Above: Strike Anywhere frontman Thomas Barnett in the Cuba Club, Galway.

The past few weeks have been nothing short of hectic but now that filming has finished on ‘Vultures‘ episode 3 and the Hype Entertainment Battle of the Bands 2008 is finally over, I’ve been slowly catching up on my workload. Then, when I heard Richmond punker’s Strike Anywhere were on tour and playing in Galway with 20BullsEach and the Lobotomies, I knew that it was about time for a road-trip.

I first met Dublin-based hardcore punks 20BullsEach two years ago, I went up to shoot the lads as they recorded demo’s for their album ‘Lost Causes’, since then I’ve been a big fan and shot them live a couple of times. One of those times, they brought Belfast “brain-dead punx” the Lobotomies along with them. The Lobotomies ended up staying in my house and drinking everything in sight, including a crate of Stella and a bottle of 70% Polish Vodka. In return, they taught me “the ways of the mohawk” and how to eyeball chav-scum at their gig in Carlow the following day.

I’d like to think my skills in gig photography, mohawk maintenance and eye-balling chav-scum have improved quite a bit in the last two years and I really wanted another chance to shoot these bands again, this was going to be an awesome gig. I’d never heard of the other support bands; ‘Cut the Reins’ or ‘Only Fumes and Corpses’ but they were all playing with STRIKE ANYWHERE, I’ve been into them since I discovered them on the first ‘Rock Against Bush’ compilation, since then I’ve been hooked. Seeing them live was a must, but getting to shoot them would be fucking awesome!

I got in touch with 20BE lead singer Gareth Cummins about the gig, he put me on to Daniel from UsVsThem Promotions and I asked could I shoot the gig, he said no problem. Now, how the hell do I get to Galway? It’s never hard to convince the Chief to go to a gig; all you have to do is say something like “roadtrip to Galway, five awesome bands for ten euro, I’ll pay for diesel and there’s fuck all else to do on a Monday night!?”, and he’ll probably reply with something like; “chalk it down!”. Road-trip on…

We left Kilkenny about 3.45pm, the journey was an expected mix of conversations about KilkennyMusic and Devious Theatre stuff, to a soundtrack of the bands we were going to see. The roads were plagued with tractors, every time we got past one there was another one, which only further dignified my rant about muckers on last week’s Sound System Podcast. The G.P.S (Greatest Pile of Shite) constantly told us we were driving through fields and rivers. Three hours and one impromtu “I need to pee” stop later we arrived in Galway. With the doors due to open at 7.30pm, we grabbed some food (Supermac’s veggie burgers are surprisingly awesome) then stood outside the Cuba Club chatting to the lads from 20BE and other gig-goers.

We had been standing outside for about 20 minutes when the door opened and Strike Anywhere singer Thomas Barnett walked out. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say hello and much to my surprise he stopped and chatted to us for about ten minutes. He’s such a nice guy! I asked if it was cool to shoot their set; I knew the rest of the bands would be no problem, but after my “heated encounter” with the Frames tour manager a couple of years ago I’m still weary of bigger bands; who may have asshole/ignorant tour managers who like to shout at people who already have permission from the promoters to shoot a gig but then take an attitude of “nobody fucking told me” and proceed to block all my shots until I end up leaving disappointed and with the idea that “the Frames are completely over-rated Irish pop wank anyway” cemented in my mind, and who wants to shoot bands like that!? Thankfully, Thomas Barnett seemed genuinely happy to let me shoot Strike Anywhere.

7:30pm came and went, the crowd containing all forms of coloured mohawks and pole-spikes grew and eventually the doors opened around 8pm. I went straight to the merchandise table and grabbed a Strike Anywhere t-shirt and then checked out the lights around the stage. It’s always a nice challenge to shoot in a new venue, I’m so used to shooting the venues in KK, with somewhere new it takes a while to find the best spots to shoot from, plus there’s figuring out the lighting set-up, but of course all of this is part of the challenge. Thankfully, I’ve gotten used to poor lighting in small Irish venues. The stage in the Cuba Club was better lit than most, but none of the lights were spotted properly and the back of the stage was washed in red lights meaning the drums would be difficult to shoot.

First up on the bill were a local support, melodic hardcore band; Cut the Reins. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was instantly surprised and won over as they exploded into their energetic set, the crowd went completely nuts constantly forming huge circle-pits spinning around the floor. There was no hope of shooting from the front of stage, I stayed at the sides, testing and shooting different speeds and settings. Throughout the set, the crowd sang and chanted along, all the while stomping and diving around.  It was a great start to the gig and the crowd were eager for more.

Next up were 20BullsEach and they blasted through their own set of chunky riff-heavy songs filled with breakdowns, melodic harmonies, screams and chants. Disappointingly, I have to say that the sound didn’t do the Bulls any justice, at times the drums sounded like paint cans and a lot of Paul’s double-bass kicks and rolls were lost. This didn’t seem to have any affect on the crowd, still singing, chanting, stomping and flying around in the pit. On the plus-side, 20BE finished up with their first live performance of a brand-new song, later they told me they had fucked it up but I thought it was an awesome sneak-preview of things still to come.

The changeover between 20BE set and Only Fumes and Corpses‘ took too long. The crowd disappeared outside for some much needed fresh air; following two energetic performances the venue was filled with the expected result; a smell of sweat so strong you could taste it in the air. But when they finally took to the stage it was clear that OFAC were worth waiting for, and the crowd quickly returned to full circle-pit speed, taking the smell to new levels of “punk”. OFAC’s set was extremely powerful, filled with melodic frantic riffs and angry breakdowns, vocalist Momme spent more time on top of the crowd than on stage, either way he never let up with his awesome hard-hitting vocals. Halfway through their set I was back at the merch table snapping up a copy of their E.P ‘Read What’s In Between’ along with a t-shirt, just as the Lobotomies arrived (apparently they’re always late!).

The next changeover took a lot less time, soon the Lobotomies were thrashing their way through a whole bunch of  songs I hadn’t heard yet, they’ve changed a lot since I saw them two years ago; they upgraded to a four-piece with Dan moving from bass to guitar. The result of this change is a tighter and heavier  mix of “raw catchy hardcore punk that still manages to keep it’s melodic side and be thrashy from start to finish”, consistently filled with shouts, shrieks, howls, roars and chants from all four vocalists. Once again I’m disappointed at the fact that the Lobotomies had forgotten to bring any Cds or t-shirts. Someday…

It was pushing on 11pm when Strike Anywhere began setting up, I was getting worried that their set would be cut short after being informed that after 11pm, Cuba turns into a night-club. This was becoming evermore increasingly obvious by large bouncers appearing throughout the venue. I chatted to the OFAC drummer about playing a gig in Kilkenny (hopefully early 2009), the crowd gathered at the front of the stage once again and then Thomas Barnett grabbed the microphone screaming; “take this banner…hang it upside down”, Strike Anywhere let rip with ‘Prisoner Echoes’ and the crowd went apeshit.

This was easily one of the trickiest live sets I’ve ever had to shoot, for a number of factors; throughout the set the crowd continued with huge circle pits and stage-dives, I had no choice but shoot from the front of the pit meaning a nightmare to frame and focus, but it was so much fun constantly having to move with the crowd trying to shoot a band going nuts on stage. It was also pretty hard to concentrate on taking pictures when they were playing all the songs I wanted to hear; the high-points being; ‘To the World’, ‘Hollywood Cemetary’ and ‘Sedition’.

It was halfway through their set when a bouncer walked onstage in true knuckle-dragging fashion attempting to put an end to the constant stage-diving and crowd surfing, standing at the front of stage with his furrowed brow as he pointed and shouted orders at the crowd. He clearly didn’t understand this behaviour and wasn’t about to even try. Now, I understand the need for bouncers, and for them to ensure safety in venues but most of the time this is carried out in the form of ogres on power trips (Let’s face it, you need to be an expert in performing headlocks to get the job!). In this particular case, if he had been paying attention throughout this gig, he would have observed something I’ve rarely seen at any gig. The atmosphere was so friendly; where normally a mosh-pit is a bunch of guys running into each throwing kicks and elbows, this was certainly not the case here. Throughout the night, the crowd were stage-diving and forming circle-pits and at the first sign of anybody falling on the ground, people rushed to help them up. There was none of the usual “clicky” music scene shite, where people stay within their own little groups frowning at others. When a band wasn’t onstage, they were trashing it out in the pit supporting the other bands.

The general idea of “fuck authority” was echoed throughout the night, constantly underlining the lyrics of all the bands, it was present on the horde of band t-shirts and logos in the crowd, you could smell it in the sweaty air. And where normally on a Monday night after 11pm the Cuba Club was this bouncer’s playground, this was not the case tonight. A message that was quickly sent to him by Thomas Barnett, who although completely dwarved, simply smiled in his face before leaping out onto the crowd, who picked him up and carried him around the pit as he continued to sing. The bouncer got the message and backed off to the side of the stage, continuing his unimpressed eyeballing of the crowd for the rest of the gig.

Nevertheless, the crowd’s friendly atmosphere continued, when everyone begin chanting “Richmond punks”, Strike Anywhere seemed genuinely grateful for the reaction they were receiving. When talking to him earlier, Barnett seemed disappointed by the reaction they got in Dublin, the crowd just stood around drinking. He returned with the chant “Galway punks”. It was all very positive, reinforced by Strike Anywhere’s passionate messages on-stage and in their songs, finally finishing with ‘Sunset on 32nd’; as everyone sang along to “so we try ,to defend, together. Defend our yesterdays , defend our tomorrows…together”.

When they walked off the stage, the crowd were shouting for “one more song”. It was close to 12pm, night-club goers were already flooding in. Bouncers were shaking their head, they would not be allowed play any more songs. I packed up my gear and we left the venue, delighted to discovered that the shop across the road was serving hot food, myself and the Chief stocked up on munchies and caffeine before hitting the road back to Kilkenny. The road-trip home was quicker, not a tractor in sight, although we did have to drive around a building site Portaloo which was thrown in the middle of a country road!?

Completely giddy and with the gig still ringing in my ears I’ve quickly sorted out the abundance of shots, you can check out all my shots featuring Cut the Reins, 20BullsEach, Only Fumes and Corpses, the Lobotomies and Strike Anywhere here on my new Flickr account. As it was Strike Anywhere’s first time in Ireland, I hope they’ll be back again and hopefully I’ll get to shoot all of these bands again soon.You can also hear myself and the Chief talking about the gig and tracks from some of the bands on the 60th Sound System Podcast.

As I get back on top of my workload I’ll hopefully be getting back to more regular blogging, I’ve got plenty of upcoming shoots as well as news on Vultures episode 3: ‘The Mystery of the Night Time Refuse‘, the Lions Mane ‘Smegma’ music-video, a road-trip to the 2008 Irish Web Awards (we’re through to the final for ‘Best Music‘) and Devious Theatre’s upcoming production; it’s all very hush-hush at the moment so all I’m saying is…”30.10.08…the end begins!”.

It’s well into September, I thought following the crazy summer; things would have slowed down by now and that I would be able to get back to more regular blogging!? It’s still taking a little getting use to the fact that I’m not going back to college but I’ve had plenty to keep me distracted from the “September blues”, here’s an update on what I’m doing;

Firstly, my two newest posts “Meet Matt McLoughlin” and “Meet Ned Savage” bring me up to a total of 237 posts here on Oss237.com just as the statcounter turns over on 80,000 hits. The new shots are also the beginning of a long series of character portraits I’ll be doing for the Mycrofilms web-based sitcom ‘Vultures’. As I’ve said in my previous post, we’re currently in the middle of shooting the third episode in the series, ‘The Mystery Of The Night Time Refuse‘.

These new character portraits are just the beginning of a whole host of extra’s we’re working on, in the run up to the release of episode 3. The idea is to provide a series of portraits that give a little insight into each of the characters in the show and you can also read their character bios here on VulturesPI.com. You can also check out a whole collection of my behind-the-scenes shots from the set of ‘Vultures’ here on my new flickr account.

With KilkennyMusic.com reaching three years old; the website is going to get a bit of a new look, bringing in some new features and as a part of this I’m moving all my shots from the KilkennyMusic Galleries (1508 shots in total) to the new KilkennyMusic Flickr. We’ve also just been long-listed for ‘Best Music’ in the 2008 Irish Web Awards.

The Hype Entertainment Battle of the Bands 2008 is in the final stages, the finalists have been announced and myself, Ken and Andrew McGuinness will sit behind the judges table one last time this coming Sunday as the remaining bands battle it out. You can see all my photos from the competition so far here. And myself and Ken are back with the weekly Sound System Podcast show, which is still free to download.

The Devious Theatre website is about to be relaunched with a new look and a whole archive of promo material from past productions and our upcoming epic. I’m about to begin transferring all my shots from the last four productions into the new Devious Theatre flickr account. And we’re already in pre-production for our next show, it’s all very hush-hush at the moment, all I’m saying is “30.10.08“. (More on this soon)

In the run up to the launch of their debut CD, ‘Strands’, I’ve been doing a lot of work with progressive-grunge experiment, The Lions Mane. In particular, getting back into music video production. I’m currently working on a video featuring The Lions Mane recording ‘Smegma’ in the Mill Studios. I’ll blog more about the video at a later stage but I’ve begun posting behind-the-scenes video clips on youtube with plenty more to come.

You’ll also find a whole host of new videos on my youtube account, short little video clips from all of my above mentioned adventures and projects. With little time to blog about things, I’ve quickly become addicted to capturing video clips behind-the-scenes on everything I’m doing at the moment.

On the P.R side of things, well I’ve pretty much being doing all sorts of P.R activities I can, with all of the above mentioned projects. Every week for the last two months, I’ve been firing out press-releases and photos to all the local media and I’m happy to say that every week the local papers publish everything and give credit where it’s due (They must have got my message) and at this stage myself and Ken should have our own radio show; at least one of us is being interviewed for something every week.

So, September may be here and the weather surely sucks, but at moment the “post-college blues” are nowhere to be found. Now, if only somebody would give me a job!!!

I’ve been flat out the past two weeks, working on several different projects, PR work, shooting several gigs including the Hype Entertainment Battle of the Bands (I’m an official sponsor and also a judge) and of course with Devious Theatre’s 4th production ‘Smitten‘.

Only weeks after our highly successful production of Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting‘, people thought we had gone a bit mad deciding to put on another play this soon. And I have to admit at some points we thought they might be right, with very little pre-production time and early casting difficulties, we hoped we weren’t going to “drop the ball” with this one.

This time around we also wouldn’t have the big name selling power behind the show, ‘Smitten’ is a brand new play, written by our very own John Morton (who also wrote Heart Shaped Vinyl), you can read more about the play here. We were hoping that at this stage, we had established Devious Theatre as a reliable source of entertainment in Kilkenny. If of course people could actually find the little known location of Church Lane!?

In the weeks towards the show, Devious Theatre once again kicked it up a notch and began our onslaught. Rehearsals were hectic but hilarious, the local media were bombarded with press releases, photos and promo material, the set was designed and built. Window displays, signs and maps to the venue went up around the town and people were on the radio talking about the show. Once again I had the pleasure of working on some photo-shoots with Paddy Dunne, who once again produced an awesome series of posters. Props, rostrums, sets, seating, costumes, lights etc were all assembled in the Barn and Wednesday the 20th (opening night) approached.

As I walked up Church Lane that day I was kind of disappointed, despite Devious Theatre’s best efforts, there seemed to be little interest in the show, tickets sales were poor, it looked like it was going to be a quiet week. Would it have all been worth it, everyone had worked so hard!? I walked into the Barn just as the phone call from Rollercoaster Records (our ticket-seller) came through… it was around about that moment that the week took off like a rollercoaster and Devious Theatre are still a little shellshocked (once again). The phonecall was brief, the message spread throughout the cast and every time it was met with the same open-mouthed, wide-eyed face; “am?…we’re sold out tonight!?”.

The lights came up on the first ever performance of Devious Theatre’s ‘Smitten’ by John Morton, with a full house staring at us (yet another Devious moment I will never forget), and I can easily say that the entire cast appreciated this moment and in return gave it everything they had. Afterwards, everyone was slightly stunned by the reaction we received. Rumour had it, it was going to be a quiet one, but the official word is “we went to Morrissons!”.

I walked into the Barn on Thursday, around about the same time that the next phonecall from Rollercoaster Records came through… the call to tell us that the entire run of Smitten was now sold out. People loved it, they laughed at the funny bits and tears welled up at the sad bits, John Morton had written an awesome show and the Devious Theatre Company did what they did best, entertain. Crowds varied from teenage metallers to 92 year old grandmothers. Some people had gotten in early enough to get tickets so they could come every night. And John said it best with “All the while we stood by quite amazed.”

To be honest, it still hasn’t really sunk in yet, but two things I’m certain about is that it was more than worth it (and Devious throw awesome after-parties!). I’d really love to go into more detail about the show, it really deserves it but between shooting Vultures Episode 3, the Battle of the Bands, several gig shoots to sort and other projects, I’m backlogged with work. You can check out all my behind-the-scenes shots from Smitten rehearsals and live shots of the show here on the Devious Theatre Bebo Page.

All that’s left for me to say is a long list of thank you’s; firstly to director Colm “No Notes” Sheehan and John “Apollo Creed” Morton for your awesome work. To the amazing and friendly people at Barnstorm for allowing us to move into the Barn and endlessly helping us throughout our stay. To my fellow Devious Committee members, once again you’ve made me so proud of what we can achieve (I hope we do that photo-shoot with the monacles). To Paddy Dunne, for once again using my photos in your awesome work. To Eddie Brennan for another awesome set, and to all those who helped him. To Gerry Taylor for the lights.

A really important thank you to my fellow cast; Stephen Colfer, Amy Dunne, Ken McGuire, Kevin Mooney, Lynsey Moran, Niamh Moroney, Maria Murray, Suzanne O’Brien, Jack O’Leary, Annette O’Shea and Geoff Warner Clayton. It was awesome to spend time with all of you and I look forward to working together again.

Finally, thanks to all of you who came to see the show, for showing your encouragement and support for something that we simply love doing. Keep an eye on DeviousTheatre.com over the next few weeks for announcements on our next production (no, we’re not mad, we’re taking a break first!).

Roll on the reviews…

Devious Theatre’s production of Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting’ has unfortunately come to a close (for now anyway). I had hoped to blog throughout our third production, but as usual, time always disagrees with my best intentions. I’m still completely overwhelmed by the whole thing, I’m not sure I could ever capture it all in a mere blog post, but I can easily say the past week has been one of the best weeks of my life. (This is going to be a very, very long blog post!)

Following on from weeks of intensive rehearsals, learning lines, mastering Scottish accents, practicing monologues, researching drug-use, and countless other things, we hit the Watergate Theatre last Sunday in final preparation for the show we hoped would firmly imprint the name Devious Theatre in people’s minds (and veins). I’m not sure any of us expected the reaction we’ve received, the overwhelming response we’ve had and the “buzz” that spread throughout Kilkenny leaving a whole new wave of “devious” junkies screaming for “one more hit”.

I’ve done a lot of shows over the years, I’ve walked the boards of the Watergate stage many times, it’s hard to explain the awesome feeling I get when I return to do it again, but to do so simply; I love it. And clearly I’m not the only one; all day Sunday we were buzzing around the Watergate, trying on costumes, music blasting, make-up and prop tests, people dancing, the set being constructed and giddy smiles all around. This was easily the biggest role I’ve ever played, an enormous challenge for me. Trainspotting was easily the biggest thing Devious have ever done (so far), and was hopefully going to be the show that displayed the broad range of talents, skills and abilities that Devious Theatre has to offer (so far). The tech-rehearsal and dress rehearsal flew by, myself and John Morton had our hair bleached and then dyed ginger (me) and bright blue (John), everyone laughed, our opening night came on Tuesday. I can easily say I’ve never been so nervous.

People piled into the theatre, the curtains opened, the lights came up and we let fly with our barrage of Scottish accents, monologues, syringes and “the C word”. The audience laughed at the highs, during the lows you could hear a pin-drop. Some people left in disgust (clearly naive and repressed). During “the toilet scene”, people gagged and moaned as their stomachs turned. Near the end, I looked out to see people crying in the audience. And when the lights finally went down in the finale, there was a stunned delay before the audience erupted with cheers and claps for the curtain call.It was hard to get feedback after the show, people were speechless. Countless hand-shakes, pats on the back, hugs, stunned smiles, praise and a lock-in followed.

Wednesday night, less than an hour before the curtain opened, Michael Murphy tripped coming off the stage (damn you Batman Trailer). Within minutes his ankle had swollen to the size of my head! Playing several different characters ( I think 8 in total), Micheal appeared throughout the story in various roles from the opium suppository dealing “Mikey Forrestor” to a “foostie minged auld c**t”. It was hard not to panic. Plans and scenes were re-arranged frantically, some actors took on any roles they could, I’d have to do some scenes on my own and refusing to give up, Michael did any scenes he could. Word of the show was spreading, the second night crowd were bigger than the first. The curtain opening and we “slammed the life-giving, life-taking-away elixir home”. Again people were stunned, the buzz continued to grow (and “rumour has it we went to Morrissons”).

On Thursday morning, my voice was gone, my whole body ached, everyone was exhausted and Mick had surgery on his ankle. I had completely given up on the possibility of being able to reply to the flood of txt messages, emails, bebo and myspace comments about the show. With only hours to go, we hit the Watergate to properly re-work and rehearse scenes. Micheal’s roles were divided up, again with some actors taking on extra roles and Devious Theatre committee member (and legend) Paddy Dunne learning lines to take-over the remaining parts. Our first review was published in the Kilkenny Advertiser, with John Cleere praising the show (I’ll post the review later). We were expecting it to be our quietest night, technically it was, but still over 130 people planted themselves into the Watergate seats for what so many people have described to me as “the greatest thing I’ve ever seen!”. Again; countless hand-shakes, pats on the back, hugs, stunned smiles, praise, some quickly scribbled congratulations notes and “rumour has it, we went to Morrissons”.

By Friday, I was reconsidering what I had previously considered the terms “exhausted” and “sore”. My throat was swollen, I gulped down endless amounts of hot-water, honey and lemon (Gollum Juice) and Difflam throat spray. Bookings were continuing to rapidly increase, people were constantly approaching me in the street to talk about the show, my Carlow crew flooded me with messages, they had booked out a whole row and had never seen me act, my stomach was doing somersaults. Mick showed up back-stage, he struggled on his crutches, profanities were written big and bright on his leg-cast, hugs were had all around.

The curtains opened to our biggest crowd yet, before the lights had even come up; myself (Rentboy), Ken McGuire (Tommy), Stephen Colfer (Spud) and John Morton (Sickboy) perched ourselves at the front of the stage in the dark, the opening music began and suddenly people began clapping and screaming, within seconds it had spread throughout the crowd, you could feel the energy in the theatre, we whispered to each other in shock on-stage, the lights came up and revealing the awesome set with four iconic characters bobbing their heads to ‘Blue Monday’, the crowd erupted. There you have it, the moment that myself and John Morton now call one of the greatest moments, ever! The even more amazing thing was, that this moment lasted nearly two hours, and when we finally took to the stage for the curtain call I was completely blown away as I watched audience members jumping to their feet. The ripple spread and we were standing on-stage staring out at a standing ovation. No words come to mind to describe this. It is a sight and feeling I will never forget yet never manage to put into words. Again followed by; hugs, stunned smiles, countless hand-shakes, pats on the back, praise (and rumour has it that we went to Morrissons but it was full of scum so we went to Anna Condas instead.)

Still managing to re-invent new meaning for “exhausted” and “sore”, drinking sickening amounts of “Gollum Juice”, overdosing on Difflam throat spray and energy drinks, we hit the Watergate early. Myself, John Morton and Suzanne O’Brien(Diane) got into costume and took to the streets of Kilkenny as junkies from the streets of Edinburgh, handing out flyers for the show and chatting to people in-character. People shook our hands, shouted Trainspotting quotes at us, stared, pointed, cheered and some stood completely confused by Scottish slang. Following my nightly warm-up/stretching session/freak-out, we had our nightly talk from directors Niamh Moroney & John Morton, we took to the stage ready for our final 8pm start.

8pm came and went, I paced the stage in anticipation. The usual sights of people hugging, smiling, people in trances as they ran through scenes in their head one last countless time. At 8:05pm, we could actually hear the crowd still growing, somebody passed on the shocking message; “holy sh*t, there’s even people in the balcony!”. Time continued to pass, it was hard to contain nervous giggles, we were visibly shaking and twitching with anticipation. When the crowd finally finished pouring in, sometime near 8:15pm, the curtains pulled back in the dark, we stared at the silohuettes of a full-house… “Blue Monday” began, the clapping and cheers began, the lights came up and there was that moment again, the one that lasts nearly two hours. Once again followed by a standing ovation. I was stunned, overwhelmed, amazed… you get the idea.

After that we hit Cleeres (again) for drinks, then we headed back to Ken McGuire’s house for quite easily the most anticipated party of the year. A Devious Theatre after-show party is very difficult to describe to anybody who wasn’t there, it’s kind of like the 60’s all in one night (without the drugs). Between four of us, we bought 96 bottles of beer. Following on from the week we had just survived, we deserved some epic celebrations and I can safely say; they were had. I have hundreds of hilarious photos, that make my sides sore from laughter, the cast continue to piece the night together on the cast forums, I’ve tried to keep up with the comments but I keep falling off my chair laughing when I read the thread. On Sunday night, we got together for dinner and one final time the rumour has it; we went to Morrissons.

On Monday, we entered the Watergate Theatre one final time (for now), the set was taken down, everything was packed away, John had his hair bleached again and went from bright-blue to “a light chestnut brown”, I think I’ll keep mine for a while. Still we were buzzing from the show. We went for dinner and still we couldn’t walk the streets without people approaching us about the show. I think I can easily say people will be talking about Trainspotting in Kilkenny for a long, long time. Any of us that were still able to hold back the tiredness went for a final drink, chatting about the week we had in pure shock and amazement. It has in no way sunk-in yet how great it was, it will take a while, and post-show blues on this one will probably make “coming off scag” more “like a bad flu!”.

I’m well aware that this is a ridiculously long post, but like I said, the past week has been of the best weeks of my life and I apologise but I still have a long list of “thank yous” and respect I would like to give to people. Where to start!? Firstly, with Directors Niamh Moroney & John Morton for their unbelievable work throughout this production. For having so much faith in me and seeing ability I never knew existed. For giving me the greatest part I have ever played (I thought you were crazy) and constantly encouraging me throughout. For awesome direction and constant willingness to expand on things and work on ideas. It was a pleasure from start to finish and I cannot wait to work with both of you again.

Thanks to Paddy Dunne, firstly for the awesome photo-shop wizardry on the posters that covered the town and initially set tongues wagging about the show. Then for plunging into the deep-end at the last minute when Mick got injured. And for so many other reasons; the countless times you make me laugh and feel the need to “high-5″ you. I’m so happy we finally got to do scenes together, that photo I have will always make me cry with laughter and seriously, I think you should dress as “Uncle Cha-Cha” all the time.

Ken McGuire, dude, I seriously don’t know where to start at this stage, quite simply; you rock. From endless encouragement to never slowing down, it’s both inspiring and tiring to see how much one person can do. And then to do so without ever complaining or not smiling!? I think he might be a Cylon!? It was awesome to share moments like we did on stage, you could nearly hear the tears hitting the ground in the auditorium. Thank you.

Thanks to Eddie “look out! he’s falling over!” Brennan, Murt Brennan and Ned Green for building the coolest looking set I have ever seen. Thanks to everyone who helped painting it and to Andy Harte for covering it with awesome graffitti. Thanks to Gerry Taylor for then lighting it and sorry for missing my marks, I think I covered it up well!? Thanks to Daw for the sound, yet another person who continues to provide me with endless encouragement in everything I do, and another person I could never thank enough. Thanks to the best crew ever; back-stage manager Colm Sheehan for your endless enthuasism and bad jokes, Thom Dowling for your crowd disgusting props and always running to get things I had forgotten, Kevin Mooney for your bad jokes and constant willingness to “get it out!”. Sorry I kept knocking the coffin over guys!

Thanks to Niall “he really is Begbie” Sheehy, for your constant energy, I’ve never seen anybody dance to “Cotton-Eye Joe” with such enthusiasm. When we were on the stage together people laughed so hard and when we went out into the auditorium screaming “The Road to Nowhere” you could see the fear of god in people. Thanks to Stephen “Spud” Colfer, for always making me laugh and endless batches of “Gollum Juice”. See you next time for the “Hour of Power” but remember to bring more beer Spud! Thanks to Suzanne “Dropping Lyrical Bombs” O’Brien for being crazy, please don’t tell me about your dreams, they hurt my head. Thanks to Maria Murray for her willingness to be bent over a coffin and generally put in positions somebodie’s parents should never see them in. To Paul “Mother Superior” Young for awesome chats and to Simone “I can’t believe she’s in Australia now” Kelly for your hilarious scumbag voice and falling over during the lock-in. Thanks to Mairead “Meet Mister Fist” Kiernan, who without a doubt destroys the fact that “girls aren’t funny!”, damn France and it’s luck! Thanks to Aileen Johnson for ruining my hair, doing my make-up, constantly poking me in the eye and trying to kidnap me to Belgium. Thanks to Kate St. John for the awesome costumes and Aoife Bambrick for more make-up. Thanks to Shane Hatton for the awesome photographs throughout and to Alan Slattery for shooting the video and agreeing to add all our crazy extra features ideas. I can’t wait to see it.

Thanks to Micheal “Too Excited by Batman ” Murphy, for all his hard work throughout rehearsals, I’m so sad you got injured dude. I’m glad we shared the boards on Tuesday night and look forward to doing so again. Thanks for making everyone awesome Trainspotting t-shirts, for never wanting to quit even when you couldn’t stand and for getting out of hospital to come back-stage providing me with encouragement.

I’m very worried that I’ve left somebody out, it’s hard to remember everyone for every awesome thing they have done. So if I’ve missed anybody then I really apologise, I’m exhausted and I’m still completely overwhelmed about this experience. I’ll no doubt be still blogging about Trainspotting for a while and the last week will always be firmly planted in my head and heart. It will always make me smile. I’m so proud of all of us for what we have achieved and so grateful to you all for so much.

Finally, I have to thank any person who came to see the show, especially those of you who came several times. Thanks to everyone who has sent us praise and compliments in messages, phone-calls, emails, comments on bebo or myspace. Thanks to all the people who have come up to us in the street, those who have blogged about the show, talked about it in the newspapers, on the radio, everywhere… thanks to you all, I’m so glad you enjoyed it and can safely say there is plenty more to come from us at Devious Theatre. So there you have it, one of the greatest weeks of my life and an insanely long blog post. “Awesome… awesome to the max!!!”

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…