Brasserie Sixty6 - Great Steak Value

At 4.25 on Saturday sudden hunger hit us - nothing eaten since a late breakfast. Remembering the Facebook reminder from Brasserie Sixty6 of their Fillet Steak offer at €16.99 we decide to give it a try. Phoning through they said they could seat us at 5pm which suited fine as we were leaving after for the theatre. Checking that the steak offer was still on, this was confirmed and we set off.

Arriving just after five we were seated promptly and could order quickly as we knew what we had come for. Presented with a small wooden board with a warm fresh baked hunk of brown bread and butter to eat before the steaks arrived and a glass of French red we were happy already.
Both steaks arrived looking exactly like the photo above. Beautifully chargrilled, we had an 8oz fillet steak with pesto dressed asparagus and green beans, thick cut chips and bearnaise sauce in a pot on the side. It was delicious, perfectly cooked and really nicely presented. The staff were attentive and charming without being too 'in yer face' and we left feeling well pleased with our value meal.

Looking since on their website I have realised that this deal (which was not on the menu) needs to be pre-ordered, so thank goodness I enquired on the phone. Valid for the month of April ring 400-5878 to book and mention the offer.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Fillet-Steak-for-16-99-in-Brasserie-Sixty6.html?soid=1103691331232&aid=f2vToJHMlFY

Drum Belly - Richard Dormer's debut at Abbey Theatre a Hit!

What can I say about Richard Dormer's play Drum Belly except you'd be mad to miss it. Seriously, pick up the phone or go online and order those tickets! And guess what, there are €10 tickets on Monday-Wednesday so there's no excuse! In addition it's a world premiere commissioned by the Abbey Theatre which only adds to the excitement.



Set against a backdrop of the 1969 moon landing, the scene is a warehouse type stage setting in New York. Opening with a bloody scene as a body is cut on a butcher's block for disposal it continues in this vein where second generation Irish Brooklyn gangsters survive through violence and stand-offs with their Italian mafia neighbours. The staging is excellent, and without giving too much away, the stage itself is subjected to all the elements. With minimal props, each scene is brilliantly conjured up - wheeled on by the cast at high speed to the background of cool high blast music and almost thrown off again. The characters are brilliantly portrayed, each quickly identifying their individual quirks and the addition of a jukebox to bring appropriate music to each aspect of the play is both inspired and funny as they dance in their dated funky way to the tunes.
 
                                               
Written by Richard Dormer, it has an edgy brilliance that makes you think immediately of Reservoir Dogs. The script is sharp, humorous and ultimately clever and is delivered absolutely on point by the talented cast (Gerard Byrne, Liam Carney, Declan Conlon, David Ganly, Gary Lydon,  Ciarán O'Brien, Karl Shields, Phelim Drew, Ronan Leahy and Ryan McParland).

Richard Dormer

The Abbey's director Fiach Mac Conghail has the privilege in this production of collaborating with Sean Holmes, the director of London's Lyric Theatre and they have both brought their brilliance to  stage Dormer's script at it's very best - he must be delighted with the result .
  
(Fiach Mac Conghail)                (Sean Holmes)

Drum Belly previewed from Friday 5th April and runs until Saturday 11th May at The Abbey Theatre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. 01 878 7222
http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats_on/event/drum-belly/

Art in Dublin Saturday 6th April 2013

Fancy a gallery day? I love to spend Saturday afternoons visiting a couple of galleries before going for a cocktail and an early bird supper or onto the theatre. Most Dublin galleries are free and there are very diverse exhibitions to be seen. My faves are the Royal Hibernian Gallery, the photography galleries in Meeting House Square and the temporary IMMA at Earlsfort Terrace.

If you're heading out tomorrow here is a selection of a few art shows on in Dublin within walking distance of the Grafton Street area .

Christine Redmond, 'Sea Change' - Inspirational Arts, Basement of 7 Herbert Street,D2
 until 12th April.

'Skin' Group exhibition at Royal Hibernian Gallery, Ely Place
 until 28th April


'Black Church Cabinet' - Mo Levy at Black Church Print Studio, 4 Temple Bar
 until 26th April

'Calibrate' - Mark Francis at Kerlin Gallery, Anne's Lane.
 until 13th April

'Equinox' - Martha Quinn, Olivier Cornet Gallery, Exchange St Upper
 until 20th April

'Synthesis' - Claire McCluskey and Steven Maybury at Eight, 1st floor of No.8 Dawson Street
 until April 21st

Prix Pictet 'Power' at Gallery of Photography, Meeting House Square
 until 28th April

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'I knOw yoU' - New Exhibition coming to IMMA, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2

This is the curious picture accompanying the invitation to the opening of 'I knOw yoU' at IMMA at Earlsfort Terrace. I don't know if there is any significance to the typeface but I'm certainly interested in the roast chicken. Joking aside, the exhibitions that have been held at IMMA's temporary artspace have all been excellent and worth visiting.

Entitled 'A Show About Currencies, from Europe and Elsewhere' by Tobias Rehberger, Nikolaus Hirsch and Rachael Thomas, it runs from Friday April 19th through to 1st September. With an extensive list of artists all selected from graduates of the Stadelschule academy in Frankfurt am Main- a leading centre for experimental art practice, the work promises to be varied and exciting.

 Jepp Hein, Ice Cube.

For opening hours see www.imma.ie

The Exchequer Gastropub Announces New Cocktail Menu

I am a great fan of The Exchequer €6 cocktail of the week offer. It's a great way to try new cocktails and they are always beautifully presented. A press release has just been received by the Duchess about a new cocktail menu which sounds just delish!
 

"Award winning Gastropub The Exchequer has cause to celebrate this week! The launch of a brand new cocktail menu and inclusion in The 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland 2013.  New to The Exchequer team is Bar Manager and Mixologist Robert Caldwell, who has devised an exciting new cocktail selection, presented old style in ‘The Ledger of Liquor’ but delivering 32 brand new and intriguing mixes, under the chapter headings of Aperitifs, Digestifs, Long Drinks and Concoctions. 

The ‘Ledger of Liquor’ has the look of an medieval alchemist’s pamphlet, and many surprises lie between its pages. Arguably the star of the show is the ‘The Key Lime Pie Meringue Martini’ (€9) – A digestive biscuit rimmed glass with a key lime liquid base of Citrus Vodka, Vanilla Vodka, Lemon juice, Sicilian lemonade and lemon pie sugar topped with a floating island of flambéed meringue foam. ‘The Invisible Iced Tea’ (€11) is a real curiosity – an Exchequer take on the traditional Long Island Iced Tea, but served up completely clear. For sheer taste and theatre the ‘Zombie’ (€11) has it all - an intense mix of 7 liquors, including 4 Rums, an orange tequila, marachino liqueur and absinthe with fruit juices and light dusting of cinnamon and nutmeg finished off with a floating lime half filled with fire. 
           
     ZOMBIE          KEY LIME PIE MERINGUE MARTINI  SMOKEY OLDFASHIONED

Robert, originally from Byron Bay in Australia, travelled the world bartending in a range of bars, from specialist to tourist and trendsetting to traditional. Given the chance to overhaul The Exchequer’s cocktail offering, he didn’t hesitate, spending three months perfecting ‘The Ledger of Liquor’.  

The classic bar offerings have been dusted off and updated too. An eclectic selection of Gin, Rum, Vodka, Tequila, Irish and imported whiskeys round out the ledger. Always a passion at The Exchequer, their loyal beer loving clientele will find much to enjoy from the 43 beers listed, which include Pale, Amber, Wheat, Ale, Blonde, Lambics, Gluten Free, Stout, Pilsner, Cider and Draught. 


The Exchequer Gastropub. 3-5 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2, T: 01-670 6787 or seewww.theexchequer.ie or www.facebook.com/theexchequer or @TheExchequer

Smarty Girl by Honor Molloy

Smarty Girl is an autobiographical novel covering three years of Honor Molloy's life. Growing up in the 1960s in the centre of Dublin with theatrical parents brought with it a certain way of life. Through the voice of five year old Noleen we are transported to the streets where childhood games are played and see through her eyes the life led with a father who regularly puts on review shows and records RTE voice overs and an American mother also in the business. It's a life of phone calls for the father in the local pub (this is before all houses had their own phones), gatherings in the family home for sing-alongs and the attempts to keep it all in some sense of order by Noleen's mother.

 

But the overall impact in this novel comes from the use by Molloy of little Noleen's five year old Dublin voice with the vernacular for extra effect. It is there in the opening page as she heads off to the Gate with her family to 'see the dancers' with her 'electricky hair' and her shoes going 'clack-clack-clack'. Subtitled "Dublin Savage", the reader does not need to read far into the novel to understand this. With her little gang in Stephen's Green and her brother challenging her to repeat swear words, she does appear to be a savage little child. Living just off Merrion Row, the city is her playground and her parents friends are the Dublin characters she grows up with. But this is about the fall of a family and it is a tragic fall from grace of a husband and father, something Molloy has presumably tried to explore and come to terms with through the telling of her tale in a novel form.

  
The unique voice of little Noleen will either delight or grate on the reader and this is the risk taken by a writer of such an approach. It is certainly a tale that will appeal to those who wish to know how the city was in the late 60s as well as those who remember those days and will read with maybe some tender reminiscence for the time.

Smarty Girl is published by Gemma a US publisher www.GemmaMedia.com
It can be ordered from Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarty-Girl-Dublin-Honor-Molloy/dp/1936846101/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365015322&sr=8-1

Synge and the Making of Modern Irish Drama by Anthony Roche

Anthony Roche is Associate Professor in the School of English, Drama and Film at University College Dublin and was Director of the Synge Summer School. This collection of ten essays comprises of seven previously published and three published for the first time.


In his introduction Roche tells us about and stresses the importance of the Galway based Druid Theatre company in relation to Synge, as "a deliberate and self-conscious artist rather than naif". The book sets out to analyse Synge's plays and also to consider the effect on the many Irish playwrights who followed him: Beckett, Friel and others

 John Millington Synge

The essays cover ten areas: Christianity versus Paganism; Synge and Germany: Drama as Translation; Yeats, Synge and an Emerging Irish Drama; Joyce, Synge and the Irish Theatre Movement; Ghosts in Irish Drama; Women on the Threshold; Marginal Zones and Liminality; Postmodern Playboy; J.M.Synge and Molly Allgood and Brian Friel and Synge. These essays concentrate on four of Synge's six canonical plays; Riders to the Sea, The Shadow of the Glen, The Well of the Saints and The Playboy of the Western World  and as Roche identifies, "they yield further insights whenever a new approach or topic is considered" and comments that there is more to explore and discuss.

This is a book that will be of intense interest to the literary student and the Synge enthusiast. It addresses much on, as the author would describe as 'matters Syngean' and brings the commentary right up to the current day with references to the modern interpretations of Synge's work and Joseph O'Connor's use of Synge and Molly Allgood in his 2011 novel Ghost Light.



Roche's knowledge of Synge is, as they say these days, "awesome", and as an accompaniment to a readers or researchers exploration of this unique and immensely talented playwright they will not be disappointed.

Synge and the Making of Modern Irish Drama is published by Carysfort Press www.carysfortpress.com

'Get Over It' by F.Linday

Get Over It is Fiona Linday's YA debut. Johnny is a teenager who hardly knows his dad. All of Johnny's life his father has been working for the Navy, but now Johnny's mum has died and as a 'bonding trip' father and son have gone off on a sailing holiday in Greece, a chance for them to get to know each other. As is expected, there is resistance from Johnny and awkward forced jollity from dad.



This YA book takes us on the journey that has to be experienced when a young person comes to terms with the loss of a parent. Linday's writing has a Christian message which is both unusual these days and some young readers may find unfamiliar. Despite this, if they recognise from this book the comfort they can get or can give in times of loss through any spiritual reading be it Christian or any other then this has to be a positive message.



Linday provides the reader with several websites that can be useful in child bereavement counselling that could be explored with a younger child through a parent or a teacher or by the teenager on their own. It would be interesting to see feedback on the potential role of this book from teachers and counsellors.

Get Over It is published by Onwards and Upwards Publications www.onwardsandupwards.org
www.fionalinday.co.uk

Review: 'The Scattering' by Jaki McCarrick

The Scattering is Jaki McCarrick's debut collection of short stories, several of which have received awards and been published in literary magazines. This first collection is beautifully presented. The cover carries a reproduction of the painting The Badminton Game (1972) by David Inshaw, in reference to the second story 'The Badminton Court'. There are nineteen stories and they are diverse in their subject matter but all carry a dark resonance which is complemented perfectly by McCarrick's spare but emotive writing style.



Jaki McCarrick lives in Dundalk and the northern border towns, long-term impact of the Troubles and the darker side of life are all subjects that are explored in her stories. As with many of the best of short story writers, McCarrick leaves some questions unanswered. Coming into a story mid scene and leaving it with a situation hanging only adds to the atmosphere and leaves the reader in a delicious state of uncertainty of how the situation developed. This is certainly the case in the opening story 'By The Black Field' which tells of Angel and his expectant wife Jess, not long returned from London to settle in Angel's childhood summer home. '1975' cleverly uses the basis of a father watching his daughter wait for a bus home to think back over the impact of past tragedy on the family life. 'The Scattering', the titular story tells almost beautifully the story of a brother's ashes being scattered at sea, the atmosphere of the coastal area a background for his thoughts.  The darkness of the story '1976' is affecting and in fact this is the general feeling throughout this collection, that one is being affected by the reading of these stories, in a moving and thoughtful way.

 

There is no doubt that Jaki McCarrick is a talented writer. The connectivity of several of these tales is most satisfying for the reader and the unaffected, straight-talking writing style gives a credibility to the stories. The darkness of the subject matter only adds to the attraction of this collection and I look forward to seeing more of her writing in the future.

The Scattering is published by Seren Books http://www.serenbooks.com/

Review: 'One-Inch Punch' by Oran Ryan

One-Inch Punch is Oran Ryan's third novel after The Death of Finn (2006) and Ten Short Novels by Arthur Cruger (2006). A Dublin writer, the city plays a role in the story, in particular as the opening location for the meeting of the two main characters, Gordon Brock and Ed Frasier. The immediate animosity towards Ed that Gordon expresses creates the basis for the exploration of how this situation came about and how a young boy can be scarred by his tormentors.



Gordon Brock is a gifted child and as with many children in this situation he does not fit in with the other kids. With parents who are keen for him to socialise and make friends even though he is happy in his solitude, he encounters Ed, a bully, who exposes his motives of trying to be 'normal'. This questioning of the self and inability to just get on with life in an unthinking way sets Gordon out as different and his actions through his life, relationships included, are all dredged up for questioning.

Ryan is an intelligent writer. The book is by no means lightweight and challenges the reader to question society with its structures and accepted paths. In the post-modern way of writing, this is a book about someone writing a book and also has footnotes to expand on the text. Ryan's own obvious serious consideration about life and the way of relationships experienced between children, lovers and friends comes through in the novel. There is also a humorous undertone to the novel, in a black sense where Ryan sees the ridiculousness of some of the things that go on in everyday life.

 

Above all, One-Inch Punch is about a genius, not an easy gift to be born with. The early acknowledgement by the main character that basically everyone else operates at a different thought speed to himself cannot fail to affect. That it has a negative impact makes him a victim of his genius and removes any belief in the world at large projects onto those he encounters. The reader cannot fail to leave this book with questions about how such people, those with exceptional talent, do manage to function in an average society. That many do in fact feel isolated by their gift or become disillusioned and opt out of the mainstream never meeting their full potential cannot be a surprise.  The subject of genius is obviously one of great interest and one I left this book thinking I would have to explore more.

One-Inch Punch is published by Seven Towers www.seventowers.ie