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Sonya Kelly looks back at a myopic childhood

Maretta Dillon reports

Actor and comedian Sonya Kelly, embarks on a nationwide tour with the curiously titled The Wheelchair On My Face this month. Subtitled a look back at a myopic childhood, Kelly writes and performs in this one woman show, which is sure to strike a chord with spectacle wearers everywhere. Originally produced for the Dublin Fringe Festival, it offers a funny and engaging insight (pun intended) into what it was like to be a very very shortsighted seven-year-old. The play opens at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght on February 9 before taking to the road. Check www.fishamble.com for venues and dates.

The annual Kate O’Brien Weekend at the Belltable Arts Centre from February 24 – 26 celebrates the writer who was born into a prosperous Limerick family in 1897. Her work includes: ‘Without My Cloak’, written in 1930; ‘The Ante Room’; ‘That Lady’; ‘The Land of Spices’ and ‘The Last of Summer’. This year’s theme is ‘tell it slant’, a quote from an Emily Dickinson poem about telling the truth. Contributors will include the writer John Boyne, the poet Katharine Towers, columnist and journalist with The Irish Times Frank McNally and national treasure Seamus Heaney who will give the keynote lecture on Sunday. More details can be had from www.kateobrienweekend.com.

Films continue aplenty during the month including director Roman Polanski’s Carnagefrom the play by Yasmina Reza with Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly as the childish parents. Michael Fassbender shows up again - this time as psychologist Carl Jung - in director David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, co-starring Keira Knightley. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opening February 24 has the most fabulous cast with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton and Dev Patel. It is directed by John Madden whose previous efforts include ‘Shakespeare in Love’. Promising a feel good comedy set in India, it concerns a disparate group of English pensioners who abandon their homeland lured by an advertisement for, you guessed it, The Best...All of course is not what it seems and our bunch undergo something of a culture shock. The heat, the dust, the noise – ooh aah India..aah!

Those of us located in the capital can eagerly await the 10^th edition of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festivalfrom February 16 which promises the usual choice selection of films from around the globe – the programme will be available from February 3 (see www.jdiff.com for more info)

Meanwhile back in the real capital, they are gearing up for the Cork Spring Poetry Festival from February 15 – 18 celebrating Cork’s poetic heritage and the timely arrival of our poet President. Guests include our own Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, American poet Gregory Orr , as well as Fiona Sampson and Neil Astley from Britain. Greg Delanty will conduct a Masterclass Workshop for up and coming bards.

Here’s your chance to unleash your inner muse, you know you want to...