The Writers’ Room
By Michael Shannon
Directed by Richard Lavery

Designed by Rachel Szmukler. Sound Design by Martin Byrne. Lighting Design by Jacqueline O’Hagan

Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd October 2011

A one-act dark comedy thriller in a two day special performance, that’s part of this years Belfast Fringe and performed in the Baby Grand at the Grand Opera House

After sell-out performances at this years Pick ‘n’ Mix from the MAC and an exciting tour in London over the summer, Accidental Theatre is bringing this fast paced and claustrophobic, one-act dark comedy thriller is back in Belfast for two special performances in the Baby Grand.  With witty and intelligent writing Shannon keeps the tension rising and the jokes coming as the world around four writers unravels and they fight for survival.

Chief Executive of the Grand Opera House, Michael Ockwell said, “I am delighted that the Grand Opera House is a part of this year’s Belfast Fringe Festival and especially delighted that we are hosting Accidental Theatre’s THE WRITERS’ ROOM. It is no surprise that they enjoyed sell out performances during it’s run at the Pick ‘n’ Mix Festival and I certainly anticipate the same success for both performances at The Baby Grand. The Grand Opera House is committed to supporting and engaging with local companies like Accidental Theatre and welcome any opportunity to work in partnership with them.”

Featured as part of the Belfast Fringe Festival and written by local writer Michael Shannon, it tells the story of four very different yet struggling writers. Once a week, all four meet up to rip apart each others work. Kirk can’t quit setting his stories in space. Sweet M.T.’s one-woman show is missing a good monologue. Ryan hasn’t the guts to confront life on or off the page. And Beth is desperately searching for an ending. On the day in which the piece is set, when all four arrive for their meeting a script is sitting on the table waiting for them…

Debuting during Accidental’s series of rehearsed readings last year and with sell-out performances at this years Pop-Up Pick ‘n’ Mix Festival and the Camden Fringe, we are excited to be bringing this brilliant show back to Belfast.

What the audience thought…

“Something outta the ordinary, really interesting, it’s fast, it’s quick, it’s witty!”

London Audience Member

“The girls are pretty, the writings good, come and see the play!”

London Audience Member

What the Audience Thinks!

For press enquiries, ticket bookings, interviews and images please contact Richard Lavery on 07912158109 or e-mail info@accidentaltheatre.co.uk

Listings Information

Producer

Accidental Theatre in association with the Grand Opera House

Production

The Writers’ Room

Written by Michael Shannon

Directed by Richard Lavery

Cast: Aisling Groves-McKeown, Katy Charlotte Campalani, Dan Leith and Matt Faris

Venue

Baby Grand

Grand Opera House, Belfast

Performances

21 & 22 October

Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm

Saturday night performance is captioned

Box Office

Online

www.goh.co.uk

By Telephone

028 9024 1919

Ticket Price

£7

NICOLE “SNOOKI” POLIZZI AND JENNI “JWOWW” FARLEY FROM “JERSEY SHORE”

AND ASHLEY RICKARDS OF “AWKWARD” ANNOUNCED AS PRESENTERS

THE 18^TH ANNUAL AWARDS SHOW PREMIERES

SUNDAY, 6^th NOVEMBER AT 9PM BST

LONDON / NEW YORK – 17 October 2011 – The line-up at the “2011 MTV EMA” keeps getting more and more impressive, as MTV today announced that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars – two of the hottest pop sensations in recent years, and this year’s top female and male EMA nominees – will both perform at the show in Belfast. Additionally, the first batch of 2011 MTV EMA presenters has been announced: Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jenni “JWOWW” Farley of Jersey Shore fame, and Ashley Rickards from MTV’s newest hit scripted series Awkward are confirmed to appear. Hosted by multi-talented singer and actress Selena Gomez, the “2011 MTV EMA” will premiere Sunday, November 6th at 9PM BST. The “2011 MTV EMA” is sponsored by Dell, Replay, Hyundai and Swatch. Local host city support is provided by Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

It’s been an incredible 2011 for Gaga and Mars, both GRAMMY^®-winning, world-renowned artists. Gaga, leader of the Little Monsters who fascinates all with her musical genius, fashion sense and performance art, has been enjoying the huge success of her third studio album Born This Way, while Mars, music’s top quadruple threat, achieved multi-platinum status for his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and will end his sold-out European tour with a performance at the MTV EMA.

Gaga and Mars join previously announced EMA performers Coldplay, Jessie J and LMFAO, all of whom will rock the stage at the Odyssey Arena; Red Hot Chili Peppers, who will perform at Belfast’s legendary Ulster Hall; and Snow Patrol and Jason Derulo, who will take the stage at Belfast’s iconic City Hall. This is the first time the “MTV EMA” will be presented from three locations throughout the show’s host city.

About Lady Gaga

LADY GAGA came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), which included the hits “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” and “Bad Romance” and sold over 15 million copies worldwide. She is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including five GRAMMY^® Awards amongst twelve nominations, two Guinness World Records, a record setting 13 MTV Video Music Award nominations and the estimated sale of 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide. Billboard named her both the “2010 Artist of the Year” and the top selling artist of 2010, ranking her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade. Her third studio album, Born This Way, broke the iTunes record for the fastest rise to the # 1 on release day. The singles from the album, including “Born This Way,” “Judas,” “The Edge of Glory” and “Yoü and I” have sold a combined total of more than 7 million copies in the US alone. Gaga was named Forbes’ Most Powerful Woman in the World 2011 and was included in Time’s annual “The 2010 Time 100” list of the most influential people in the world. With over 1.9 billion combined views of all her videos online, Lady Gaga is one of the biggest living people on Facebook with over 44 million ‘likes’ and is #1 on Twitter with over 14 million followers. Lady Gaga is the only artist in the digital era to top the 5 million sales mark with her first two hits.

About Bruno Mars

It might seem that Bruno Mars appeared out of nowhere, co-writing, producing and performing on B.o.B’s #1 “Nothin’ On You” followed by Travie McCoy’s chart-climbing “Billionaire”, but he makes one thing clear: “It’s not an overnight success”. Mars is a multitalented singer, songwriter, producer and musician who feels most at home when he’s performing. Born to a musical family in Honolulu, Hawaii, he was practically raised on the stage and the only place he would rather be than in the recording studio, is with his band on stage – where he grew up.

About the 2011 MTV EMA

Viewers can vote for their favorite EMA artists by visiting www.mtvema.com. Lady Gaga leads the pack of EMA nominees with six nods, with Katy Perry and Bruno Mars following closely behind with four nominations. Adele, Justin Bieber and Thirty Seconds To Mars are each up for three awards. Other EMA nominees include Foo Fighters, Snoop Dogg, My Chemical Romance, Jennifer Lopez, LMFAO, Jessie J, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Eminem, Arcade Fire, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Far East Movement, Kanye West, Linkin Park, Wiz Khalifa and Kings of Leon. Richard Godfrey and Bruce Gillmer are Executive Producers for the “2011 MTV EMA.”  For all MTV EMA news and announcements, check out EMA on Facebook and follow us @ EMA Twitter.  For MTV EMA press materials, please visit press.mtvema.com.

*check local listings; the show will air tape delayed in some markets.

The ‘All Male Fashion Show’ is an event by Cookstown and Magherafelt Lions Club, inspired by their first female President, Emma McCann.

The event will not only feature the men themselves, but also top class entertainment including the fabulous Whistle Bait Babies burlesque troupe, live music by the Glackins while the compere for the night will be the inimitable Lady Portia Di Monte.

Emma has taken on the huge task of organising this event to raise awareness of the invaluable work that the Lions Club does year in year out, and to promote the pressing need for men to be attentive to their health, in particular the early detection of Testicular Cancer.

“This night is all about the men,” said Emma.

“As well as having a bit of fun and modelling  the latest fashion offerings from Sportique, Next and RA Cuddy’s, we will be highlighting the fact that the most common cancer in men aged 15-45 is testicular cancer.  Men’s health is so often overlooked and the Lions are delighted to be in a position to promote this very worthwhile cause”.

“As President of the Cookstown and Magherafelt Lions Club I hope this event shows the public just how much work we do to promote good causes both locally and internationally.  At the heart of our work is the motto ‘We Serve’ and we are dedicated to raising awareness and money to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves”.

“This event will be central to this year’s work and we are delighted at the phenomenal demand for tickets which has seen all 230 tickets sell-out.”

If you are interested in learning more about the work that Lions Clubs do, or are interested in joining a local group, please email cookstownmagherafeltlionsclub@gmail.com

Watch this space for all the news after the event!!

Please take some time to browse the programme of events. The exhibition is free to attend. Workshops are reasonably priced and marked accordingly.But, remember, this event is strictly TRADE ONLY so please don’t book or turn up if you don’t work in the hospitality industry.

Limited Gourmet Dinner Tickets Available

We have a very limited number of tickets available for the Hospitality Exchange Gourmet Dinner, which will be held in the Culloden Estate & Spa on Monday 17th October. Michelin starred chef, Atul Kochhar, will cook and present an amazing menu combining the best of local ingredients with his unique blend of spices. Each diner at this exclusive event will be treated to wines matched with every course and a signed copy of Atul’s book. Tickets are £130 including vat, wines, book and an amazing seven-course dinner. Please contact the office on 028 9077 6635 for further details or to book a place. This event is a complete sell-out every year so don’t delay.

Ezine

If you would like to sign up to our special Hospitality Exchange Ezine, please click through HERE and complete your details.

Need to print a Mini-Programme? Just click HERE to download a PDF.

Gordons Chemists throughout Northern Ireland would appeal to all women aged 40-49 and 70+ to call into the store on Friday 21 October 2011 during ‘Breast Action Day’.  The Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign is running instore throughout the month of October, however this is the focus day for ladies to sign up for a breast screening with Northern Ireland’s leading local cancer charity, Action Cancer.

Since the partnership began four years ago, 2,000 women have completed request forms instore and, in addition to providing self-referral forms, Northern Ireland’s largest independent pharmacy chain is committed to supporting Action Cancer with instore fundraising.  Staff and customers have raised a vital £130,000 towards the screening programme, enabling more than 1,600 women to be screened, as every £80.00 raised instore provides one screening.

Across Northern Ireland on Friday 21 October, Gordons Chemists will be dressing their stores and staff in pink to celebrate the fact that early detection saves lives.  You can support the campaign by buying a pink ribbon, a raffle ticket or simply by making a donation in store.

Call into your local Gordons Chemists throughout the month of October, contact Action Cancer on tel 028 9080 3344 or visit www.actioncancer.org for further information.

A brand new Swatch Event Showroom has opened its doors to welcome in Belfast’s most discerning shoppers and browsers. Temporarily located in the city’s Victoria Square Shopping Centre, this unique space features the new Swatch & Fashion collection designed by Jeremy Scott, the New Gent 3 collection, the Colour Code collection, among other amazing styles. A selection of interactive devices, situated in the Event Showroom, will enable visitors to discover more about Swatch’s fascinating history as well as its various ongoing projects, events and collaborations. Customers captivated by the various amazing products on display will, of course, be able to purchase them within the Event Showroom.

Swatch has consistently championed and explored the exciting links between Art, Fashion and Sport – three areas which form the pillars of the Swatch brand. More specifically, the convergence of the best contemporary fashion and music is often at the heart of Swatch collections and events. With this in mind, the Swatch Event Showroom purposefully celebrates the relationship between all-things sonic and stylish, and is being launched a few weeks ahead of the much-anticipated 2011 MTV EMAs, taking place in Belfast’s Odyssey Arena, on November 6th. Swatch is one of the main pan European sponsors of this year’s show.

To capture the excitement and spirit of the 2011 MTV EMAs, the Swatch Event Showroom store will be hosting some really amazing competitions. As of Wednesday, October 12th – in the run-up to the 2011 MTV EMAs – participants over the age of 18 will have the chance to win standard tickets to the momentous event!

The Swatch Event Showroom offers yet another confirmation of Swatch’s ongoing commitment to the crossover of fashion and music in the 21st century. Just like the 2011 MTV EMAs, it also promises to be a lot of fun!

Foursquare Check-in

Customers who want to have a chance to win tickets to the 2011 MTV EMAs can visit the Swatch Event Showroom and do a check-in on Foursquare. A Foursquare Check-in Special will allow people who have checked-in to the Swatch Event Showroom to enter a sweepstake by filling an online form. Two winning tickets will be allocated every second day to a participant and his or her guest of choice. The sweepstake will be running from Wednesday, October 12th, until Friday, November 4th, with 24 tickets in all being offered as prizes!

Herewith the link to the Swatch Event Showroom on Foursquare:

http://swatch.me/eventshowroom

Snap Dance

Another opportunity for customers to win tickets to the 2011 MTV EMAs is by them visiting the Swatch Event Showroom to record a short video of themselves performing their own Snap Dance routine! Two winning tickets will be allocated every second day to one participant and his guest of choice, between Wednesday, October 12^th and Friday, November 4th, with 24 tickets in all being offered as prizes!

Winners’ names from both competitions will be published on swatch.com and they will all be contacted by Swatch, re-verifying that their age is 18 years old or over.

It is a theatrical phenomenon that has travelled around the globe; now ‘The Vagina Monologues’ returns to Northern Ireland courtesy of Premier Theatrical Productions, and premieres on Friday 25^th and Saturday 26^th November at the Burnavon theatre, Cookstown. The brand new production stars local comedian Carol Doey; National TV broadcaster Pamela Ballantine and the much loved Olivia Nash star of Give my Head Peace.

“The Vagina Monologues” were written in 1996 by performance artist Eve Ensler. In drafting her early monologues, Ensler conducted interviews with 200 women on the subjects of sex, relationships and violence against women. Since then, a new monologue has been added to the performance each year to highlight a current issue affecting women around the world.

Searingly funny, sometimes shocking, moving and unashamedly honest, these potent stories from a range of ages, ethnicities and sexualities will make for a jubilant night at the theatre. It’s certainly one for an ultimate girl’s night out (though it has to be said, men in the audience may learn a thing or two!).

Producer Aisling McElhone is excited about bringing The Vagina Monologues to Northern Ireland again in her debut role as a producer. “It’s a number of years since the last professional production of the show in Northern Ireland, which means there is a large audience who won’t have seen this fantastic piece.”

Veteran Director Sean Faloon is looking forward to working with Olivia, Carol and Pamela in such a famous global theatrical phenomenon, saying “You can sure trust theatre to throw up a show that’s something different. The Vagina Monologues fits the bill!”

Laughter and comedy aside (which there is plenty of in the ladies performances of the monologues), there is a serious side to the evening. The proceeds from the play go to the V-Day Charity. V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls inspired by The Vagina Monologues.

The movement was started in 1998 by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who has been quoted as saying that it was women’s reactions to the play that launched V-Day. In twelve years, the V-Day movement has raised over $75 million and reached over 300 million people. The 2011/ 2012 campaign is for “the Women and Girls of Haiti” to highlight the high levels of violence against women and girls in Haiti, and will focus on the increased rates of sexual violence since the devastating earthquake that took place in January 2010.

On the night representatives from local charities and support groups will be at the Burnavon to share in the excitement, comedy, drama and pathos that the show will bring.

Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at the Burnavon Box Office, Burn Road, Cookstown, by phone on 028 8676 9949 or online at www.burnavon.com, and are priced at £18 / £16 (concession). Keep up to date with the production and other events at www.burnavon.com

Lough Erne Resort are celebrating Ladies Golf with Europe’s recent victory at The Solhiem Cup! We are holding a special Ladies Golf Retreat 19^th & 20^th October.

This fantastic event includes

• Luxury Overnight stay
• Full Irish Breakfast
• Welcome Lunch in The Loughside Bar & Grill
• Golf School at The Faldo Academy with Lady Professional, Lynn McCool
• Pre-Tournament Dinner in The Loughside Bar & Grill
• Tournament on The Faldo Championship Course with great Prizes to be won, all for only £150 pps.

UK singer-songwriter superstar James Morrison has just announced a return to Belfast with a date at The Ulster Hall, Belfast on Saturday 28 January.   Tickets priced from £35 inclusive of booking fee go-sale Friday October 7th from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide and www.ticketmaster.ie.

James Morrison’ incredible third album “The Awakening” has just been released on Island Records.

The album, his first for the label, was produced by Bernard Butler and was recorded at Konk studios in London. It follows the huge global success of James’s previous two albums which, together, have sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide. His 2006 debut album “Undiscovered” topped the UK album chart whilst the 2008 follow-up album “Songs For You, Truths For Me” included “Broken Strings”, the collaboration with Nelly Furtado which sold in excess of 1.5 million copies.
“The Awakening” also includes an amazing collaboration, this time with Jessie J on the track “Up”. This, and one other track, was produced by Mark Taylor. All other tracks were produced by Bernard Butler.

James Morrison said; “Working with Bernard Butler on this album has brought a whole new dimension to the songs. For me this album combines influences stemming from my deep love for classic soul – Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding – with a sound that is contemporary. Making the album coincided with some very big changes in my life and I think it’s very evident from the music that this is the album I not only wanted to make but that I actually had to make right now”.

For more see: www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com / www.mcd.ie / www.ticketmaster.ie