Summer Drama Camp – Booking now!

Barnstorm’s exciting Youth Drama Camp will run from 24th to 28th July – a fun-filled theatre camp for children and young teenagers who are interested in drama and theatre.

Facilitated by Barnstorm’s resident Youth Theatre leader, Anna Galligan, the workshops are open to all aged between 8 yrs and 14 yrs.  There is no previous experience needed.  Workshops work on different elements of performance and they culminate in a showing for family at the end of the week.  

The workshops also encourage the development of confidence and social skills. All the sessions will be delivered knowing it’s the summer holidays so enjoyment and fun is high on the agenda!

Where? The Barn, Church Lane, Kilkenny (behind St Canice’s Cathedral)

When? 24th – 28th July 2016

10am -1pm   :  8-10 yrs.

2pm – 5pm    : 11 – 14 yrs.

• Cost is €70, with a 10% discount for members of the same family
• To register your interest contact Anna at anna@barnstorm.ie/ 056 7751266
• Places are reserved on a first come first served basis and cannot be guaranteed until a deposit is received
• Parental consent, a registration form and a non-refundable deposit of €30 is required to secure a place
• Please make cheques payable to Barnstorm Theatre Company

For more information contact Anna at anna@barnstorm.ie or 056 7751266.

A family play for young and old.

“A sophisticated piece of children’s theatre that will engage young audiences on a variety of levels. ” 4 Stars **** – Irish Times

“Pure magic! The play is whimsical, fun and full of adventure and allows children and adults to rediscover the mystery in everyday things. I highly recommend it!” – Kilkenny Reporter

Noelle Brown and Iseult Casey in Monday’s Child. Photo: Dylan Vaughan

With generous support from Culture Ireland the delightful Monday’s Child tours with the UK’s house touring network in February & March.

Monday’s Child tells a simple poetic story of the unique bond between an old woman and a little girl. Together in a dream-like garden, they sing and dance and dress up as they joyously explore a treasure trove of memories. 

The play was developed with input from neuroscientists at the University of Sussex, and the Alzheimer’s Society UK. Writer Brendan Murray says, “it came from a director whose mother-in-law has Alzheimer’s and she was interested in the relationship between her mother and her children. So we started to look at the idea of memory and the relationship between different generations.”

The play was selected as one of the Guardian’s Theatre Top Ten of 2014. Barnstorm’s production premiered in Ireland in 2014, toured in spring 2015 and 2016. This UK tour is presented by house.

For children aged 4+ years, their families and teachers. Running time: 45 mins.

More reviews:

“A trip to Monday’s Child is worth every second of the performance. Some gorgeous theatre for young and old.” – KCLRfm Arts Show

“…Another gem from Barnstorm! Magical was the word I heard most after the play; from children and adults alike.” – Principal M Kelly, Presentation Primary, Kilkenny

“I’ve never seen anything so moving and so, so beautiful. Definitely one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen.” – Claire McNeill, IRISH TV Presenter

In early February, rehearsals will begin in The Barn for a new play for young children.

Star Chasers is written by Scott Young of OddManOut Theatre. The play is created especially for  children aged 4 – 7 and creating it included devising sessions in The Barn in May and November last year. Actors Paul Curley, Fiona McGeown, Ita Morrissey and Katy Weir were involved in the devising, along with Barnstorm’s Anna Galligan and Philip Hardy.

What is the play about?

A modern-day adventure for all, Star Chasers sees Billy and Dad heading north with just a tent and a box full of Mam’s memories. On the way they pitch their tent, conjure Mam’s stories and quarrel as they seek journey’s end and a new beginning.

Star Chasers is a rich exploration of the relationship between a parent and child and their attempts to come to terms with the shared loss in their lives. A tapestry of music, movement and magical imagery.

This is a world-premiere of a new play for children 4+ years, their teachers and families.

The Barn, Kilkenny
Bookings: 056 7751266

Schools Performances:
From Monday 27 Feb to Friday 10 March; daily at 10am & 12 noon.

Family Performances:
Sat 11th March 12 noon and 2pm

World-premiere of a new play by Scott Young, for children 4+ years, their teachers and families.

A modern-day adventure for all, Star Chasers sees Billy and Dad heading north with just a tent and a box full of Mam’s memories.

On the way they pitch their tent, conjure Mam’s stories and quarrel as they seek journey’s end and a new beginning.

This is a rich exploration of the relationship between a parent and child and their attempts to come to terms with the shared loss in their lives. A tapestry of music, movement and magical imagery.

Venue: The Barn, Kilkenny;  Booking: 056 7751266

Schools Performances: Monday 27 Feb to Friday 10 March, daily at 10:00 and 12:00.

Family Performances: Sat 11th March 12 noon and 2.00pm

Henry and Bucket tour to North America! 

The Bockety World of Henry & Bucket travels to North America to delight family audiences in New York, Florida,  Virginia, New Jersey, Kansas, Arkansas and four cities in Ontario, Canada. Paul Curley (Bucket) and Aidan Crowe (Henry), along with crew Steve Rider and Joe Glasgow kick off the first performance on Sunday January 15 at Long Island Children’s Museum.

Poetic, humorous and rich in visual antics, this play explores friendship through a day in the life of two friends who have been likened to a modern-day Laurel and Hardy. For children aged 4+.

For more information go to: barnstorm.ie/north-america-tour

This tour is supported by Culture Ireland.

What reviewers say:

“Bockety Brilliance”  4**** STARS! – The Irish Times

“a stand-out piece of children’s theatre” – Irish Theatre Magazine

“Barnstorm is…wickedly sure-footed with their Samuel Beckett meets Heath-Robinson two- hander…There’s touching humanity amidst the hilarity” 4**** STARS! – The Herald Scotland

“…achieved that rather amazing goal of being able to make a small and limited world as big as the sky through inventiveness and imagination, something children have the capacity to do and adults too easily forget. Their fantastical car journey is a joy to behold!” – The Edinburgh Guide

“Great fun and great theatre” –  The Edinburgh Guide

“A fantastic show” – Team Juice, Edinburgh 

“A touchingly humorous and thoughtful production that explores ways in which human beings overcome obstacles and difficulties in relationships with the people we care most about.” – The Bath and Wiltshire Parent

“…the production reflects and sanctifies children’s imaginative play, and the relationship between play and theatre for young audiences.” – Children’s Theatre Reviews.com

“Here is another brilliant, completely different, production which speaks to, and says as much about, married couples as four-year-olds.” – Children’s Theatre Reviews.com

Put the date in your diary! Friday 18 November is the GALA night of Barnstorm’s terrific new family play The Messenger by Mike Kenny.

Families can book now for this World Premiere performance. There is a second family show on Saturday 19 November. Both shows start at 7.30pm.

Tickets are €10 and Family of 4 tickets are only €32. 

Watergate Theatre Box Office: 056 77 61674 / www.watergatetheatre.com

How one child keeps it together while war breaks out on the streets of his home town…

Christy ‘Bullet’ Brady is a boy with a mission. He wants to be the fastest runner in his street. When the Easter Rising kicks off, revolution is the last thing on Christy’s mind. He’s just carrying a message for his Ma. It turns out to be just the first of many messages he carries that week..

For children aged 8+
Running time: 65 mins approx

Tickets: €10     Family of 4: €32
Bookings: Watergate Theatre – 056 7761674 / www.watergatetheatre.com

A specially-commissioned play, written by Mike Kenny

A World Premiere

How one child keeps it together
while war breaks out on the streets of his home town…

Christy (Bullet) Brady is a boy with a mission. He wants to be the fastest runner in his street. If he can only run fast enough, he’ll be taken on as a messenger boy and maybe earn a bit of money for his family.

Europe is at war and in Dublin times are hard. When the Easter Rising kicks off, revolution is the last thing on Christy’s mind. He’s just carrying a message for his Ma. It turns out to be just the first of many messages he carries that week, and each one takes him closer and closer to the heart of the conflict.

The Messenger looks at the impact of the Rising on ordinary families like the Brady’s, and at the messages that history carries from the past to the present. The play offers the opportunity to take a wider view of children’s lives in conflict today.

For children aged 8+         Running time: 60 mins approx

County Kilkenny Schools booking The Messenger will be offered a free drama workshop in their school, exploring the themes of the play. Barnstorm has collaborated with Ann Murtagh, teacher and Tutor at Kilkenny Education Centre, to create this resource. Futher details on booking.
This initiative is supported by Kilkenny County Council as part of their Centenary Programme.

Schools are back this week and so we are straight into our next production.

After two separate devising weeks before the summer, preparations for Barnstorm’s new play The Messenger are well under way! Schools will soon receive advance notice of the Watergate performances to facilitate their term planning.

Here is a sneak preview of the illustration for the play’s publicity:

Illustration by Ale Mercado

More details about the performances times  in the Watergate Theatre autumn brochure. Coming Soon!

In marking 25 years of theatre-making Barnstorm is delighted to partner with Kilkenny Arts Festival to present a season of plays for children and their families during the Festival. This season is supported by Kilkenny County Council.

Three wonderful productions for a range of ages, will be presented in The Barn Theatre from Sat 6 August to Sun 14 August.  Rothe House plays host to two performances during the Festival week. All bookings should be made through Kilkenny Arts Festival Box Office.

Box Office – 056 775 2175
Online –  www.kilkennyarts.ie
Tickets (all performances) – General Admission: €8 / Family of 4: €30

Please note that numbers are limited for some performances. Early booking is advised! Children must be accompanied by an adult.

From Scotland, Shone Reppe presents The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean

‘a highly original, beautifully delicate and thoroughly engaging piece of children’s theatre’ – Sunday Herald
‘A truly wonderful show that will charm parents as much as their children’ – The Stage
Winner: Theatre Awards UK, best production for children and young people.

Who was Josephine Bean? The wonderful and surprising secret is revealed with each turn of the page… Join the world-renowned scrapologist, Patricia Barker, as she discovers the secrets held within the pages of a scrapbook.  Everything is flat, pressed, squished. A dusty, musty smell mixes with the scent of old lavender and slowly, page-by-page, the scrapbook becomes a window into a secret world and a curious life unfolds before us.

AGE 7+
Running time: 45 minutes     Tickets : €8 / Family of 4: €30

Venue: The Barn, Church Lane
Dates: Sat 6 and Sun 7 August
Times:  12 noon and 3pm both days

From Belfast, Young at Arts presents Once Upon A Time

‘One of the most delightful kids shows I have ever been a part of’ – Audience member

Once Upon A Time is a unique interactive performance where children actively take part in the creation and telling of a new story!

The very trusted and nearly excellent Guardians of Tall Tales and Small Stories look after EVERY STORY EVER MADE IN THE WORLD in the most magical library …but there was a fire and the stories were destroyed! The Guardians of Tall Tales and Small Stories have to find EVERY story again and have found all of them……EXCEPT FOR ONE!

Can you help them find the very last missing story?

AGE 5+
Running time: 45 minutes      Tickets (both venues) : €8 / Family of 4: €30

Venue: The Barn, Church Lane
Date: Wed 10 August
Times:  10.30am & 12.30pm

Venue: The Barn, Church Lane
Date: Thur11 August
Times: 12.30pm & 3pm

Venue: Rothe House, Parliament Street
Performances: Wed 10 August at 3pm & Thur 11 August at 10.30am

From Belfast, Cahoots NI presents Shh! We Have a Plan

Prepare to be enchanted and amazed by this unique and engaging production featuring Magic, Music, Puppetry and lots lots more!

Shh! We have a Plan is the brand-new theatre production by the multi-award-winning theatre company Cahoots NI.

Based on the Chris Haughton book of the same title, this delightful and poignant tale follows the journey of some madcap characters, each of whom has a plan: they all want to capture a beautiful bird perched high in a tree! Sounds simple, but the quest becomes an obsession and the obsession becomes the absurd! Where will it all end?

Join us as we follow the characters’ exploits, meet an elusive and magical little birdie and discover that perhaps freedom and kindness are more important than getting what you want at any cost!

AGE 4+
Running time: 45 minutes     Tickets – General Admission: €8 / Family of 4: €30

Venue: The Barn, Church Lane
Dates: Sat 13 and Sun 14 August
Times:  12 noon and 3pm both day

ALL BOOKINGS:
Kilkenny Arts Festival Box Office – 056 775 2175
Online –  www.kilkennyarts.ie
Tickets (all performances) – General Admission: €8 / Family of 4: €30

Barnstorm Theatre Company and Watergate Theatre present a joint production of Brian Friel’s Translations in April.

Translations is a three-act play by Irish playwright Brian Friel, written in 1980. It is set in the townland of Baile Beag (Ballybeg), a Donegal village in 19th century agricultural Ireland.

Friel has said that Translations is “a play about language and only about language” but it deals with a wide range of issues, stretching from language and communication, to Irish history and cultural imperialism.

Friel responds strongly to both political and language questions in modern-day Northern Ireland. He said that his play “should have been written in Irish” but, despite this fact, he carefully crafted the verbal action in English which makes the dynamics of the play come alive, and brings its political questions into focus.

The cast includes Alan Butler, Jim Carroll, Brendan Corcoran, Paul Derby, Seamus Greene, Maria Murray, Natasha Murray, Eoin Nangle-Ryan, Muireann Ryan, John Whitely.

Bookings are now open at Watergate Theatre for Translations from Wed 27th April to Sat 30th April at 8pm, with a school show at on Thursday at 11:30am.

Tickets: €15/ €12

For the reduced school/ group ticket price, please contact Watergate Box Office on 056 7761674