Welcome to the events page of the Athenry MAD Festival. Listed below are the dates and times for each event plus venue locations too.
A big thank you to The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for supporting this years festival.
Friday 16th September 7:00pm-8:30pm: Japan Cultural Exchange Concert
Venue: Clarin Collage Athenry. Free
Athenry Music School & Lackagh CCÉ Irish Traditional Music Expo in association with the EU Japan Festival present an evening with the Higashikawi Wind Band.
This fantastic music event will be held in Clarin Collage Athenry and will also include Ceili Dancing (with Ceilí caller Máire Daly).
Everyone is welcome to enjoy this free event.
Friday 16th September 8:00pm: Athenry Heritage Centre Book Tickets
The Athenry MAD Festival is pleased to announce that Finbar Coady will play an intimate concert in the Athenry Heritage Centre on Friday 16th September.
Join us for a night of celebration as Finbar transforms the songs of Leonard Cohen into a unique theatrical performance in the ambient setting of St. Mary's Church, Athenry.
There's limited seating so purchase your tickets on our booking page or click on the Book Tickets link.
When it comes to “Tribute’ shows, this one is truly in a class of its own.
Performing to a unique accompanying cinematic backdrop, Finbar Coady transports audiences deep into their own emotional centres as he delivers this heartfelt Homage.
While physically and sartorially he bears more than a passing resemblance to Leonard, this is so much more than a copycat performance.
Michael Harding has this to say; "Coady is funny, entertaining & seductive on stage and his shows always hit the right spot with audiences. But it's his rendition of Cohen songs that makes him remarkable. His voice is sometime hauntingly close to the original but his interpretations are utterly unique.
He makes the poetry of Cohen his own. He adds a lightness to suit himself and enters the melancholy of Cohen's music with the ironies and experiences of his own life. In other words, he takes the poetry of Cohen, then remakes it and re-imagines it, for his own audiences.
He is a real troubadour, a powerful communicator and a unique performer. It's not just the singer you get with Coady. You get the person. It's a complete package”.
Saturday 17th September 11:15am-12:30pm Puppet Show & Storytelling. Free
Venue: Athenry Library
Come and meet Jay Ryan from RTE jr 'Living With A Fairy' as he presents his Monster Puppet show and storytelling event in Athenry Library from 11:00am
Jay Ryan, Artistic Director of PigNut and the puppeteer for Jacko, his hapless friend Podi, a wise old wizard and a host of small creatures from mice to snails, enthrals his young audience in fifty minutes of adventure and misadventure. Loud mouthed button-eyed Jacko, the brains and ambition of the outfit, is very put out when woolly-jumpered doleful Podi comes down with a cold, threatening his dream of becoming rich and famous. Coming across a spell book belonging to a mysterious wizard, Jacko, in his efforts to cure his friend, inadvertently turns him into a scary monster and a series of small creatures all of whom the children agree sing better than himself.
This show is suitable for under 8 but everyone is welcome to enjoy this free show.
Saturday 17th September: 1:00pm-3:00pm Stilt Walking Workshop. Free 12yrs+
Venue: Athenry Community Hall
Here's a great opportunity to learn a new skill with the award winning Gliondar Community Arts Organisation. This immersive workshop which is taking place in the Athenry Community Hall from 1:00pm, will teach you all you need to know to become a confident silt walker and perhaps become one of Gliondar's troupe.
All equipment is provided however the event is only available to children 12 years or over.
Saturday 17th September: 1:30pm-3:30pm Do you Speak Sound?
Venue: Athenry Market Square
Do you speak Sound? is an interactive walkabout piece from Galway’s own Sovereign Shaman-in-Residence, The Curly Organ. Keep your eyes peeled on the streets for a bobble-hatted man offering you a set of headphones. Should you accept, you will enter into an intimate performance shared only by you and the artist. What happens next entirely depends on you and what the artist perceives as your preferred means to engage.
Participants will have the added option of being sent a recording of their moment with the microphone by email at a later date.
Saturday 17th September 7:30pm: Drama with the Bovine Collective Book Tickets
My Dead's Husband Hereford Bull by Anne Walsh Donnelly.
Venue: Athenry Heritage Centre Festival Garden
The Athenry MAD Festival welcomes the Bovine Collective for a premier reading of the new production My Dead's Husband Hereford Bull by Anne Walsh Donnelly. this One Act play is approximately 50 minutes long and will be performed in the festival garden located in the grounds of the Athenry Heritage Centre (weather permitting).
About the play:
Joan finds it easier to talk to a chair than to anybody else about the bull that’s pestering her, her husband's death, facing up to the truth about her sexuality, and dealing with the guilt of it all, well she is Irish. Come and laugh, and maybe cry, with Joan. Her girlfriend, Sharon and therapist, Vanessa are trying to help Joan to come to terms with her sexuality but it's proving to be a difficult task.
The actresses are Bríd Quinn, Moira Mahony and Trina Healy and the play is directed by Vincent McHale, who also has several years experience in amateur drama.
Awards:
The short version of the play was runner-up for best script in the Claremorris Drama and Fringe Festival in 2022 and Bríd Quinn won best actress for her performance.
The playwright (Anne Walsh Donnelly) was awarded a bursary from the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in 2020 for the script of the one act version.
Sunday 18th September 9:30am: Pianomania
Venue: Athenry Heritage Centre
As part of Athenry MAD Festival local Suzuki piano students will perform in the festival garden with an eclectic mix of music.
Teachers Helen Gannon and Elaine O Connor are delighted to bring their students back to the Festival in 2022. Music from the Movies, Classical, Jazz, Latin American and original arrangements are among the styles that will be performed on Sunday Morning.
The event is free to attend but space is limited so please arrive on time.
Sunday 18th September 3:00pm-5:30pm: Pignut Theatre
Venue: Athenry Park Free
Roll up roll up for the amazing Flea Circus presented by Jay Ryan of Pignut.
Children and adults will love this show.
It's amazing! It's spectacular! It’s astounding! It's tiny!
Feats of astonishing bravery and breath-taking beauty with acrobatics, trapeze, high wire and more.
All performed by highly trained, teeny tiny fleas.
Pignut will perform this show on Sunday afternoon in Athenry Park and its free family fun for all ages to enjoy.
This show is weather dependent so location may be moved to the Athenry Heritage Centre.
Sunday 18th September 4:00pm-7:30pm: Paddy Casey & Mundy
Venue Athenry Community Park Free Concert
The Athenry MAD Festival in partnership with Galway County Council Arts Office present a free concert as part of the LLPS Ceol an tSamhraidh.
This one day free family concert will be held in Athenry Park from 4:00pm.
Join us for a wonderful afternoon of music, face painting, stilt walking, the amazing Flea Circus and Do You Speak Sound with The Curly Organ.
Bring the family to Athenry Park and enjoy a day for everyone to enjoy.
Sunday 18th September 7:00pm-10:00pm: Dungeons & Dragons Book Tickets
Venue: Athenry Community Hall Over 18 Only
Have you ever wanted to be a hero in your own epic tale? Are you a fan of fantasy worlds with wizards, magic, swords, elves, and halflings? Will you join the party to defeat monsters and villains and save the world? Come get your geek on and try out Dungeons & Dragons with Athenry Adventurers.
Athenry Adventurers RPG Club usually caters to teenagers, but by popular demand, we are bringing you this once-off opportunity for those 18+ only to join us for a game, as part of the MAD Festival.
Join us at the table to play the biggest Tabletop Role Playing game in the world. Our skilled team of Dungeon Masters will be your guides in the fantasy world of DnD where you get to be the hero. Whether it be a victorious adventure or a tragic failure, the dice will decide, either way the story is going to be EPIC! Adventure awaits!
Advance booking advised, places are limited. This is a once-off event, adults only 18+ years only.
All materials will be provided. Absolute beginners and experienced players are both welcome.
ATHVENTURECON Book your tickets now
Nollaig Beo This event is now sold out
Culture Night 23rd September 2022
Athenry Walled Towns Day 2022
Athenry's Walled Towns Day 2022 Programme
