Elemental Festival yesterday 15/9/2012

banie01

Hiya folks,
Just wondering what people thought of this series of events?
I have to say there were quite a few good moments, especially in and Thomas St and Bedford row.

But while I can appreciate it is the 1st time the event has been run and that there will always be unforeseen issues and pitfalls the stuff in the City Centre seems to have gone well, and in fairness with a bit more community engagement and some better advertising it could have been so much more.
(for example the Elemental FB page has the grand total of 283 likes!!! And apart from the effort promoting the show at the castle the rest of the event was very poorly promoted)

However.....
To those that organised the ''Spectacle'' that was the Sacrifice show as part of the Limerick Elemental Festival last night....
I have racked my brain trying to think of a positive, and apart from the nice posters.
There aren't any.
The living sculpture??? The less said the better in fairness.
The highlight of the show at the castle,was a dude on stilts dressed as the Devil....And that wasn't great!
But at least he made an effort to entertain and interact with the kids.

An ''Escape'' trick, where the escapologist does his big ''I'm safe reveal''.....
While the dummy that was exceptionally poorly substituted for him is still plainly visible on the stake(Albeit having fallen over!)?
Not only did he escape but he also managed to be 2 places at once!
Magic and illusion are about inspiring a sense of wonder, making people ask themselves, I wonder how he managed that.
When the group of kids in front me last night, not only spotted the amatuerish switch, but could tell each other how the trick was done...
That wasn't down to 'kids these days being smarter than we were''
It was down to a poor performance, coupled with piss poor props and timing/stage direction of an awful trick.!
Did noone critique it during rehersals and point out the obvious?

If you want to have an 'Arts' festival, engage, entertain and astonish!
Don't recycle tired and poor excuses for 'spectacle' that all too often our local arts community see as acceptable!

On a brighter note, last night did show the potential that exists at the castle for its use as an outdoor venue that can provide spectacular backdrops!
It really should be used for the likes of Shakespearean plays, imagine King Lear with the Gate towers as the backdrop?
And with a bit of rearranging of the courtyard it would be a great open air gig venue...
Why don't the powers that be try something along those lines?
Instead of indulging the piss poor performance(No matter how well intentioned it was) that was staged last night.

Anyways my rant is over, and to be honest I hope this event returns next year, learns from the errors of this year and goes from strength to strength.

SuperWoody101

Your bang on, It's a great little outdoor venue. Thought the whole magic trick was very poor. The Devil, the girl singing and King John (Myles Breen) where the best thing about it. Apart from the poor magic act I thought it was a great day in Limerick and I lot of fun to be had in the City, I hope they bring it back.

Kess73

What is/was the Elemental festival?

SuperWoody101

Kess73 wrote: »

What is/was the Elemental festival?

http://www.limerick.ie/elemental/

banie01

SuperWoody101 wrote: »

Your bang on, It's a great little outdoor venue. Thought the whole magic trick was very poor. The Devil, the girl singing and King John (Myles Breen) where the best thing about it. Apart from the poor magic act I thought it was a great day in Limerick and I lot of fun to be had in the City, I hope they bring it back.

Great pic as usual Woody.
I have said it for quite a few years, I think it has great potential as an outdoor performance space.
I actually forgot about the Girl singing, she was very good....
But I have to say I found it a bit surreal in sofar that apart from being a beautiful girl with a fantastic voice in period costume ;-)
It didn't really have any connection to the theme of the show, not even as misdirection for the trick.
And with Myles your always guaranteed some laughs!

I agree with you in that it was a great day, hopefully it will come back bigger and stronger next year.

Kess73

SuperWoody101 wrote: »

http://www.limerick.ie/elemental/

Cheers for that. Had never heard of it before this thread, but sounds like a good idea. Must try to remember it again this time next year.

Who is the lost local hero that is referred to in the link?

The Snipe

He seems to be burning pretty well there!

(pic attached)

Edit:

Excuse the Giant image, I accidentally pasted into this rather then an email for the papers :pac:

jbkenn

banie01 wrote: »

Hiya folks,
Just wondering what people thought of this series of events?
I have to say there were quite a few good moments, especially in and Thomas St and Bedford row.

But while I can appreciate it is the 1st time the event has been run and that there will always be unforeseen issues and pitfalls the stuff in the City Centre seems to have gone well, and in fairness with a bit more community engagement and some better advertising it could have been so much more.
(for example the Elemental FB page has the grand total of 283 likes!!! And apart from the effort promoting the show at the castle the rest of the event was very poorly promoted)

However.....


Anyways my rant is over, and to be honest I hope this event returns next year, learns from the errors of this year and goes from strength to strength.

There is always an however...
Three months ago Elemental was an idea, yesterday it was a reality, congrats to all involved, I am sure that it will only go onwards and upwards, again well done all involved on a super effort.