What a busy month November is proving to be! Just last week we supported artist Oisin Byrne in his 16mm film shoot of Paper Ball at Castletown House. Over 100 performers took part, dressed in Oisin’s signature paper costumes. The magnificent entrance hall of Castletown was bustling with energy when performers were being dressed and styled in paper costumes. The weather was merciful in that it did not rain and the sun was out for most of the day. Barefooted and dressed in paper, the performers must have been cold though. I am sure the film will look amazing. Shot in black and white outside the main Castletown House staircase, even a husky dog passing by got a part! Oisin was one of the participants in our artists residency The SPACE Programme earlier this year and the film will be presented at his upcoming exhibition. We wish him the very best of luck with it.

Also last week, Business to Arts kindly facilitated a company think tank, which was very excitig. For a full day, Jo, Tom, Irene and myself took a step back and attempted to evaluate the company’s past achievements and future goals. The workshop was very positive, lots of interesting ideas and exciting plans for the future. Bring it on, I say! A huge Thank You to Stuart, Andrew and Rowena in Business to Arts.

Coming up in two weeks is a staged reading of a working draft of Arthur Riordan’s adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s unfinished novel Slattery’s Sago Saga. The story sounds fantastic – a plan to outlaw the Irish potato and plant forests of “Sago Palm Trees” in their place. Imagine that! The main character, Tim Hartigan, has hitherto led a sleepy life, which is turned upside down with political skulduggery, supernatural conundrums, meta-textual pile-ups, and the vexing question of how to speak to leprechauns without falling into offensive stereotypes. I heard there are half-leprechauns as well. I haven’t had a chance to read the draft yet, but Jo was chuckling away here in the office when reading it last week. Can’t wait for the development days. The reading will be in the beautiful Dining Hall of Castletown House on December 6th at 4.30pm. More information coming soon.

If that was not enough, Project X in collaboration with Kildare Arts Service and the NRA is keeping us busy and excited, as do not one but two Theatrical Espressos in Washington D.C. in co-production with Solas Nua in February. Some very exciting news about our Summer 2010 programme are also in the mix, but I will write about that at another point.

Ciaran Bagnall’s proposals for Project X: