THE Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable team led by festival curator Liam McCarthy have put together a brilliant programme of events happening over two weeks for their annual Bualadh Bos Children’s Festival this October. (from Sunday 1 to Saturday 14)
Limerick Post chatted to festival curator Liam McCarthy about the upcoming festival.
Liam McCarthy is a playwright, originally from Limerick and returned to the city after spending ten years in Dublin. He has helped develop ideas for the festival and source new talent for the lineup over the last few years.
“The thing about this festival is this really outstanding work. You won’t see better children’s work anywhere.”
Dutch company De Stilte are an example of these high standards with their new dance show Wait A Minute.
“This Dutch Dance Company is the best in Europe for children’s dance touring all over the world. They tour South Africa before coming to Limerick. They started out just putting on shows in school halls, they are very much into community engagement.”
De Stilte will do workshops in schools (St. John’s and St. Michael’s) while they are here for their shows in Dance Limerick on Friday October 13 and Saturday October 14.
Engaging and inspiring children and their families and teachers with the performing arts is high on Liam’s agenda during this two week festival.
“The big thing for us is community engagement. It’s really important to engage with schools so we don’t do the festival during the holidays. My job is to get children to Bualadh Bos who haven’t been there before.”
An important element of the festival is the Pay It Forward Fundraising Campaign. The aim is to include as many children as possible in the annual Bualadh Bos Children’s Festival and to reach families who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend. Working with Doras, this campaign will allow more children and families to be included this October and throughout the autumn family programme. You can contribute to the Pay It Forward Fundraising Campaign when you buy a ticket to any show under the donation tab. Tickets will then be distributed to families over the coming weeks.
As Limerick’s only arts festival dedicated to children Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable have announced a packed programme of exciting events. Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Company and Ceol Connected present the enchanting When The Moon Spun Round and the festival welcomes back Galway based company Branar with a gorgeous show, Rothar.
The festival will bring a story from Limerick via Australia when world-famous Australian company Slingsby will perform The Boy Who Talked to Dogs for the first time in Limerick. It is a special show telling the true Limerick story of Martin McKenna who grew up in Garryowen, ran away from home to live with a pack of dogs and ended up in Australia where he wrote a book about his adventures.
Liam says that the festival went to great lengths to get this production yo Limerick this year.
“We are also very lucky, we have a company from Australia called Slingsby. And again, for my money, they’re one of the best companies making work for young people. This is for older children (12+), called The Boy Who Talked To Dogs about a boy from Limerick who ran away from home and was adopted by a pack of stray dogs.
This company, Slingsby, has been taking this show around the world. It’s a big scale show and the team in Belltable went out on a limb to get this show.”
“It’s also just brilliant theatre making, they’re an incredible company.”
There are two school shows on Friday October 13 and two public shows on Saturday October 14 (2.30pm and 6.30pm).
The popular Bualadh Bos Family Day takes place on Sunday October 8 at Belltable. This jam-packed day features A Masterclass with Boss Rob, The Bualadh Bop with DJ Aoife Nic Canna, crafts with Duffy Mooney-Sheppard and featuring theatre artist Darren Yorke. T
The day will be topped off with a family film screening of The Goonies.
All the family can set their inner anarchist free at Moxie Brawl’s Punk Alley.
“Punk Alley is a very different show. It’s a punk rock gig and it’s all about children’s rights.
“It’s all about making noise and being bold and expressing your opinion. It’s an incredibly inclusive show. The music is great. It’s made by an artist based in the UK called Sarah Blanc, who is actually Irish.
“Their material is brilliant, loud and wild and unapologetic!”
Moxie Brawl’s Punk Alley was conceived and choreographed by Sarah Blanc, with music direction and original compositions by alternative theatre composer Quiet Boy and lyrics, story and music contributions by punk poet and theatre maker Brigitte Aphrodite.
Punk Alley plays at Lime Tree Theatre on Tuesday October 10.
An innovation that has paid high dividends for the festival is their Bualadh Bos Children’s Panel. The first rule of show business is to know your audience. Liam and the team have established a children’s panel for the BualadhBos Festival. For the last three years these kids give their opinions on the events that the festival hosts and come up with suggestions for future festivals.
“I’ve had the privilege to work closely with the Bualadh Bos Children’s Panel to shape our festival. They are a group of kids that saw everything last year.
“This is the third year, we’re doing the panel. In the first year they said to me, there’s no dancing and there’s no music. So they are taking me out of my lane. So, Okay. Here you go. This festival is packed with dance and music events.
We will also screen The Goonies. The kids wanted something in the festival that their parents would have seen when they were kids.”
