| Festivals, Faust and Food By
Malcolm Rogers
Malcolm Rogers looks ahead to the two major festivals left in the
Irish calendar for 2005.
Galway Oyster Festival
They say that Mass in Galway is 20 minutes shorter than it is in Dublin
because the locals talk so quickly. This velocity of speech does have one
huge benefit — there’s a lot more time for the craic and it seems that this
is definitely put to good use by the natives.
The result is that Galway city is the holiday destination of choice amongst
Ireland’s young — the westerly metropolis is one of Ireland’s most celebrated
places in which to party and is perceived as the most Irish of Ireland’s
cities.
These days Dublin is perceived to have been ceded to the tourists, Belfast
needs to completely shake off the shroud of the Troubles and Cork is seen
as a tad too provincial. But Galway is vibrant, exciting and entertaining,
with pubs, clubs and restaurants to suit all tastes.
As God said when he was creating Connaught: “Right here’s Galway; now
do you want Mayo with that?” And of course they didn’t need Mayo — especially
on their oysters, which is another reason for millions of international
visitors to flock to the area every year.
Galway Bay’s oysters boast two festivals in their honour: the Clarenbridge
Oyster Festival taking place this week and the Galway International Festival
taking place in Galway City on the last weekend of the month.
The oyster season runs from September to April, but the craic, crustaceans
and creamy-headed Guinness in addition to the oysters make September the
ideal time to head for Galway. People from all over the world descend on
the banks of Galway Bay to sample the world famous oysters and the legendary
craic of the West of Ireland.
Seafood lovers will be hard pushed to find anything better than this,
Ireland’s longest-running and best gourmet extravaganza. The arrival of
the new oyster season is marked by a feast of drinking, dancing and bivalve
bingeing. The more organised events of the weekend — official opening dinner,
black-tie ball and world oyster opening championships — take place in a
huge marquee by the town’s harbour. The real fun, however, begins on the
extensive pub-crawl that constitutes the Guinness Oyster Pub Trail. The
trail incorporates dozens of pubs throughout Galway, each of which offers
free oysters with a pint of Guinness as well as laying on music, seisiúns,
dancing and comedy acts during the festivities.
A feast of fine food, stout and Guinness awaits those who make the journey
— and not forgetting the brown wheaten bread, soda farls and champagne to
wash it all down. And don’t be surprised if Galway barmen offer you seaweed
along with your drink and oysters.
A major feature of this seafood extravaganza is witnessing how the skill
of opening oysters with speed is achieved. The best oyster openers in the
world compete to see who has the greatest dexterity in this area — and it’s
a lot more difficult than you’d think. The finest Galway Bay oysters are
selected for the competition and then each competitor has to open a pre-determined
number of the shellfish. Speed is important but presentation is rated just
as highly. But if you just want to scoff ‘em, you’ll find plenty are available
— but just a word of warning: oysters are famous as aphrodisiacs. So take
every precaution if you get caught up in a romantic tryst — don’t give anybody
your real name and address.
The 51st Galway International Oyster Festival takes place September 22-25.
Wexford Opera Festival
Wexford is a handsome town, ideal for wandering about. Stroll down to
Wexford Quays where you can see a harbour boasting more than one thousand
years of history. The town has progressed from its early days as a Norse
trading port through to the Anglo-Saxon takeover, the sacking of the town
by Cromwell and on to the Pikemen of the 1798 Rebellion. Not far from the
harbour stands the West Gate Tower, part of the five original entrances
to the walled settlement. Modern-day commercialism has set in here and for
a sum of euro you can now watch a potted history of the town.
Probably better off to continue your stroll round the medieval town.
Towards the end of the harbour boardwalk at Crescent Quay stands the imposing
statue of Commodore John Barry, a native of the town who started out as
a cabin boy, became an American naval hero during the War of Independence
and subsequently earned fame as “the father of the American navy”.
But it is the Opera Festival which has brought Wexford to the attention
of the world. Originally the idea of the novelist Sir Compton Mackenzie,
this event is now one of the most glamorous and esoteric opera festivals
anywhere. Recently Britain’s Independent newspaper called it one of the
boldest in Europe, up there with Vienna and Bayreuth.
Three (usually obscure) operas are staged in the town’s Theatre Royal
in the autumn, this year from October 17 to November 3.
If you can’t get tickets for the Theatre Royal, not to worry. Alongside
the operas a huge programme of fringe events takes place incorporating everything
from traditional sessions to opera-slanted street theatre.
Shorter works of music, theatre, concerts, recitals, talks, cabarets,
fireworks and of course parties are also held throughout the day and late
into the night.
Opera Note: Don’t expect light classicals. It is part of Wexford’s business
to revive operas which other festivals neglect — Prokofiev’s The Gambler,
or Bizet’s Les Pecheurs des Perles for example. If, by some chance you think
you recognise the title of an opera, it won’t be the one you’re thinking
of, but an abstruse piece of the same name — La Bohème, not by Puccini,
but another production of the same name by a 13th century Swedish monk.
This year’s festival, which runs from October 20 to November 6, includes
Maria di Rohan by Gaetano Donizetti, which, according to the advance publicity,
“hints at the direction the composer’s career might have taken if it hadn’t
been cut short by syphilis.” Too much information, there, I suspect.
The other two major productions at this year’s festival are Pénélope
by Gabriel Fauré to a libretto by René Fauchois, and Susannah by Carlisle
Floyd.
If opera is not entirely your thing, Wexford has plenty to commend it.
Pubs with traditional music, pubs with jazz, upscale pubs with first class
nosh — the famous Macken’s pub even doubles up as an undertaker’s. Each
year at festival time, these places are at full throttle competing for the
Singing, Swinging Pubs of Wexford competition. Judges assess the quality
of singing and musicianship in each establishment. As you can imagine competition
is fierce and the main beneficiary is you, the customer.
Bars worthy of note include Centenary Stores, Charlotte Street and The
Thomas Moore Tavern, Cornmarket. But really, there’s no shortage. Brush
up on a few Wexford songs, and you might even pick up one of the best-visitor
awards.
There’s a wide range of restaurants in Wexford, and seeing as we’ve been
talking opera it would be churlish not to mention La Dolce Vita, Westgate,
serving real pasta and authentic pesto. Seafood is naturally a speciality
— sea bass with olive oil and tagliatelle would be my personal recommendation.
Not badly priced for this quality of restaurant with main courses beginning
around the €20 mark.
One of the traditional dining delights is to take The Galley River Cruising
Restaurant. Now this is a boat trip which one of Wexford’s most famous sons,
Arctic explorer Robert McClure (he found the North West Passage) would have
probably turned his nose up at. Because it consists of a gentle cruise up
the river stuffing your face with food, turning round and returning with
a post-prandial brandy in your fist while contemplating the soporifically
beautiful riverside landscape (Tel: 00 353 51 421723).
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