John McCarthy of Hammergrin graciously agreed to answer a few questions about The Iowa Project.

Q1. Where did the idea for the project come from?
The festival director, William Galinsky, really liked last year’s Threat of Humour, and met us to discuss working on a project for this year. He encouraged us to read the works of Philip K. Dick, feeling we’d riff off them well, and we did, and ran with it for the last six months.

Q2. What was the inspiration for the marketing campaign?
The poster picks up on the 50s comic book feel of the show, the blurb eggs up the classic sci-fi tone to the script, and the flyer (attached) is basically a cheap pun which allows us to advertise the show and feel better than normal people.

Q3. How much did the venue influence your ideas?
Massively. It is such a great space that we had to work with it, rather than against it, using the warehouse as a set, rather than trying to turn it into a theatre space. A lot of the show will take place in daylight, which streaks in the high windows and casts an eery glow over proceddings. The script was largely finished when we got in there but the way scenes unfolded and connected only came together when we got into the warehouse. It changed some big ideas in the script, in a good way.

[Ed - You can see a sneak preview of the set here.]

Q4. How does it relate to previous Hammergrin productions/events?
It taps into that 50s Americana which so informed The Threat of Humour and Trying Jokes - that ultra-serious masculine world which takes itself so seriosly it is actually funny.

Q5. Why did you choose the Midsummer Festival for this project?
Without the clout of the Midsummer behind this we wouldn’t have the budget, the pr, or a name sufficient to get the venue for the show. And the inspiration of Philip K.Dick wouldn’t have been there without William’s interest in Hammergrin.

The Old Distillery, North Mall
Sunday 22 – Saturday 28 June, 9pm
Tickets €15/€12

The people who brought you Trying Jokes and The Threat of Humour are back!

That’s right, Hammergrin return to the Midsummer Festival once more, with what has been hailed as “their most adventurous project to date” by festival director William Galinsky.

From the blackness of a hundred million nights and through the depths of the psyche emerges the noble fight of four US government agents, Team Alpha, and their bid to give a great nation its own great literary giant. Their subject: Philip K. Dick!

Using a mysterious new technology - H.A.C.K. - the world’s first mind reading machine — Team Alpha will probe beyond space, into the unknown and beyond the mysteries of the sixth sense, in an attempt to crack a literary code that counterspies of every nation would risk their lives to get!

Join Mitch, Douglas, Nathan and Ava as they enter a world where there is no why…

You can read Hammergrin producer John McCarthy answer 5 of our questions here, and check out a sneaky-peak of their set here.

The Old Distillery, North Mall
Sunday 22 – Saturday 28 June, 9pm
Tickets €15/€12

The Midsummer Festival has kicked off and one of the festival highlights, Magnet Production’s End of the Line by Paul Ioachim, previews tonight.

It’s adapted by Jody O’Neill, who also co-stars with Carl Kennedy and Dan Tudor, under Donal Gallagher’s direction.

The Magnet press release tells us;

At the end of the line, three desperate strangers meet…Waiting on a train. It’s the last stop… But are they waiting to get on, or to get off…? Internationally renowned Romanian playwright, Paul Ioachim’s bittersweet comedy is a quirky, absurd look at three people on the edge of society, about to fall off.

Cork audiences will be familiar with the work of Donal Gallagher from last year’s Meat, Jody O’Neill from last year’s They Never Froze Walt Disney, and Carl Kennedy, from Father Matthew. Dan Tudor is coming from the National Theatre of Bucharest for this production, and I will be most interested to see what comes of mixing Irish theatrical approaches with those of Romania.

Granary Theatre
Monday 16 June (preview),
Tuesday 17 – Friday 20 June, 7.30pm
Saturday 21 June, 3:30pm & 8pm
Tickets €15/€12, preview & Saturday Matinee €10

For some time now we have been watching the career of Cork actress Jody O’Neill with great interest here at BifSniff.

I am delighted to report that she will be making an appearance in the new series of RTÉ’s The Clinic and is filming at the moment.

O’Neill said;

I’m delighted to be filming for my first part on TV, an appearance in this year’s season of The Clinic, which I was offered just as we started rehearsals for “End of the Line”. It’s made for a fairly hectic schedule for the last few weeks, but both the production team of The Clinic and the director and cast of “End of the Line” have been really accommodating.

Filming in Dublin and appearing in End of the Line in Cork’s Midsummer Festival at the same time? I guess sleep is for the weak!

Today FM’s The Last Word with Matt Cooper is having a Lisbon Treaty special this evening. From 16:30-19:00 they will be hosting a live debate from Dublin Castle.

It’ll be interesting anyway…