Drogheda Arts Festival 2016 – 25th April – 2nd May 2016

Details of the new Drogheda Arts Festival have just been announced, and while David Holmes will probably get most of the attention, there’s a few other events of interest, such as Kaleidoscope Night, Blue Boy from the Brokentalkers, The Big Fellow and an interview with Lian Bell of Waking the Feminists, to name but a few. Full details can be found here.

This year’s line-up promises to be something special: from the iconic: DJ David Holmes, and fiddler Gerry O’Connor, to the traditional: Kern and uileann piper Dara ÓHéiligh. From the contemporary: Michael McLoughlin, Cecily Brennan, Manchán Magan and Brokentalkers, to the classical: Chopin and Beethoven, and the revolutionary, with a public interview titled Dissenters, with Waking the Feminists founder Lian Bell, and the world premiere of The Big Fellow, a new play by playwright Declan Gorman based on the life of Michael Collins.

There will be a rehearsed reading of one of the world’s oldest and longest poems directed by playwright Mark O’Rowe, theatre for both adults and children, and a multitude of special musical performances by some of Ireland’s most important practitioners. The festival will also feature a new guided experience of Drogheda using technology, traditional storytelling and song, a film quiz with quizmaster extraordinaire Gráinne Humphreys (ADIFF), a specially curated evening of diverse music by Kaleidoscope Night, three new dynamic and vital spoken word performers in The Word. There will be spectacular street performances, and even a ‘mini festival’, with the Bank Holiday afternoon at Beaulieu House & Gardens., and three new treasure tours of the Boyne Valley, which will highlight its art, culture and natural beauty, finishing of a great festival experience in style.