Loughlin Deegan, a playwright and former executive producer of Rough Magic, one of the coolest and most imaginative theatre companies in Ireland, is now artistic director and chief executive of the Dublin Theatre Festival, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary and is sponsored for the first time by Ulster Bank.

During his speech in Merrion Square to launch this year’s festival on July 31st, Deegan categorically stated to the gathered mass of bankers, media people and thespians that one of his aims was to bring the Festival to more people of his generation.
What’s his generation? Far be from me to give it away in the age-conscious climate of the ‘New Ireland’, but he graduated from DCU in 1992, so work it out for yourself!
Either way, one of Deegan’s immediate decisions is to expand the music programme in the Festival so, before we look at the major plays on offer this year, what exactly has the Festival’s ‘Music Hall’ dimension got on offer? Well, Laurie Anderson, for one thing, performing Homeland, ‘a combination poem and concert’, which looks at American obsessions with security, distance, information, the relationship of fear and freedom, the increasing acceptance of violence and the persistent new language of war.
Even more intriguingly, it uses the synthetic language of technology and the sensuous language of songwriting and poetry to explore such social phenomena.
Very much reflecting new visual and sonic media, also, is Ryaji Ikeda, one of Japan’s leading electronic/composer artists who in the performance C41 And datamatics (ver.1.0) focuses on the minutiae of ultrasonics, frequencies and the essential characteristics of sound itself.
Meanwhile, the Improvised Music Company performs music by Paulo Fresu to Sonos ‘E Memoria, a film by Gianfrenco Cabbidu which focuses on lost footage of life in Sardinia in the 1930s. The mixed media show itself is said to evoke memories of Miles Davis, via celebrated Italian trumpeter Paulo Fresu and that legendary Irish docu-drama Man Of Aran. No doubt Fresu will turn up, and maybe play, in East Of East Village, ‘a late night season of burlesque, drag and cabaret from New York’s alternative village scene’ which also is part of this year’s festival. But of course, this is fundamentally a Theatre Festival, and among the 221 performances with 33 shows from 13 countries Druid is presenting at the Gaiety theatre is a new version of Eugene O’ Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Directed by Garry Hynes, the production is described as ‘likely to be a rare theatrical treat that will resonate long after the festival is over.’ The same will probably be true of a new version of The Playboy Of The Western World, which is being staged at the Abbey and is a collaboration by Bisi Adgun and Roddy Doyle that relocates Synge’s classic to contemporary Dublin. The Abbey will also present the Irish premiere of Marina Carr’s long-awaited new play The Woman And The Scarecrow, while at the Gate there is a major new production of Brian Friel’s version of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya, one of three Chekov shows in this year’s festival.
Other new writings presented this year include Sebastian Barry’s The Pride Of Parnell Street and Christian O Reilly’s Is This About Sex?, which will be staged at the Tivoli Theatre and Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, respectively. In fact, involving locations outside the city of Dublin – such as Dun Laoghaire – and also ‘unusual locations’ in the ‘great outdoors’ in the city is another aspect of the 2007 Dublin Theatre Festival. Three major international production companies will present works in this setting, such as the leading Australian physical theatre and abseiling company, Legs On The Wall, which will present their thrilling spectacle On The Case, on a purpose built arena at George’s Dock in the IFSC. In this case, the show is suitable for all the family and even free!
These, of course, given that there are 33 shows, are only highlights and my personal recommendations. Full details can be found at the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, 44 Essex Street, Dublin 2. Phone 01 677 8899. Fax: 01 679 7709. Or online: www.dublintheatrefestival.com