Before the previously posted reviews of ‘Trainspotting’ began to flood in, before the devious junkie’s even had a chance to go through “post-show-blues” and “cold turkey”, Devious Theatre had already announced our next production; ‘Smitten’.

Here’s the official Devious word on the show;

“Smitten depicts a tragicomic series of loosely interlinked vignettes set in Kilkenny City over a succession of rainy summer nights. The play takes its cues from the short stories of Raymond Carver and the films of Woody Allen (the early funny ones that is). The characters at the core of Smitten are trying to get their bearings in life, each stuck in their own limbo. The realities of adult life are dealing a harsh blow to the best laid plans, in a way that leaves them totally smitten… in all the meanings of the word.

Alcoholism. Pregnancy. Testicular Cancer. Apathy. Doomed Relationships.
Sock Puppets. Those elusive mystery girls. How to dance to Bruce Springsteen. And rain. Lots of rain. Smitten functions as a theatrical collage, with intertwining narratives and varying forms of narrative giving life to the comic and often tragic stories that litter the rainy streets of Kilkenny City.” Read More…

Here’s my two words; “It’s Awesome!”.

We’re already knee-deep in rehearsals as well as preparing promotional material for the show, with just five-weeks until the opening night. Thankfully, I’ll have a lot more time to be snapping behind-the-scenes on this production and will hopefully get to blog through-out as well. I’ll also get another opportunity to work with Paddy “the photoshop wizard” Dunne on some promo material. Awesome!

This series of slow-shutter shots was more of an experiment for shots to come, I’m hoping to do individual character promo shots closer to the show. Taken at rehearsals, camera on a tripod, 50mm lens (cheers Ken, I ordered my own over 4 weeks ago!), trying different speeds between 10″ to 30″, using the remote with flash-bursts as the shutter opened and closed, also using the natural light beams coming in through the windows as the sun went down. Quite simply it creates nice trails, different saturation levels and levels of movement as people move around the room. Just a test but more to come. You can check out more of my behind-the-scenes snaps from ‘Smitten’ rehearsals here on the Devious Theatre Bebo.

Tickets for Smitten are being sold in Rollercoaster Records, Kieran Street from 21st of July and they are 10EURO. The show runs August 20 – 23 and starts 8pm nightly. For more information and updates, check out www.devioustheatre.com

Ross Costigan as ‘Jack Street’. Photograph by Shane Hatton

Vultures Episode 2: ‘The Scarlet Lady Vanishes‘ went online last Sunday, following the Cast & Crew premiere in Cleeres Theatre on Saturday Night.

For anybody not in the know, ‘Vultures’ is the flagship production by Mycrofilms, it’s a web-based sitcom, that’s FREE TO WATCH on www.vulturespi.com. It follows the adventures of the three hapless detectives of Vultures Private Investigators.

The pilot episode, ‘The Kris Kringle Konundrum‘ premiered Christmas Eve and now Vultour, McGrain, Tennyson and the gang are back, with a few new characters in tow as they ‘get up in the guts’ of an Agatha Christie style murder-mystery, once again written by John Morton and Paddy Dunne.

Aside from providing behind-the-scenes shots for the show, I’m also the 1st A.D and play urban preacher ‘Jack Street’. As shooting for episode 2 took place just before my exams, it meant I wasn’t around for a lot of shooting but I did manage to get some behind-the-scenes snaps, with plenty more to be added to Vulturespi.com very soon. I don’t want to give away any of the plot until people have seen the show.

Mycrofilms have just received funding from the Arts Office, meaning we’ll be able to shoot four more episodes to complete the 1st series. Pre-production has already begun on episode three and it’s looking like we’ll be shooting it in July (more on that later) after Devious Theatre’s production of TrainSpotting (more on that later).

But for now check out check out ‘Vultures : The Scarlet Lady Vanishes‘; it’s got action, it’s got suspense, it’s got love, it’s got hookers. “And it’s still better than that film, the one with the bugs in space!”

So college is officially over… it still hasn’t really sunk in. I’ve tried several times to write this blog post, but it’s hard to capture how I feel right now. I’m overwhelmed with thoughts, memories and mixed emotions.

Four years ago, if somebody told me that I would have completed a Diploma in Print Journalism and then a BA Hons Degree in Communications & Public Relations, I would have thought they were crazy. I wasn’t the academic type. Going back into education as a mature student, I was worried I wouldn’t fit in, hell I have trouble fitting in most places, let alone because of age.

On my first day in I.T Carlow, I hesitantly walked into a room with 60 complete strangers, people from all over the country and different walks of life. I nearly died when we all had to stand up and introduce ourselves. I didn’t want to go back the next day… but I’m so glad I did.

Aside from studying a broad range of subjects and finally getting an idea of what I want to do in life, I’ve spent the last three years with the most amazing people you could ever wish to meet. I have so many different stories and memories of time with them, that I could probably set up a new blog with daily posts (maybe I will!?).

Although we were all completely different, I was accepted by them for who I was and formed friendships that I know will last my entire life. I doubt any of them actually know how much of an impact they made on me. It’s hard to pick a favourite memory from the past three years, but I can safely say I have at least one fond memory of every single person in my class, and so many people I met through them. Days spent in the TV studio or in the canteen, endless days in the library studying or trying to avoid study. Insane nights out, pub crawls and parties. The laughter. The tears. The stress. The relief. The sessions. The moments. The whole thing!

This year was easily our most stressful, as we went from projects to essays, PR Campaigns to design projects, presentations to speeches, radio adverts to video documentaries, interviews, a thesis and then finally exams. 13 hour days in the library, reading novels, plays, poetry and endless amounts of notes. By the end, we spent a lot of time wishing it would all be over, in hindsight, I can see myself spending alot more time wishing it had never ended.

I can safely say the reason I got out of bed every morning, spent hours commuting and stuck in traffic, spent days hungry because of the lack of vegetarian options, or the reason I even managed to complete the course at all is because I was doing it with these people.

Now that it’s all over and we finished it off with the expectedly awesome celebrations, I’m kind of lost. We’ve said our goodbyes, we’re all heading off in different directions. Only the 2nd class to complete the course, we’re a new breed. My class was packed full of people with different interests, talents and skills. I have no doubt I’ll see my classmates changing the ways things are done in every area of life from politics to sports, music and entertainment, you name it and somebody was good at it. I feel privileged to have spent time with them.

The above class photo was taken at the Portal statue outside I.T Carlow, just after we finished our first exam, the beginning of the end. Although not any type of artistic shot I’m posting it on the site because I want to share it with people. Firstly for anybody who wasn’t in my class, I want you to see the faces of all the people who changed my life and where I’m going in life.

Secondly, for my classmates to have (thanks for all the memories). I have a list of contacts but not all of you are on it, so if you want a large version of the shot for printing or want to meet up in the real world, then just let me know. I also have thousands of photos from the last three years and now I have time to go back and sort them out, so make sure and add my bebo or myspace profile. Finally if any of you do read this then leave a comment, I’d love to know you favourite memory or thoughts.

I’m already looking forward to the class reunion…

This week was Road Safety Awareness week in I.T Carlow, with a whole host of activities and things going on to promote and raise awareness of road safety.366 people died on Irish roads last year, it’s the equivalent of 1 in 8 students in the college. Having travelled up and down to college every day for the last three years I more than welcomed the event. It’s ridiculous some of the stupid risks people take on the roads and the amount of times I’ve seen people nearly kill themselves and others because they won’t slow down.

Around the college, all week you could see the remains of cars that had crashed on the roads. All of them ridiculously crushed and tour apart, leaving little hope for the thought of the driver actually surviving. Inside the college there were various stalls, video displays, reaction tests and general road safety activities.

On Wednesday I was asked to take promo shots for a car crash re-enactment in the college car park. With hundreds of people gathered to watch, various speakers including model Vivienne Connolly opened the event, followed by the release of 366 white balloons, one for each road death last year.

After that I made my way to the roof of the college library (I’ve always wanted to get up there) to get some shots looking down on people lying, covered in white sheets, in the shape of 366. Then quickly back down to snap the road-crash re-enactment scene. I had also been asked to get some production promo shots for a group making a road safety video who would be filming the re-enactment and for the Carlow Fire & Ambulance Services.

The re-enactment began with the arrival of the Gardai, Fire & Ambulance Services on the scene of the crash, with two victims trapped inside a car which had been hit by another. The driver of that car lay dead having come through the windscreen because he wasn’t wearing a seat-belt.

It was both scary and awesome to be so close and shooting the car crash scene, as the firemen secured the cars and set about saving the survivors. It was also pretty eerie with hundreds of people standing around watching in silence. I need to get rid of my manners when trying to shoot something at the same time as other photographers. Whilst trying to stay out of the way of all the fire and ambulance crew doing their jobs, I was trying to compete with several other photographers and film crew for the best angles. With only seconds to get shots before something/somebody gets in the way, I found that being polite obviously isn’t high up on the list of things to worry about (at least with some photographers).

Slowly but surely the crews secured the vehicles and took them apart piece-by-piece, always ensuring the victims were safe. Constantly moving and thinking, some were cutting the car apart, others were talking to the victims and holding their heads securely, they were always working together. It was amazing to watch them removing the roof of the car and then slowly removing the survivors on spine boards before treating them on the road. Finally, it seemed to get even quieter when the hearse arrived and the body was removed from the other car and placed in a body bag.

I’m still in awe thinking about the amazing jobs these people do everyday. That firemen who don’t get paid, volunteer their time and witness horrible things to try their best to save complete strangers. It’s sad to think how many times they have to do this because of stupid things like people not wearing seat belts or simply driving too fast (as for drink drivers; don’t get me started on those selfish/stupid bastards!).

Hopefully this demonstration will make people think and be more careful, hopefully people will look at my shots and take every precaution so they don’t end up just another statistic of Irish road deaths.

Finally I have to say a huge thanks to I.T Carlow P.R Officer Paula Pollard who always thinks of me when she needs a photographer and of course to Niall Walsh for getting me to and from college safely for the last few years. You can check out all of my photos from the car crash re-enactment here.