Bealtaine Festival

The Bealtaine Festival takes place for the month of May, it’s  Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age. So far for the festival I’ve taken photos, I’ve attended acting workshops and a lot more…..

I walked into the Acting For the Over 50’s Workshop and although I’ve done drama before I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. Noelle Browne is the facilitator and it’s run by the Hawk’s Well Theatre as part of Bealtaine.

Firstly the group was a great mix of ages (all over 50 – or almost in my case). It was strange to be one of the youngest when I’m usually one of the oldest in other groups. Do you know these people put me to shame? Their  lust for life, their energy and their enthusiasm – if only I could bottle it. The group gelled immediately and there were no awkward silences.

When Noelle asked if anyone was feeling self-confidence one of the participants replied that she’s at the time of life where she doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. I’d love to feel like that. Sadly we just have one class left, I’ll miss it, it’s been great fun. I’ve volunteered to be in ‘Creaking’ which is a staged reading starring Geraldine Plunkett. They might need more volunteers so you can find out more about it here. Or come along and see it, it sounds brilliant.

It’s not just acting that is part of Bealtaine, there are also art workshops, exhibitions, spoken word events, tea dances and more. You can find out the full listings for the whole country here. I’ve been to a few exhibition openings at day care centres and I find it very humbling to see how much the art and the music mean to the people who attend the centres. They get such pleasure from these events and for me I’d love to be more involved.

I even got swept away in the moment and ended up reading a poem at a Spoken Word event. If I thought that was out of my comfort zone I ended up dancing a jig at the next event! To be topped off with singing at another venue! Whatever about not being able to Irish dance I certainly can’t sing!! I don’t know what came over me! Do you know what though? I loved every minute of it!

So I suppose the point of this blog is to encourage us all to embrace getting older and perhaps try something you normally wouldn’t. You never know you might enjoy it!