Hotbuckle's GREAT EXPECTATIONS Set for June 14 at Roscommon Arts Centre

Hotbuckle Productions bring their new adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations to Roscommon Arts Centre tonight, 14th June. In this bicentennial year of Dickens' birth Hotbuckle's Artistic Director Adrian Preater has adapted the story for a five-strong cast.

Great Expectations tells of the orphan Pip's journey from boyhood to manhood as he seeks to find his place in an inhospitable world. We follow him from the marshes of Kent to London where he aims to further his education and become a gentleman with the aid of a large fortune from a secret benefactor. It is a story of love and loss, of guilt and shame, fear and courage.

Tickets are priced at €15/€12 and are available through Roscommon Arts Centre's box office 090 66 25824 or online www.roscommonartscentre.ie

Continuing the collaborative theme of the Visual Art programme at Roscommon Arts Centre, curator Emer McGarry of The Model Sligo has selected work by Roscommon-based artists to feature in five separate exhibitions over the summer months, ending in September. Showcasing the high calibre of the county's artists these exhibitions aim to shine a spotlight on existing and emerging talent, as well as providing a platform for local practising artists.

The first of these exhibitions featuring work by Ballinameen artist David Pierce opens next Thursday 7th June 5.30pm – 7pm. All are welcome to the opening and the exhibition continues until 29th June, where members of the public are welcome to call into the Gallery at Roscommon Arts Centre during centre opening hours. Titled 'EARTHLINGS' this exhibition asks the question: What can the mind imagine when faced with the bare-bones of a narrative? This exhibition features photographic portraits of people from around the world simply living their life. It has been taken over a period of time and is an on-going project that can be up-dated at regular intervals. The work explores the relationship between individuals related only through the visual connection assembled in the exhibition. By juxtaposing images from different times and places it is intended for the viewer to ask about the relationship between the people in the images and contemplate the lives of others. Hopefully, the viewers curiosity is stimulated enough to bring this discussion out of the gallery and into a public space.

Other artists to feature in the summer season of exhibitions by Roscommon-based artists include Marcin 'BON' Pliszka (6th – 20th July), Lucy Brennan Shiel and Claudia Keegan (27th July –10th August), Stephen Bond (17th –31st August), and Margo McNulty & Emer O'Connor (7th – 22nd September).

Entry to the gallery is during centre opening hours and is always free. More information at www.roscommonartscentre.ie