Reviews

 
Gub Dandys,Terenure, Dublin 6

Centuries ago, drinkers in Andalusian taverns would protect their sherry from fruit flies by placing a slice of bread over the glass. When enterprising barmen started putting small servings of other food on the bread, tapas (from ‘tapar', the Spanish verb 'to cover') were born.

Fruit flies are less of a nuisance in Ireland (bar flies are a greater irritant) but tapas bars are no less popular. Here are three Village visited in Dublin.

“The most important doorway into theatre is the one first opened at the age of seven or eight. That moment is never forgotten.” Fresh from success in the West End, Michael Barker Caven is directing Alice in Wonderland at the Helix in Dublin this Christmas.

Ridley Scott's career has been a series of peaks (Alien, Bladerunner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal), punctuated by just as many troughs (Legend, Black Rain, 1492, G.I Jane and A Good Year), so it's nice to see his latest American Gangster become another high.

French documentary maker Nicolas Philibert, the subject of a retrospective in the recent French Film Festival in Dublin's IFI, spoke to Village about his belief that documentary is the victim of many misconceptions.

Lucinda Williams has announced an exclusive Dublin date at Tripod on Thursday 22 November. The American rock-folk-country singer-songwriter is touring to promote the recent release of West, her eighth studio album and the follow up to her Grammy-nominated album World Without Tears (2003) and her Grammy-winning albums Essence (2001) and Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (1998).

The 2007 French Film Festival takes place at the Irish Film Institute in Temple Bar Dublin from 13 - 22 November. The programme of films is described as 'a year of discovery' introducing new young talent, new landscapes and new stories, but also showcasing recent work from familiar names like Claude Berri, Audrey Tautou, Manoel de Oliveira, Alain Berliner, Jacques Rivette, and Claude Miller.

In the past week Village has gone DEAF, got savvy, dusted off the old glow sticks and got down to some disco beats.

A review of the work of the English artist Sarah Harvey By Emer O'Kelly

Named for the tide that flows up and down the nearby Liffey, or for the traditional tune, guidebooks claim that The Flowing Tide benefits from its proximity to the Abbey Theatre. Some certainly benefited in 1907 when they took refuge in the pub from the violence in the theatre after Synge's Playboy of the Western World was first performed.