Five Galway theatre shows will be staged in this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival as part of a special one-off season entitled West Coast Cool.

 
The five plays will take place over two weeks in Smock Alley Theatre during the Fringe Festival, which runs from September 8-23, They are being presented by four companies – Moonfish, Slide-show, Lithium and Waterdonkey – and there’s also a one-man drama from Martin Sharry.

I Am Martin Sharry is the story of three Martin Sharrys. Set on the Aran Islands, it explores the private struggle of three generations, whose broken stories deal with migration and a loss of language.

This is done in a minimal, show-and-tell style performance, using memory, photos and objects from the family home. Writer and performer Martin Sharry comes from Aran Islands via Ballymun and his show is on in Smock Alley from 18-22.

Tromluí Phinocchio/Pinocchio – a Nightmare from Moonfish Theatre, is the dark and sometimes disturbing story of a young boy's journey through a dangerous adult world. Using a mix of Irish and English, Moonfish focus on the darker and more sinister side of Collodi’s original Italian story. This production features talking animals, fairies, shadow puppets, ghosts and singing and dancing. Tromluí Phinocchio/Pinocchio – a Nightmare runs from September 8-15. This show is not suitable for audiences under 11 years of age.

A Dangerman is being staged by Side-Show and runs from September 12 -15 at Smock Alley. The central character is Dick Walsh, who has something to say that maybe people don’t want to hear. He presents forgotten lessons from Ancient Greece, the bible and the French Revolution which may help give an insight into current event in Syria, China and Haiti.

Lithium Company make their Dublin debut at the Fringe with Circa Still, Rupture Now. This is their first show and got an excellent response when it was staged at Cork Midsummer Festival earlier this summer. In this drama about human history, iconic photographs will be shown in a new light as tyrants are toppled, new victories are achieved and Romantic Ireland is exhumed from wherever it has been buried. The show runs from September 8-15 with previews on September 6 and 7.

Galway is also represented at the Fringe with Waterdonkey who present Be Right Back from September 18-22 with a preview on September 17. This combination of cyber-performance and live action uses an Irish legend as its starting-point as it travels through the private realm of the imagination and the blue light world of the internet.

Waterdonkey was founded in 2008 by a group of graduates from NUIG's Drama and Theatre Studies MA programme. Since then, they have devised eight shows. Their most recent production, Happening premiered at the 2011 Fringe, and subsequently travelled to Solstice in Cork.

This season of Galway shows is being curated by Kate Costello, Assistant Arts Officer with Galway County Council, who says this offering from Galway shows that The West is definitely awake!
Details on all shows at the Fringe Box Office at 01 6706106.