Latest news with #McCrystal
Irish Examiner
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Opera review: INO take on l'Elisir d'Amore provides ridiculously good fun
l'Elisir d'Amore, Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, ★★★★★ If you ever meet someone who claims opera is boring and unfun, send them to Cal McCrystal's wacky and wild (west) take on Donizetti's endearing love comedy l'Elisir d'Amore. Send them right now! His production for Irish National Opera is ridiculously good fun, and hasn't a boring moment across a riotous, good-humoured, saucy and physical two-and-a-half hours. We're used to classic opera getting far-flung, anachronistic settings. It's one of the main tools in the director's bag when it comes to reinvigorating or reinterpreting works we think we know all too well. An excellent 2013 Northern Ireland Opera version of this was set in a 1950s American highschool, for instance. Subtract about a 100 years from that, and you have McCrystal's time and place. Chorus numbers become hoedowns, Abraham Lincoln appears in the theatre (and even survives all the way to the curtain), while Claudia Boyle's Adina becomes a Scarlett O'Hara-type figure. But McCrystal doesn't stop there. He piles on the visual gags: there's a couple who've stepped out of American Gothic, pitchfork and all; a Laurel and Hardy japering about; and Keystone cops bungling in and out. Bass baritone John Molloy was a delight as the quack doctor Dulcamara in the 2013 staging. Here, his brand of sardonic, knowing humour is given even more rein as a Wild West snake oil salesman. He gets a speaking part too, where he introduces and comments on the action, ably assisted by his factotum Truffaldino. Ian O'Reilly brings great craft to that speaking role. His incarnation of a ventriloquist's dummy at one point is a real hoot. Gianluca Margheri, Claudia Boyle and Duke Kim in l'Elisir d'Amore. Picture: Ros Kavanagh It's exactly what you'd expect from McCrystal, whose physical comedy credits include the Paddington films and One Man, Two Guvnors. His brand of slapstick rather misfired in the Abbey's revival of Lennox Robinson's Drama at Inish in 2019, but he never misses a trick here. Of McCrystal's numerous movie references, the hardest to miss is Nemorino, Dulcamara's sucker for the titular love potion, and besotted with Adina. He's dressed precisely as Woody from Toy Story, with tenor Duke Kim following the cue of that getup. He accentuates his character's naivety all the way up to an innocently poignant take on the famed aria Una Furtiva Lagrima. The keen-eyed will spot not "Andy" written on the sole of his foot, but 'Adina', a typically acute detail in Sarah Bacon's superb costumes, which she casts against a relatively sparse, cactus-dotted set. Sara Jane Sheils' lighting is inspired by the shifting tones you'd see in the prairie sky, and neatly marks the progress of time in a plot that hinges on what will or won't happen today or tomorrow. Amid the uniformly excellent cast, Boyle shows her acting and singing chops to equal measure, delivering comedy, pathos, and sparkle as needed, and singing astoundingly throughout. Gianluca Margheri is charisma itself as Nemorino's rival Belcore, musclebound and really not afraid to show us! His interactions with a chorus full of delineated characters is great fun. Throughout, the words and lines bounce along as the score is deftly marshalled by Erina Yashima, leading the INO orchestra in lively form.
BBC News
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Giffords Circus celebrates 25 years with retro American show
One of the UK's best-known traditional travelling circuses is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new 1950s America-themed magicians, musicians and clowns will be part of the Giffords Circus show, which is named Laguna troupe will go on tour in the Cotswolds from 17 April to 28 September, starting in director Cal McCrystal said: "Set in the buoyant and sunny era of 1950s America, Laguna Bay is a spectacular blend of fun, excitement and charm." In 2022, Giffords Circus was invited to perform an act at the Royal Albert Hall for the Royal Variety 2012, Giffords Circus has been guided by Mr McCrystal, and award-winning director, writer and directing career spans Cirque du Soleil, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Irish National Theatre, English National Opera and Glyndebourne Sauce – a travelling restaurant – will return to accompany the Laguna Bay tour, serving a banquet-style three-course meal on selected evenings.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mum who raised GP centre alarm forced from home after losing practice manager job
A MUM who raised concerns at management of the GP surgery where she worked has lost her home after being made redundant. Amy McCrystal, from Blaenavon, was the practice manager at troubled Brynmawr Medical Practice which has now been taken back under the control of the NHS following failings by the private partnership that ran it from April last year. That partnership, by doctors J Ahmed and J Allinson, is supported by private firm eHarley Street which manages its back office functions as a subcontractor. But according to Ms McCrystal problems with paying suppliers, locum doctors and the taxman became apparent within months of the partnership taking over. She was made redundant in November after she raised concerns with Gwent's Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in June. She was told redundancy was due to 'operational reasons'. Faced with losing her income just weeks before Christmas the single mum-of-two had to move back in with her mother, in Forgeside, as she feared she could no longer stay in her rental property in Blaenavon. 'My concern was could I continue to afford my bills as we all live to our means? Ms McCrystal said: 'My children do outside school activities that all have to be paid for and I started to worry without a permanent job would I fall into debt, which is the last thing I want? The only way out I could see was to give the house up and move back in with my mum.' Ms McCrystal was directly impacted by problems at the practice and called into the Job Centre last summer and told she needed to find work as issues with staff PAYE tax numbers meant her Universal Credit payments had ballooned, leaving benefits staff to assume she wasn't working. 'I looked at my statement online and the Universal Credit was something like £1,600 when it would normally be £200 something. 'I was invited to the Job Centre and they said 'it looks like you need to get into work'. I said 'you've got this all wrong'.' Ms McCrystal, who is now working on a temporary basis at a surgery in the Rhondda, said staff also discovered pension payments hadn't been made. She was also concerned at the impact on patients. Failure to pay suppliers saw the centre issuing prescriptions for patients to collect dressings from a pharmacy and bring them back to the surgery to be dressed. At the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board's most recent meeting members were updated on how the Ahmed/Allison partnership had voluntarily returned the Brynmawr contract to the NHS, and measures the board is taking to monitor its other practices at Pontypool, Aberbeeg in Abertillery, Bryntirion in Bargoed, and Tredegar. Health chiefs said there had been problems around paying locum doctors, suppliers, pension contributions and HMRC and expect payments to be prioritised from financial support being provided and want assurances the problems have been addressed. The board was also told it hasn't identified any patient safety concerns at the practices but Blaenau Gwent councillors highlighted a series of complaints from residents. Dr Ian Jones told the board meeting he'd been a GP in Blaenau Gwent for 20 years and is owed money for locum sessions at Brynmawr in July and August which he said should have been paid in September. He said he and others are considering taking the partnership to the small claims court, which he said could also impact them in England: 'Dr Ahmed and Dr Allison over the next four weeks could have another massive amount of money to find, there's no question they do owe it and have to find it from somewhere, or potentially they could fail as a partnership which could have a knock on effect then, and in England as well.' Board chair Ann Lloyd said the board is 'aware of that' and 'tracking it'. Council deputy leader Helen Cunningham said patients unable to get GP appointments at Brynmawr had been advised to go to Nevill Hall Hospital, and have faced difficulties in getting test results while John Morgan said people have 'had a service that's not up to scratch.' Ms McCrystal who was applauded by members of the public when she asked the board why it hadn't intervened earlier said she wanted to thank public who've supported her and councillors, and Blaenau Gwent MS Alun Davies, who'd highlighted problems with the practice. She said she is 'overjoyed' the practice has returned to the NHS board. The Local Democracy Reporting Service attempted to contact the Ahmed/Allinson partnership for comment.
The Independent
30-01-2025
- The Independent
Shop worker fatally injured in Omagh bomb apologised to husband as she lay dying
A 'one in a million' mother fatally injured in the Omagh bomb apologised to her husband moments before she died, a public inquiry has heard. Geraldine Breslin's son Gareth McCrystal, speaking publicly about her death for the first time, told the inquiry into the 1998 attack that the shop worker was 'authentic, genuine, kind and loved'. Mr McCrystal recalled the horrific moment his stepfather Mark told him his 43-year-old mother, whom he always believed to be 'immortal', had succumbed in hospital to the severe injuries she suffered in the Real IRA bombing. She was amazing. She was one in a million. She was an absolute class act my mother Gareth McCrystal, Geraldine Breslin's son Then 15, the family had decided it was best that Mr McCrystal did not see his mother in the hours after the bombing as medics battled to save her life. When her coffin was brought back to the family home in Omagh for a wake it was closed due to the extent of the injuries. Mr McCrystal, now 42, told inquiry chairman Lord Turnbull that at the time it was 'torture' not being able to see his mother. But he said he has since made peace with the fact, as his final memory of her is as she was before the atrocity. Mr McCrystal described their relationship as 'fantastic'. 'I adored her,' he said. 'I loved her unconditionally, and she loved me unconditionally. I worshipped her. 'We were very, very close. I was her only child and she was very protective of me, as any mother is with any child. 'We had a wonderful relationship. She was amazing. She was one in a million. 'She was an absolute class act my mother.' Mr McCrystal added: 'What was done to her was absolutely despicable and appalling. 'My mother was treated by the terrorists like she was rubbish, like she was total garbage, and I'd no desire to see my mother battered and bloodied and bruised. 'But my father, he did get comfort out of it. He saw her and, by all accounts, he told me that she – again, this is typical of the sort of person that my mother was – that she apologised when she was lying on the stretcher, moments from death. 'She apologised to my father for being caught up in this incident. She just felt sorry. She apologised that she was even there. She apologised to my father, and God only knows what he thought of that.' Ms Breslin had been working as a shop assistant at a local drapery business in Omagh on the day of the attack. She came home for lunch earlier in the day and Mr McCrystal told the inquiry how he had run upstairs to play a video game after eating and the last words he spoke to his mother were calling downstairs to her as she left to go back to work. Mr McCrystal also recalled the family's 'suffocating and horrible experience' of living out their grief under the microscope of the intense media scrutiny that was focused on the Co Tyrone town in the aftermath of the bombing. His mother had raised him, her only child, as a single parent until she met her future husband Mark Breslin in 1993. The couple married in 1995. Mr McCrystal said his stepfather had never been able to find closure for what happened on August 15 1998. 'He was very happy prior to August 1998, very excited for the future he and my mother were going to have, and then the bomb ruined everything,' he said. 'And he hasn't really moved on. He's tried his best. He's a very, very good, decent man who didn't – well, nobody deserved this – but he certainly didn't deserve this to be visited on him. But it's terrible really to see him.' Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died in the dissident republican bomb attack carried out four months after the signing of Northern Ireland's historic Good Friday peace accord. Mr McCrystal reflected on his own struggles in the years after the bombing. He moved to Birmingham to study in an effort to get away from Omagh and the memories of the bombing, but living in England he would go on to develop what he described as a severe drink problem. Mr McCrystal told the inquiry how he has since turned his life around and has been sober for more than 13 years. 'I do have a wonderful life,' he said. 'I am married and I have three young children. We have a wonderful marriage, and my kids are amazing and we have a wonderful home and I have a good career. Gareth McCrystal, Geraldine Breslin's son 'I believe I have turned my life around. I'm definitely not the angry, bitter person I was 15 or 20 years ago. I think I am a changed man and I have a lot more than most. I think I am lucky.' But Mr McCrystal said not one day goes by when he does not think about his mother. 'Everything I've achieved is incredibly bittersweet, because my mother's not here to witness it,' he said. 'I know she would have got a real thrill out of becoming a grandmother, meeting my wife. 'Everything I achieve, and I'm proud of my achievements, but it is with a sense of regret. I wish she was here. I wish she was here to see this.' Mr McCrystal added: 'It's my privilege to be her son. I feel incredibly lucky that we had 15 years together. 'I know we should have had many, many more years together. 'I feel blessed that we knew each other and we had a wonderful relationship. I'm very honoured and proud to be her son.'
