FLAT LAKE 2011 - AFTERS

Well, what can I say about being with The Prufrocks at Flat Lake 2011 at stunning Hilton Park? Firstly that the whole thing is as quirky as ever - haybales and mild mayhem are the order of the day; that Hilton Park is as lush and beautiful as ever; also, that it is as male-dominated a festival as ever; and that the 'organisation' is as shambolic as ever. Did we have fun? We did! Did it piss rain? It did! Was there mud? Lots of it!

I think for us it was a festival of two halves. The first half was a relatively mild and very sociable Saturday. We wandered from tent to marquee to barn, enjoying the mad shenanigans of David McSavage, and introducing Juno to what became her beloved donkey at the pet farm. We met fellow writers Brian O'Connell, Colm Keegan and Kathleen Murray, with their partners and kids, had nice chats, drank wine and gadded about.

Saturday began to darken for The Prufrocks when we discvered we weren't on the programme, despite having been allotted 9pm on Sunday night at the Gonzo Marquee by email and on the Flat Lake website etc.  We asked the production manager to fix this and didn't hear from him again that day.

Bemused Prufrocks!

The night darkened further when the artists' campsite, where we were staying, was disrupted for the ENTIRE night by a drunken posse who had parked their tent right by mine. We believe they were a band. Whoever they were, they were pissed, obnoxious, rude, threatening and relentlessly noisy. Complaints were made and security men called, but they weren't evicted until the next day, which was too late for the hundred or so campers who had put up with them all night. Not good.

It began to rain. It pretty much did not stop raining all day Sunday. We hounded The Pro Man for a restored - or new - time slot. Back and forth we went. We ate falalfels with chili sauce for breakfast in a red double decker bus. Our fourth member was on her way, driving three and a half hours through the rain from Galway. But we still needed a slot! With the help of texts to our absentee member, Jaki, (busy in New York with her play), we finally got a venue and time, but subsequently it kept getting pushed this way and that.

Writers Gina Moxley and Anne Haverty, with Butler the dog

We enjoyed a reading by Anne Haverty and Gina Moxley in The Butty Barn; Anne read poems and an extract from her latest novel and - in typical Flat Lake style - her dog hopped up and down off the stage to keep his mistress company while she read. Gina Moxley had the audience in skitters with her devilish story of a straight talking, not-so-young-wan who gets jiggy with a TD on holidays. There were some great one-liners in it and she delivered it with a lively energy.

Writer Órfhlaith Foyle waiting to go on stage

Our time slot came. Our time slot went. We waited to go up on stage, eating sweeties and chocolate to give us energy after our sleepless night. Pat McCabe invited Peter Trant up to read one of his stories, that is one of Pat's stories - a noirish tale of a delusional husband. He finished. We were ready. Pat invited another man up to read a story of his own. We looked at each other. We looked at Pat. He looked at us...

The Prufrocks - Geraldine Mills at the mike

The Prufrocks - Mary Mullen at the mike

To cut a long story short,  we took to the stage in The Butty Barn sometime around 6pm. We read our poetry. I read specifically to a woman with an animated, interested face in the audience. We shouted into the mike to be heard above the rain. We were interrupted by Pat announcing things. We resumed. The rain hammered on the roof of the barn. We did good. The woman in the audience with the animated face turned out to be my long lost cousin Carmel, whose father was from nearby Scotshouse. Only in Ireland!

Popcorn eaters - Lily Mullen & Juno & friends in The Butty Barn

Then, we drove home, unable to face a rain sodden night in the campsite. A few miles from Scotshouse the roads were dry. The sun shone. WHAT?!?! We had left behind wind, cold, teeming rain and mud. Does Hilton Park have its own micro-climate we wondered?

We slept like big old babies that night in the blissful quiet of Ballinasloe. The end.

PRUFROCKS - FLAT LAKE & PHIZZFEST 2011

The Prufrocks at Flat Lake 2009

"The Prufrocks are five astonishingly brilliant female poets."

So the Flat Lake Festival's website says - woop! We are reading our poetry there on Sunday the 5th June at 9pm in the Gonzo Theatre Marquee. We have an adjusted line-up of poets in the troupe for this year's Flat Lake as some of our members are otherwise engaged that weekend. Órfhlaith Foyle and Geraldine Mills will join us for this one.

We just heard today that The Prufrocks will be performing at Phizzfest in Dublin in September. Exact date and time TBC.

Phizzfest are also running a poetry comp which closes July 1st. Details here.

FLAT LAKE 2009

Festival Dad and Baby Juno - The Butty Barn

My wellies are mucky, my cardigan has straw stuck to it and my picnic blanket is sopping wet. There were Poetry Divas and Chicks; there was short story master Mike McCormack, and opera singing novelist Judith Mok. There was pig-roasting and straw-bale throwing.

Another Flat Lake Festival over, sadly, and it was the usual mix of literature, music, fun and art. There’s a homemade feel to Flat Lake – it’s rough around the edges – and that’s why it’s so special. All the adults get to dress like kids again, in wellies, woollies and raincoats and we get to kick around in tents and mud and hay. There are oodles of beautiful, guileless children with choppy haircuts there each year, dancing unselfconsciously to the bands, heckling the performers with innocent questions: ‘Why is your guitar so small?’ to Little John Nee and his ukulele, for example.


Prufrock Liz Gallagher


Prufrock Jaki McCarrick

Our performance as the Prufrock Poets in the Theatre Tent went down a treat; we were late starting and a famous person was scheduled for after us – Keith Allen doing Harold Pinter – so while we started with a sizable audience, we ended up with a huge one. Score!


Prufrock Mary Mullen

I know my fellow Prufrocks – Liz, Mary, Barbara and Jaki – as on-the-page or workshop poets mostly, so it was a treat to hear them perform their work. The audience – like all Flat Lake audiences – were enthusiastic, warm and ‘vocal’ with their applause. It was a great gig and we all were pleased afterwards. Juno behaved wonderfully; at 12 weeks she’s an old hand this being her third literary festival. Oh, and apparently Cillian Murphy was in the audience, enjoying it all.


Prufrock Nuala Ní Chonchúir


Prufrock Barbara Smyth

We went to hear mostly musicians on the Saturday – there’s so much on and with a baby in tow you are limited to the type of events you can go to: serious plays and very loud music are no-nos. We enjoyed UK singer Suzy Almond and, later, Dublin rockabilly/country outfit Oonagh and the Devils on the Scan Bitz stage.


Little John Nee

On Sunday we had enormous fun at Donegal man Little John Nee’s performance – he did extracts and songs from a few of his one man shows, including a song from the only punk in Letterkenny in 1976, and various short, hilarious odes to roosters, corn-can guitars and scangers.

He was followed by Dónal O’Kelly who read from his novel-in-progress, which is based in Mayo before and during the Shell to Sea protests. He read brilliantly – it was almost like watching one of his shows, as he took on each character’s accent and personality. He hasn’t got a publisher yet so he is open to all offers.

The Art Car Boot Sale was on again – a regular Sunday treat at Flat Lake – and I bought a gorgeous original abstract acrylic called ‘Red Kitchen’ by Margot Quinn for €20. Twenty euro!! Honest to God, where would you get it? We met poets Matthew Sweeney and Mary Noonan perusing the ceramics there and Mary took a photo of me as Frida Kahlo – funfair antics, Flat Lake style. It looks slightly daft as Frida’s head is huge compared to mine, but what matter.

I could tell you all about the wonderful art at the main auction, the vintage cars, the book stall, the bales of hay, the weather which was surprisingly good, the home-made buns and ice-cream, the tower made of books, Stephen Rea and various other well-known bods wandering about, the Eco Bus Café, the scrummy noodles, the gorgeous setting among trees and sheep and water... But, you know what, you should just go there next year yourself.


Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car - har har!

PRUFROCKS AT FLAT LAKE FESTIVAL

I am reading at the crazy and cool Flat Lake Festival again this year, this time as part of a group of women poets called The Prufrocks. We are: me (!), Barbara Smyth, Mary Mullen, Jaki McCarrick and Liz Gallagher.

Our reading is at 3pm, Sat 15th August 2009 on The Theatre Stage, Flat Lake Festival, Hilton Park, Co. Monaghan

Out with the ladybird wellies again this week-end (that's me, above, reading at Flat Lake 2008.) I hope it doesn't bucket rain for the whole time like it did last year - I have a baby to keep dry this time. Hmmm.

AFTER FLAT LAKE ’08 – REVIEW # 2

Pat McCabe at the Butty Barn, Flat Lake 2008

As you do at any outdoor festival of its kind, at Flat Lake we spent a lot of time wandering from tent to tent, and exploring the beautiful grounds of Hilton Park. The site wasn’t huge so it was easy to find a quiet place to walk down by the lake or among the trees. The food and bar areas were along the side of the main house, and our only complaint was the scarcity of good vegetarian food. We had some Reggae Soup at one point, and chips late at night, but otherwise there were just noodles at €7 a pop. Luckily, as guests, we were being fed soup, sambos, tea and scones at intervals.

Anyway, back to the gigs. We happened upon a few performance poets; I’m not a huge fan of performance poetry, mainly because it is often so badly done, but these women were good. First up was Whatsername who wore a skirt with the words ‘Psychotic Tendencies’ stencilled on it. She had a combative but chatty between-poem style and her poems themselves were hilarious diatribes against society, men and herself. She lamented trying to bring her sons up as ‘right-minded, vegetarian eco-terrorists’ to find them as teenagers hooked on Playstation, Coke and Tesco sausages. She talked of single parenthood as ‘the Lidl of lifestyle choices’ and she maintained the death of feminism was caused by the Spice Girls. She knows, of course, feminism isn’t dead, but I knew what was she was getting at.

Next up on the same stage were the Poetry Chicks, a duo, who riffed through three pieces on the destruction of our landscape, a cursing Donegal Granny, and how one of them – the Scottish one – hates Rabbie Burns. All very energetic, well put-together and performed, and funny.

Off for another wander then to the Art Car Boot Sale and I bought a small, surreal watercolour called ‘Flying Fish’ by figurative artist Joan Mallon. A bargain at €15. Where would you get it?!

My reading was at 3pm in the Hilton Palladium, which was the theatre stage and it was tucked below the house, among the trees. Most events on Sunday were delayed because most people were too hungover to get up it seems, but mine didn’t start too late as no one turned up to take part in the Tell the Best Lie competition which was to be on before me. Clearly all Flat Lake punters are very honest…

Fellow Galway writers Mike McCormack and Hugo Kelly came along to support me, as well as Stinging Fly editor Declan Meade – thanks guys! – and a scattering of strangers. The stage was low and straw covered, and I couldn’t really see the audience with the bright lights, but I felt comfortable and the reading went off well. My ‘Writers’ Rooms’ poem (after The Guardian photos) went down well, garnering its own round of applause.

We had to forgo Edna O’Brien’s interview but, as I just heard her in June, I didn’t mind too much. So we packed up and hit the road, happy with all we’d seen and heard, and already planning next year’s visit to the weird and wonderful world of the Flat Lake.

FLAT LAKE LITERARY FESTIVAL

I'm reading on Sunday at the Flat Lake Festival, if any of ye plan to go. I'm in good company: Famous Séamus, Edna O' Brien (or should I say Edna O'Blog?!) Stephen Rea, Morag Prunty, Dermot Healy and Medbh McGuckian, to name a small few.

My poetry reading's at 3pm on the Theatre Stage, Flat Lake Fest, Hilton park, Co. Monaghan.

The line-up on the website hasn't been updated in ages but the site itself is worth a look here for the curious.