My third day in Dublin was a Friday, October 4th. I began the day with breakfast at the Merrion Hotel, in the Garden Room. I had French Toast this time. I also had coffee, got a glass of fresh orange juice, and a plate of cheese, salami, and watermelon. There was a walking tour scheduled at 11:15 a.m. so I had a few hours to kill. I walked to the Abbey Theater so that I could take a few photos of the exterior with posters advertising the shows we were going to see. I took a lot of photos along the way. I took a photo of the Wynn’s Hotel where actors and actresses often stay when they are performing at the Abbey Theater. Based on the photos I took I can tell that I went down Dawson Street before returning to the hotel.
I think I walked with Anna and the group to the Drama in Dublin walking tour. This was a very long walk and the activity required a lot of walking too. We met outside the Gutter Bookshop on Cow’s Lane. Everyone was given an audio receiver for the tour guide’s narration. He led us through through Dublin Castle and the general area. I had plenty of opportunity to take a lot of photos. The lecture was a bit heavy on history and light on theater but I suppose it had to be that way given what was in the area. When the tour concluded we were right back at the Gutter Bookshop which was open so naturally I could not resist going inside to buy a book. I saw a tempting book on Brian Friel and a Fishamble book but then I found a copy of Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats and I had to have that. I showed this book to Anna but she did not seem to be familiar with that play.
I had lunch at Le Petit Perroquet (The Little Parrot) a shabby, cramped French cafe on Wicklow Street. I had a bowl of soup, a ham and cheese sandwich and coffee. Service was a little slow and paying for my food was a bit confusing. I think was only 10 Euros.
For the afternoon activity we were to meet with Jim Culleton at Fishamble. Fishamble is a play development center which helps playwrights to develop new work for the theater. It would be comparable to PlayPenn in Philadelphia. The Irish Repertory Theatre has a close relationship with Fishamble and frankly this seemed like an excuse for them to talk shop. It may have been of little interest to theater enthusiasts. But since I am an aspiring playwright it was of great interest to me. At this point I must confess that I have been studying poetry for months. I have abandoned many plans for plays I was going to write. So I did not feel like a spy since I have my head in another place. Jim Culleton talked about new play development. I learned that he got a lot of hate for promoting Black voices by what he considered an organized effort by people with no interest in plays. There were a lot of books on the table and you could buy them so I bought “On Blueberry Hill” by Sebastion Barry and “Raging” by Deirdre Kinahan. I think I only paid 10 pounds in cash.
I walked back to the Merrion Hotel via O’Connell Street. For dinner I had duck parfait at Hugo. This was not a main course but I was not that hungry. That evening I walked with Emilia Smart-Denson and Jim Bredeson to the Abbey Theater (going through Trinity College) and saw “Safe House” at The Peacock. Essentially a one-woman play, it was a rather creepy performance with very little explained, yet it made an eerie and unsettling impression. It was interesting to see a performance at the Peacock because it is where the Abbey Theater stages more experimental work and I’ve heard a lot about it but was unable to picture it. We did not have assigned seats. You could sit wherever you liked. As far as I can determine, this show featured the original songs of Anna Mullarkey, a composer and musician. It seemed like a horror movie with the horror being mundane reality, boredom, and middle class life. Although Ireland is an exotic country to me I can see how life in its small towns might come to seem a little oppressive and constrictive. The actress in “Safe House” was Kate Gillmore and not Anna Mullarkey.
