|
Overload your senses at the Cork Midsummer Festival 2008
If your planning a vacation
to Ireland this June, then make sure Cork
City is on your travel itinerary
for the Cork Midsummer Festival 2008.
Running from June 15th
to July 5th the Cork Midsummer Festival of the Senses presents 21
days and nights of sensory overload with a host of truly unique events and fun
family activities, from interactive fairgrounds, international open air
theatre, high octane circus acts, fine food, and even naked flesh!
The Festival kicks off with
the Lord Mayor's Picnic in the Park at Fitzgerald's Park on Sunday, June 15th
between noon and 6pm. A magical playground of clowns, music, good atmosphere
and fabulous food awaits, with a circus show, street theatre, string quartets
and boat trips down the River Lee.
From then on the festival
promises a host of unique experiences with a rich programme of visual art, theatre,
music, comedy and food, throughout the city and its outskirts in cafes, clubs,
pubs, parks, the City Gaol and in a specially erected Spiegeltent. Festival highlights
include:
Sensazione
An award-winning theatrical
fairground from Belgium, Sensazione will be in the town of Youghal for the
first week of the festival before coming to the Mardyke Fields in Cork City.
Fun for all ages, Sensazione is a high octane circus carnival with a
globascope, a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, fairground fortune tellers, as
well as a funfair, theatre and circus.
With three showings nightly, Sensazione runs in Youghal from June 19th
- 22nd and Cork City from June 26th - 29th.
Open Air Theatre
With more home-grown talent
than ever before, the festival boasts 7 new theatre productions from Cork
companies. Topping the list is Corcadorca, whose productions are renowned for
their scale and unusual settings and this year the Cork company presents Eugene
O'Neill's The Hairy Ape at Cork's Docklands. Running from June 23rd
- July 5th, this will be the Irish premier of the American
playwright's eight scene play and will be set in a series of warehouses in a
highly visual promenade production.
While at a secret location
somewhere in Cork, Braakland from award-winning Dutch director Lotte Van den
Berg presents a performance without words. Set in an immense wasteland this
compelling piece of theatre has been played out across Europe to resounding
acclaim and Cork's performance promises to be better than ever before.
Braakland is an adult performance and the show runs from June 19th
to June 21st, buses leave Cork City to the secret location at 6.30pm
and 8.30pm.
Spenser Tunick
The renowned contemporary
artist comes to Ireland bringing his award winning nude sculpture with a
difference. Spenser Tunick is the American artist whose work presents
photography of masses of nude volunteers in iconic public places. In the past Tunick
has amassed hundreds of thousands of nude people in Mexico City, New York and
Amsterdam and is looking for volunteers for Cork and Dublin. If you want to take part you have until 17th
June for Cork and 21st June for Dublin, otherwise if you happen to see
a huge crowd of naked people in the city while on your vacation, at least
you've been forewarned!
Shandon Street Festival
Within earshot of the
Shandon Bells of St Anne's Church, the
Shandon Street Festival hosts a range of free events on Saturday June 21st.
Among the intricate little lanes and arts and craft shops of bohemien Shandon
area will be music, street salsa, nibbles at the food fair and colour,
character and typical Cork craic to celebrate Midsummer.
Taste of Cork
This
summer's ultimate gourmet food festival, Taste of Cork offers a three day feast
for the taste buds from June 27th - 29th in the unusual
location of Cork's City Gaol. The historic City Gaol is one of Cork's major
visitor attractions and the Taste of Cork festival will be serving up a feast
from over 60 of the Ireland's finest artisan food and beverage producers
including some of Cork's most prestigious restaurants. There'll be Chef
demonstrations from the likes of Anthony Worral Thompson, Rory O'Donnell and
Cork's own Rachel Allen. You can also learn the art of mixology at the popular
Cocktail Academy where
master bartenders will present the varieties and origins of various concoctions
and demonstrate the secrets behind the "perfect pour".
Music from around the world
A festival wouldn't be a
festival without music and the Cork Midsummer Festival offers music from around
the world. The programme includes headline rock acts such as Manchester's The
Fall, Germany's Faust and Cork's own The Frank and Walters, alongsideIrish
folksters The Scullions, American Bluegrass from the Hunger Mountain Boys, Jazz
from Bones of Cork and world music from Red Hot Gypsy Soul and the Irish
African Gospel Choir. If your feeling light on your toes, you could try a waltz
at the afternoon tea dance in the Spiegeltent on June 27th.
Elsewhere in Cork
While in Cork you could visit
some of the popular attractions throughout the county. Just outside the city is
the famous Blarney
Castle and the moving Queenstown Story exhibition outlining the Irish Diaspora. Elsewhere in Co. Cork a short excursion will bring you to the
gourmet town of Kinsale and the stunning coastal scenery of West Cork and
further afield famous West Cork towns like Clonakilty and Skibbereen.
City and County, Cork is one
of the best destinations in Ireland and with the Cork Midsummer Festival this
month, there's no better time to visit.
To build your dream vacation
to Ireland contact
one of our guides.
|
