Features

In early May 1922, nearly two months prior to the official beginning of the Civil War, Kilkenny anti-Treaty IRA units took over 15 buildings in Kilkenny City, most notably St Canice’s Cathedral and Kilkenny Castle. This week, The Kilkenny Observer in conjunction with Cois Céim and The Saturday Walkers group, take a closer look at …

In a week that saw the passing of local actor Joe Cleere, former Watergate manager Ger Cody remembers the fun-loving Joe – He brought a unique, joyous presence to everything he was involved with – When former head honcho of Dreamstuff theatre group and Young Irish Film makers, Mike Kelly phones and says “let’s do …

You could almost sense the presence of Michael Casey in the room. Founded almost forty years ago, Kats theatre group gathered on the eve of ‘Poetry Day’, in Cleeres theatre on Parliament Street. When Department of Agriculture employee Michael had decided to stage a production of Sean O Casey’s “Bedtime Story”, he could hardly have …

Photos by Pat Shortall   As settings go, this was picture perfect. Commandant Larry Scallan (retired) hoisted The Irish flag to full mast and Reveille echoed from the Great War memorial at The Peace Park in Kilkenny city. Representatives of the Army, O.N.E., and Gardai stood to attention and saluted the Tri-colour. Blowing gently in …

Photos Pat Shortall Words: Gerry Cody What, in the name of all that’s holy, possesses people to go on stage. Stage fright has afflicted some of the biggest stars the acting world has ever known. Laurence Olivier suffered years of debilitating performance anxiety, recalling in his autobiography: “My throat closed up and the audience was …

Recently, Community Radio Kilkenny City, premiered a specially commissioned piece by Barrie Henriques, delving into the story of the Liam Mac Carthy cup. Broadcast in thirty-minute segments, over four consecutive nights, the author followed a unique path and told the story through the eyes of the cup itself. To deliver this inventive concept, CRKC utilised …

“We’ll give him just enough to teach him a lesson.” Thus says the Bull McCabe (Joe Murphy), evocative of recent horrific events in the Monaghan-Fermanagh border area, as an outsider William Dee (John Kavanagh) attempts to establish a business by buying and concreting a field, owned by the poor widow Maggie Butler (Geraldine Moore). Bull …

Kilkenny school teacher Sean Hickey looks at the message from Pope Francis and asks what we as individuals can do to assist in restoring the world around us Kilkenny Military Barracks April 23rd 1922 The thirteenth day of March 2013 marked the beginning of a new Papacy, a new charism and a new journey for …