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Essence of Ireland

Published Wednesday 8 April 2009 at 12:20 by Mark Ritchie

A voice-over extolling the lush green fields, purple mountains, echoes of poets and sad laments of Ireland and the Irish people helps to set the scene for this journey through Irish music and dance.

The show is quite racy in parts, particularly during a well thought out salsa meets Irish dance section.

Singer Nathan James and, in particular, a beautiful and gifted violinist/fiddle player, Eimear Bradley, are integral to painting such a vivid musical portrait.

A great lighting plot and a superb band are both well employed, as every imaginable piece of Ireland, the Irish people and the Irish music is played and danced to.

The split level stage set allows for the pace of the entrances and exits, and there is technical ability to admire amongst the dancers.

While using a live gigging band who work as a separate unit when not touring with this show, the band front man, the engaging and tuneful Kieran Cunningham, could have reached out to an audience which was clearly dying to be involved in some way, with a bit of the old craic.

Aside from the lack of audience contact, here we have a first-class mode of taking a River Dance-style show, putting it in a box and touring it to death.

Essence of Ireland is great for the 500 to 1,000-seat theatres.

The spectacle is certainly of exactly the correct stage proportions, with an extremely well choreographed troupe of boys and girls working hard to give the music its true meaning.

It is said there is never a bad seat in a Matcham house and the full dress circle clapped along merrily in this most wonderful of Frank Matcham houses.

With the addition of a bit more of the old blarney and some humour and audience contact, the Essence of Ireland show will be the complete package for all fans of the emerald isle.

Production information

Management:
Essence Productions
Website:
www.essenceofireland.co.uk

Production information can change over the run of the show.

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Run sheet

Mercury Colchester
October 11 2007
Bacon Cheltenham
November 2 2007
Middlesbrough Theatre Middlesbrough
March 26 2008
City Hall Hull
October 2 2008
Civic Chelmsford
October 5 2008
Grove Dunstable
October 13 2008
North Pier Blackpool
October 14 2008
Ferneham Hall Fareham
October 15 2008
Leatherhead Theatre Leatherhead
October 16 2008
Pavilion Rhyl
October 19 2008
Brewhouse Taunton
October 24-25 2008
North Pier Blackpool
October 28 2008
Woodville Halls Gravesend
November 5 2008
West Cliff Clacton-on-Sea
November 7 2008
Orchard Dartford
March 21 2009
Beck Hayes
April 1 2009
Opera House Buxton
April 7 2009
Futurist Scarborough
April 13 2009
Middlesbrough Theatre Middlesbrough
April 14 2009
Brindley Runcorn
April 15 2009
Queen's Barnstaple
April 17 2009
Bacon Cheltenham
May 7 2009
Playhouse Weston Super Mare
May 9 2009
King's Portsmouth
May 12 2009
Garrick Lichfield
May 14 2009
Charing Cross Theatre (formerly New Players) London
June 10 2009
Brewhouse Taunton
September 18-19 2009
North Pier Blackpool
September 20 2009
Swan High Wycombe
September 23 2009
Ferneham Hall Fareham
October 1 2009
Grove Dunstable
October 2 2009
Regent Centre Christchurch
October 4 2009
City Hall Salisbury
October 6 2009
Regal Minehead
October 7 2009
Elgiva Chesham
October 8 2009
Fairfield Halls, Concert Hall Croydon
October 10 2009
West Cliff Clacton-on-Sea
October 11 2009
Civic Chelmsford
October 18 2009
Auditorium Grimsby
October 27 2009
Fitness & Dance Studios, King George's Hall Blackburn
October 28 2009
Majestic Retford
November 1 2009
Victoria Halifax
March 24 2010
Hexagon Reading
March 31 2010
White Rock Hastings
April 3 2010
Playhouse Epsom
April 22 2010
Grand Opera House York
May 5 2010
Royal Spa Centre Leamington Spa
May 7 2010
Embassy Skegness
May 8 2010
Beck Hayes
May 12 2010
Garrick Lichfield
May 21-22 2010
Queen's Barnstaple
May 27 2010
Playhouse Weston Super Mare
May 29 2010
Brewhouse Taunton
October 6- 7 2010
Sands Centre Carlisle
October 23 2010
Civic Chelmsford
October 27 2010
Fairfield Halls, Concert Hall Croydon
October 28 2010
Royal and Derngate, Derngate Northampton
October 31 2010
Severn Shrewsbury
November 3 2010
Swan High Wycombe
November 4 2010
Gracie Fields Rochdale
November 6 2010
Princes Hall Aldershot
November 8 2010
Opera House Buxton
November 11 2010
Grove Dunstable
November 12 2010
Hawth Crawley
November 14 2010
Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds
November 16 2010
Anvil Basingstoke
November 19 2010
Auditorium Grimsby
November 25 2010
City Hall Salisbury
December 3 2010
Victoria Halifax
March 4 2011
Plaza Stockport
March 6 2011
Churchill Bromley
March 8- 9 2011
New Oxford
March 15-16 2011
Mercury Colchester
March 31 2011
Beck Hayes
April 5 2011
Playhouse Epsom
April 7 2011
City Hall Salisbury
April 9 2011
Empire Sunderland
April 15 2011
Assembly Rooms Derby
April 17 2011
Princes Clacton-on-Sea
April 25 2011
Albert Halls Bolton
April 29 2011
New Hull
April 30 2011
Belgrade Coventry
May 10-11 2011
Ferneham Hall Fareham
May 18 2011
Capitol Horsham
May 22 2011
Cliffs Pavilion Southend-on-Sea
May 23 2011
Queen's Barnstaple
May 26 2011
Hall for Cornwall Truro
May 28-29 2011
Richmond Theatre Richmond-upon-Thames
September 11 2011
Theatre Royal Windsor
September 13-17 2011
Richmond Theatre Richmond-upon-Thames
September 18 2011
Severn Shrewsbury
September 19-21 2011
Music Hall Aberdeen
September 25 2011
Maltings Berwick-upon-Tweed
September 26 2011
Playhouse Edinburgh
September 27 2011
Caird Hall Dundee
September 28 2011
Playhouse Whitley Bay
September 29 2011
Gala Durham
September 30 2011
Guildhall Preston
October 1 2011
Waterside Aylesbury
October 4- 5 2011
Royal and Derngate, Derngate Northampton
October 6 2011
Camberley Theatre Camberley
October 13 2011
Princess Torquay
October 15 2011
Queen's Hornchurch
October 18-19 2011
Woodville Halls Gravesend
October 20 2011
Anvil Basingstoke
October 21 2011
Colosseum Watford
October 22 2011
Regent Ipswich
October 23-25 2011
Grove Dunstable
October 27 2011
Fairfield Halls, Concert Hall Croydon
October 27 2011
Grove Dunstable
October 28 2011
Auditorium Grimsby
October 29 2011
Dome Doncaster
October 30 2011
Theatre Royal Glasgow
October 31-November 1 2011
Spa Complex Scarborough
November 3 2011
New Alexandra Birmingham
November 4 2011
Lyceum Crewe
November 5- 6 2011
Corn Exchange Newbury
November 8 2011
Civic Chelmsford
November 9 2011
Broadway Peterborough
November 10-12 2011
Grand Opera House York
November 13 2011
Theatre Royal Lincoln
November 15-16 2011
Civic Hall Broxbourne
November 20 2011
Theatre Royal Brighton
November 22-23 2011
Wyvern Swindon
November 24-25 2011
Opera House Jersey
December 2- 3 2011
City Hall Salisbury
December 8 2011
Everyman Cheltenham
April 4- 5
Princes Clacton-on-Sea
April 9
Hawth Crawley
April 13-15
Corn Exchange Cambridge
April 18-19
Victoria Halifax
May 10
Grand Wolverhampton
May 11-12
Mercury Colchester
May 25-26
Corn Exchange King's Lynn
May 26
Grand Swansea
May 29-30
New Cardiff
June 1- 2
Floral Pavilion New Brighton
June 17
Pavilion Bournemouth
June 22
Orchard Dartford
September 28-29
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