-Bram Stoker Festival, an initiative of Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland, announce 2015 programme
-Maser returns to Ireland to create an interactive installation in Smithfield while Macnas traverse the city in a Twilight procession
Today, Bram Stoker Festival in association with Dublin City Council, Fáilte Ireland, An tArdmhéara, Críona Ní Dhálaigh and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD, announced the annual celebration of Dublin’s Dark Side. Conceived as a celebration of Dublin-born Gothic writer Bram Stoker and his illustrious novel Dracula, Dublin city will get gloriously gothic this October 23rd-26th.
Dublin will be treated to Four Days of Living Stories and Four Nights of Deadly Adventures over the Bank Holiday Weekend. By day, the festival programme presents gothic intrigue at family-friendly events, talks and interactive experiences. At night, the city will embrace the darkness as a host of venues deliver deadly adventures for festival goers in search of macabre thrills and late-night parties.
Speaking at the launch today, Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath / Lord Mayor of Dublin Críona Ní Dhálaigh said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the great Dublin author Bram Stoker and his famous novel “Dracula”. Dublin City Council is very proud to continue celebrating his life and literary creation with the fourth Bram Stoker Festival. This Festival is a celebration of the famous gothic novel and showcases the amazing cultural talent within Dublin today. Cuirim fáilte roimh gach duine go Báile Átha Cliath chun taitneamh a bhaint ás an féile iontach seo.”
Also attending the launch, Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport said: ‘Festivals and events are an important element in our tourism offering. They provide opportunities to showcase culture, people and places, and so enhance visitor experience. The Bram Stoker Festival is an excellent example. It creates a festival hub within the city and transforms the city streets, delivering a city wide celebration and strong street theatre and animation. It shows Dublin as a city that is always on, fun and vibrant – the ideal city destination’.
A major festival highlight sees world-renowned Irish street-artist Maser return to the cityscape of Dublin to create an interactive installation in Smithfield, which is inspired both by Stoker’s life and the themes of his most famous work. This must-see event will take place in Smithfield Square where the local community will be encouraged to collaborate in its construction over seven days. The installation will open to the public at twilight on 23rd October and will remain open to the public for the duration of the festival.
Speaking about the festival programme, Orla Carroll, Director, Strategic Development at Fáilte Ireland said; ‘Fáilte Ireland is delighted to be once again supporting the Bram Stoker Festival, a uniquely Dublin event which has become a significant addition to Dublin’s autumn calendar. Festivals are an important driver of tourism encouraging many visitors to come to our capital year on year. Events such as these really reinforce Dublin’s reputation as a vibrant capital city bursting with a variety of surprising experiences’.
Building on the success of their 2014 appearance, Macnas close the festival at twilight on Monday 26th October. In what is set to be another breath-taking citywide procession from the Galway based spectacle and street performance company; this is a deadly adventure given life on the streets of Dublin.
Stokerland will open its gates to families and the young at heart on Sunday 25th Oct. Located in Wolfe Tone Park, Stokerland is a pop-up gothic theme park in the style of the 1900 world fair, featuring the macabre talents of world- class street performers The Mighty Gareth and Able Mabel who will perform on the hour throughout the day. This family friendly fun-day will also offer children and their adult companions gothic makeovers, tin-plate portraits in period dress, screenprinting with Damn Fine Print and Victorian goodies.
The deadliest adventure of all, New Blood, takes place at Projects Arts Centre on Sunday, 25th October. New Blood is a cold, sharp bite of contemporary Irish culture – a progressive Halloween Party for the Bram Stoker Festival filled with bespoke cocktails, art installations, live electronic acts and DJs. Attendees will lose themselves in a futuristic vampire haven and a feast of new blood. Excessive dress-up is essential at this raucous mix of mischief and craic.
Bram Stoker Festival is proud to collaborate with some of Ireland’s leading designers and illustrators through a partnership with Damn Fine Print, who present two projects at the festival. Dancing in The Moonlight: Dublin by Nightis an exhibition and sale of the work of 15 specially commissioned artists including Chris Judge, Fuchsia MacreeandSteve McCarthy. See the prints from 23rd Oct where Damn Fine Print and Bram Stoker Festival will host a special festival launch party in Generator Hostel, Smithfield.
Damn Fine Print bring the action out of the studio and onto the streets with a series of Penny Dreadzines, created by specially commissioned teams of writers and illustrators including Annie Atkins (part of the team that claimed the Best Production Design Academy Award for Grand Budapest Hotel) Steve McCarthy and Chris Judge. The limited edition zines, sharing some of Dublin’s dark histories, both real and invented will be distributed (and performed!) by Vamps on Bikes across town.
Other key festival highlights include (see editors notes for full details):
- Soundings, Bram Stoker Edition- live interviews hosted by Dylan Haskins and Lisa Hannigan.
- Hushed at Marsh’s Library – an eerie nighttime vocal ensemble composed by Robbie Blake with Tonnta Choir.
- Total Nightmare- talks and stories covering the themes of frustration panic and horror MC’ed by Michael McDermott & Kate Coleman, Publisher & Editor of Le Cool Dublin.
- Vampire Film Screening at Light House Cinema.
- I Got the Seanchai, I Got the Secret-a bilingual story-telling evening hosted by Una Mullally and Vickey Curtis.
- National Gallery of Irelandwill host a series of talks over the festival duration based on the life and works of Bram Stoker.
Dubliners and visitors to the city are invited to follow the fun using #BiteMeDublin and watch out as landmarks and buildings across the city light up in blood red. The festival is an initiative of Dublin City Council in association with Fáilte Ireland.
With many more additions to the Bram Stoker Festival line up to be announced in the coming weeks, look up www.bramstokerfestival.com for further details.
Ends
About the festival:
This year’s festival has been devised, curated and managed by a new team made up of Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland, Festival Directors Róise Goan and Tom Lawlor; Business & Trade Engagement Manager Ciara Gogarty, Publicist Julie Blakeney, Production Manager Marcus Costello and Programme Administrator Nyree Yergainharsian, in conjunction with Project Arts Centre.
For more information::
Website: www.bramstokerfestival.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BramStokerDublin
Twitter: @bramstokerdub
For full dates/ times/ listings see the website.
Notes to Editors:
St. Patrick’s Cathedral will provide the dramatic backdrop forSoundings- Bram Stoker Edition, hosted by Dylan Haskins and Lisa Hannigan. After a string of sell-out shows and festival appearances in the UK and Ireland the duo will be joined by a selection of Ireland’s leading lights in entertainment and literature sharingstories and songs to inspire, alarm and humour.
For music lovers attending the festival, the composer Robbie Blake and Tonnta Choir will conduct an eerie night time choir performance aptly named Hushed in Marsh’s Library to amble through in Bram Stoker’s oft-frequented library. A once-in-a-lifetime experience for curious travelers, this event will offer a chillingly, beautiful experience to be remembered for years to come.
Spooky tales are set to take center stage at Total Nightmare which assembles a diverse line-up of literati and filmmakers to share their worst moments of panic, frustration and horror, in their careers and personal lives. The event will be curated and MC’ed by Michael McDermott & Kate Coleman, Publisher & Editor of Le Cool Dublin, Dublin’s premier cultural publication.
The living stories and deadly adventures continue with a whole host of themed story-telling events and film screenings taking place across Dublin. Some highlights include; Vampire Film Seasonat Light House Cinema which will feature themed film screenings and after parties including a Blade I and Blade II double bill, From Dusk Til Dawn, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Dracula. I Got the Seanchai, I Got the Story, a bilingual story-telling evening hosted by Una Mullally and Vickey Curtis and the National Gallery of Irelandwill host a series of talks over the festival duration based on the life and works of Bram Stoker.
Festival goers are encouraged to look out for a special coven of vampires who, with some intriguing twists and turns along the way, will be let loose on the city to spread the word of Bram Stoker.