Street Theatre or ‘Spectacle’ as it’s called in the business is one of the most exciting, colourful and exuberant forms of public creative expression and it is about time that Longford had some.
Street Theatre is so exciting because it embodies the best of music, dance, drama, painting, costume design, visual crafts and manual skills, it has something for every participant.
The establishment of a Longford-based street theatre group is long overdue and when fully up and running will add a magical and dynamic element to our public events such as: St. Patrick’s Day Parades, Easter Parades, Dead of Night Festival, Ardagh Fright Fest, the Lanesborough Monster Festival, sporting occasions and many other civic events in the county.
A series of public meetings will be held at 8.00pm in John Brown’s Bar Longford on Monday 12th, Skelly’s Bar Ballymahon on Tuesday 13th and the Co op Offices in Lanesborough on Thursday 15th September to assess the level of interest in establishing this exciting venture.
Who should come along? Anyone who is interested in; dance, drama any performing arts, people who are interested in costume and prop making, in fact anyone who has an interest in the arts or is good with their hands will be especially welcome. Do not discount yourself –everyone has something to offer.
It is hoped that the core of our Street Theatre Group will be a group of adults with experience in some art-form or who has useful manual skills and this will be augmented with students from primary and secondary schools in Longford who will provide the dance, music and performance elements. The impressive ensemble his will be topped off by local musicians in costume providing the musical score to wonderfully imaginative pageants on our streets.
Longford County Arts Office has commissioned the internationally famous street theatre company ‘Artastic’ to come to Longford and work with the fledgling group imparting skills in prop-making street performance, fantastic costume design and making and all of the skills of the Mardi Gras.
The initial commitment will be very brief as it is proposed to work toward having a presence in Longford’s Dead of Night Parade and Ardagh’s Fright Fest in November. If you would like something fun to do in the coming Autumn evenings and you would like to contribute to community life of your town and county then come along to one of our meetings or make personal contact by calling Fergus Kennedy at Longford County Arts Office 086 8517595 or fkennedy@longfordcoco.ie