WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. That’s the discovery to be made at a highly original show at the ABSOLUT Fringe Festival in Dublin where the daily thoughts of Irish citizens as they struggled through 2010 have been recorded for posterity.
The company THEATREclub – former winners of the Spirit of the Fringe award – sent an email once a day, every day for 2010, to random Irish people, asking them: “What have you learnt today?”
Their answers have been curated into a series of shows called TwentyTen which cover the events of two months at a time. (Tonight’s Twenty Ten show at the Project Arts Centre covers the months of September and October, when the country began to plunge into the threat of bailout).
This coming Saturday, there will be a six-hour marathon performance of the twelve months of email feedback.
What kind of things were people thinking at this time last year? These are some lines you’ll hear tonight – it clearly wasn’t just the IMF on our mind…
I’d like to see the IMF smack the entire Cabinet. And then root out that little weasel Bertie Ahern and throw him out to sea.The only bird with a penis is the swan.
I am thirsty for more kissing. It’s preoccupied me all day. And I keep getting flashbacks that make me flush. More please.
If you’d like to go and see TwentyTen tonight, the kind folks at ABSOLUT Fringe have organised a 10 per cent discount for TheJournal.ie‘s readers. Just input this code – thejournal – on the booking form online, or mention it when booking on phone or in person to claim your discount.
The show is on tonight at 6pm, tomorrow at 6pm and the marathon show on Saturday at 11am at the Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar, Dublin. Booking is online here, or call 1859 374 643 or call in person to the ABSOLUT Fringe box office in Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar.
Here are some crackers of lines from previous TwentyTen months:
January-February: “The world is getting BIGGER not smaller.”
March-April: “I have learned a lot, but it’s hard to put it into words.”
May-June: “If you don’t SHOW UP, you can’t be part of the conversation.”
July-August: “I learned that we’re all fucked and alone.”
