Mind The Gap

Recently, we edited an educational video called “MIND THE GAP”. The video was filmed by students from Trim & Navan and produced by Navan School Completion Programme in association with Navan Springboard, LMETB, Meath Children and Young People’s Services Committee. The main aim of this video is to assist young people to successfully transition from primary to post-primary school. It has been produced as a companion tool to a fun and informative booklet, which can be ordered through valerie@springboardnavan.ie.
The booklet encompasses exercises to help pupils negotiate teacher expectations, new environments and the journey from established social groups into new social relations.

You can read more about the project here:

http://www.cypsc.ie/news-events/official-launch-of-mind-the-gap.2255.html

You can also watch the video here:

Curtain Call

curtain call

Meath County Council Arts Office is delighted to present Curtain Call, a one day theatre production workshop that is part of the FEACH professional arts development training programme. Curtain Call, facilitated by Delphine Coudray is designed for Meath Drama Groups, Musical Societies, clubs and individuals will explore the issues involved in producing and staging a show. This one day workshop will be held on Saturday September 12th from 11am – 4pm in the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan.

Over the course of the workshop the group will discover or re-discover the basics about production: how to choose a script or a theme, how to deal with rights, insurance, choice of venue, director, cast, crew, how to organise rehearsals, budget, set, props, costumes, marketing and audience management. Under these headlines, each participant will be given documentation and practical tools to ensure each project undertaken runs smoothly and successfully.

The afternoon session will be more hands-on, with an opportunity for participants to share past experiences, what worked and what didn’t for them on past productions, brain-storm ideas for future projects and work in smaller groups on specific cases. The facilitator will provide advice as part of a “stage clinic” session.

Delphine Coudray is the Director of local company Oulala Productions. She has more than 20 years experience in Theatre, both on and off stage. She trained in France, Denmark and Ireland (SFX City Theatre Dublin, Gaiety School of Acting, National Association for Youth Drama, Fishamble and the Association of Theatre Directors Ireland). She has directed a number of professional and community plays as well as short films and coach actors for feature films.

Places are free of charge but limited and booking is essential. All booking enquiries are to Meath County Council Arts Office at artsoffice@meathcoco.ie or 046 9097414

It Doesn’t Rub Off

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Cultùr is a community organisation working with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees promoting equal rights and opportunities to develop an intercultural County Meath. In 2013, Cultùr Migrant’s Centre commissioned a piece of research to learn more about the nature, frequency and severity of racist incidents experienced by the black community in county Meath.

Through the MORE Project (Migrants Opposed to Racism and Exploitation), which is co-financed by the European Commission under the European Integration Fund, a group of migrants came together to write a play based on the findings of the 2013 report. After many weeks of dedicated work, an excellent play has been written and rehearsals have taken place with the support of Director Delphine Coudray from Oulala Productions.

Entitled “It Doesn’t Rub Off”, the play depicts the lives of a black family, their friends and colleagues who live in the Navan area, using the actual experiences and some direct quotes from participants of the research report, a moving and thought-provoking story unfolds.

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It is quite an achievement as none of the writers or actors have ever been involved in writing or performing a drama before, yet the story they tell accurately reflects the reality of racist incidents experienced by the majority of black people living in Ireland today.

This play addresses some very important issues of racism facing migrant workers in Ireland and we would encourage all teachers, trade union members and  Meath neighbours to come along to their closest venue.

The play will have just four public performances across Meath in the following venues:

Friday September 12th at The Kells People’s Resource Centre, 8pm.

Saturday September 13th at The Castle Arch Hotel in Trim, 8pm.

Friday September 19th at St. Joseph’s Secondary School Navan, 8pm.

Saturday September 20th at Gael Scoil na Cille Ashbourne, 8pm.

Ticket prices are from €5 to €7.

For bookings and further information please contact Theresa Martin at Cultur Migrant Centre, 046 9093120 or Theresa@cultur.ie.

 As the play contains some strong language it may be inappropriate for under 15’s.

 

Game of Stones

The Boyne Valley in Ireland, like Westeros, is a land that is steeped in fantastical history. It has everything from prehistoric mounds to stone castles to medieval town walls. Archaeologists are drawn to it, while the rest of us wait to see what the new season will uncover. There is the same anticipation for a new season of Game of Thrones, and this is what inspired us to celebrate the work of the archaeologists for this years’ Day of Archaeology. Well, to be honest, we had a lot of fun last year, so we wanted to do something again. It is a great way of getting the public to interact with archaeology and to imagine what might have been.

Emma Harper, Brian Heffernan and Roy Murray on the Hill of Ward

Emma Harper, Brian Heffernan and Roy Murray on the Hill of Ward

We put the call out that we wanted to do a Game of Thrones inspired trailer based on the archaeology this year. We already had access to the type of prime locations that Hollywood scouts would love to get their hands on. All we needed was permission from the archaeologists again, some willing bodies with an uncanny resemblance to the series characters, a few creative types and fabulous costumes from the local living history group. Oh, and sunshine, in Ireland. Thankfully, we got what we needed and the result can be seen below.

But what about the archaeology that inspired it? This year, after a few seasons of remote sensing, excavations started at the multivallate earthworks on the Hill of Ward in Meath. Known as Tlachtga, this site is associated with Irish Halloween folklore and pre-Christian fire rituals. It was also the site of a murderous parlay between Gaelic and Norman lords which changed the balance of power in Medieval Ireland. The excavations were carried out by UCD School of Archaeology. This generated a lot of curiosity and it has put another fantastic site on the map for people to visit.

This year also saw the return of the Irish Archaeological Field School for their fifth season of excavations of a 13th century Dominican friary under waste ground in Trim known as the Blackfriary. This is uncovering more foundations of the friary, lots of medieval artifacts and more burials. The local community are welcome to visit the site and open days will be happening during the Summer. There is even talk about reclaiming the site to turn it into a public gardening area.

Other areas that feature in our parody are Trim Castle, (one of the finest Norman Castles in Ireland and subject to numerous seasons of excavations over the years), Newtown Cathedral and the medieval town gates of Trim.

Special thanks to the archaeologists who let us film during excavations and to all the locals who played a part. Did you recognise them?

01 Daenerys

Daenerys Targarien – Miriam Larkin

03 Joffrey

Joffrey Baratheon – Brian Garry

04 Jon Snow

Jon Snow – Jake Crinion

05 Melisandre

Melisandre – Emma Harper

06 Littlefinger

Petyr Littlefinger Baelish – Paddy Rispin

07 Stannis

Stannis Baratheon – Brian Heffernan

08 Ygritte

Ygritte – Colette Walsh

09 Shae

Shae – Camila Correa Soya

10 Robin

Robin Arryn – Billy Crinion

Tyrion paddy

Tyrion Lannister – Patrick Berigan

02 Davos

Ser Davos Seaworth – Roy Murray

Casting Call

maskLast year, the organisation Cultùr conducted a research and report about incidences of racism against black people in Meath. To launch this report, Cultùr has invited Oulala Productions and a group of volunteers close to the issue to create a play based on the findings. For the past few months, we have been busy writing and creating fictional characters to illustrate the stories and testimonies, through a series of workshops.
We are now looking to cast the characters of the play as follow:

Nikki – Mid- to late 40s,from Nigeria, Nurse, Mother of the family.
Wale – Early 50s, from Nigeria, Taxi Driver, Father of the family.
Chipo – Early 20s, from Zimbabwe, Special Needs assistant, young single woman.
Martin – Mid- to late forties, from Navan, Garda.
Paul – Early to mid-thirties, from Navan, Garda.
Padraic – Mid to late 40s, from Navan, GAA enthusiast, business owner.
Mary – Early to mid-60s, from Navan, Nurse, older workmate and friend of Nikki.
Aoife – Age not important,from Kells, Social Welfare Officer.
Victor – from South Africa, Taxi driver in Dublin, friend of Wale.
Joshua – Early 20s,from Nigeria, works in IT in Dublin, Nikki and Wale’s son.
Sandra – Early 20s, from Nigeria, studies in Dublin, Nikki and Wale’s daughter.
Tara – Early 20s, from Dublin, student, Joshua’s girlfriend, father from Africa, mother from Ireland.

Previous acting experience is not necessary but people interested in taking part in the play must be available for all rehearsals in Navan and subsequent performance dates as follow:

Cultur – Production Schedule
JULY
Saturday 5 July 6pm to 7pm Auditions
Monday 7 July 7.30-9.30pm Acting workshop with Cast
Monday 14 July 7.30-9.30pm Acting workshop with Cast – Read-through
AUGUST
Monday 4 August 7.30-9.30pm 1st Rehearsal
Monday 11 August 7.30-9.30pm 2nd Rehearsal
Monday 18 August 7.30-9.30pm 3rd Rehearsal
Thursday 21 August 7.30-9.30pm 4th Rehearsal
Monday 25 August 7.30-9.30pm 5th Rehearsal
Thursday 28 August 7.30-9.30pm 6th Rehearsal
SEPTEMBER
Monday 1 September 7.30-9.30pm 7th Rehearsal
Thursday 4 September 7.30-9.30pm 8th Rehearsal
Monday 8 September 7.30-9.30pm 9th Rehearsal
Thursday 11 September 7.30-9.30pm Dress/tech rehearsal
Friday 12 September 8pm Public show – Kells Family Resource Centre
Saturday 13 September 8pm Public show – Castle Arch Hotel – Trim
Friday 19 September 8pm Public Show – St Joseph’s Mercy – Navan
Saturday 20 September 8pm Public Show – Ashbourne (tbc)
1 day between 15-18 September tbc 1 daytime performance tbc – Navan

For more information and to express your interest, please send an email to director Delphine Coudray at oulalaprod@gmail.com with a short description about yourself, your phone unumber, why you would like to take part and, if possible, a recent photograph. Please note that Saturday’s auditions are not open auditions: you must first make contact with Delphine to obtain a slot, thank you for your understanding.

2013 Recap

Welcome to our new Website!

If you knew us before clicking here: sorry for disappearing for a while, as we were setting this up.

If you are discovering Oulala Productions and this is your first time, well don’t worry as we are going to give you a quick re-cap of what happened in 2013.

Storyteller dressed as the March Hare

March Hare at Oldbridge House – Photo by Mark Cheevers

Storytelling

Charlie Stinky Socks, The Pigeon Who Wanted to Drive the Bus, Neil Gaiman’s Crazy Hair, Aliens and the pant-tastic Christmas and a lot more were on the menu for a feast of stories, laughter, spooks and poetry. We were a bunny in Ashbourne Library for “Menagerie Mayhem”, organised by Meath County Council Arts Office.  We were the March Hare in Oldbrige House for the Battle of The Boyne fun day out, organised by the OPW. There again at Halloween, as a not-too-scary witch. That same Witch was back in Ashbourne for the Arts Office “Pucas & Potions”. Finally, we closed the book in Kilkenny Castle, as a Christmas Elf for the free festive days organised also by the OPW.

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Video

Our cameras were firmly pointed on Meath last year! We documented the “Volunteering MATters” project and its launch in Navan.  Organised by Meath Volunteer Centre’s exhibition, the month of arts workshops, conducted by local artist Mark Smith with community groups from the area, resulted in colourful painted mats displayed all over town.

Photo of a young man holding paint

Volunteering MATters – Photo by CallMarta Photo

We had great fun working with the Blackfriary team of Archaeologists to create a quirky walk through the Trim dig for the International Day of Archaeology.  Was it magic or did that Friar really bend the space-time continuum?? You can watch it below.



Festivals

Our biggest project last year was with no doubt “Project Swift”: a dream come true as we were approached by Paddy Smith, a board member of the Swift Satire Festival, to create and produce a spectacular display on the Castle for the last night of the Festival. Discovering video mapping, we worked for the first time with the brilliantly talented Lightscape Ireland, paying homage to the work and life of Jonathan Swift. You can see it below.

 

Young boy dressed in 1916 fashion

Liam Hanley in “Rising After All”

We were delighted to be back in Dunshaughlin for a third year at the heart of the town, in the courthouse for the Harvest Festival. This time, we steered from the court-room antics to explore the events of the 1916 rising, but seen through the eyes of local characters. Our play “Rising after all” saw many returning talent, but also new young recruits who braved the butterflies to do justice to the story… and their History!

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Workshops

It was all Arts & Crafts in 2013! Plenty of paint and colour for Trim Family Resource Centre… we made 2 big murals with the teens and children of the council estate: one for the launch of the Youth programme and one for Social Inclusion Week. We also provided a fun and relaxed painting workshop for the Women’s Development Programme with 15 very talented ladies.

Young girl painting a mural

Mural for Trim Family Resource Centre

Finally, we packed our glue, glitter, pompoms and magic dust to create mini Christmas trees, Angels and beautiful lanterns with children in Kilkenny castle.

It is nice to look back at all these projects and the variety of people involved. We hope to continue as we started: meeting new talent, engaging with local groups, filming, creating, laughing, making… and hopefully you will join us too!