Town Hall Cinema

 

Although now oft overlooked and unused by locals the Town Hall was once a central space for crowds gathering for entertainment in Naas.  From 1902 – 1942 a succession of cinema promoters rented the hall to show the latest movies.  A trio of local ladies accompanied the pictures on piano and violins for cinema-goers.  With the opening of the Colossium Cinema, (to become Dara Cinema), in 1939, this use of the space declined.  The Dara Cinema itself has recently closed and the space for communal film watching has changed to a new development on the outskirts of the town, Storm Cinema.  In a context of continuous transition of place, the local cinema is symbolic of the constant shifting of the use and identity of the built environment and social fabric of the town.  

In a temporary reactivation of this use of the Town Hall the silent classic Buster Keaton film The General was screened in the Assembly Hall with live musical accompaniment by Jazz pianist Justin Carroll. 

In a prelude to the feature film, 8mm footage of Naas town in 1969 shot by Stan Hickey was shown.  The footage was both digitally projected in large format and screened from its original 8mm reels on a 8mm projector.