In Peter Traver's Rolling Stone review of the Katt Shea film POISON IVY, he writes: “why settle for the usual walk around the exploitation block when Shea offers a wild ride with the top down into uncharted territory?”.

This comment could easily be applied to all of the genre movies that the filmmaker helmed during the 80s and 90s. A pioneering female director who started out working on low budget productions for the king of the B's Roger Corman, Katt Shea made films in this male-dominated world with taut screenplays (which she often co-wrote), snappy dialogue, innovative visuals, thoughtful characterisations and great performances.

With the Museum of Modern Art and the British Film Institute hosting retrospectives of her work, Shea has been recognised as a notable filmmaker and Triskel Arts Centre was delighted to present a selection of her films in October 2025, some of them never before seen on a cinema screen in Ireland.

Our Head of Cinema Chris O'Neill spoke with Katt about her work.

August is Adrian Lyne month at Triskel as we show six of the director's films.

Triskel's Head of Cinema Chris O'Neill speaks with Adrian Lyne about his work.

Little Pieces of Humanity: The Films of Adrian Lyne

In a recent interview the filmmaker Adrian Lyne says that he looks for the “little pieces of humanity” when shooting a scene. Some tangible details that give his characters that extra dimension that an audience can recognise and identify with. Lyne makes movies populated by characters dealing with emotionally-engaging issues, often these issues revolve around relationships and sexuality, and are always presented in a highly stylish manner. But it is those persuasive “little pieces of humanity” that gives the films their edge. They ground them in a relatable form of reality and allow the films to resonate with audiences at the time of their release and beyond.

This summer, Triskel Arts Centre presents a season dedicated to the work of Lyne, a British director who forged a career in Hollywood by making some of the most popular and talked about films of their time. We will screen his first six features: Lyne makes his debut with the moving coming-of-age story FOXES; the glitzy dance drama FLASHDANCE follows; 9 ½ WEEKS is the sensual and controversial relationship tale; FATAL ATTRACTION is the highly influential domestic thriller that was one of the highest grossing films of 1987; the criminally underrated psychological horror JACOB’S LADDER comes next; and the steamy drama INDECENT PROPOSAL was one of the most popular and debated films of 1993.

These movies will all be screened over six consecutive Saturdays starting 26 July and tickets are on sale now.

Little Pieces of Humanity – Triskel Arts Centre

For Halloween night this year, Triskel Arts Centre presents a tribute to director Wes Craven by screening three of his most pivotal films: THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977), A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) and SCREAM (1996).

To coincide with this event, we present a special one off podcast episode with Triskel’s Head of Cinema Chris O’Neill chatting with Supporting Characters podcast host, film historian and fellow Wes Craven enthusiast Bill Ackerman about the director’s filmography, with a particular focus on the three movies being screened at Triskel.

https://triskelartscentre.ie/special-events/blood-relations-the-films-of-wes-craven/

Brendan Galvin is a freelance company and production manager. He has worked extensively in the theatre and entertainment industry. Spanning a career over forty years, he has held many positions, some of which include: 

• Irish National Ballet: Stage Manager
• Opera House, Cork: Production Manager
• Belfast Festival at Queens: Production Manager
• Riverdance European & Japan Tours: Company Manager
• Gate Theatre, Dublin: Tour Production Manager for The Beckett Festival, Lincoln Centre, New York, Spoleto Festival, Charleston, Du Maurier Festival, Toronto, Melbourne Festival, Barbican Festival London, Sydney Festival, Pinter Festival Gate Theatre, Waiting for Godot National and International Tour Manager.
• Mark Knopfler, Sailing to Philadelphia World Tour: Assistant Tour Manager
• Riverdance on Broadway: Line Producer
• Julian Lloyd Webber Irish Tour: Tour Manager
• Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork: Théâtre Manager.
• Landmark Productions: Stage Director: Underneath the Lintel, The Last Days of the Celtic Tiger, Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, Greener, Knives in Hens, Breaking Dad. Backwards Up a Rainbow, Straight to Video.
• Abbey Theatre, Dublin: Company Stage Manager and Tour Production Manager for the Abbey Theatre on numerous productions since 2008. His most recent work was as Company Stage Manger on the national tour of Every Brilliant Thing and the highly acclaimed An Octoroon which recently finished at the Abbey Theatre.

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Triskel Backstage is hosted by Gillian Hennessy, Marketing and Development Manager with Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, and Eimear O'Brien, Director of Lunasa PR.

Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Miguel Amado is a curator and a critic. He is Director of SIRIUS, Cobh, County Cork, Ireland. His key past posts include Director, Cork Printmakers, Ireland; Senior Curator, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, England; Curator, Tate St Ives, England; Curator, Curator, PLMJ Foundation, Lisbon; Visual Arts Centre, Coimbra, Portugal; Curator-in-residence, Abrons Arts Center, New York; Curatorial Fellow, Rhizome at the New Museum, New York; editor, W-Art, Porto. His key exhibitions, projects and events curated as a freelancer include the Portuguese Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale; apexart, New York; Berardo Collection Museum, Lisbon; Frieze Projects, Frieze London; Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou/Nantes, France; ARCO, Madrid/Lisbon. He regularly contributes to Artforum and the Visual Artists’ News Sheet. His education includes the MA in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art, London.

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Triskel Backstage is hosted by Gillian Hennessy, Marketing and Development Manager with Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, and Eimear O'Brien, Director of Lunasa PR.

Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Liz Meaney is Performing Arts Director for the Arts Council. As a senior leader she has held positions in a range of art form and practice areas. As Arts Director she led on the policy and processes which resulted support for; a new national opera company, a three year funding agreement for Ireland’s National Theatre the Abbey, and the transformation of the agencies key funding programmes. Liz was responsible for the Arts Council 2016 centenary programme where she ensured the development and delivery of one of the country’s most successful national commissioning programmes. Liz led the establishment of Creative Schools. This Arts Council programme, now running across 300 schools, operates in partnership with the Dept of Education and Skills and Creative Ireland. In her early career she worked with Cork Film Centre, Cork Film Festival and Kino Arthouse Cinema. She was Manager of the Galway Film Centre, a film resource organisation, from 1997-2001. Returning to Cork in 2001 she took up her position as Cork City Council Arts Officer and was involved both in the bid and the realisation of Cork as European Capital of Culture 2005. She has served on the boards of Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture, the Association of Irish Festivals and Events, and Cork Midsummer Festival. She was Chair of the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers. Her experience ranges from the commissioning of large scale public spectacles with audiences in excess of 150,000 to long term strategic planning, capital projects and grant aid management. A graduate of University College Cork, Liz has a Masters in Irish History. She is a certified IPI Project Manager.

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Triskel Backstage is hosted by Gillian Hennessy, Marketing and Development Manager with Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, and Eimear O'Brien, Director of Lunasa PR.

Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Conor Coyle is Ticketsolve’s Head of Operations and oversees customer onboardings, training and support. He previously managed the box office at The Helix in Dublin and has run events and box offices in his ‘spare time’ for years.

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Triskel Backstage is hosted by Gillian Hennessy, Marketing and Development Manager with Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, and Eimear O'Brien, Director of Lunasa PR.

Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Michelle Carew is the Arts Officer at Cork City Council working with artists, cultural groups, art facilities and numerous other individuals to put arts at the centre of the city and ensure access to the arts for all residents and visitors to Cork City.

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Triskel Backstage is hosted by Gillian Hennessy, Marketing and Development Manager with Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, and Eimear O'Brien, Director of Lunasa PR.

Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay