Cyprus Avenue’s Stroll Off-Broadway
David Ireland’s Cyprus Avenue opened for its debut in North America at the Public Theater in New York City on June 25th. Starring Stephen Rea, the play is a discomfiting cross between cathartic and alienating, summoning painful notes of recognition along with a worrisome awareness that everything in this world is just slightly, tragically, off-kilter. Directed by Vicky Featherstone, the...
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Hercules Mulligan:
Tailor, Patriot, Spy
How an Irish tailor named Hercules Mulligan, and his accomplice, an enslaved man named Cato, twice saved George Washington from capture during the Revolutionary War. ℘℘℘ Hercules Mulligan was born in Coleraine, of what was then called County Londonderry to Episcopalians Hugh and Sarah Mulligan, on September 25, 1740. Six years later, the Mulligan family immigrated to New York, where Hugh...
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The Carrowkeel Cairns
The celebration of summer solstice, when the sun rises before 5 a.m. in the northern hemisphere, marks a sacred tradition in Ireland dating back 5000 years, when the power of the sun is celebrated at the burial places of ancient gods since pre-Christian times. ℘℘℘ Ireland has a number of megalithic monuments. Well-known sites such as the passage tomb called the Mound of the...
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Weekly Comment: Flags of Ireland
Whether for a warrior identifying friend from enemy, a nationalist wanting to represent their views, or a G.A.A. supporter flying their county’s colors, flags have played an important part throughout Ireland’s history. As we celebrate Flag Day here in the United States, let’s take a look back at the flags that have represented Ireland over the years. Some of the earliest...
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Weekly Comment: Bloomsday Around the World
Bloomsday Around the World June 16th marks 2018’s celebration of Bloomsday, a literary anniversary commemorating the date upon which Irish author James Joyce set the events of his iconic modern novel Ulysses. Since the masterwork’s first publication in 1922, Joyce’s insightful, no-holds-barred portrayal of the inner lives of turn-of-the-century Dubliners and mastery of English and other...
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