I am showing up more and more often at the Irish Heritage Center, on Eastern Avenue, in the old McKinley School. Took two Irish language classes there. And attended What Happened Bridgie Cleary, a play set in Purgatory, by Tom MacIntyre, earlier this month. The play went on to the Irish International Theatre Festival in Calgary and finished very favorably.
It’s a play that starts at the end and works its way back to the beginning. Strange, scary, sad. A mix of old superstition and modern urges, especially Bridgie’s desire simply to be free. And it is based on a very gruesome story from a bit over a hundred years ago in County Tipperary.
Next up, and I’ll be there, is Bloomsday! Celebrated by folk all over the world, it honors one day in the life of Leopold Bloom, June 16, 1904. James Joyce’s masterpiece, it is called the crown jewel of Irish heritage and culture. To celebrate it here in Cincinnati, show up at the Irish Heritage Center on June 18 at 7 p m. We’ll follow Bloom around Dublin without ever leaving Columbia Tusculum in Cincinnati.