TRAVEL BLOG PART TWO
2/20 Dun Laoghaire
Always check what's going on in town wherever you travel. Checking over the brochures downstairs at a B & B in Dun Laoghaire south of Dublin I find announcements for the local theatre. Currently running? Juno & the Paycock for 15 Euros. I had it swapped 'round in my mind momentarily with Shadow of a Gunman my favorite O'Casey but even when my momentary thrill abatted I was still thrilled to see professional theatre for about twenty bucks. I never made use of student rush (is that what it's called) while at Emerson even when The Importance of Being Earnest played over at BU. I was too meek to figure out how the process of getting a seat for $10 actually worked. Since then I've seen five professional plays, three of the five while in Ireland.
Great to see dramakids loitering out front...Oh, before I go on remove the idea of a Georgian theatre from your mind. The theatre in Dun Laoghaire is in a large mall-like complex. The theatre itself is not unlike a megaplex movie theatre in size & design. Audience? Scruffy teens there seemingly on their own. The aforementioned dramakids. Older couples. A mom & her teenaged son. A teenage couple on a date. The boy brought along two friends too. Strange, no? I couldn't imagine this scene in the States. A group of kids way in the back shout to friends as they walk in. One checks phone for text as he walks in. This is modern Dublin. He's Black. Mates are white. They chat away excitedly. Mom & son beside me talk about the local match on the weekend. Footbal but soccer or Gaelic? This can be confusing in Ireland where some people say "soccer," as we do in the States, to refer to Association Football. For these people "football" means "Gaelic football". Other people say "football" & mean, what for us & some of the Irish, is "soccer". Generally in the east, where Dublin is, "football" means "soccer". The east tends to be more British. Some in the west call Dublin "West Britain". [to be continued]
Friday, March 10, 2006
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