal Church in Somers Point. They’re three-time Mid-Atlantic under-12 Irish fiddle champion Haley Richardson, her brother Dylan who took second in the under-15 accompaniment competition, and Emily Safko who placed second in under-12 harp, first in harp slow air, and first with her partner (Alex Weir) in duets.

Jamison—winner (best Irish band) of the Strangford Lough Brewery “battle of the bands” last year–will perform at Keenan’s Irish Pub in N. Wildwood on Saturday night (with CJ and John doing an acoustic session at Tucker’s in Wildwood later on. Then they’re back on stage again on Sunday at Shenanigan’s in Sea Isle City. Busy weekend.

Speaking of busy, also on Sunday: Goitse, a five-piece band who trace their roots to the University of Limerick, will perform at Timothy’s on the Riverfront in Wilmington, DE.

Musikfest, Bethlehem’s eclectic version of Woodstock (not really), kicks off on Friday, August 5, and a number of notable Irish/Celtic acts are scheduled to perform, including RUNA, Barleyjuice, Scythian, Gaelic Storm, the Jameson Sisters, and Amarach, a Lehigh Valley group that calls its style “smokin’ Irish.”

And all you Irish dancers, dance moms and dance dads: The documentary, “Jig,” which looks at the 40th annual Irish dance championships in Glasgow, Scotland, opens Friday at the Bala Theater in Bala Cynwyd. One critic described it as “Spellbound meets Lord of the Dance.” Actually, it’s about all the work and dedication kids and their families put into competition dancing–something you know all about.

Coming up: RUNA performing with the Canadian Celtic fusion group, the Town Pants, at Sellersville Theatre, and Moya Brennan of Clannad with Cormac de Barra. Okay, what do those two groups have in common? Why, it’s the de Barra brothers. Fionan de Barra plays with RUNA (with his wife, Shannon Lambert-Ryan) and once played with Moya Brennan with his brother, Cormac. Cormac is a championship harper, Fionan plays guitar and several other instruments. Family reunion?

July 28, 2011 by
How to Be Irish in Philly, Music, News, People

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Enter the Haggis

Next year, we’re taking most of the summer off and spending it down the shore because clearly, that’s the only way to be Irish in Philly. Even some of our favorite local groups, like Blackthorn and Jamison, are performing mainly in Jersey this summer. Working on their Celtic tans, no doubt.

Blackthorn will be closer to home in August (August 14, at 7:30 PM) , giving a concert at Rose Tree Park in Media. But at the end of the month (August 27) they’ll be playing for the beach crowd at the Windrift Hotel in Avalon (we love Avalon).

Jamison has gigs at Shenanigans in Sea Isle this Sunday and Keenan’s Irish Pub in North Wildwood on July 30, plus an acoustic session at Tucker’s in Wildwood later in the evening.

And you can catch the Broken Shillelaghs (all or part of them) at McMichael’s, near the sunny shores of the Delaware River in Gloucester City, NJ, just over the bridge from Philly on Monday night.

Also in town, the Bogside Rogues: They’ll be rocking and rolling at Daly’s Pub in the Northeast on Saturday night.

Enter the Haggis will also be in the area on Sunday, performing at the Sellersville Theatre in Sellersville with the John Byrne Band. If you’ve never been to Sellersville, now’s the right time. Not only are they two fabulous bands, you barely have to be out in the heat to make a cool evening of it. Right next to the Sellersville Theatre is Washington House, a great restaurant with a turn-of-the-century bar that will take you back in time except that everything’s air-conditioned. You’ll only be hot for a few seconds.

At Quakertown’s Memorial Park, RUNA with Shannon Lambert-Ryan will be playing till after the sun goes down on Sunday.

Mark your calendars for July 31 when Belfast Connection hosts a benefit brunch for Alex Weir and Keegan Loesel, two young musicians who qualified for the annual All-Ireland music competitions in Cavan Town in August, at Brittingham’s Irish Pub in Lafayette Hills. Your $20 will buy you a delicious meal, some great music, and help defray the costs of the trip for the boys and their families.

On the same day in Somers Point, NJ, there’s a benefit ceili for three other local youngsters going to the Fleadh, including fiddle phenom Haley Richardson, her brother, Dylan, and harper Emily Safko.

July 22, 2011 by
Food & Drink, News, People

Bar Rescue?

Brian Duffy in Downey's kitchen.

Back in May, Spike TV’s newest series, “Bar Rescue,” came to Philadelphia to take on Downey’s Pub and Restaurant at Front and South. They sent in a restaurant turnaround artist, an experienced Irish chef, and a bar guy. They should have sent in FEMA.

When the show airs on Sunday night, July 24, at 10 PM, you’ll see why.

“This was absolutely the worst and dirtiest restaurant I’ve ever set foot in,” says Brian Duffy, the chef who has helmed the kitchens of the Shanachie Irish Pub and Restaurant in Ambler, the Kildare’s Irish Pub chain, and once, many years ago, Downey’s.

“There was trash in the hallways. Dead lobsters everywhere. The walk-in fridge was more like an air conditioner. The products in there were rancid. It was 52 degrees and it’s supposed to be under 40. It’s like throwing a festival for bacteria,” says Duffy, the culinary expert who served as menu doctor for two previous struggling bars in the series.

Few are struggling as much as Downey’s, once a Philly Irish institution during the decade’s long reign of the late Jack Downey. Two days before St. Patrick’s Day this year, Philadelphia health inspectors shut down the place for 51 health code violations. It opened two days later, but will be re-inspected in September.

Owner/chef Domenico Centofanti is already in financial trouble. The bar could face sheriff’s sale because Centofanti owes the city more than $100,000 in back taxes. Beset by lawsuits—including from unpaid employees—Centofanti filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last September.

What Gordon Ramsey is to “Kitchen Nightmares,” Jon Taffer is to “Bar Rescue.” One of the country’s top restaurant and bar consultants, Taffer, the brains behind Pulsations and Rainforest Café, specializes in giving last-chance establishments one more chance. Spike calls him “the man to call when your bar is on the rocks.” And like Ramsey, his style is in-your-face.

“He’s tough to take, but he knows what he’s doing,” says Duffy. “Jon’s a very scientific man. He even designs menu based on studies of where the eye goes and what your thoughts are when you’re reading it.”

The third man on the Downey’s team was Keith Raimondi, whiskey maven from Iron Chef Jose Garces’ Village Whiskey on South 20th Street. (The show also hired a retired health inspector to give the place a once-over.)

Three guys, five days. That’s all the time they got to raise the bar on Downey’s, which shut down for the makeover. “There was no bar manager, no general manager, no chef, just the three of us,” says Duffy. Plus the crew that came in to clean the kitchen.

“The first thing I did was look at the menu and it was funny, because it still had some of my items from when I was the chef,” Duffy says. But it also had veal parm and other Italian dishes. “They had to go. It just didn’t make sense. So we added some Irish stuff, simple fun stuff that was more appropriate.”

Spike TV paid for new walk-ins, a stove (“When we started cleaning the stove the whole thing collapsed on itself,” says Duffy) and other equipment, as well as new menus and uniforms for the wait staff. “It was painted inside and the bar was reorganized,” says Duffy, who is now corporate executive chef for Seafood America in Warminster, a supplier of fresh and frozen seafood products to retail stores.

Duffy worked with the staff on establishing schedules for daily and weekly cleaning, creating prep lists and other organizational tools, and worked closely with Domenic Centofanti—that is to say, engaged in screaming matches with the chef-owner—to help get the kitchen back on track. “It’s really a shame, because Dom is an amazing chef,” says Duffy.

The show ends with the major re-launch, when even the health inspector Spike hired “couldn’t believe it” when he not only re-inspected the place but also ate there, says Duffy.

But this particular bar rescue may have been too little, too late. Not only is Centofanti facing some high legal hurdles, some of what was done appears to have  been undone, Duffy says.

“I thought Dom and had kind of gotten through to each other, but we left on a Thursday and the old menu was back up on Friday morning,” he says.

Bar Rescue’s Downey’s episode airs Sunday, July 24, at 10 PM, on Spike TV. Check your local listings. And keep an eye out for some familiar Irish faces. Besides Duffy, local singer John Byrne made an appearance on the show.

July 22, 2011 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Alex of the Martin Family Band--at Graeme Park this weekend.

Though the former residents of Horsham’s Graeme Park (Keith House) were from Scotland, the historic site’s annual Celtic Heritage Festival (Saturday, starting at 10 AM) always has a decidedly Irish flavor thanks to the Timoney and Sabo Schools of Irish Dance, The Martin Family Band, and the Hooligans. Scottish folksinger Carl Peterson will also perform (he does Irish folk songs too). There are plenty of kid-friendly activities too, including a moon bounce, a (kilted) juggler, and balloon animals.

Later that evening, catch the Broken Shillelaghs at the Dublin Square Pub in Bordentown, NJ. (They’ll be at the Blue Monkey in Merchantville, NJ next Thursday.)

On Monday, two charity events for Irish pub employees.  Friends of longtime Fado server, bartender and events manager Regon MacInnis will be holding a fundraiser at the Locust Street pub to help defray the costs of cancer treatment for the young Maine native. The $20 ticket price covers the cost of dinner and your first pint. And the money will help this young woman, known to many in the Irish community, fight a particularly aggressive form of cancer. At the Plough and the Stars  on Second Street the same night, friends of bartender Stef Stuber will he holding an event to raise money to pay for medical costs she incurred in a serious moped accident while vacationing in Thailand recently. Your $20 donation covers one free drink and appetizers. There will be a 50/50 drawing and a silent auction as well.

Also Monday evening, the Inis Nua Theatre Company is holding its summer happy hour at Fergie’s Pub where they’ll reveal plans for next season. Don’t forget to go to the little ad at the right under the heading “Help one of our partners” to donate to the Inis Nua “Send a local theatre company to New York” campaign. Inis Nua has been invited to bring its tour de force “Dublin by Lamplight” to New York’s first ever Irish Theater Festival this year and they need some financial help to get there.

On Wednesday night, remarkable Irish fiddler Maeve Donnelly returns to the Coatesville Cultural Center with Cork flute player Conal O’Grada for an evening of traditional music that falls into the “must-hear” category. Tickets are going fast, so order now.

Or, you can join the Bogside Rogues and Jamison Celtic Rock on Wednesday night in bucolic Pennypack Park in Philly’s Fairmount Park for an under-the-stars concert. Bring a picnic dinner, blankets, chairs and bug spray. (Catch Jamison at Shenanigans in Sea Isle, NJ, on July 24.)

Next weekend, a real treat: Enter the Haggis AND the John Byrne Band are appearing at the Sellersville Theatre on Saturday.

Speaking of John Byrne, we recently stopped in to his new bar in Northern Liberties, The Blind Pig. Best Cuban sandwich I ever had. Incredible list of beer in cans and some powerful brews on tap (there are parts of the evening I can’t remember, like leaving). And you can probably talk the bartender into singing a few songs. It’s getting great reviews in the Philly media (and from citizen reviewers on sites like Yelp), particularly for its “Thanksgiving Balls.” Seriously, how could you go wrong with an appetizer of turkey, wrapped in mashed potatoes and stuffing, breaded, fried, and served with gravy and cranberry sauce? (All you cardiologists, pipe down.)

Check our calendar for details on these and other goings on.

July 15, 2011 by
News, People

Father Ed Brady Takes a New Post

Father Brady and his little cousin, Joseph.

The parishioners of St. Anne’s Church in the Kensington section of Philadelphia are going to have to learn all the words to the hymn, “Our Lady of Knock,” now that Father Edward Brady is their new pastor.

On Sunday, July 10, Father Brady, former pastor of St. Isidore’s Parish in Quakertown, was installed at pastor at the church at a ceremony that was decidedly Irish. There was a bagpiper outside the church as everyone entered. The regional bishop presided: Bishop Michael Fitzgerald. Then there was the regional vicar: Father Paul Kennedy. Father Brady’s brother, also Father Brady (James), flew in from his parish in New Orleans, LA, to be one of the concelebrants of the Mass. And local singer Theresa Kane sang “Our Lady of Knock,” a hymn that pays tribute to the Blessed Mother who reportedly appeared to a group of people in Knock, County Mayo, Ireland in 1979, which is a staple wherever the Irish in the Philadelphia region gather.

Also in the church were members of all the organizations for whom Father Ed Brady serves as chaplain: The Irish Memorial, The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Cavan Society, the Galway Society, and the Inspirational Irish Women Awards. Philadelphia Councilman Bill Green and his wife, Margie, participated in the Mass. Tyrone-born singer Raymond Coleman performed at the reception afterwards.

View our photos of the event.

July 15, 2011 by