The Le Cheile Arts & Music Festival presents "Random Acts of Madness" an interesting mixture of literature, film and music to kick off the 2012 festival.

The event will take place in Creans Marquee and proceedings will get under way at 8.30pm.

This page will be updated in the coming days with full details

Admission is €5

Arts Exhibitions

The "Hanging in There" pop up art galleries will be.. ahem, popping up all over Oldcastle... With an official opening reception at Caffreys @ 7:30pm.

The galleries will remain in place over the entire weekend from 10am to 6pm. (not inc Monday)

There are two separate theatrical productions scheduled...

Millrace Drama Group presents - TRAD, a play by Mark Doherty

Trad's entertaining story portrays two old men in the present-day west of Ireland: The ages of the Father & Son duo are fabulous, in an Aesopian way. Thomas the son is 100 years old. His father, Joe, is obviously older, but who's counting when the years have piled on so? One day, Thomas just happens to mention that he fathered a son 70 years ago. Joe insists that they travel to find the last remaining successor in the family line. An absurd journey motif springs up around the pair's undertaking, although "journey" may be an ambitious term for a old man with one arm and an older man with one leg.

Taking a road they've rarely travelled out of their village, Joe tells Thomas stories that on the surface are funny, even silly. In the spirit of Flann O'Brien's An Beal Bocht (The Hungry Mouth), Joe spins the tale of the great Olive Crisis, the story of the day he moved a mountain because it blocked the sun, and the time they had no oxygen, reminiscent of O'Brien's protagonist who was so poor "there never was any air in his house." All these stories are unsubtle references to darker stories of Ireland's past poverty - bad stories of a hard life, but it never did anyone any good to "stand still and face backwards" as Joe says.

The Show will be presented on Friday 3rd in Caffreys red room at 8:30pm

Admission €10 - Tickets available online from Here

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Millrace Youth Drama Group presents - Mullanders

Mullanders is a teenage soap opera which was originally written for Cavan Community Radio (CCR). The play deals with everyday teenage issues e.g. conflict at home, romance, mobile phones, bullying etc in a fun and lighthearted way. Catherine McKiernan-Ryan and Liam Daly ran a workshop with their teenage drama group in Mullagh last Summer and elements of the storyline and development of characters came directly from the teenagers own experiences and ideas. It was aired on CCR in February 2012 and was staged in The Ramor Theatre in March 2012 and was very well received. It's a definite 'must see' for teenagers and adults - entertainment guaranteed.

The Show will be presented on Friday August 3rd in Caffreys red room at 4:00pm

Suggested audience, ages 10 to 90 !

Admission €5
Family ticket (2 adults & 2 children) €14

Tickets available online from Here

At 10pm in the parking area in front of the Dublin Bar, Babylons Inferno will present a fire show spectacular...with a huge troupe of fire performers, fire sculptures and musical accompaniment, this is something for all the family and one not to be missed.

There is no cover charge for this event

Medieval battle re-enactment

Saturday at 1pm, 4pm and 6pm

In the parking area in front on the Dublin Bar the "Freelancing Knights of Redemption" will be on hand to perform their medieval battle reenactments.

The FKOR team are either members of, or trained by members of The European Historical Combat Guild. This means that their combat displays are as authentic as it is possible to be (without actually killing each other) derived as they are from genuine medieval martial arts.

Dedicated to their craft, these guys have appeared in numerous films and TV shows including 'King Arthur' starring Keira Knightly and Clive Owen, and 'Benedict Arnold' with Kesley Grammer (Fraser) and Aidan Quinn.

FKOR will perform 3 shows throughout the day on Saturday at 1pm, 4pm and 6pm.

Also on display throughout the day will be a full selection of museum quality armour and weapons, including Bronze age through to Georgian swords, a full range of living history arrows, long bows, recurve bow, crossbow, shields, helmets, pikestaffs and much more, many of which are custom made by Guild Armourers.

There is no Cover Charge to this event.

On Saturday 4th August at 8pm in St Brides Church (beside Caffreys) Equivox, Oldcastle writers Group will lauch their latest book.

Titled "This won't hurt", the book is a collection of short stories written by members of the group.

The following is a short excerpt from "Death in the A&E" by Brendan Melia

Frank hovered over near the water-cooler and watched as the hospital staff tried frantically to save his life.
"Gas isn't it ?" said a voice out of nowhere.

Frank looked round to see where the voice had come from.
"I'm over here" said the voice, as the owner saluted frank military style.

The owner of the voice was a young man in his twenties. He too was wearing a hospital gown and he too was floating a few inches off the ground.
"I don't know why they're bothering, life is such a pain in the hole." Said the young man as he produced a packet of cigarettes from behind his back and proceeded to light one up.

"You're not going to smoke in here are you?" asked Frank.
Well he didn't really ask with his voice he more projected his thoughts. He only mouthed the words out of habit.
"Eh, yeah, they can't smell it any way. Not on our plane you see." Said the young rebel and blew a smoke ring into the face of a rather cross looking Ward sister.

"So I'm dead then am I?" asked frank.
"Not officially, you could just be out of body, there's hope yet. But realistically, I'd say you're...

 

Live art performance's have become a staple of the Le Cheile calendar over the past few years.

This year, Le Cheile is proud to annouce a "Live" Art performance from Photorealistic artist Barry 'Jazz' Finnegan

Barry 'Jazz' Finnegan brings a unique 'Wow' factor to the world of art. You'd have to look very closely at one of his finished pieces to be able to tell that it's not in fact a photograph that you're looking at !

The Live Art show will take place in the bar of the Fincourt Hotel on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th August from 3pm.
The performance will be accompanied by music from a variety of up and coming artists to be announced shortly.

Check back on this page for further updates or subscribe to our mailing list Here

On Saturday 4th (and Sunday 5th August), in association with Sheridans Cheesemongers, the Artisan Foods & Crafts Market will be open on the main square in Oldcastle.

Last year Le Cheile dipped it's toe into the idea of creating a small market in the center of town. The market proved so popular last year that we've decided to expand on it in 2012 and to make it a main feature of the daytime activies. With approx 60 stands expected, presenting high quality genuine Irish produced foods and crafts/pottery/wood carving etc.

Although we've already had a word with mother nature regarding the weather, she does has a habit of being slightly forgetful. For this reason we have arranged for a large marquee in the square in case the sun doesn't make it's expected appearance.

The street market opens from 12 noon each day to 7pm

Kids Entertainment

On Saturday in the Masonic Hall you'll find the Childrens Arts & Crafts Workshop running from 2pm to 4pm

In the town Center on Saturday & Sunday "JoJo's Party Time" balloon modelling & face painting runs throughout the day. And Christophe the Magician will be popping in periodically to surprise and amaze.

The ever popular Bouncy Castles will be there along with last years kids favourite the Bungee Trampoline
There's lots more to be confirmed for Saturday and Sunday so make sure to check back with us closer to the festival date.