The Anti Room

There’s just something about October that makes me want to dig out the craftwork. I think it’s nothing more atavistic than the traditional autumn screen binge, actually – because I’m currently watching Mad Men (still wonderful, despite the broken tension), I,Claudius (because of feeling rather ancient worldy following a short September treat in Rome) and [...]

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Bus to the airport and a smoky, treacle-tongued, flirtatious French voice pours through the intercom announcing our arrival. Cooing, purring he embraces us into his delightful conspiracy; yes, we have arrived at Dublin’s International airport. We truly exceptional passengers are indulgently cautioned not to forget any of our belongings all the while confirming with a [...]

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As is probably the case for many women of my generation, my perception of the Avon cosmetics company was shaped by memories of the glamorous neighbour who called regularly and handed my mother enticingly packaged pots and tubes. She trailed in her wake a heady cloud of scent and left behind a glossy catalogue that [...]

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Shell suits shimmered. A middle-aged man munched Wotsits. Someone else gurgled a gollier up and down an out-of-view nose shaft. Lovers in fake fur jackets, cuddled. Cineworld Parnell Street on a Thursday night for Brendan Muldowney’s debut film: Savage, starring Darren Healy and Nora-Jane Noone. I was really apprehensive. Most films about Ireland – and especially Dublin [...]

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Actor and director Anjelica Huston is the star of numerous acclaimed films, from Prizzi’s Honour – for which she won an Oscar in 1985 – and The Addams Family to The Royal Tenenbaums. She spent much of her childhood in Ireland and starred in her legendary director father John’s celebrated 1987 adaptation of James Joyce’s [...]

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Defence! Defence! Get it on the rebound! Who’s marking number seven? I’m sitting on a bottom-numbing wooden bench in a cavernous sports hall somewhere off the M50, watching my son’s basketball team. There are two matches going on simultaneously, and the combined noise of the crowd, whistles, hooters, bouncing balls and even the squeak of basketball boots [...]

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Last night, I was listening to Arena on RTE Radio and caught an interview with Nic Green, the director and writer of Trilogy which opens tonight as part of Absolut Fringe. Much has been made of the appearance of 50 naked women dancers (all volunteers) in the play, but it’s within the context of looking [...]

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Eileen Walsh is currently playing the lead role in Medea by Siren Productions, at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin (ABSOLUT Fringe, until 25th September). Her theatre work includes Macbeth, Terminus (Abbey Theatre); The Gigli Concert (Druid); Disco Pigs (Corcadorca/Bush/Arts Theatre); Crave (Royal Court), The Drowned World (Traverse Theatre) and Mary Stuart (National Theatre [...]

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Self esteem can be a fragile thing. While some people have a strong, inbuilt sense of self-confidence and self-worth, others struggle to see the true beauty in themselves, unable to see the good, and instead focusing on the negative. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but sometimes all that is beholden is [...]

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Actress Geena Davis is perhaps best remembered in the role of poor, put-upon Thelma, sidekick to Susan Sarendon’s sassy Louise, in Ridley Scott’s 1991 groundbreaking road movie, Thelma & Louise. Although still acting, Ms. Davis has increasingly turned her attention to activism for gender equality, initially in sport and laterally in the media. Interestingly her [...]

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