Staying In/Going Out Actor John Cronin Staying In... What are you listening to? Right now a new Dublin band called El Hombre Jokes. Very good. Kind of like Gomez. What are you reading? The play that Im in at the moment, Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme. Its about World War I, so Ive been reading a couple of novels on that subject: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker. What are you watching? I dont really follow any series regularly on TV I dont have the attention span. I mainly watch sport, particularly football, but Im a Liverpool fan and this year its just become too painful. Going Out... Where are you eating? My favourite restaurant is Le Bon Crubeen on Talbot Street. The food is great and the prices are very reasonable. Where do you go out? Everywhere and anywhere really. My favourite Dublin pub is Houricans on Leeson Street. John Cronin stars in Nomad Theatre Networks latest play Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme which is currently on tour. www. nomadtheatrenetwork.ie GIG Datarock Wednesday, November 18, 2009 metrolife 13 Staying In Book Reviews This is the novel Stephen King has been working on intermittently for more than 20 years, and for which there has been intense expectation. And it starts promisingly, in disaster- movie mode, as a small town wakes up to find itself cut off from the rest of the world by a dome-shaped force field. Planes and trucks crash into it, streams are blocked off, soon the supermarket is looted, and the local psychopath goes on a killing spree from a readers point of view, its all going well. Thats why fans expecting the promised epic of epics might be surprised to find out that much of the story simply centres on the square-jawed hero named Barbie in one of Kings typically quirky touches being framed for murder by the psychopaths corrupt father, and the efforts of a plucky group of townspeople to break him out of jail. Devotees should be further forewarned that this is not a horror novel and, apart from a helpful psychic dog, there are no supernatural elements. It reads like a gentler, more mundane version of Kings 1996 novel Desperation, only with three times as many characters. King still has his knack for detestable bad guys, in this case a bullying cop, and the mounting resistance movement against this nasty piece of work provides enough oxygen to keep the plot buoyant all the way to the end. But that point could be reached a fair deal sooner with no great loss. King has been too restrained with the novels content and entirely unrestrained with its length. Robert Murphy Fiction Focus Under The Dome by Stephen King Hodder, 22 How has Irelands theatre scene changed? Its the world that has changed rather than the quality of work. Actors then would work and sign on but thats not possible now; young actors are having to do all sorts of other jobs. Theyre more open now to looking at other options, although its hard to keep body and soul together. But its exciting when the works good. Youve mixed up comedies and the classics on stage, in film Norwegian electro-riffers Datarock create fully wired tunes that make audiences want to get physical. That could have something to do with the uniform red tracksuits. Although Datarock have released two excellent LPs so far, including Red earlier this year, their music really explodes into life on stage. So are these robo-rocking dudes torn between the studio and life on the road? Weve spent about 650 days on stage in 30 countries compared to a fraction of that time in the studio, estimates frontman Fredrik Saroea. We dont play the slower tunes at our gigs theyre all about a full-on high-octane experience. The newer songs such as Give It Up, The Pretender and Dance are better tied in with what we sound like live. Earlier track Computer Camp Love, where Saroea delivers a surreal romantic spiel based on classic movies, is always a sure-fire highlight, though. Without the humour element, wed have severe difficulties, he admits. We started Datarock around the time the whole club scene had a sense of humour. We wanted to look like the opposite of nerdy synthesizer bands. Datarocks feel-good energy continues with latest single The Pretender and a raucous presence that reflects their original experience as thrash and punk musicians. Saroea certainly knows how to work that effect in concert: The tracksuits, the glasses, the shoes, the music its like a natural kind of magic. Arwa Haider Tonight, The Academy, 57 Middle Abbey St D1, 7.30pm, 17. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.datarockmusic.com June 1981: Showbiz legend Antony Costa is born. 1997: His career gets under way on drama series Grange Hill. 2001: He joins pop group Blue and their debut single, All Rise, gets to No.4. The hits continue but, sadly, bandmate Lee Ryans comments about how the world should prioritise whale-welfare over 9/11 ruins Costas chances of making it in the US. 2002: Can be heard singing alongside Elton John on Blues cover of Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. Hes made it! 2004: Blue splits up. Yikes. He briefly dates Jodie Marsh. 2005: Appears on Im A Celebrity... Finishes halfway through the series, proving less popular than Cannon And Ball and Carol Thatcher. 2007: Appears in 1970s disco stage musical Boogie Nights. He has a night of passion with Imogen off Big Brother; she complains to a Sunday paper about his body hair: It got everywhere, even in my teeth. It wasnt a turn-on. 2008: Does a solo tour. Destinations include Runcorn, Barrow-in-Furness and Lowestoft. Is a celebrity player on Bingo Night Live. 2009: Hooray! Blue reform! Scott Tenorman DOWN THE DUMPER: Antony CostaTruth Or Fiction by Jennifer Johnston Headline Review, 17 When Caroline Wallace, a British broadsheet arts journalist, is given the job of travelling to Ireland to interview nonagenarian playwright and cad Desmond Fitzmaurice, the latter wastes little time in ensnaring her in his chaotic world. The title of Whitbread-winning Jennifer Johnstons 16th novel alludes not only to Fitzmaurices unreliable reminiscences but also to the books biographical elements (the writer is reputedly based on the authors own father, the playwright Denis Johnston). With Wallace leaving an orderly and sophisticated Notting Hill for a shambolic south county Dublin, the culture clash set-up initially feels heavy- handed. But the novel takes off in an unexpected direction when Fitzmaurices unsettling revelations from a lifetime of dysfunction begin to intrigue and frustrate Wallace in equal measure. At a mere 150 pages, the narrative feels a little straitened but this oblique, odd tale where fact and fantasy are inextricably linked builds to a sly and memorable climax. Daragh Reddin Winterland By Alan Glynn Faber And Faber, 15 Dublin writer Alan Glynn takes a powerful swing at the greed and corruption that did in the Celtic Tiger in his relentless thriller, Winterland. The morally ambiguous characters he skilfully sketches, populating both Dublins dank underworld and its shiny haunts of high offices, are brought together by the deaths of two members of the same family. Young gangster Noel Rafferty is the victim of a professional hit; his uncle dies later that same evening, seemingly in a drink-driving accident. But Gina Rafferty, aunt of Noel Jr and sister of Noel Sr, is suspicious about whats happened and her dogged pursuit of the truth reveals an unholy alliance that enmeshes politics, property development and ex-paramilitary thugs. Glynn keeps a masterful grip on his multi-stranded plot and its various tensions and his no- holds-barred warehouse showdown is not for the faint-hearted. A hard-hitting page- turner youll want to devour in one sitting. Siobhn Murphy The Passport By Herta Mller Serpents Tail, 10 Herta Mller is the second woman to win a major literary prize this year and, compared to Man Booker International winner Alice Munro, is by far the lesser known. This reissue of the Romanian-born authors 1989 novella is a chance to get acquainted with the new Nobel Prize winners favoured literary territory of life under Ceausescus repressive communist Romania. Village miller Windisch is trying to apply for a passport to return to his native Germany, bribing officials and considering using his daughter, who privately disgusts him. The neighbours in his rural village eke out their thoroughly depressed existence, the stark, alienated nature of which Mller captures in a series of surreal tableaux. Its all a bit hard work, though. Mller writes in a remorseless present tense, her staccato use of language resembling the pounding of a thousand tiny hammers. She gives the reader the barest minimum and the effect, perhaps deliberately, is oddly eviscerating. Claire Allfree and TV. Which role are you most proud of? I absolutely adored working on Ibsen play The Wild Duck. It was a really significant production for me in terms of the way the director worked, and his insight. And Ive really enjoyed the journey of Terminus, of going from absolutely daunted to now really, really enjoying it. But even the bad stuff you always learn from! Lucy White Terminus is on until Dec 5 at the Peacock Theatre, 26 Lower Abbey Street D1, times & prices vary. Tel: (01) 878 7222. www.abbeytheatre.ie index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html