A Wilde Weekend

A wilde â?§

Wee end

Enni

1. - 4. may 2015

killen

by Lough Ernest

Wilde Fermanagh Land of Castles and Dreams

“Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen.. “ William Allingham County Donegal Drumskinney Stone Circle

Janus Figure

Lower Lough Ernest

Castle Caldwell

Tully Castle

Old Castle Archdale White Island

Necarne Castle Devenish Island

inishmacsaint Magho Cliffs

Monea Castle Holywell

Townhall Portora School

The Happy Prince

Cladagh Glen

The island dreams under the dawn and great boughs drop tranquillity; W.B.Yeats County Sligo

Watercolour by Heather White

Camomil HIll

Portora Castle

Marble Arch Caves Cuilcagh Mountain

Florence Court

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l

A warm Welcome Welcome to our inaugural Wilde Weekend, the world’s first annual multi-arts festival celebrating the life and work of Irish writer, Oscar Wilde.

Wilde deserves reappraisal; he is, we feel, a much more important artist than the public perception of him today.

Enniskillen, Ireland’s island market town, offers the lakes and islands of pre-Christian and monastic heritage alongside the fertile land that accommodates the Great Houses of the 18th & 19th century - an ideal setting for A Wilde Weekend. No doubt it also provided inspiration to the imagination of the young Wilde during his time at Portora Royal School (1864-71). In his second year at school, Alice in Wonderland was published and with both his parents being avid collectors of Irish folklore he found himself, from an early age, immersed and fascinated by those myths and legends.

Pubble Graveyard

A Wilde Weekend joins the Happy Days Enniskillen International Colebrooke Beckett Festival in positioning Park and promoting Fermanagh as Northern Enniskillen Ireland’s literary Castle Belle Isle destination Castle county.

Castle Coole

Castle Balfour

Old CRom Castle

Gad Island

As Tourism Minister I understand festivals and events large and small play a key role in driving tourism throughout Northern Ireland. They help to draw international visitors here and can inspire and educate people. As many know Oscar Wilde attended Portora Royal School and it is argued his most popular short story THE HAPPY PRINCE was inspired

by Enniskillen and the surrounding lakes. The Wilde Weekend and festivals such as this, tell a story and bring local history alive, all of which is of great interest to our visitors, and therefore, of great value in attracting tourists into the local Fermanagh area.

Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister

CRom Castle

Arlene Foster

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High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue

of the Happy Prince.

He was gilded all over

with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had

two bright sapphires,

and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

Opening lines of THE HAPPY PRINCE

by Oscar Wilde

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Tape-Art by Talie Mau

The statue atop Cole’s Monument will be gilded by local sculptor Alan Milligan returning Wilde’s Happy Prince to his original home and imagined state for all near and afar to come and see on Camomile Hill (Forthill Park). As in the fable, the Happy Prince’s gold flakes will slowly blow away over time into households across Northern Ireland.

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Play

Oscar Wilde At Home

Florence Court House ❧ £14 & £12 ❧ Family Ticket £40 ❧ 75 mins Friday May 1 - 2.30pm & 4.30pm Saturday May 2 - 10.15am, 1.15pm & 4.30pm Sunday May 3 - 10.15am, 1.15pm & 4.30pm Monday May 4 - 10.15am, 1.15pm & 4.30pm

Oscar, Constance, Speranza (and Bosie) are “at home” in the exquisitely beautiful Florence Court House this Mayday weekend. House guests will include Jack, Algy, Gwendolen and Cecily from The Importance 4

of Being Earnest, (not to mention the redoubtable Lady Bracknell), Lord and Lady Windermere, and the precocious Dorian Gray.

Visitors will be conducted throughout the house, upstairs and downstairs,

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where a range of short scenes from Wilde’s most popular works will be performed live by actors in each of the principal rooms. Is it life or is it art? Come and decide for yourself as we welcome you to the witty, complex

Photography by Talie Mau

Booking through the Ardhowen Theatre www.ardhowentheatre.com

and contradictory world of Oscar Wilde. Conceived and directed by David Grant. Ticket price includes access to Florence Court

Gardens. The performance lasts approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

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Opening LEcture

The Socialism of Man’s Soul The Soul of Man under Socialism was Wilde’s last essay and is generally regarded as his best; in fact it is often considered one of the greatest essays in the English language.

It was prompted by a public meeting Wilde attended, at which the main speaker was George Bernard Shaw; Wilde’s essay is a response to what Shaw said that evening.

In The Socialism of Man’s Soul, Will Self in turn responds to Wilde’s essay by arguing that it’s precisely because of the collaborative nature of consciousness itself that socialism of the kind he envisaged can never be realised.

Will Self is one of the most acclaimed, provocative, challenging and entertaining writers at work today. His books include Umbrella (which

Written by Will Self delivered by Special Guest The Regal Friday, May 1st ❧ 6.30pm 60 mins ❧ £8 & £6 was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize), Walking to Hollywood and The Book of Dave.

The Socialism of Man’s Soul will be delivered at the festival by a special guest. …I always cleave to what Oscar Wilde said: “When the critics are divided the artist is in accord with himself.” You really want a book to arouse ambivalence, because that way you know it can’t be assimilated (and therefore neutralised) by the evanescent cultural mulch.

Will Self

‘Socialism itself will be of value simply because it will lead to individualism’

OSCAR WILDE

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Dialogue

The Decay of Lying The Morning Room ❧ Castle Coole Actors Allan Corduner & Juha Sorola ❧ Director Adrian Dunbar ❧ £8 & £6 ❧ 45 mins Friday, May 1 – 4.30pm ❧ Saturday, May 2 – 10.30am & 4.30pm Sunday, May 3 – 11am & 3.00pm ❧ Monday, May 4 – 12pm & 3.00pm The Decay of Lying is a brilliant critique of the socalled moderne couched in an often hilarious attack against Nature. The influence of Joris-Karl Huysman’s A Rebours (which Wilde made a text book for Dorian Gray) can only be guessed at and is conspicuous by its absence.

The Decay appears to be Wilde going totally against the tenor of the times in criticising savagely some of the sacred cows of literature and the visual arts while at the same time suggesting that it is Art that influences

Life and not the other way around. This dialogue between Cyril and Vyvyan (the names of his two sons) shows Wilde at his brilliant best. With incredible scope and ease he manages to throw the vast net of his genius over the whole history of Art. It is also a man who is about to produce his greatest works declaring how he feels about the artistic world from a position of great breadth and understanding. It’s confident, humorous, cutting, clever and highly entertaining.

Adrian Dunbar

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Film & Sound

Ballad of Reading GAOl Old Gaol – Central Hall South West College Saturday, 1.30pm ❧ Sunday, 10.30am ❧ £8 & £6 ❧ 45 mins A film and sound installation by Kabosh Director: Paula McFetridge ❧ Video Designer: Conan McIvor

Written following his incarceration for homosexual offences, The Ballad of Reading Gaol evokes Wilde’s experience of imprisonment – the longing for that ‘little tent of blue which prisoners call the sky’, the slow death of hope and the loss of self.

A great apologia for Christian compassion 118 years later around the world men and women set locks upon their lips and make their face a mask in fear of similar or worse fates. All for the sake of love.

In this immersive theatre experience we call upon the voices of the past to echo with our own, as we proclaim the fact of love as a human right, not the question of whose love is right.

When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice.

It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind.

Oscar Wilde ‘And alien tears will fill for him Pity’s long-broken urn, For his mourners will be outcast men And outcasts always mourn’

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Ballad of Reading Gaol epitaph on Wilde’s grave, Pere Lachaise, Paris

Reading

For Alfonso written and directed by Neil Bartlett The Regal ❧ Saturday, 2 May ❧ 10.30pm ❧ £10 & £8

Neil Bartlett has described his play For Alfonso as ‘ an embroidery on a historical event.’

Neil Bartlett

Neil Bartlett is a writer, director and performer.

In 1988 he was one of the founders of the collective company, Gloria, which created and toured a hugely imaginative range of projects across ten years. He is a former Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith and during his tenure he transformed the theatre’s programming and pricing policy, turning it into one of the most exciting venues in London. In 1988 his first book was published, Who Was That Man?, a ground-breaking study of Oscar Wilde, and subsequent fiction has included Skin Lane and, most recently, The Disappearance Boy.

The event in question was the booking of a hotel room in Brighton in September 1895 by Oscar Wilde and a young newspaper seller, Alfonso Conway. During the course of the evening Wilde read Conway his children’s story The Remarkable Rocket.

Though Wilde wanted to keep the tryst a secret, the Marquess of Queensberry hired detectives to track down Alfonso Conway.

Out of these details, Neil Bartlett has created his own wonderful response.

For Alfonso was first performed at the Brighton Festival. In this one-off staged reading the role of Wilde is played by Risteard Cooper.

Risteard Cooper

is an actor, comedian and writer. He is one third of the comedy trio Apres Match and starred in his own one-man satire, The State of Us, for RTE.

Over a career of more than twenty years on stage and screen he has most recently starred alongside Ardal O’Hanlon in The Weir at the Donmar in London and television roles include The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Citizen Charlie, a three-part drama based on the life of Charlie Haughey.

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Readings

De Profundis Narrator: Stanley Townsend St. Michael’s Church ❧ Part 1 Friday, May 1st, 9.30pm Part 2 Saturday, May 2nd, 9.45pm ❧ Part 3 Sunday, May 3rd, 9.15pm £3 per part reading ❧ £6 for all 3 readings ❧ 60 mins each evening

DE PROFUNDIS (lit. from the depths) is recorded in the Bible and is the name publisher Robbie Ross gave the deeply confessional letter that Oscar Wilde wrote from the depths of 10

his despair in Reading Gaol.

The essay provides a kind of dramatic monologue where Wilde declares an evolution in his character and a new awareness of who he really is. At times like

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a profoundly thoughtful and intellectual treatise on the awakening of the Self this powerful work will be read across three evenings by actor Stanley Townsend culminating each evening in

There is to be experienced a real excitement in the confidential quality and delivery of this deeply personal and moving declaration of self-realisation and rebirth in the midst of great trauma, imprisonment.

a single song from Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder sung by Ruby Philogene. De Profundis ranks alongside Cardinal Newman’s Apologia pro vita sua (1864), the year Wilde started at Portora.

Narrator: Stanley Townsend Song:

Ruby Philogene MBE

Set:

Alan Milligan

“The Arts Council welcomes the first Wilde Weekend Festival in Enniskillen, building on the success of the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival and reinforcing in the area its significant links with the great playwright, wit, aesthete and natty dresser. Oscar Wilde is recognised globally as a genius of the first magnitude but he also exerts a charm over the imagination of those outside the arts as a symbol of creativity itself and of the price one sometimes pays for fame. We look forward to the festival especially because, like Oscar, we all have simple tastes always satisfied with the best.”

Roisin McDonough Chief Executive Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Director: Adrian Dunbar Concept: Sean Doran 11

Reading

Memorial

An Excavation of the Illiad

by Alice Oswald: a performed reading narrated by Ciaran McMenamin & Ali White Lough Navar Magho Cliffs ❧ Saturday, May 2nd ❧ 8.15pm £8 & £6 (doesn’t include coach fare..) ❧ 75 mins Oscar Wilde was passionate about ancient Greek literature and had a great love of Homer. In Alice Oswald’s long poem, Memorial, she strips away the story of the Iliad and focuses instead on the brief ‘biographies’ of the minor war-dead, most of whom are little more than names, but each of whom lives and dies unforgettably - and unforgotten - in the copiousness of Homer’s

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glance. In the extraordinary setting of the Magho Cliffs above the waters and vast stretch of Ulster landscape (not unlike the original setting of the siege at Troy), the festival stages a one-off reading of Oswald’s great poem, narrated by the actor Ciaran McMenamin.

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Oswald has achieved a miraculous feat.

She’s exposed a skeleton, but found something magnificently eerie and rich. She has truly made, to borrow a phrase from Stephen Spender, a ‘miniature Iliad’, taut, fluid and graceful, its tones knelling like bells into the clear air, ringing out in remembrance of all the untimely dead.

The Guardian

The Iliad is an oral poem. This translation presents it as an attempt - in the aftermath of the Trojan War - to remember people’s names and lives without the use of writing. I hope it will have its own coherence as a series of memories and similes laid side by side: an antiphonal account of man in his world ... compatible with the spirit of oral poetry, which was never stable but always adapting itself to a new audience, as if its language, unlike written language, was still alive and kicking.

Alice Oswald

Ciaran McMenamin

was born in Enniskillen.

His films include To End All Wars, Sunday and The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce and his television credits include Primeval, Silent Witness and Jericho.

Photography by Talie Mau

Councillor Thomas O’Reilly, Chairman Fermanagh & Omagh District Council It is my great pleasure as the Chairman of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to introduce the programme for the first Wilde Weekend festival. Building on the tremendous success of Happy Days - the Enniskillen International Beckett Festival the Wilde Weekend is an exciting opportunity for the district and I am confident that this innovative programme of international quality, locally rooted events can firmly fix our reputation as a literary epicentre.

I would like to congratulate Sean Doran on putting together a truly unique programme, wish the festival team every success in its delivery and extend my hope that festivalgoers, both residents and visitors, have a great time.

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Community

A Wilde wonderland Picnic in the Park Camomile Hill (Forthill Park) ❧ Mondanday, May 4th 12.30pm – 3.30pm ❧ FREE Dress up in whatever wonderful wear you can find and join the Wilde Wonderland fun picnic in the park.

Free family

entertainment. Bring your own picnic.

Celebrate Bank Mondanday. Voluntary donations.

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Tape-Art by Talie Mau

Talk & Discussion

Jarlath Killeen & Heather White Portora Royal School ❧ Saturday, May 1st ❧ 10.30am ❧ FREE

Jarlath Killeen is an Associate Professor at Trinity College, Dublin and an acknowledged expert on Oscar Wilde. His published monographs include The Faiths of Oscar Wilde (2005) and The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde (2007).

The relationship between Portora Royal School and Trinity College, Dublin dates back to the early eighteen century. Both of course were attended by Oscar Wilde and in this introductory talk, Jarlath Killeen and Heather White offer a revealing insight into Wilde’s life and education during those years.

Heather White has also written extensively on Wilde, including Forgotten Schooldays: Oscar Wilde at Portora and Wildefire: the story of Oscar Wilde’s half-sisters.

Talk & Discussion

From June 2000 until April 2005, Franny Moyle influenced arts programming, first as the Creative Director of the BBC’s main arts production department, London Arts,

Franny Moyle

Masonic Hall Saturday, May 2nd ❧ 12pm £8 & £6

© Caroline Irby

The extraordinary life of Constance Wilde is often overshadowed by that of her husband, Oscar.

Franny Moyle’s revelatory biography, Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs. Oscar Wilde, seeks to redress the balance. She explains why Constance Wilde intrigued her so much that she wanted to write her biography.

and since 2002 as the corporation’s first Commissioner of Arts and Culture for BBC TV across

its four main channels She left the BBC to pursue her own publishing and television projects, and is currently a freelance executive producer, handling some of the BBC’s and other terrestrial channels’ major cultural series. Her first book, Desperate Romantics: The Private Lies of the PreRaphaelities was published in 2009.

Moyle’s account, the first to draw on more than 300 of Constance’s unpublished letters, is delightful, sad, and entirely convincing; her last chapters reduced this hardened reader to tears.

The Guardian

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Talk & Discussion

Toby Carson & Owen Dudley Edwards & Eibhear Walshe Masonic Hall ❧ Saturday, May 2nd ❧ 2pm ❧ £8 & £6

The trial of Oscar Wilde is an example of the power of myth over fact. His grandson, Merlin Holland, described it as ‘one of the very first celebrity trials’ but how well do we actually know the truth of what happened?

Toby Carson, Owen Dudley Edwards and Eibhear Walshe discuss the background to the case, the drama of the proceedings and the role

of Edward Carson, the future leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, in leading the defence for the Marquess of Queensberry.

Toby Carson is the grandson of Edward Carson. Owen Dudley Edwards is a renowned scholar and Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and Eibhear Walshe is a literary critic and novelist, whose most recent novel, The Diary of Mary Travers, reimagines her secret connection to Oscar Wilde.

Talk & Discussion

Neil Bartlett in conversation with Eibhear Walshe When The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published the reviews were terrible and the sales poor and it took years before Wilde’s only novel was recognised as a work of extraordinary imagination. Neil Bartlett discusses with Eibhear Wakshe the hold that this story of a Faustian pact has had on us ever since.

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Masonic Hall Saturday, May 2nd ❧ 4pm £8 & £6

Neil Bartlett is a director, performer, translator and writer.

His novels include Skin Lane and The Disappearance Boy and in 2012 he adapted The Picture of Dorian Gray for the stage as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

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Reread today, however, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a wonderfully entertaining parable of the aesthetic ideal (art for art’s sake), and a sneak preview of the brilliance exhibited in plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere’s Fan. Robert McCrum in The Guardian’s The 100 Best Novels

Talk & Discussion

Alan Hollinghurst in conversation with Carlo Gebler Ardhowen Theatre Sunday, May 3rd ❧ 2.00pm ❧ £10 & £8

In April of 1895, whilst Oscar Wilde was in Holloway prison awaiting trial, the entire contents of his house in Tite Street were sold to appease creditors. Amongst the contents were the books of Wilde’s library, his manuscripts and private letters. The books were sold in job lots; first editions, beautifully bound editions of

his mother and father’s work, presentation volumes from ‘almost every poet of my time’ were all sold for a pittance.

When Wilde heard of the sale he was inconsolable.

In the digital world of today, we celebrate the importance of books as objects within a home and, in a festival exclusive, Alan Hollinghurst talks with

Carlo Gebler about his own personal library and the books that matter most to him.

Alan Hollinghurst is one of the most acclaimed writers at work today. His novels include The Swimming Pool Library, The Line of Beauty (which won the 2004 Man Booker Prize) and, most recently, The Stranger’s Child.

I can think of no other novelist of the present day, and precious few of the past, who could catch human beings going about the ordinary business of living with the loving exactitude on display here.’

John Banville on The Stranger’s Child

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Talk & Discussion

Robert Hewison In two recent films, Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner and Emma Thompson’s Effie Gray, the critic John Ruskin has been controversially portrayed, some might say denigrated.

But Ruskin was one of the great figures of the Victorian era, a period that also included Walter Pater, William Morris, and of course Wilde himself.

At the heart of all this was the question of what art was for; the Aesthetic movement believed that art was there

Masonic Hall Sunday, May 3rd ❧ 12pm £8 & £6

to give pleasure whereas Ruskin argued that it existed to redeem the world. Robert Hewison discusses the cultural cross-currents of this

extraordinary period and the extent to which these ideas are still relevant today.

Robert Hewison is a critic and cultural historian. He is an expert on John Ruskin, having written on various aspects of his ideas and thinking, and co-curated the Ruskin centenary exhibition at Tate Britain in 2000. His most recent book is Cultural Capital: the Life and Death of Creative Britain.

Talk & Discussion

Ralph Steadman: Live from his studio In the year following Oscar Wilde’s arrival at Portora, Alice In Wonderland was published and just as Lewis Carroll was inspired to write the Alice stories by the young Alice Liddell, so Wilde in later years would write fairy stories for his own sons. In special live video link-up from his studio, Ralph Steadman talks about his own illustrations for Alice In Wonderland which received such acclaim when they were published in the 18

Ardhowen Theatre Sunday, May 3rd ❧ 5pm £8 & £6 ❧ Family Ticket £20

1970’s, gives us a tour of his studio and answers audience questions.

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Ralph Steadman has illustrated a number of other literary classics, including Animal Farm, Treasure Island, and Fahrenheit 451. He also illustrated Hunter S Thompson’s best-known work, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and Steadman’s imagery was adapted for the 1998 film of the same name. His work has appeared in countless publications and he has also created cover art for records by the likes of The Who, Frank Zappa and Slash.

The Domestic Arts

DINNER IN THE DARK Upper Atrium, Blakes of the Hollow ❧ Cuisine by Cafe Merlot Sunday, May 3rd ❧ 9.00pm ❧ £20 ❧ Limited Capacity On his lecture tour of America, Oscar Wilde took time out to enjoy a late-night supper at the bottom of a silver mine in Leadville, Colorado. He hoped that he’d proved to the dozen miners who hosted him that ‘art and appetite could go hand in hand’ and in a letter he described how, in the mine’s dim light, he had lit a cigar, the smoking of which the miners ‘cheered till the silver fell in dust from the walls of the room onto our plates.’

Whilst the festival can’t offer a meal at the bottom of a mine, it can offer something equally intriguing, an opportunity to eat and drink in pitch darkness.

On arrival, diners will be given blindfolds and, when dinner and dessert are brought in, the lights will be turned out and the diners can remove their blindfolds. If you’ve never eaten in the dark before, a whole new experience awaits!

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Music

Three FairyTale Concerts

FRiday Opening Concert

Enniskillen Methodist Church ❧ Friday, 1st May ❧ 8.00pm ❧ 60 mins ❧ £10 & £8

Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn Gustav Mahler’s settings of the folktales and fairytales collected together for Des Knaben Wunderhorn Marcus Farnsworth (baritone) Dorottya Lang (mezzo soprano) Julius Drake (piano)

First prize Wigmore Hall International Song Competition (2009), Song Prize Kathleen Ferrier Competition (2011) © Benjamin Ealovega

Marcus Farnsworth

Dorottya Lang

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Saturday Concert Enniskillen Methodist Church Saturday, 2nd May ❧ 7.00pm ❧ 105 mins with Interval £14 & £12 ❧ Family Ticket £40 (2+2)

Schumann Märchenbilder op 113 for viola and piano Janacek Pohadka for cello and piano Ravel Mother Goose Suite for four hands

-------Grieg Lyric Pieces (selection) for piano solo Ireland Fantasy sonata for clarinet and piano

Schumann Märchenzählungen op 132

Julius Drake

Sunday strauss

The Graan Monastery ❧ Sunday, 3rd May ❧ 7.00pm ❧ £14 & £12 ❧ Family Ticket £40 (2+2)

clarinet, viola and piano Julius Drake (piano) Charles Owen (piano) Tim Orpen (clarinet) Rachel Roberts (viola) Louise Hopkins (cello)

Strauss Four Songs op 27 Strauss Sonata for cello and piano

Katherine Broderick (soprano) Louise Hopkins (cello) Julius Drake (piano) Katherine Charles Owen (piano) Broderik First Prize Kathleen Ferrier Award (2007), Gold Medal Guildhall School of Music & Drama

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© Paul Foster-Williams

Strauss Four Last Songs

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Reading

The Happy Prince A theatrical reading featuring a Special Guest narrator, local ‘charity children’ and other voices curated by Sally Rees.

St. Macartin’s Cathedral ❧ Sunday, May 3 ❧ 3.45pm £8 & £6 ❧ Family Ticket £20 ❧ Duration 40 mins

Oscar Wilde’s fairy stories were inspired by the birth of his sons, Cyril and Vyvian.

The Happy Prince tells the story of a gilded and jewelled statue standing high on a pedestal and of a swallow who, left behind in the reed-beds when the rest of the flock fly off to Egypt, tells the statue of all the suffering that he can see about the town. And so, at the statue’s request, the swallow removes all the gold and jewels that adorn

it, bit by bit, and distributes them to those in need. It’s a story about love, friendship and the cost of beauty and is as relevant today, perhaps even more relevant, than when first published.

Cole’s monument in Enniskillen and the reedbeds at the edge of town bear an uncanny resemblance to the geography of Wilde’s story; was he perhaps inspired by memories of his time at Portora?

Since JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, children’s literature has been repositioned as central, not peripheral, shifting what children read, what we write about what children read, and what we read as adults.

At last we seem to understand that imagination is ageless.

Wilde’s children’s stories are splendid. In addition, it seems to me that they should be revisited as a defining part of his creative process.

Tape-Art by Talie Mau

Jeanette Winterson

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A share of the proceeds will be donated to Horizon West Children’s Hospice Killadeas

The Oscar Wilde Photo Studio

Clinton Centre, Enniskillen ❧ Friday, 1st May: 9.30am – 11.30am Saturday, 2nd May: 9.30am – 11.30am Sunday, 3rd May: 9.30am – 11.30am ❧ Monday, 4th May: 9.30am – 11.30am Time per photo session: 15 minutes Price per person – for photo session and 1 print: £15 International Arts Photographer: Cordula Treml www.cordulatreml.com Come to our 19th century photo studio and have your portrait taken in fancy Victorian costumes and stylish period accessories – pose like Oscar Wilde and his fellow aesthetes would have done.

You are welcome to bring your family and friends – for a lovely group shot.

Each of you will get a sepia print of this unique photo session – a Dorian Gray souvenir to take home and put in your attic!

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The decorative arts

THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL Lough Erne Resort ❧ FREE ❧ The luxurious 5 Star Lough Erne Resort hosts an eclectic selection of decorative art by the contemporary artisans and artists living and working in Fermanagh.

The works on display are ceramics including contemporary Belleek Pottery, textiles, design and mixed media. Visit and view these objects of beauty within the supreme interiors of Fermanagh’s leading hotel resort by Lough Ernest. Free.

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Lough Erne Resort Belleek Road · Enniskillen Fermanagh · BT93 7ED Reservations, Dining & General Enquiries: + 44(0)28 66323230 or 04866323230 Email: info@lougherneresort.com

CASTLE COOLE As part of the normal guided tour of Castle Coole, visitors will come across a series of contemporary pieces by artists from Fermanagh County Museum’s collections. Richly-glazed raku-fired ceramics and

bronze sculptures inspired by myths and the landscape interact with the historic room settings, providing idiosyncratic juxtapositions on the art and their surroundings. Please contact Castle Coole to confirm tour times and prices. org.uk/castle-coole

Castle Coole Enniskillen · County Fermanagh · BT74 6JY phone: +44 28 6632 2690 · http://www.nationaltrust

Bus tour & Reading

The Unselfish Gardens Secret Gardens ❧ Sunday, 3rd May ❧ 3.00pm Bus Departs ‘Einis Ceithleann Park’ (Quay Lane North, opp Camomile Hilll) 3.00pm sharp Price: £10 + £8 ❧ Duration: 180 mins

A tour of secret gardens in the greater Enniskillen area.

Explore and enjoy festival actors reading from Oscar Wilde It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the springtime broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl,

and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. ‘How happy we are here!’ they cried to each other.

The Selfish Giant

Tape-Art by Talie Mau

This event will involve some walking and the occasional steps and will be dependent upon weather conditions on the day.

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Fable to fantasy

FILM FESTIVAL Ardhowen Theatre

Fri 01.05.

Sun 03.05

6pm

7pm

Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton) Cert PG, 1h 48m Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s 1865 fantasy novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. A real visual treat!

Sat 02.05.

2pm

Enchanted (Disney) Cert PG, 1h 48m Classic Disney fairytale collides with modern day NY city. A witty dialogue, lots of laughs and sure to delight children and adults alike.

8pm

The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard) Cert 15, 1h 31m Starkly emotional and beautifully directed, this contemporary fable is based on the story of the same name by Oscar Wilde.

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I am Legend (Francis Lawrence) Cert PG-13, 1h 40m A mesmerizing performance by Will Smith as the last man on earth, as he struggles to survive while fending off the infected survivors of a devastating vampiric plague.

Mon 04.05.

11am

Aladdin (Disney) Cert G, 1h 30m A well loved classic fairytale, featuring the late Robin Williams in a star turn as the genie.

Adults £5 Children / students £2.50

Wildflower Town Town for the duration of the festival creating a Wildean Walkway of flowers and witty fairytale shop

windows of silver apples, glass slippers, Rapunzel’s hair, ball gowns and more for all festival goers to enjoy.

“Flowers, such as roses or violets whose greatest beauty is their colour, are made to be seen in masses” Oscar Wilde

Photography by Talie Mau

For the Bealtaine bank holiday weekend, Enniskillen transforms into a colourful Wildeflower

Box Office: www.ardhowentheatre.com · 028 6632 5440

27

Wilde

Information How to get to Enniskillen (Ekn)

BY CAR Belfast: Head west on M1 and A4 to Ekn. (133km) Dublin: Head north-west on M3 and N3, then A509 to Ekn - 100km.

Galway: Head north on N17 to Sligo, then N16 and A4 to Enniskillen - 206km.

Sligo: Head east on N16 and A4 to Ekn. (67km) Derry/Londonderry: Head south on A5 to Omagh, then south west on A2 to Ekn 97km.

Shannon Airport: Head east on N19 then N18 north bound to Galway. N17 to Sligo then N16 and A4 to Ekn - 277km.

Knock: (Ireland West Airport) Head north on N17 to Sligo, then N16 and A4 to Ekn 115km.

BY BUS Belfast to Ekn hourly from 8.05am by Translink NI (less frequently at weekends). For more information log on to www.translink.co.uk Dublin to Ekn operates every two hours from 7.30am Monday to Sunday by Bus Eireann.

From other locations to Enniskillen log on to www.buseireann.ie

28

Mobile Devices and Recordings: We would like to take this opportunity to remind you to switch off your mobile phones for the duration of the performances as courtesy to the artists and other members of the audience.

Video and Audio recordings are strictly prohibited.

Accommodation:

Fermanagh Lakelands: www.fermanaghlakelands.com Enniskillen Tourist Office: 028 6632 3110

Parking:

The Redcoats Traffic Wardens are known to be the most efficient in the UK. Be warned!

Walking Distances:

On the island Furthest distance Clinton Centre to Enniskillen Castle (between the bridges) 12 mins.

Off the island: From Enniskillen Castle - Portora 10 mins, - Waterways 6 mins, Round ‘O’ 3 mins.

Off the island: From East Bridge (Clinton Centre) South West College 4 mins, - Masonic Hall 6 mins, Ardhowen 10 mins, - Castle Coole 20 mins

grab a bite to eat.

Those participating are: Pats Bar: 028 6632 7462 The Bush Bar & Grill: 028 6632 5210 Café Merlot: 028 6632 0918 The Westville Hotel: 028 6632 0333 Saddlers Restaurant: 028 6632 6223

Late Opening Shops:

ASDA and TESCO are open 24 hours Monday-Friday, until midnight on Saturday and 1pm-6pm on Sunday. ASDA also has a 24 hour fuel station onsite.

Medical Numbers:

Taxi companies:

If you are in need of a doctor please call Lakeside Medical Centre on 028 6632 7192 (8.00am - 6.00pm Mon - Fri) or Western Urgent Care on 028 7186 5195 (6.00pm - 8.00am Mon - Friday and weekends).

General tip:

Available at Devenish Gallery, 28-30 Forthill Street, Enniskillen BT74 6AJ, phone 028 6632 4737

Flexi Cabs: 028 6632 4848 Star Taxis: 028 6632 3232 Take-a-Taxi: 028 6632 2555 Diamond Cabs: 028 6632 8484 Watch out on Sunday mornings as mostly everything is closed except the churches.

Restaurants:

Several restaurants will be serving late after-performance suppers from 9-11pm allowing you to watch a show and then

Posters:

Latecomers:

As many events are in unusual venues latecomers may not be admitted. Please see event ticket for details.

Events subject to change and cancellation.

All ticket bookers will be notified and changes shown on website.

Images:

Inside Cover Map Images & Back Cover Image by Heather White · www.whiteheathergallery.co.uk Tape-Art and Photography by Talie Mau · www.taliemau.com

Festival Office:

The Clinton Centre Basement (Tickets cannot be purchased or ordered from the festival office, all enquiries to Box office 028 6632 5440) www. wildeweekendenniskillen.com

Box Office:

Tickets are available on www. ardhowentheatre.com or by telephone through Ardhowen Theatre www.ardhowentheatre.com NI: 028 6632 5440 ROI: 048 6632 5440 International: +44 28 6632 5440

Book Seller:

The festival bookseller is The Reading Room, Carrickon-Shannon, Co. Leitrim www.thereadingroom.ie

❧ The Wilde Team ❧

Founding Director & Artistic Director Deputy Artistic Director Festival Co-ordinator Volunteers Manager Executive Producer Production Manager Box Office Manager Social Media

: Sean Doran : Liam Browne : Heather White : Sally Rees : Ali Curran : Barry McKinney : Siobhan O’Connor : Roisin McManus & Dave Rees Press NI : Alison Knox Media & Communications : Bolton Quinn Administration : Sacha White Brochure Designer : Talie Mau Brochure Print : The Print Factory Website : Colm Bradley Young Wilde sculpture : Simon Carman Wilde Weekend Festival Associates : Adrian Dunbar & Alan Milligan Board of Directors: Mary Heaney (Chair), Mary Campbell, Sally Everist, Carlo Gebler, Sinead Martin, William Morrison, Alison McArdle, Dearbhail McDonald, Oliver O’Connor, Paul Sternberg.

Wilde Weekend Volunteers Group: John Graham, Barbara Johnston, Noelle McAllinden, Anne McDermott, Genevieve Murphy, James Byrne, Catherine Scott, Helen Sharp, Fionnuala Curran, Ann McDermot, Patricia Martinelli, Mary McDowell.

THANK YOU Jackie, Norah, Joe, Mick and all the staff at the Ardhowen Theatre; Ian Davidson and Robert Gibson Fermanagh & Omagh District Council; Jim, Kate, Holly and all the staff at The National Trust Fermanagh; Martin Maguire and Sean Henry at the Clinton Centre; The Universities Trust; The Masonic Hall; Sarah McHugh Fermanagh County Museum; Monsignor Peter O’Reilly St. Michael’s Church, Dean Kenny Hall St. Macartin’s Cathedral, Rev Sam McGuffin the Methodist Church, Fr. Brian Darcy The Graan Monastery, Portora Royal School, Aideen, Bridie and all at The Aisling Centre (Happy 25th Anniversary), the Regal Hall & Fermanagh Unionist Club, the Town Hall, Talie and Aidan at the Print Factory, John and Gerry at Café Merlot; Tanya Cathcart & all at Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism and Visitors Centre, a ll Event Volunteers and Driver Volunteers, Orlagh Kelly of The Reading Room, John Roche of Tully Mill, Colm Bradley Website, Arts Council Northern Ireland for loan of Grand Piano ..... and the owners of our secret gardens!

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WILDE

Event Calendar FRIDAY MAY 1st A light for the Soul of Man

9.30am 2.30pm 4.30pm 4.30pm 6.00pm 6.30pm 8.00pm 9.30pm

Wilde Photo Studio The Clinton Centre Oscar Wilde at Home Florence Court Oscar Wilde at Home Florence Court Decay Of Lying Morning Room Castle Coole Film: Alice in Wonderland The Ardhowen Theatre Festival Opening Lecture by Will Self The Regal Festival Opening Concert Methodist Church De Profundis St. Michael’s Church

120 mins 75 mins 75 mins 45 mins 108 mins 60 mins 60 mins 60 mins

SATURDAY MAY 2nd Wildeflower Island Town

9.30am Wilde Photo Studio 10.15am Oscar Wilde at Home 10.30am Talk: Jarleth Killeen / Heather White 10.30am The Decay of Lying 12.00pm Talk: Franny Moyle, 1.15pm Oscar Wilde at Home 1.30pm The Ballad of Reading Gaol 2.00pm Talk: Toby Carson, Owen D. Edwards, Eibhear Walshe 2.00pm Film: Enchanted 4.00pm Talk: Neil Bartlett 4.30pm Oscar Wilde at Home 4.30pm Decay of Lying 7.00pm Saturday Concert 8.00pm Film: The Selfish Giant 8.15pm MEMORIAL 9.45pm De Profundis 10.30pm For Alfonso / Neil Bartlett 30

The Clinton Centre Florence Court Portora Royal School Morning Room Castle Coole Masonic Hall Florence Court South West College

120 mins 75 mins 60 mins 45 mins 60mins 75mins 45 mins

Masonic Hall 60 mins The Ardhowen Theatre 108 mins Masonic Hall 60 mins Florence Court 75 mins Morning Room Castle Coole 45 mins Enniskillen Methodist Church 105 mins interval The Ardhowen Theatre 91mins Magho Cliffs Lough Navar 75 mins St. Michael’s Church 60 mins The Regal

www.wildeweekendenniskillen.com SUNDAY MAY 3rd

9.30am Wilde Photo Studio The Clinton Centre 120 mins 10.15am Oscar Wilde at Home Florence Court 75 mins 10.30am The Ballad of Reading Gaol South West College 45 mins 11.00am Decay of Lying Morning Room Castle Coole 45 mins 12.00pm Talk: Robert Hewison Masonic Hall 60 mins 1.15pm Oscar Wilde at Home Florence Court 75 mins 2.00pm Talk: Alan Hollinghurst The Ardhowen Theatre 60 mins 3.00pm Unselfish Gardens depart Quay Lane North 180 mins 3.00pm Decay of Lying Morning Room Castle Coole 45 mins 3.45pm Reading The Happy Prince St Macartin’s Cathedral 40 mins 4.30pm Oscar Wilde at Home Florence Court 75 mins 5.00pm Ralph Steadman The Ardhowen Theatre 60 mins 7.00pm Sunday Strauss with Four Last Songs The Graan 105 mins with interval 7.00pm Film: I am Legend The Ardhowen Theatre 100 mins 9.00pm Dining in the Dark Blakes The Hollow 90 mins 9.15pm De Profundis St Michael’s Church 60 mins

MONDAY MAY 4 Mondandy

9.30am 10.15am 11.00am 12.00pm 12.30pm 1.15pm 3.00pm 4.30pm

Wilde Photo Studio Oscar Wilde at Home Film: Aladdin Decay of Lying A Wilde Wonderland Oscar Wilde at Home Decay of Lying Oscar Wilde at Home

The Clinton Centre Florence Court The Ardhowen Theatre Morning Room Castle Coole Camomile Hill (Forthill Park) Florence Court Morning Room Castle Coole Florence Court

120 mins 75 mins 90 mins 45 mins 180 mins 75 mins 45 mins 75 mins

Box Office: www.ardhowentheatre.com · 028 6632 5440

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‘Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the arts that have influenced us’ OSCAR WILDE

www.wildeweekendenniskillen.com www.ardhowentheatre.com Phone 028 6632 5440 36

PF104149

Box Office: