John Doyle Writer

Come on out this weekend in . Part of Doors Open Toronto...
"Haven", a beautiful dance piece performed at Ireland Park, right by Billy Bishop Airport, Sat 2 pm, Sunday, 4 pm.. dance , music song...

Haven - Canada Ireland Foundation Haven is a response, through dance and music, to the plight of the famine refugees commemorated in Ireland Park.

Unheralded gem of an Indie movie on . Marmalade. Look it up, enjoy....

Rotten Tomatoes Indie 7.3K likes, 303 comments. "Marmalade Trailer #1 (2024)"

The new Netflix series "Legends" hasn’t got the praise or attention it deserves, yet. Highly recommended. At first it appears a conventional undercover-crime drama, cooked up with a touch of the British feelgood story about ordinary people achieving triumph. Then it isn’t that at all. It’s the 1990’s & Margaret Thatcher's wants to rid streets & housing estates of hard drugs. Except she won’t spend money on this war on drugs. So a group of Customs Agent are sort-of trained & mandated with infiltrating drug gangs. Usually at work, they check suitcases at the airport or ferry terminal. This would be near-comedy if it weren’t so dangerous. The secret team of ordinary folk turned secret agents is led by Don (Steve Coogan, who is superb). About 3 episodes in (there are 6) you realize the depth & sophistication of this storytelling. One episode cliffhangs in Liverpool as The Stone Roses song I Wanna Be Adored creeps slowly into the soundtrack and, right there, you realize Legends is brilliant. Enjoy.

Legends | Official Trailer | Netflix To win the war on drugs, a group of everyday customs officers, untrained in espionage, were sent undercover into some of Britain’s most dangerous gangs. Insp...

Take Note of this event & go...May 23 & 24
It's attached to Doors Open this year. I will be there...
"Haven is a response, through dance and music, to the plight of the famine refugees commemorated in Ireland Park and adjacent areas. It further reflects on immigrants and refugees world-wide, through time, including present day...."
[Terrill Maguire: Choreographer, Dancer, Project Director
Patricia O’Callaghan: Singer, Music Director
Dancers: Sam Chaiton, Mairead Filgate, Derek Souvannavong, George Stamos and Oriah Wiersma
Musicians: Patricia O’Callaghan, Miranda Mulholland and Tim Postgate]

Haven - Canada Ireland Foundation Haven is a response, through dance and music, to the plight of the famine refugees commemorated in Ireland Park.

I see they went after again & then again.
This time via the FCC putting the pressure on ABC affiliates.
You could call it spite. You could call it a farce.
But, you know, in a few weeks, Stephen Colbert's show will be gone off the air forever.
And you could say CBS caved to political pressure.
BTW: Zach Galifianakis & his This Is a Gardening Show ( ) is most excellent escapism right now.

I see they're going after again.
Good luck with that.
"Good luck with that" in Irish, is the phrase is "Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat" (pronounced: gun eye-ree un tawd lat), which ironically means "May success/luck rise with you". It is often delivered with a straight face to imply you believe they will have no such luck at all."
Jimmy Kimmel is good friend of .

POSTPONEMENT: Regret to report our play "Shelter" (directed by Richard Rose, written by me) will not be staged as scheduled in May, in the new Corleck building. The Corleck (run by the Canada Ireland Foundation) is beset by construction & structural problems and will not open fully until much later than planned. We hope the Foundation will continue to support its staging. Next year, 2027 will be the 180th anniversary of the Irish Famine Crisis in Canada, in particular in Toronto. With that in mind the govts. of Ireland & Canada have created "Canada-Ireland 180" a culture project to showcase work by Irish and Canadian artists & performers. We sure hope that includes us, since "Shelter" is about precisely what happened. After public Readings in Toronto and New York City, we know it is good. (And any Theatre in Canada interested in accessing Funding from Canada-Ireland 180, should reach out to us. Deadline is soon.)

"They say the skies of Lebanon are burning
Those mighty cedars bleeding in the heat,
They’re showing pictures on the television
Women and children dying in the street..."

Long time running, Paul Brady and his wee masterpiece The Island...and still years & years later the skies of Lebanon are burning...

Paul Brady | The Island | The NI Music Prize 2023 Strabane songwriting genius Paul Brady wows the crowd at the Ulster Hall with The Island at the NI Music Prize 2023 where he picked up a well earned Legend A...

Heavily recommended: The Singers, Oscar-nominated Short Film, now on Netflix. Extraordinary work by all involved, for Canadians - a scene in which a guy goes to the bathroom, starts singing Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain and the end music is by Leonard Cohen. Uncanny. Enjoy...

The Singers | Official Trailer | Netflix THE SINGERS follows a group of down-on-their-luck men as they find unexpected connection and catharsis through an impromptu singing competition at a neighbor...

Some poems of mine published in the last while. Here's one:

“The snow that comes late, in February”

I know you,
solitary bastard, vaguely late to the party,
never truly there, sitting still, observing.

How you like the snow that comes late in February,
after a failed Valentine’s Day, after all the bills paid,
after the long craving for silence.

There are no tracks in front of you now,
just snowdrifts and stark tree branches,
like before.

You remember the winters in Tipperary,
the black crows sitting still as stones,
high in the tall bare trees, watching you.

Your mother sending you to the butcher shop,
too embarrassed herself to ask for a sheep’s heart,
instead of a parcel of beef or pork.

Your face staying serene through that,
learning to be hushed and alone,
leaving no trace.

I know what you want now:
play shinny on the rink in the park,
take the shortcut and go home,

alone, at last like the forgotten snow shovel
left against the wall
since the first cold notes of winter in November.

I know you. I do.

'John Ahern Doyle is an Irish-born author, poet & playwright in Canada. He worked for the Globe and Mail as a journalist and wrote two non-fiction books. One, The World is a Ball, about his adventures covering soccer, was a bestseller. He wrote poetry in the long-ago and returned to it, with poems published in Canada and Ireland. His play “Shelter” will be staged in 2026. He lives happily in Toronto.'

John Ahern Doyle The snow that comes late, in February I know you,solitary bastard, vaguely late to the party,never truly there, sitting still, observing. How you like the snow that comes late in February,after a f…

Happy New Year from me.

If we all work together, it will all work out.