FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Westport’s Westival starts this week – what’s in store?

The October Bank Holiday weekend is almost upon us, and Westport’s annual festival of music and the arts is back to chase away the dark blues of the shortening days.
Starting tomorrow (Wednesday), October 23, and running until Monday, October 28, this year’s Westival is another joyous celebration of creativity and entertainment, with a cracking line-up of theatre, music, visual art, film, readings, workshops and more on offer. Take a deep breath, open your arms to creativity, and dive in….

Music
As with Westivals past, there will be loads to choose from on the music front. Headlining this year’s festival is one of Ireland’s most electrifying indie-rock bands, Pillow Queens, who will be kicking off their Irish tour in Bar 23 at the Castle Late Night Venue this Friday at 10pm. Famed for their powerful harmonies, raw energy and emotionally charged performances, Pillow Queens have been making waves since their debut in 2016 with the EP ‘Calm Girls’. Their subsequent albums ‘In Waiting’ and ‘Leave the Light On’ won huge critical acclaim, copper fastening their place as one of the country’s most exciting musical acts.
Other gigs to choose from include Cork singer, songwriter and raconteur John Spillane (Westport Town Hall Theatre, Friday, 8pm); Kerry singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Trio featuring local musicians Coda and Freda Hatton (Holy Trinity Church, Sunday, 7pm); bluegrass, country and Americana duo Ashley Campbell and Thor Jensen (Clew Bay Hotel, Saturday, 8pm); Cork-based Swedish jazz-singer Camilla Griehsel and Irish pianist Maurice Seezer (Grove House, Saturday, 6pm); classical-music ensemble The Esposito Quartet (Grove House, Sunday, 5pm); the Clew Bay Folk Club open mic (Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar, Sunday, 3pm); and Mayo-based Ukrainian folk- and contemporary-music singers Ensemble Nezlamni (Unbreakable), who will perform in Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar on Saturday at 5pm and launch their first single.
The Achill Sound musical collective will also be presenting an intriguing-sounding blend of music and audio visuals on the history basking-shark fishermen of Achill Island in Grove House on Friday evening at 6pm.

Theatre and film
Theatre highlights this year include the award-winning play ‘Chicken’, by Eva O’Connor and Hildegard Ryan, which will be staged in Westport Town Hall Theatre this Saturday at 8pm. The play centres on Don Murphy – a proud Irish man, an actor and a hopeless ketamine addict who also happens to be… a chicken. Across one fateful night, the feathered Oscar winner shares his star-studded life story.
Also on the theatre line-up are ‘Was I Not A Girl’ (Clew Bay Hotel, Thursday, 7pm), a play in which two characters explore the ever-evolving definitions of manhood across the past two centuries, and ‘The Super Secret Shameful Show’ (Clew Bay Hotel, Sunday, 6pm), a hilarious journey through awkward sex education, crazy house parties and self-discovery.
Film buffs can enjoy a good selection of festival movies, all showing at the W Cinema. First up is sci-fi thriller ‘Woken’, by local filmmaker Alan Friel, on Saturday at 9pm. This gripping dystopian movie – shot in Co Clare and starring Erin Kellyman, Maxine Peake and Peter McDonald – follows a young woman who wakes on a remote island with no memory of her past and who discovers that the human race is on the brink of extinction. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Alan Friel and Maxine Peake, who will be interviewed by producer Farah Abushwesha.
A selection of short films will be shown on Sunday from 6pm, with the programme including several shorts from Westport-based Western Front Studios; a short sci-fi flick called ‘A Painted Man’, by writer-director Dan Colley; and the best films of the second annual Western Front Studios and Westival Short Film Competition.
Animation lovers can catch ‘Secret of Kells’, a bewitching fairytale for children and adults, on Monday at 11am, while music lovers will be flocking to see ‘Stop Making Sense’, the 1984 concert film featuring a live performance by Talking Heads, on Sunday at 9pm. The latter screening will be followed by a live performance of Talking Heads songs by Westival’s House Band. Dancing in the aisles is guaranteed.

Books and poetry
Literature and poetry always feature strongly in Westival’s programming, and this year is no different. Celebrated Irish author Niall Williams will be reading from his eagerly anticipated new book, ‘Time of the Child’ in Grove House on Thursday at 7pm. ‘Time of the Child’ returns to the fictional Co Clare town of Faha, the setting of Williams’ much-loved novel ‘This is Happiness’, to further explore the stories of some of that earlier book’s characters.
Authors Alice Kinsella and Daniel Wade will perform a dramatic reading from their recently released book on whaling in Mayo, ‘Wake of the Whale’ (The Clock Tavern, Wednesday, 7.30pm), while Donegal surfer, writer, artist, filmmaker and scientist Easkey Britton will read from her book ‘Ebb & Flow: How to Connect with the Patterns and Power of Water’ at The Yoga Root at Westport Quay on Sunday at 1pm.
Limerick-born, Westport-based poet Tim Cunningham will read a selection of his work in Westport Library on Saturday at 1pm, while American-Irish poet Kelly Michels will read from her debut collection, ‘American Anthem’, in The Clock Tavern on Monday at 2pm.
Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar will host ‘Without Borders’ an afternoon of poetry and music, on Saturday at 2pm. The event will include dramatic renditions drawn from contemporary European and Irish poetry that centres on the emotional shrapnel of war and exile. There will be readings/performances by Ger Reidy, Seán Lysaght, Anneli Watson, Patrick O’Reilly and Trisha Kuester, with music from Nick Roth, Emer Mayock, Donal Siggins.
‘The Mystery Behind the Bookshelf’ is a magical story about a girl who was born with an extraordinary secret, written by Róisín Coyne, a young author with autism who wishes to encourage other children to believe in themselves and write their own books. Róisín will be bringing her tale to life in what is sure to be a captivating pop-up reading and performance at Tertulia bookshop on Sunday at 3pm.
Tertulia is also hosting a Halloween-themed children’s event on Saturday at 11am, when evil Witch Kay and kind Witch Te ill will perform of their favourite witch poetry. Children are encouraged to come along dressed as their favourite witch or wizard, and they’ll get to write their own poems too.

Visual art
The Custom House Studios is hosting two exhibitions during Westival, both opening this Wednesday at 9pm. The first ‘Cailleachs’, is a a curated collection of works by four Mayo artists, each showcasing how Irish landscapes, culture, and traditions have influenced their art. You’ll find work by Joanna Hopkins, Louise Butler, Jennifer Hickey and Aisling Smyth. The second is ‘The Object Of My Affection’, an exhibition created by the pupils of Lankill National School, Westport, led by facilitator and writer Mary Lou McCarthy, with exhibition design by Geraldine Coakley, in which each child has created original stories inspired by found objects brought from home.
Other Westival art shows sure to draw the eye include an exhibition of Mayo landscapes and seascapes by Genevieve King (Clew Bay Hotel, launching Thursday, 8pm); ‘Dreaming the Dreamy Dream’ by Fintan Friel (Westport Town Hall Theatre, launching Wednesday, 8pm); and a group show at Cornrue by The Wright Artists Collective, comprised of work by Mayo artists Breda Burns, Mary Burns, Mags Duffy, Betty Gannon, Michael Gannon, Pamela Gray, Claire Griffin, Grainne O’Reilly, Susie Quinn and Sinéad Wall.
And no Westival would be complete with out the brilliant annual open exhibition of small artworks at McGing’s bar on High Street. Curated by artist Christine Prescott with support from Caroline Masterson, Gráinne O’Reilly and Breda Burns, this year’s theme is ‘Reverie’. Sounds like the perfect place to lose yourself.

Hands-on
For those who like to get stuck into creativity themselves, the Westival programme has heaps of workshops, from walk-inspired poetry writing (Westport House and The Clock Tavern, Sunday, 2pm) to butter-knife carving with Forristal Woodwork (Teach Scoile, Sunday, 10am).
Acclaimed milliner Lina Stein is running a hat-making workshop (Westport Town Hall Theatre, Sunday, 11am), and Westport singer Elizabeth Healy is holding an interactive workshop, ‘Beyond the Veil: Songs of Death, Grief and Resilience’, exploring traditional Irish revenant songs (Clew Bay Hotel, Saturday, noon).
For children, there’s the Islands of Imagination workshop with comic-book illustrator Melanie Whelan (Westport Town Hall Theatre, Saturday, 1pm) and the Circus Skills Workshop with Little Top Stars (Clew Bay Hotel, Monday, 11am and 1.30pm).
Lastly, but no means leastly, children and adults can enjoy a blend of comedy, theatre and art in separate painting workshops with ‘the world’s greatest artist’, the pompous Boss Rob – a madcap, immersive experience designed to thicken the thinnest of skins against mean-spirited criticism through playful, interactive fun (The Clock Tavern, Saturday, 9.30pm (adults) and Sunday, 11am and 1pm (children)).

• While many festival events are free, others are ticketed. For more details and the full programme, visit westival.ie.