Two years ago they were hardly known, now Séan Campion and Conleth Hill are the toast of Broadway. In a departure from the world of big-budget films and special effects, Conleth Hill, 37, and Séan Campion, 41, create a world of characters and situations on a nearly bare stage with no props, as they bring to life the story of a Hollywood film-crew's effect on a small … [Read more...] about Broadway in Their Pockets
Issues
Susan Lynch
For decades now, Irish film stardom has been an exclusively male domain – the big three of Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan and Gabriel Byrne recently being joined by Colin Farrell. But that could be about to change. With her commanding screen presence, natural talent and striking looks, many film critics are predicting great things for Northern Irish actress Susan Lynch. American … [Read more...] about Susan Lynch
Maeve Binchy Reflects on Her Career
No one tells stories like Irish writer Maeve Binchy. Humane, down-to-earth, funny, her novels have captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic in a way most authors only dream of. Millions of her fans were disappointed when she announced last year she was retiring from both novel writing and her weekly column with The Irish Times. The newly released Scarlet Feather … [Read more...] about Maeve Binchy Reflects on Her Career
Film Forum: When Brendan Met Trudy
The first original screenplay by Irish novelist Roddy Doyle is automatically a cinematic and literary event. When Brendan Met Trudy offers many quirky delights, but it is an uneven and ultimately disappointing film. Doyle's oddball yarn about a movie-obsessed Dublin schoolteacher (Peter McDonald) who falls in love with a thief (Flora Montgomery) is dragged down on screen by its … [Read more...] about Film Forum: When Brendan Met Trudy
Book Reviews
NON-FICTION A larger-than-life Irish American politician finally gets the treatment he deserves – praise and criticism, that is – in Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century, by Boston Globe writer John A. Farrell. The key aspect of this book's title is the second part. Not only is O'Neill's life, growing up working-class in heavily Irish Boston, fascinating, but the … [Read more...] about Book Reviews