KEVIN FRANCIS GRAY: MID-CAREER RETROSPECTIVE is the next Exhibition to feature at the Market Place Gallery. The Exhibition opens on Thursday 16^th March – 13 April 2017 and comprises Gray’s sculptural works from the last decade with diverse materials from resin and plaster to porcelain, bronze and marble.

Born in Armagh in 1972, Gray returns to his hometown for this unique solo exhibition at the Market Place Gallery as part of the city’s annual Home of St Patrick Festival 2017 Armagh & Down.

Gray’s exhibition focuses on his career up until late 2015, showcasing his early investigations into material from resin to porcelain; from bronze to marble. This varied selection of work gives a glimpse into the range of personal inspirations Gray draws from both his life growing up in South Armagh and the wider context of living and working in East London and its surrounding neighbourhood.

This exhibition comes at a pivotal moment in his career, as Gray develops new artistic language using exclusively marble: further pushing what he sees as the possible limits of the material, as well as the opportunity to contextualise an otherwise classic material in a contemporary conversation.

Throughout the majority of his career, Gray has worked closely with the Giannoni family, among the oldest and most respected marble artisans in Pietrasanta, Tuscany. Previously known for producing replicas of seminal Vatican sculptures, the artisans are deeply rooted in tradition, and before Gray, had never extensively worked with a contemporary artist. Using sculpting techniques going back centuries (the Giannoni studio uses no machinery, despite robotic technology making advances), the artisans and Gray meticulously block out, carve and polish each work by hand, from start to finish. The painstaking manual labour and dedication to exceptional quality give the artwork rarity and offer it its due resurrection.

Kevin Francis Gray has generated bodies of work which address the complex relationship between abstraction and figuration. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Pace Gallery, New York; Pace Gallery, London; Royal Academy, London; Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, UK; Museum of Contemporary Art of the Val de-Marne, Paris; Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam; Palazzo Arti Napoli, Naples; Musee d’art Moderne, Saint-Etienne; ARTIUM, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Spain; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel; and Art Space, New York.

Admission to the exhibition is free. For further information, bookings and to download the full programme go to www.marketplacearmagh.com. You can also follow developments on Facebook (www.facebook.com/marketplacearmagh) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/mptarmagh) for the latest information and video previews.

Fidget Feet are back at Theatre at The Mill on Sunday 19 March to present their aerial dance show Strange Feathers.

Strange Feathers is aimed at children from 18 months – 7 years. The story is based on two little birds learning to fly with the help of their surroundings in nature. With two aerial dancers and a musician on stage Strange Feathers mixes contemporary dance, aerial dance and live music in a humorous way. Feathers drop from the sky to the beautiful sounds of soft music in this beautifully crafted and exquisitely delivered show. Strange Feathers is full of unexpected and colourful wonders, which invite the children to explore, interact and discover new things about their world!

Strange Feathers is a co-production between Fidget Feet (Ireland) and the Bird & Bat (Iceland) a co-collaboration between Icelandic and Irish artists. Fidget Feet is an aerial dance company that has in the past 10 years grown to become the biggest of its kind in Ireland. Their performances mix dance, aerial work, projections live music and theatre and have made shows of all sizes all over the world. Bird & Bat started in 2012 and specialise in making quality dance performances for young children.

After the performance the children are invited up on stage to meet the performers and explore the space as feathers drop from the sky.  Tickets for this performance are available from Box Office T: 028 9034 0202 or online www.theatreatthemill.com.

On Sunday 26^th March come along and enjoy a FREE event at the Navan Centre & Fort, Armagh which is just perfect as a family day for Mother’s Day.

From 11.00am – 3.00pm it is your chance to get up close to some of the bugs, mini-beasts and creepy crawlies living round us and some more unusual characters too!

With our friends from Mantella Environmental Education we will highlight the roles these important animals play in our local environment.

Come along and learn what a millipede feels like, why spiders have eight eyes and why some of our birds of prey are making a comeback after years of absence.

This event coincides with Mother’s Day so is the perfect opportunity for you and your family to spend a lovely time together at no cost!

For information please contact: Navan Centre, 81 Killylea Road, Armagh.  BT60 4LD.  Tel 028 3752 9644 or www.navan.com

Oscar Wilde’s most enduring classic to hit the MAC stage

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s most famous farce, is set to take to the MAC stage in Belfast this month. Regarded as one of his finest works, this humorous take on Victorian high society is arguably one of the Irish playwright’s most enduring comedies, with some of the funniest and well-known lines of any of Wilde’s plays.

A new co-production by Bruiser Theatre Company and the MAC, showing exclusively at the MAC this spring, The Importance of Being Earnest will open for a three-week run from 24 March until 15 April 2017.

The recurring themes of marriage, courtship and mundane social obligations ring as true today in this punchy retelling of the classic as when Wilde first put pen to paper.

Boasting some of the funniest lines in the English language, this is Earnest for a 2017 audience interpreted by an all-male cast.

Starring Joseph Derrington as protagonist Algernon Moncrieff and Joseph O’Malley as Jack Worthing, who become entangled in a hilarious plot, forcing each to maintain their fictitious personae ‘Earnest’ to win the hearts of two endearing ‘women’.

Simon Magill, Creative Director at the MAC, said: “The MAC is an organisation that champions new, innovative artistic experiences for audiences and artists alike. We’re delighted to present Wilde’s classic in Bruiser Theatre Company’s vibrant theatrical style.  The Importance of Being Earnest will be a guaranteed night of entertaining fun for those familiar with and new to Oscar Wilde.”

Lisa May, Director, Bruiser Theatre Company said: “Our adaption of The Importance of Being Earnest is a real treat for lovers of classic Wilde, but also for theatre-goers looking for an all-out comedy night at theatre. In our version, we stay true to Wilde’s original words and characters, but deliver in the unique Bruiser style.

“We’ve been working hard to tackle Wilde’s comic masterpiece – bringing to the fore timeless themes of relationships and identity, still as relevant to audiences today as ever.”

For theatre-goers seeking to embrace an added taste of the Victorian era before the show, the MAC’s in-house café and restaurant NATIVE will be offering a delightful afternoon tea spread from just £13 per person before the 25 March matinee.

Tickets for The Importance of Being Earnest and the one-off afternoon tea at NATIVE are now on-sale at themaclive.com.

The Annual Newtownabbey Full Length Drama Festival returns to The Courtyard Theatre from Mon 13 – Sat 18 March, with a rich selection of sensational plays by amateur dramatic groups from across Northern Ireland and beyond.

The programme kicks off on Monday 13 March as Rosemary Drama Group present BLUE STOCKINGS by Jessica Swayle.  At the first college in Britain to admit women, the ladies study ferociously and match their male peers grade for grade. Yet when the men graduate, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of being “blue stockings” – an unnatural, educated woman. They are denied degrees and go home unqualified and unmarriageable. Tess Moffat and her fellow first years are determined to win the right to graduate.

On Tuesday 14 March the Clarence Players present THE MAI by Marina Carr.

An accomplished beautiful 40 year old woman, The Mai, has always sought an exceptional life. Robert, her cellist husband, has always felt stifled by The Mai’s ideals of perfection. After seventeen years he leaves her, whereupon she sets about building a dream house in the hope that one day he will return to her. From her fairy tale castle The Mai waits by the window for her dark-haired prince to return. Set in the inspiring surroundings of the West of Ireland, on the banks of the legendary Owl Lake, we enter this world on the day of Robert’s return after an absence of four years. Deeply theatrical and profoundly intense, The Mai is an epic tale of love and loss, of elusive dreams shattered by vulgar but inescapable reality.  (Some strong language)      

Wednesday 15 March, Theatre 3 Newtownabbey present HEROES by Gerald Sibleyras. In this hilarious but poignant translation, we meet three World War 1 veterans who pass their monotony-filled days in a military hospital by engaging in verbal battles of long-forgotten military campaigns, grumbling about the staff and reflecting on their lives. Gustave, Phillipe and Henri – all war heroes– are plotting an escape. While keeping each other company on the back patio, they hatch a plan to escape to Indochina, or at least to a picnic under the poplars on the nearby hill.  (Some strong language)

Thursday 16 March, Holywood Players present HUMBLE BOY by Charlotte Jones.

All is not well in the Humble Hive. 35 year old Felix is a Cambridge astro-physicist in search of a unified field theory. Following the sudden death of his father, Felix returns to his middle-England home and his difficult and demanding mother, and soon realises his search for unity must include his own chaotic life.

On Friday 17 March, Bart Players present SUMMER by Hugh Leonard. Three married couples, accompanied by the son of one and the daughter of another, assemble on a hillside near Dublin to picnic. During the afternoon the relationships between them on the surface and beneath become apparent, while the young people regard their elders somewhat sardonically across the generation gap. Six years pass and the group come together again but the place has changed and so have they.  

Estuary Players bring the Festival to a close as they present NOVEMBER by David Mamet on Saturday 18 March. It is November in a presidential election year and the incumbent Charles Smith’s chances for re-election are looking grim! Approval ratings are down, his money is running out and nuclear war might be imminent! November is a scathing, hilarious take on the state of American politics today. (Some strong language)

Why not join us for what promises to be a Festival of moving, at times ironic and often hilarious productions, performed by some of the best community companies performing in Ireland today.

Festival tickets are available from box office T: 028 9034 0202 or online at www.thecourtyardtheatre.com

 The Millennium Forum welcomes home to Northern Ireland rising star Ben Kerr, who will be playing March Hare in the UK tour of WONDERLAND when it hosts the Irish Premiere from Tues 21^st March for a week-long run.

Hailed by critics as ‘nothing short of spine-tingling’ with ‘an outstandingly strong cast’, WONDERLAND is delighting audiences throughout the UK. It’s an enchanting musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, with a huge heart, a medley of magic and a whole lot of wonder. It is a timely and touching story of love and an adventurous exploration of who we are, who we want to be and the power of everyday magic in our lives.

Originally from Dungannon in County Tyrone, Ben Kerr’s theatre credits include the West End, UK & Ireland Tours and European Broadcast of The Rocky Horror Show. When he was last on home ground Ben starred in the Millennium Forum’s Teenage Kicks, which was produced for the UK City of Culture in 2013. He is ‘excited to bring Wonderland to Northern Ireland and spend a bit of time on home turf’.

The stellar cast includes West End star and accomplished actress Wendi Peters, well known for her portrayal of Cilla Battersby-Brown in Coronation Street, as Queen of Hearts and musical theatre star Dave Willetts, who rose to fame for playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera, as White Rabbit.

West End rising star Michelle Pentecost will play Alice in Derry, as well as Alternate Alice / Mad Hatter at other venues. Essex-born Michelle has recently appeared in the title roles of Evita and Wicked in London’s West End.

Following sold out seasons in Tampa, Texas and Tokyo, the multi Grammy, Tony and Drama Desk Award nominated Frank Wildhorn’s Wonderland plays at Derry’s Millennium Forum from Tuesday 21^st to Saturday 25^th March 2017 as part of its first ever UK tour.  Tickets are now available from the Box Office.  Telephone 71 264455 or visit millenniumforum.co.uk for bookings.

From Friday 17th – Sunday 19th March your visit to the Navan Centre will also include a special opening of the Iron Age Dwelling.

To coincide with the Home of St. Patrick Festival this is your pre-season chance to meet with the Celtic characters as they relive Celtic life.

Over the weekend they will be making pottery, weaving belts and of course cooking.  Join in and experience life as a Celt as you step back to a time gone by.

No pre-booking required. Normal Summer admission charges apply.  The Centre is open daily from 10.00am – 4.00pm, last ticket is sold at 3.00pm.

For information please contact: Navan Centre, 81 Killylea Road, Armagh.  BT60 4LD.  Tel 028 3752 9644 or www.navan.com