I, For One, Am Aroused

This week sees 'The Theatre Machine Turns You On', a festival of dramatic work by emerging artists, take up residency in The Project Arts Centre.

Curated by Fringe favourites THEATREClub, the festival features nine productions over the course of three days.

One of the shows worth catching is Come As Soon as You Hear's 'Bang Shoot Blast', which kickstarts the festival on Tuesday the 1st at 6:30. Written by Karl Watson and directed by Liana Ni Cleirigh, this strikingly original play about the cycle of relationships packs a serious punch.

Also worth checking out is 'Please Leave A Message Under The Ocean', which is showing on Thursday at 7:30. Written and directed by the obscenely talented Shaun Dunne, the play tells of what happens when you forget old hiding places, find new ones and never want to leve the house ever again. Sounds grim but, knowing Shaun's previous work, it's bound to be several parts lovely.

Tickets for both shows are just €5 and can be booked through The Project.

Pick Up The Receiver, We'll Make You A Believer

'Market Research This' is a new play by talented young playwright, Shaun Dunne. The script will get its first outing on Saturday 25th of July as part of the Project Theatre's 'Project Brand New'.

Since setting up in March 2008, Project Brand New has presented 57 brand new performances across many art forms, providing audiences with a chance to see emerging talents and to engage in feedback and discussion. Shaun's script was selected for performance at the fourth edition of the initiative and will be directed by up-and-coming talent Grace Dyas.

As someone who still has nightmares about my six month stint operating a headset for a market research company, I'm really eager to see how Shaun will put his play's setting of a call-centre to use. If his previous scripts are anything to go by, it'll be a fairly abstract slant on the world of survey quotas, social classifications and screaming home-owners.

Tickets for Project Brand New are only five euro. However, they are very much in demand and previous shows have sold out in advance. So, if you fancy catching this show ahead of its full run in 2010, be sure to (cold) call The Project nice and early.

[Image: Marablogger]