THE NASHVILLE CALLING - ALBUM LAUNCH

'The Nashville Calling` is the title of upcoming 9<sup>th</sup> studio album by Irish artist Ben Reel due to be released early 2020. Produced by Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack and featuring Garry W Tallent on bass from the legendary E Street Band. The album contains 11 new tracks all written by Ben Reel which was recorded at Skinny Elephant studio in Nashville. It was all done and dusted in just 3 days with all live takes. Following the critically acclaimed experimental slow burner `Land of Escape' from 2018, this new record has a more Americana, Rock, live band feel.

 

Since his debut album `This Is The Movie' back in 1999, Ben has reinvented himself from album to album, influenced by different styles of music over the years. As one critic saying,  " He's not afraid to throw in some in folk, soul, reggae vibes, which in turn call to mind John Hiatt at his best". Another describing it as somewhere in the middle ground between rock and jazz or a sound that is sometimes reminiscent of Dylan and the Band.

In a solo career which now spans over 20 years Ben has received  worldwide critical acclaim with numerous high profile TV/Radio appearances like BBC, RTE and Dutch NPO radio. Supporting names like Jools Holland, Alabama 3 & The Cranberries and has collaborated musically with such names as Hal Ketchum & The Blockheads. He has co written and performed live with his fellow countryman Tony McLoughlin and some of Nashville's finest like David Olney & Irene Kelley.

In the past Ben was selected to play an official showcase at Folk alliance in Memphis TN and has toured as double bill with Tommy Womack (Nashville) in the U.S & UK and also with legendary American folk singer/songwriter Eric Andersen in the UK & NL. While in Nashville he has been invited to play the famous Bluebird cafe on a number of occasions, most recently Sept 2018.

Over the last 10 years Ben has enjoyed successful tours in Ireland, UK, Europe & U.S.A, receiving rave reviews and attracting a growing loyal fan base. He has graced big festivals such as Jamming@Hippie Jacks (USA), Musiktan festival in Bilbao, (ESP). Haarlem Jazz & Huntenpop (NL), Robin Hood folk festival (UK), Kilkenny rhythm & roots, Cork jazz & Electric Picnic (EIRE). 

In this new play, Johnny Johnston and Mick Garrett are two veteran musicians whose long musical careers look set to end playing in small pubs in the local area where they get little attention and even less adulation. Then out of the blue comes a chance to play a big gig which fires their enthusiasm right up. But as they start rehearsing, a rariety, we begin to get an insight into their relationship and motivation for performing to disinterested punters.

In this comedy where Buddy Holly looms large, where they attempt to make a funeral singer a star and where a sceptical drummer keeps them in check, these two long time friends, with the help of Johnny’s wife Mary, discover their need for recognition in whatever guise it comes.   

Supported by the Creative Ireland Programme and Monaghan County Council

30th, 31st January & 1st Feb, 8pm each night

Tickets €15 /13

Irish country sensation Derek Ryan’s road to stardom is set to continue with his biggest concert tour yet. Following on from the phenomenal success of his recent TEN tour, Derek Ryan returns with a brand new concert show for 2020. 
 
Derek and his fantastic band (now rated as Ireland’s leading country band) are back on the road to perform many of Derek’s classic hits from ‘Hold On To Your Hat’ ‘Down On Your Uppers’ and ‘God’s Plan’.
 
Continuing to propel to new heights, Derek Ryan has firmly cemented his position at the top table of Irish Country’s elite with his brand of original, self-penned material and country classics.
 
The Carlow man is a multi-recipient of awards for his performances and songwriting including the Sunday World accolade for ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Songwriter of the Year’. But Derek, being at the forefront of this new wave of young Irish country stars, continues to remain ever loyal to his worldwide army of fans.
 
Show time: 8pm

Tickets €31

MIA MAMMA 

I am often asked “where do you get your material from?” The truth is really that I try to see the funny in everything. My mother died in March 2019 and of course it was sad and grief can be tough sometimes but I saw a lot of funny in that too. Since death comes to us all and grief is something most of us will experience I thought there must be plenty of people who would like that funny to be shared. Also I did a show about my Dad being sick back in 2010 and I couldn’t face my mother in the afterlife because I know her first question would be “your Father got a show, how come I didn’t get one?”

I think it’s tougher to lose your mum. My Dad was best supporting actor. My mother was the actress in a leading role. You are never ready when the star of the show dies. So this is a show about My mother. It’s a show about motherhood and sacrifice, anxiety and grief, the mistakes you make as a mother and a son and the hard road to forgiveness and finally it’s about loss, grief and the chaos that surrounds it.

Where do I get my material from?

Life and death!

This is the classic of our season. The 1974 New German Cinema drama, directed by Werner Herzog, follows the real story of foundling Kaspar who lived the first 17 years of his life in a cellar, without any human contact except for a man who feeds him, and who one day leaves him in the town of Nuremberg where he becomes a subject of curiosity to the locals, before being rescued by an elderly, kind professor who does his best to help him develop. But having grown up away from the norms and conventions of “civilized” behaviour, Kaspar will find it difficult to fit in.

A Blayney Film @ Íontas Presentation

Wed 12th February, 7.30pm

Season Ticket €25  (Call Box Office 042 9753401)
Standard Ticket €7

Based on the internationally acclaimed book by award-winning author Marita Conlon-McKenna, Cahoots NI’s Under the Hawthorn Tree follows the journey of three brave siblings as they fight for survival during the Potato Famine in Ireland, 1845.

In June 1989 Sharon was rehearsing and demoing tracks for her first album, when she was whisked away to Glastonbury festival with The Waterboys. In the 30 years that has elapsed since then, Sharon has recorded 10 studio albums; 5 Live albums, 4 Best of compilations and 3 live Concert DVDs. She has received many awards including  being the youngest ever recipient of the Meteor Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2009. 

An Original Musical Developed & Produced by Castleblayney Musical Society

A journey back in time, to the Oasis Niteclub outside Carrickmacross, during the 1980s. Full of great 80s music, and great 80s characters.  Watch as Blayney boy meets and falls in love with his Carrick girl. Listen to the music and laugh at the clothes. This show will bring you singing and dancing right back to the Oasis.

Fri 21st & Sat 22nd Feb 2020
Adm €15/13

An Original Musical Developed & Produced by Castleblayney Musical Society

A journey back in time, to the Oasis Niteclub outside Carrickmacross, during the 1980s. Full of great 80s music, and great 80s characters.  Watch as Blayney boy meets and falls in love with his Carrick girl. Listen to the music and laugh at the clothes. This show will bring you singing and dancing right back to the Oasis.

Fri 21st & Sat 22nd Feb 2020
Adm €15/13

The Salvage Shop by Jim Nolan
presented by Kilrush Drama Group

The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl 

Shoot The Crow by Owen McCafferty 
Presented by Newtownstewart Theatre Company

At The Black Pig’s Dyke by Vincent Woods
presented by Sillen Players 

Dramateurs by Kieran Kelly
Presented by Letterkenny Music & Drama Group

Steele Magnolias by Robert Harling
presented by Butt Drama Circle

Gut by Frances Poet
Presented by Thurles Drama Group

OUR FEW & EVIL DAYS
by Mark O'Rowe
Presented By Prosperous Drama Group

This play is about a married couple whose apparently normal life conceals a dark secret.  Michael and Margaret are unexpectedly hosting their daughter Adele's new boyfriend, Dennis. As Dennis begins to take more than a polite interest in his hosts, secrets are hinted at.  A disclosure is made that changes our understanding of all that has gone before.

As this is the final night of the festival there will be no interval. This is to facilitate the presentation of awards after this final production.  PLEASE NOTE THE EARLIER PERFORMANCE TIME.

In Anne Fontaine’s comedy, Martin is a baker who has a deep appreciation of one of France’s most celebrated novels, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, in which a young woman’s romantic ideals fail to match the realities of her country life, leading her into two affairs and eventually suicide. One day, Martin meets English newly-weds moving into the house next to his. Their names, Gemma and Charles Bovery, echo the characters of Flaubert’s novel. Bit by bit, he becomes obsessed with the idea that Gemma's behaviour replicates that of her fictional near-namesake, and that she is headed for the same tragic finale. His attempts to intervene prove hilariously disastrous.

A Blayney Film @ Íontas Presentation

Wed 11th March, 7.30pm
 
Season Ticket €25  (Call Box Office 042 9753401)
Standard Ticket €7

“The Wit and Wisdom of Mi Muther” 

END OF WATCH
 
Fresh from a sell-out tour, star of BBC’s the Blame Game, Fighting Talk and the Newsquiz Neil Delamere returns to Iontas Arts Centre with a brand new show.
Time waits for no man, especially one trying to buy a watch. Things always get complicated.
 
“You’ll be hard pressed to find a more gifted comic at the Fringe. *****” The Scotsman
 
“One lean, mean, comedy, killing machine. *****.” The Herald

Saturday 21st March, 8pm
€25

A grumpy builder, (Seamus O’Rourke) and his young enthusiastic labourer (Charlie McGuinness) arrive on Mogue’s Island to dig a grave in the depts of winter. It’s cold and eerie and full of myth. The more they dig, the more they realise that this was not such a good idea. Has Barney Bellew and Hector Hoctor really got something in common? – Well, it just might be that they are both entangled in and ancient curse

An Ogeous Brose is scary and funny in equal measure where you can expect the unexpected... A great night out!

From the fellas that brough you ‘The Quare Land’, ‘Danger Money’ and ‘The Cavan Curse’. 

Thursday 26th March, 8pm
Tickets €16

Inspired by the photography of JJ Clarke, Dr Jack is the delightful tale of a friendship between nine-year-old Lily and her neighbour Dr Jack, her chance find of his trove of old photographs and the world of wonder that opens when time collapses propelling Lily through a magical doorway into Dublin of the early 20th century. This beautiful evocation of JJ Clarke's world was inspired by conversations and workshops with children now and with people who remember Dr Clarke when they were children 60 and 70 years ago. 

Blindboy's increased notability away from his band Rubberbandits, has allowed for him to explore wider avenues and create perhaps outrageously mind-altering brainchildren which can only be described as courageous, yet bonkers.

With a number one selling book under his belt and a podcast that has reached interest not only in Ireland but internationally, the satirist could possibly single-handedly change people's mind set on mental health and the deafening stigma it surrounds.

Outspoken, informed and empathetic, Blindboy engages his audience with an unusual touch of realism. There is a very authentic feeling of "freedom" he  exhumes which allows his listeners and participants to openly speak their mind without judgement and no topic off limits - certainly an air of belonging encircling the space you find yourself in when listening or in company of Blindboy.

His latest innovative creation, The Blindboy podcast only espouses mental health issues but reaches further into an eclectic spectrum of current topics from gun laws to feminism, racism or a bit of history. Blindboy has it covered.

His uncanny ability to articulate what nearly everyone is thinking is unparalleled and something that is sorely needed in Irish society.- The Daily Edge

Robert Mizzell has made Ireland his home for over 20 years. He served his apprenticeship in Country Music since he first arrived here. The father and husband is now one of the top Country Music Artists in Ireland, enjoying huge success all around the country. He has released 13 solo studio albums and 2 full length DVD’s
 to date and is constantly touring Ireland and the UK with his band. Robert was voted ‘Ireland’s Favourite Country Music Singer’ in a poll conducted by RSVP magazine.
 
‘Kick Ass Country’ was Robert’s first major hit, but it was the song ‘Say You Love Me’ that made him a household name in Ireland. Anyone who has ever been to one of his shows will agree that it is two hours of non-stop entertainment and that Robert Mizzell definitely puts his heart and soul into every song proving why he is one of Ireland’s top country music recording artists!

Sunday 29th March, 8pm
Tickets €25

Aslan's extraordinary singer and frontman Christy Dignam and his lifelong friend and co-founder of Aslan, songwriter/guitarist Joe Jewell perform together in this intimate acoustic show featuring the main hit songs of Aslan; Crazy World and This Is,

The duo will also perform some very special cover songs by other artists such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd that inspired the duo throughout their rock n roll career with Aslan. 

Christy and Joe relate many great stories of the origin of the songs, and some stories of their good and bad times on the road. 'Some Songs and Stories' is a truly beautiful musical acoustic experience. If you love music and a good laugh, this is the real deal.

Thursday 2nd April
Tickets €25

45 Years is a 2015 British romantic drama film directed by Andrew Haigh. It follows Kate and Geoff as they prepare for their 45-year anniversary party. The sudden and upsetting news that Geoff receives, however, unveils a secret event and threatens the heretofore solid balance of their married life. What may have been a banal story of a marriage running into the sand turns into a thought-provoking exploration of love. Their superbly nuanced performances won awards for both Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay.

A Blayney Film @ Íontas Presentation

Wed 8th April, 7.30pm

Season Ticket €25 (Call Box Office 042 9753401)
Standard Ticket €7

'Well? Shall We Go?'

AN EVENING OF SAMUEL BECKETT
Plays & Discussion

Three of Beckett’s shorter plays - Come and Go, Ohio Impromptu and Footfalls - and the final scenes of Waiting for Godot will be performed by a cast including John and Tommy McArdle. An introductory talk by Brian Duffy will set the plays in the wider context of the evolution and essential themes of Beckett’s writing. The audience will have the opportunity to respond as the evening proceeds.

Fri 17th April, Doors 8pm
€14 / 12

After only 3 years on the comedy scene, Stevo & Sinéad have gathered a following of over 500,000 people worldwide, and over 100 million views on some of their sketches.

They've sold out sold shows all over Ireland and the UK, including  St George's Hall, Southport Comedy Festival, London, Cork, Belfast, as well as performing in Vicar Street & Goodison Park.

Their videos have been featured in notable press outlets including LadBible, Benchwarmers, WorldStar hip hop, JOE.ie, Irish Independent, The Daily Edge, The Star, The Sun, The Mirror, as well as mentions from international superstars Shaquille O’Neill and Marylon Wayans.

They've also appeared at length on RTE’s Ryan Tubridy Show, Galway Bay FM, iRadio, 4FM and 98FM.

The King & Queen of farming satire may offend some but aren’t planning on quitting any time soon!

As featured on  : RTE, TV3s Six O Clock Show, CNN, FOXtv, SKY TV.

Friday 24th April, 8pm

Tickets €22.50

CALLAN’S KICKS LIVE NATIONWIDE TOUR 2020
 
Impressionist Oliver Callan brings his award-winning Callan’s Kicks comedy show to life on stage for the first time in five years.
 
Aiken Promotions and Leo Varadkar (ledgebag and Teesh) are totes excited to announced RTÉ’s award-winning show Callan’s Kicks Live on stage nationwide in 2020. Oliver Callan brings his huge cast of characters on the road for the first time in the age of Leo, Boris and Trump. It’s no Kylie concert, but Leo heads a troupe of voices from the world of Irish politics, sport and entertainment.
 
As the 2020 General Election campaign gets underway, Callan goes from town to town deconstructing our leaders and stars in a special night of comedy and satirical commentary. Join the Marty Party, Paschal “I only have a certain amount of money” Donohoe, hear an alternative history of Ireland, a whirlwind tour of county accents, movie stars and GAA legends.
 
Ever wondered what really happens during Marian Finucane’s newspaper panel? What did Enda Kenny do next? Who’s actually pulling Mary Lou McDonald’s strings? Is Michael D Higgins still a thing? Why is Bertie back? Can Dermot Bannon be stopped and brought to justice?
 
Oliver Callan brings his most ambitious live show on the road yet, with dozens of impressions, sketches and voices kicking our leaders and legends into the next decade.

Praise for Callan’s Kicks Live:
 
“Totes lolcano. I love laughing at myself because it gives my amazeballs abs a workout and makes me look 5% more relatable and less like a neocon passing off my resting bitch-face disdain for Middle Ireland as intellectual aloofness”
- Leo Varadkar, Taoiseach and Minister for Ignoring the Housing Crisis
 
“Let’s get this show done! Callan’s Kicks Live can travel freely across the border, which after Brexit will be invisible, like a pair of hands groping under the linen for a pair of thighs at a dinner table in the 90s”
- Boris Johnson, Prime Minister and Shaved Yeti
 
“No one loves Ireland more than me, with its bagpipes and haggis puddings. And the data centres all in the one place to make it easier for my friends to hack”
- Donald W.T.F. Trump, President and Box of Taco Fries in a Suit
 
“I’m so excited about this show, a bit of wee has come out”
- Enda Kenny, waiting on a massive retirement lump sum with no tax or f**ks given

Saturday April 25th, 8pm
Tickets €30

OFF HER ROCKER!

Growing up I was always struck by the electricity generated by a concert given by The Dubliners. Looking back I can see that the group as made up by the individual strength of each performer but together they were a force of nature. That energy and excitement coupled with the unbridled joy of the audience made for a nights entertainment that felt more like a party in full swing where the host and guests were in perfect harmony.
My ambitions as a singer have always been modest as a result. Large shoes to fill?!
However in my chosen path as an actor musician has always played a part, either professionally in shows like The Abbey Theatre production of The Risen People or more recently the musical Once and also, over the years, playing with with friends in bars.
In the years since my father passed away, 10 years, I've come to enjoy listening back over his musical legacy and the wealth of material has reawakened not only a sense of pride but also appreciation.
With the upcoming show at Íontas Arts Centre, Castleblayney I'll be singing some of the songs made famous by Ronnie, Luke, Barney, Ciaran and John as well as other personal favourites by other artists including The Pogues and Paul Brady that will hopefully go towards making up a night that the audience will enjoy as much as I will.

Friday 22nd May, 8pm
€22 / 20

An Evening with Michael Harding