 The Play
The Bad Arm - Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer at Chicago Fringe Festival!
Chicago Arts District Gallery: Adelaide Stage
1832 S. Halstead Ave.
Chicago, IL 60608
- Wednesday September 1st, 2010 8:30 PM
- Thursday September 2nd, 2010 5:30 PM
- Friday September 3rd, 2010 7:00 PM
- Saturday September 4th, 2010 1:00 PM
- Sunday September 5th, 2010 10:00 PM
To book tickets, go to:
https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/760895
Or Call: 866-811-4111
The Bad Arm - Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer by Maire Clerkin, directed by Dan O'Connor, is going from strength to strength with terrific reviews at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June and now an extra performance in a 'Best Of The Fringe' appearance at Theatre Asylum, Los Angeles, July 24th at 6.30pm. Máire will then hit the Chicago Fringe Festival September 1ST - 5TH : venue to be announced soon.
The Bad Arm - Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer is a one-woman show written and performed by Máire Clerkin and directed by Dan O'Connor. It was performed at Bang Theatre in Hollywood in 2008, to enthusiastic audiences and fabulous reviews! Máire is now planning to take the show on tour.
If you thought Irish dancers were all curly-haired cutie-pies with perfect posture, meet a scowling girl from London in this outrageous antidote to 'Riverdance'.
This hour long comic play is an uproarious yet poignant one-woman play by London-Irish writer-performer Máire Clerkin. Amid astounding bursts of rhythm and physical theatre, this ugly-duckling-never-quite-swan recounts her experiences of sex and booze and rock and roll like only a convent-educated Irish catholic girl can.
Máire Clerkin jumps in and out of Irish dancing shoes, clicking and kicking her way across the stage in this percussive account of being English in Ireland, Irish in England and a pink-haired punk in a grey city. Pungent vintage photos of not-so-swinging London illustrate Clerkin's woeful but hilarious personal history as the disappointing daughter of a successful Irish Dancing teacher in 1970s London. Clerkin's 'glorious riffs of traditional Irish dance… animated impersonations and snapshot transitions…' (LA WEEKLY) deliver an hour of rich, dark comedy.
"The focal point of Clerkin's coming of age saga is her right elbow… a "bad arm" that her mother says is responsible for her placing poorly in competitions...keeping both arms slammed into one's body emerges as a metaphoric constriction in a world that Clerkin captures so meticulously." Stephen Leigh Morris, LA Weekly ::: Read full review online
"At times poignant and at times hysterically funny." Brooke Alberts, Folkworks Magazine ::: Read full review online
"Clerkin is a gifted writer-actor." Dany Margolies, Backstage ::: Read full review online
"Maire Clerkin's comic memoir of her misspent youth is one of the unexpected highlights of the Hollywood Fringe." Jordan Young, LA Arts Examiner
"Her wit and self-deprecating humor is both hysterical and heartfelt….Directed by Dan O'Connor, the simple staging with the mixture of dancing, projected photos and music wonderfully aids Clerkin's flawless and magnetic stage presence. Funny, unique and great Irish dancing - definitely a must see." Ashley Steed, LA Theatre Review
The Bad Arm - Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer is now available for touring! To book a performance, enquire about technical specifications, view a DVD recording or discuss tour dates, please contact maire@maireclerkin.com
Máire is providing an educational supplement to her performance work. Transforming Irish Folk Tales into Dance Theatre and Secret Diaries: Exposing the Dancer Inside are ideal workshop subjects for students of theatre, dance and Celtic Studies.
This show was sponsored by Heather Woodbury's Fomenting Arts Unlimited, and was originally funded by the Durfee Foundation.
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