Up for discussion; Sapien, the new Dorothy Cross exhibition at the Kerlin, Amazing Grace, the new biopic of William Wilberforce and Talking to Terrorists from Calypso Productions, plus ambient pop from the Electric Penguins.
Art: Sapien – Dorothy Cross at the Kerlin Gallery
Via sculpture, photography and video, leading Irish artist Dorothy Cross takes the origins of man, homo sapien, as the theme of new work inspired by both the Connemara coastline she inhabits and the island of New Ireland, near Papua New Guinea in the south Pacific, whose remote villages she recently explored.
Theatre: Talking to Terrorists by Robin Soans
Calypso Productions, with director Bairbre Ni Chaoimh at the helm, gives this play from 2005 its Irish premiere. Eight actors (including Chris McHallem and David Pearse) take on 29 roles as verbatim testimony and poetic licence are interwoven in an international narrative that takes in London, Belfast, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Turkey and the Middle East and a disparate cross-section of those with direct experience of terrorism from bombers themselves and politicians to the general public.
Film: Amazing Grace by Michael Apted
Ioan Gruffudd plays William Wilberforce, an MP at 21, who became a famous anti-slavery campaigner and counted among his allies fellow young gun William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister by 24, (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John Newton (Albert Finney) who composed the famous hymn in the title. His abolitionist tendencies brought him powerful enemies too, of course, including Lord Tarleton (Ciaran Hynds) and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones, last seen as Capote in Infamous). Michael Gambon as Lord Charles Fox naturally steals the show.