Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026And to prove I’m not only prejudiced against Victorian sculpture - whoever did this also owes Luke Kelly - and the rest of us - the profoundest of apologies. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Somewhere a US state department official is pleading with anyone who’ll listen to “please, please don’t unpick our most significant foreign policy success of the last fifty years.” Meanwhile, the entire Irish cabinet frantically discussing how to say “you’re not helping” in Trumpese. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Has this summer changed something fundamental in me? How can I be glad about this? 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Serious theatre festival sends email about this year is all about mothers and matriarchy and female experiences. 50% of the shows the festival has programmed on this theme were written by men. 030
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 19/07/2026The BBC’s decision to broadcast the All-Ireland final has at least made my Sunday afternoon much, much better. Definitely my preferred way to recover from jet lag. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Usually I never go near Irish bars when travelling…but on this one occasion I felt obligated. I admit I may be unreasonably pleased, but the name Maeve/Maev/Medb or other derivatives thereof show up basically never. And the cocktail is good - though the decor is lacking an essential bull theme. 030
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 10/07/2026As is (my) tradition when in New York, I spent some time (and money) in what may just be my favourite shop in the whole wide world. (Someday, a script of mine will be for sale in there, and I deserve the right to be obnoxiously delighted about it) 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Watching the match in the US, which means the commentators are speaking Spanish…as though I needed proof that understanding what the commentators say adds nothing to my enjoyment of the sport. 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 13/06/2026On the one hand, today is a real ‘sometimes London is just too big’ day (my friend in Surbition does not appreciate the journeys I take to get to her). On the other, South Wimbledon tube station giving distinct “convince a man to kill someone for the insurance money” vibes. 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 15/04/2026In light of my previous, I feel obliged to share this. I’d feel bad for them, if feeling bad for the Healy-Raes weren’t something I am spiritually incapable of. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 16/03/2026Dear @swkplay.bsky.social, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a theatre snack that made me happier. 220
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 21/02/2026Colm Meany as Daniel O’Connell strikes me as a great missed casting opportunity. They even have the same hair. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 29/01/2026On the one hand, I still dislike these LED tube things - well, I dislike that they seem to be used in every second big house theatre production at the moment. On the other hand - at least this time they’re not being used to create the illusion we’re watching a flatscreen TV? 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 26/12/2025Once upon a time, this used to be my bedroom - now it is where the books live (not pictured, the other two walls of the room, also covered with books). A late, but hopefully still worthy entry to #DuvetKnowItsChrismas. 020
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/12/2025This part of Cré na Cille reads very differently now to how O Caidhin must have intended it. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 14/12/2025Love her? You clearly don’t even know her! But after I went for a walk over Primrose Hill, and that was nice. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 14/10/2025I have never worked for a political party or on a political campaign, and I have no intention of ever doing so. But try telling LinkedIn that. (The time they suggested I worked for the Biden/Harris was funnier, as I don’t live in the US, and the Biden/Harris campaign had ceased to exist by then). 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 30/09/2025When your seat is right beside the light box, is it technically a spoiler? 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 03/09/2025It would appear my local M&S has incurred the wrath of a Thunder God or Gods. 120
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 13/08/2025One woman carries a carpet across London - quick, someone write a musical about me. 130
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 23/07/2025Some stereotypes are absolutely worth living up to - I had to at least try it! 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/05/2025An innovative method of newspaper disposal I glimpsed on the bus yesterday. You may ask why, but I think the more pertinent question is How? 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 12/04/2025I know everyone complains about Evri. I know it’s a tired topic - but I think we’ve all been underestimating them. They collected my parcel in the future. 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 05/04/2025Flann O’Brien’s extended gag about the Ventriloquists Union, and the terrors perpetuated by its members on innocent theatregoers, lives in my brain forever. Not that ventriloquism comes up that much - but more often than you might think. 040
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 04/04/2025I have mounted a door - less than perfectly, but somewhat successfully. (I will say that whoever it was who installed the hinges back in the day, put them in a real stupid place. But I make do). 120
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 15/03/2025I swear, when I was stumbling my way to my Grand Circle seat, the angle of this set made me dizzy for a second. 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/02/2025In the process of re-sealing my windows (for I am a lunatic) and discovered these apparent paint patches which, when scraped, turn brown and smell utterly vile. I am baffled. Is this some weird smoking remnant? 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 24/12/2024And with that, Merry Christmas to all, and eat lots of chocolate. 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 24/12/2024Matisse made it in 1952, two years before he died. He had started making paper cutouts towards the end of his career, and he worked with a glass maker to turn Christmas Eve into a stained glass window. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 24/12/2024When I started doing Artvent, I commented that it’s hard to make it Christmas themed, because for some reason, the Nativity story doesn’t lend itself to interesting paintings. But every once in a while, there is an exception. See this glorious Christmas Eve window by Matisse. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 23/12/2024The penultimate Artvent is Still Life With Prunes by Henk Helmantel. Helmantel is a contemporary painter, who specialises in “modern naturalism.” And he’s on to something, because I could look at the textures in this painting for hours. 130
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/12/2024In what is probably a sign that I’m a terrible person, my reaction to this painting was to laugh - the contrast between the horrifying subject matter and the skilful, detailed execution* was too much absurdity for me to handle. (Pun mostly unintentional) 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/12/2024The actual Saint Justus (if he really existed, which is questionable) was 8 years old, not the muscular young man Rubens depicts here. Which I mention, because there was a way to make this painting MORE disturbing, and Rubens didn’t take it. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/12/2024I looked it up - because of course I did - and apparently there are dozens of cephalophores in early Christianity. That is, saints who were beheaded, and then picked up their - still talking - heads, and walked around with them. Which is pretty metal. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 22/12/2024I am talking about this… beauty - the miracle of Saint Justus by Peter Paul Rubens. Please note, this painting is about 8 or maybe 8 feet tall, so you really get to bask in the full detail of the beheaded body. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 21/12/2024The Sainte Chapelle was built to be the private chapel for the Kings of France. Which, given how costly all of that stained glass must have been, does give me distinctly “I see why they had to get rid of you” vibes. 000
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 21/12/2024The stained glass windows of the Sainte Chapelle are unquestionably one of the greatest works of Christian art ever made. (There are both old and New Testament stories in there). 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 21/12/2024Happy the Sun is on its way back day everyone! (Have I mentioned I hate winter?) Celebrating the power of the sun with today’s Artvent, which is the stained glass windows of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 20/12/2024Supposedly, In the Restaurant is inspired by Manet’s Suzon, which I can kind of see - Manet’s painting is more stark, and challenges the viewer more. But the way he captures the dress is astonishing. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 20/12/2024Apparently he frequently tried to convince Disney to do an animated film about Napoleon, and Disney thought he was such a good artist, he put up with the constant badgering. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 20/12/2024Hoffbauer was French, but spent most of his adult life in the US (aside from service in World War One). While there he painted historical murals (including ones celebrating the Confederacy, eek), New York cityscapes, and worked with Walt Disney. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 20/12/2024It’s Friday and time for some glam. This Artvent is In the Restaurant, by Charles Hoffbauer, painted in 1907, and making the pre-war period look exquisite. 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Late in the day, but today’s Artvent is Woman with a Kerchief by sculptor William Artis. This bust was made in 1939, when Artis was only 25 (in case anyone wants to feel intimidated) and immediately won an award. I think it’s stunning. 110
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 18/12/2024Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian. I like art that’s inspired by another artform (the Blues in this case), and I also like that it looks a bit like a snakes and ladders board 020
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 17/12/2024At the same exhibition I also saw this portrait…and how, how, HOW has there not been a massive Hollywood film about this guy? I know there are at least some scriptwriters who follow me - get on THIS story, please. 010
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 17/12/2024So I can’t tell you anything much about the artists or their lives. But I did photograph the explanatory panel for a bit more info. And…isn’t it just gorgeous? 100
Maev MacCoille @msmaev.bsky.social · 17/12/2024I know next to nothing about the art of the Mughal period - beyond the exhibition’s description of it as a kind of melting pot, where techniques and materials from (at a minimum) Iran, India, Europe and China were…synthesised. 100
