#SummerFest: 11 events not to be missed at the 'Tread Softly' Festival of Yeats

A painting of Maud Gonne The 'Tread Softly' Festival of Yeats in Sligo

Clare Cullen

July 18 2015 03:30 PM

The 'Tread Softly' festival is in it's fourth year and celebrates the life and work of the treasured writer W.B Yeats and the work of the Yeats family, who hailed from Sligo.

This year, to celebrate the 150th birthday of W.B. Yeats, the festival is focused on his poetry and plays and the landscape that inspired them.

The festival takes place from the 26th July – 8th August 2015 across the city and county of Sligo and more information is available on www.treadsoftly.ie or by contacting the Sligo Tourist Office.

The event 'A Country Under Wave' will see Sligo's Blue Raincoat Theatre Company produce all of Yeat's 26 plays and includes a performance of 'At The Hawk's Well' on O' Rourke's Table.

Programme highlights:

THEATRE

Blue Raincoat Theatre Company presenting the hugely ambitious A Country Under Wave – The Theatre of W. B. Yeats, a summer long series of events including dramatic readings of all of Yeats’ 26 plays, and full productions of works including lunchtime performances of The Only Jealousy of Emer and an outdoor presentation of At The Hawk’s Well on O’Rourke’s Table

Fidget Feet’s arial spectacular The Second Coming, inspired by Yeats’ poem

VISUAL ART

Psychic Lighthouse at The Model, featuring the work of a number of Irish and international contemporary artists to investigate ritual, spiritualism and occult practices

The Hamilton Gallery will present 50 Irish Artists Impressions and Portraits of Yeats and Of this Place, an exhibition of reflections of the landscapes of Sligo that inspired Yeats’ writing

Video of the Day

Exhibitions of new work inspired by Yeats across Sligo by sculptor Bettina Seitz and illustrator and cartoonist Annie West and photographer Ciaran McHugh

MUSIC

Much like the multi-faceted Yeats siblings, String Siblings shows just how much talent can run in families, featuring The Kane Sisters from Connemara and The Hayden Brothers from Pomeroy, performing in The Hawk’s Well Theatre

The Hawk’s Well Theatre will also come alive with the infectious Swing Sligo

SPOKEN WORD

Brian Leyden’s unique blend of stories and music in a fond look at romance and courtship Old Flames

Series of talks and spoken word events from Pádraig Meehan and Brian Leyden amongst others, post show events and even a Speakers Corner where topics past and present will be discussed

The Hawk’s Well Theatre Storytelling Slam Legend

In the Deep Heart’s Core with their unique cabaret from the works of W. B. Yeats in The Model