Dear Reader –
Smiles all around this weekend as the class of 2023 walked tall on the Hawk’s Well stage.
The Big Thing
Take a bow one and all!
We had two magical nights under the stars this weekend at the Hawk’s Well Theatre. More than 70 teenage musicians shone bright in our end-of-year showcase, thrilling and inspiring our audiences in equal measure.
A huge thanks to all who made this weekend possible - to the talented performers who brought that unique teenage energy to the event, but also to the wonderful crew of professionals who lent us their time and skills in order to make it a memorable weekend for all concerned.
We’ll take a break now to dream it all up again before the next show in the autumn. Best of luck to all the 6th Yrs (pictured below) with the exciting few months they have ahead of them…
Where else but Sligo?
It’s the people who make these nights, and as always Sligo came up trumps with some gems…
Katherine (not technically from Sligo (!) but has been a huge part of these nights for three years now) somehow managed to get through three years of Teenage Theme Nights without actually singing once. Clever song choices such as ‘Where’s Me Jumper’ and ‘Parklife’ were huge hits at the shows and showed off her creativity and energy brilliantly.
Anna crept onto the stage at our last show in March for her TTN debut and played guitar to accompany her friend. This time she led a 5-girl ensemble and rapped her way through Hamilton’s My Shot in one of the highlights of the show. Incredible stuff!
Kian too only joined us in March but left his mark on the nights with his endearing modesty and some fantastic drumming. Last time on Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters and this weekend on My Shot. Not easy!
Noah (pictured above with trumpeter Johannes and I) also only got involved this year, but smiled, danced and grooved his way through the bass part on Love Shack like someone who had been on the stage for years.
Finally Lorcan (below) is off to El Salvador this week with the Irish surf team. Before he left though, he and his brother Ethan went all Jake and Ellwood on us with an energetic (to say the least) performance of Everybody Needs Somebody.
What’s New?
“I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT SOONER”: Unusually, this particular 6th Yr group was full of Theme Night debutants. And while it was great to have them all involved this time, many expressed the above view to me. It’s not easy to get up and perform in front of your peers at any age, let alone your teens, but I have yet to meet someone who regretted getting involved.
SODAJERKER: Fantastic songwriting podcast. Regular letter readers will recognise the most recent guest!
NO GOOD DEED: ‘Roast’ (noun, slang) - a song that is really hard to play.
There’s always one in a show, and this was it this time. Eddie Lee reckoned the composer must have been listening to some 70s prog rock when he wrote it. I was running behind on the day of rehearsals and so had to get up at 5.30am to learn the song. I took one listen and wanted to get back into bed. But like all challenges, it was worth it. Great fun to play - thanks Orla Devlin for choosing it!
Finally…
Not quite sure how this song snuck into a musicals Theme Night! On reflection however it might have been due to a soft spot I have for it ever since I won a t-shirt for dancing to it in a backpacker bar in Australia in 1999 (!) and that I knew Katherine, Noah and Emer would bring great energy to it.
Till next time - Kieran.
