Margaretta D'Arcy and John Arden for Westside Festival

galway | arts and media | event notice Tuesday July 15, 2008 13:14 by Fred Johnston - Western Writers' centre - Ionad Scríbhneoiri Chaitlin Maude - Galway westernwriters at eircom dot net 27 Nuns Island, Galway 091.533594/087.2178138

Renowned writers read at Westside

Renowned novelist and playwright John Arden , considered to be an heir to the work of Brecht, will read from his work with playwright Margaretta D'Arcy at the Westside Festival on Tuesday, July 22nd

John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy

Starting at at 6 30pm and running to 8pm at West Side Library, Galway, acclaimed novelist, short story writer and multi-award winning playwright John Arden will read from his work wlong with playwright Margarette D'Arcy. Their work on the Ralagine Co-operative of 1832 has just received a full-house performance on Inis Oirr, at the Áras Eanna Centre, and previously was premiered at 'The Forge at Gort' literature festival. According to The Guardian, "John Arden was at the forefront of innovative drama in the '60s yet has made little money from his work. Said to be the heir of the English literary dissident tradition of Blake and Shelley, he fell out with the UK theatrical establishment and moved to Ireland with his wife and artistic collaborator Margaretta D'Arcy. There he continues to write challenging plays and novels." He is considered to be on a par with Brecht. Margaretta D'Arcy came under the influence of anarchist and pacifist communities' ideologies, using theatre and film to forward these. She began conceptualizing and practicing "house theatre", in which artists, neighbors, and friends bring theatre into homes in a vibrant, living mix of life, art, and activism. In the 1960's, Margaretta worked at community theatre projects in Dublin, Yorkshire, Somerset, New York, London and Scotland. She has continued this approach in passionate variation to the present. In 1967, D'Arcy and Arden travelled to New York to protest the Vietnam war and helped to organize "13-Hour War Game". As a result of this work, she was influenced in the United States by the Black Panther cultural movement, Bread and Puppet Theatre, San Francisco Mime Troop, and in London, by Action Cinema. In 1968, Margaretta D'Arcy decided to live permanently in Ireland to concentrate her energies there because of the civil rights movement and the revival of the national question. In 1969, she joined the civil rights movement in County Galway and made a film for the Land League. She has been active as a writer and activist ever since. The event is organised under the aegis of the Western Writers' Centre.