Written and Performed by Donal O’Kelly
With live music by Trevor Knight
Saturday 10 May
Belfast Circus School 8.00pm


Catalpa is a story in the great epic tradition of Moby Dick and Gone With the Wind – with a passing glance at The Great Escape. From New Bedford, USA to Freemantle, Australia, over and under the high seas on a whaling ship. Based on the true story of the daring rescue attempt of six Irish prisoners in 1875.

Catalpa is about heroes and visionaries, political intrigue and personal loyalty, with hot romance and battles at sea. An epic adventure story which challenges the nature of heroism. Lyrical and passionate, satirical and very funny.

‘A masterpiece…searingly satirical, comic, tragic, profoundly sensitive’ The Scotsman


Catalpa was originally produced by Red Kettle in 1995, directed by Bairbre Ni Chaoimh

Tickets £6.00/£5.00 Available from the Festival Office on 028 9023 2403

Friday 2 May
The Lagan Lookout 11.00am


An absolute legend of stage and screen, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is delighted to bring Simon Callow back to Belfast where he spent his student years.

One of the most magnetic forces on the stages of the world and with a film career which includes major roles in Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Room with a View, Callow has also found the time to pen two highly acclaimed biographies of Orson Welles and Charles Laughton and a memoir, Love Is Where it Falls.

In this two hour masterclass, Simon will explore the experience of acting with reference to his own extraordinary career.

Tickets £4.00 available from the Festival Office on 028 9023 2403