There's a sign at Branar Theatre Company’s rehearsal space on the outskirts of Galway city that reads: "If there’s no wonder around you, there can’t be wonder inside you."
It’s a manifesto for what goes on in the creative minds of those involved in developing works in Irish and English for young audiences. But it could just as easily be applied to the wider cultural atmosphere around the city.
That sense of wonder is in full effect right now, as the 45th staging of the Galway International Arts Festival gets into its stride.
Over the course of the fortnight, there will be over 130 different events at a range of locations in and around Galway.
It all adds up to what organisers describe as the most ambitious programme in the history of the festival.
The aforementioned Branar company is putting the finishing touches to a new production called 'You’ll See’. It’s a 40 minute adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysees for children, which will run next week at the Bank of Ireland Theatre in the University of Galway.
Narrated and animated by Helen Gregg, the work is presented using a number of specially designed pop-up books, with backdrops influenced by the original text. Over the course of the show, audiences are given an age-appropriate overview of the story.
"There are over a quarter of a million words in the book, so we're leaving a few things out. It’s a real challenge to choose the salient points of each section that would be appropriate for a younger audience but hopefully we’ve done it," Ms Gregg says.
"We got Maeve Clancy - a paper artist - to make these pop-up books that are really the star of the piece. Each section has two pop up pages and we move the little characters in and out and give voice to them."
The result is a captivating look at what many consider to be a daunting text. But Marc MacLochlainn, the Artistic Director at Branar, says it could also serve as an introduction to Ulysees by those wishing to tackle Joyce’s original.
"What we’re doing is telling a visual story of a really literary book but in that way… it kind of brings the whole thing to life."
Elsewhere at the Festival, documentary photographer Lorraine Tuck is giving an insight into her family’s life in east Galway. Her exhibition at the former Connacht Tribune printworks 'Unusual Gestures’ provides glimpses into the dynamic of her own surroundings.
She is married with four children, two girls and two boys. Both boys have autism spectrum disorder and one of them has an intellectual disability.
In a series of photographs, she charts the everyday ups and downs of life, in a show which Ms Tuck says has "love at the heart of it". The display is being run alongside another exhibition by painter Diana Copperwhite.
Theatrical offerings at the Festival include the Druid O’Casey trilogy of Sean O’Casey’s plays set over the course of the Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War; Bedbound starring Colm Meaney and a new production of Duncan MacMillan’s play ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ presented by Decadent Theatre Company.
A broad musical selection will see the likes of Pavement, Robert Forster, Bell X1 and Kettama playing around the city in the coming days. But the most in-demand gig is one featuring a band who haven’t played at the festival for 20 years.
The Sawdoctors are back touring after a lengthy hiatus and say they’re keen to experience the thrill of the Arts Festival once more.
As they finalised their set in Tuam, ahead of gigs over the next two weekends, the band’s mainstays, Leo Moran and Davy Carton, spoke of the joy they were deriving from being back on the road and being able to play "loud music" once more.
"We think we have a really good show these days and we’re really looking forward to the gigs. People are interested in hearing the songs again and I’m delighted that people are coming out and having a communal experience because singing along with a group of people is just a special place.
"It’s a level you can’t get to in normal life. And our gigs seem to be like a big sing-song for people, and I think that’s a fantastic thing," Leo Moran says.
Singer Davy Carton says the set is designed to hit people immediately when they go on stage, to "build up energy all the way through to the end".
Both concerts sold out within minutes of tickets being released earlier this year.
And that’s a trend that looks like replicating with other events scheduled between now and the end of the Festival. CEO John Crumlish says ticket sales reflect the increased demand and the continued pull Galway exerts.
"We’ve built a number of new venues, including the re-purposing of a gym on the university campus, to hold 1,200 people. All the biggest capacity venues are ones we’ve adapted on top of the existing cultural infrastructure.
"We are also transitioning to make the festival as sustainable as possible. We’re not using diesel, we’re using sustainable power.
"We’ve abandoned single use plastic and trying to move as quickly as possible to meet best practice in that regard."
Mr Crumlish describes the programme as a broad church of work, which should have something to cater for all audiences.
The festival runs until Sunday week.
