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2018

COMEDY

16, 21-23 Dec 2018

Rocket Around The Christmas Tree
Rocket Octopus

This December, Rocket Octopus will be exploding all over your Christmas like Lidl fairy lights. The fire is roaring. The stocking is stuffed. The mince is pied. The crackers are shit. The turkeys escaped. Anyway. We’re going to rock your manger, or at least gently and politely rock around your Christmas tree. We’ve felt your presents so we know what you’re gonna get- funny laughs! Or at least an hour long sketch comedy show.


COMEDY

14 & 15 Dec 2018

BOLSTOFF: A Modern Actor’s Introduction to Advanced Contemporary Performance
Wicker Socks

Join Wicker Socks as they share with you the secrets of “doing the acting” and fast-track you on the road to success in the world of theatre. This electrifying ‘workshop’ will include groundbreaking warm-up technique, audition preparation and a mandatory fire announcement. Expect to be sent on a hilarious journey that may be eerily familiar to those working in the arts and delightfully off-the-wall for everyone else. The Wicker Socks trio will guide audiences through every facet of the performing arts, deftly negotiating each semi-disaster as it comes their way.


STAND-UP

13 Dec 2018

Tale of a Hardy Buck
Martin Maloney

Tale of a Hardy Buck is a high-octane show filled with stories and songs that shaped the early Hardy Bucks episodes, the ups and downs of a career built around the cult comedy classic and a plush tapestry of impressions of real-life characters. Writer, creator and face of the Hardy Bucks, Martin Maloney takes his first solo stand-up show on the road!


READING

11 Dec 2018

Death of a Salesman
Glass Mask Theatre

Glass Mask Theatre, under the artistic direction of Rex Ryan, are the Resident Theatre Company of Smock Alley Theatre Boy’s School. Glass Mask are committed to presenting plays that thrill audiences. Glass Mask commit to the playwright and will stage work, new and classic, from Irish and International playwrights who possess a fire and commitment to the stage.


THEATRE

11 Dec 2018

Leaving No One Behind
Irish Aid event supported by the Irish Forum for Global Health

The 2018 Irish Aid Annual Professor Michael Kelly Lecture on HIV/AIDS will take place in our Banquet Hall on December 11 at 5:00pm. The theme of this year’s lecture will be “Leaving No-One Behind”. Like in previous years, this event will bring together those of us in Ireland passionate about HIV/AIDS with a diverse panel of speakers from around the world to explore current priorities, commemorate World AIDS Day, and to keep HIV high on the agenda.


THEATRE

3 – 15 Dec 2018

Iphigenia In Splott
Reality:Check Productions

Stumbling down the street at 11:30am drunk, Effie is the kind of girl you’d avoid eye contact with, silently passing judgement.
We think we know her, but we don’t know the half of it. Effie’s life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs and drama every night, and a hangover worse than death the next day — till one night gives her the chance to be something more.


THEATRE

4 & 5 Dec 2018

A Christmas Carol
Neil McGarry

Neil McGarry’s award-winning one-man performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has been inspiring audiences across the northeast United States for the past five years. Directed by Ross MacDonald and created under the auspices of The Bay Colony Shakespeare Company, the production makes its European debut at Smock Alley before moving on to London, the Tea House Theatre; Switzerland, The Safe in Basel & Theater Uptown in Geneva; Czech Republic, Prague Shakespeare Company, Prgaue; and Italy, the Michael Pacher Haus, Bruneck.


MUSIC

1 Dec 2018

Zeit 3
Zeit

Z E I T Events presents an evening of improvised electronic music by four established artists each from different genres and experiences within the expansive electronic music scene both here and abroad. This eclectic mix of the contemporary and the retrospective will be performed on an array of analogue synthesizers and electronic effects in what promises to be a very unique performance of electronic soundscapes and sonic auditory experiences.


COMEDY

30 Nov 2018

Swift Laughs
The Johnathan Swift Festival

A celebration of Irish Comedy and Satire. Featuring John Colleary, Kevin McGahern, Hannah Mamalis, Aine Gallagher and hosted by David McSavage. Swift Laughs is sure to tickle a few funny bones while ruffling a few feathers.


THEATRE

26 Nov – 1 Dec 2018

Tuesdays With Morrie
Money For The Sun Productions

A heartwarming, emotional and humorous exploration of friendship, mortality, and the things that matter most in life. Tuesdays with Morrie is the charming and thought-provoking play about professor Morrie Schwartz and his former student Mitch Albom, who reunite 16 years after college for one final lesson: The Meaning of


COMEDY

21 – 24 Nov 2018

Cloud Study
Irish Modern Dance Theatre

Cloud Study is part dance, part dream, part theatre, part athletics. Two compelling dancers: Mufutau Yusuf, an Irishman, born in Nigeria, and Salma Ataya, a Palestinian Dabka dancer, attempt to run 1,000 kilometres in circles and lines through the space, chasing dreams, memories and home.


LITERARY

15-18 Nov 2018

Dublin Book Festival
DBF 2018

The Dublin Book Festival is one of Ireland’s most successful and vibrant book festivals, running since June 2006.  The annual public festival showcases, supports and develops Irish publishing by programming, publicising and selling Irish published books, their authors, editors and contributors – all in an entertaining, festive, friendly and accessible environment that reflects the creativity and personality of the Irish publishing sector and its authors.


COMEDY

15 Nov 2018

Sight Unseen
Auto-Correbt

Auto-Correbt have set themselves the challenge of performing all the greatest plays in the Irish canon.  The only problem is that they’ve seen none of them.  Based off just the titles and vague recollections from audience members they’re going to attempt to recreate the best bits from all the best shows by all the best Irish writers.  And they’re going to do it all on the spot.  Join Auto-Correbt on their joy-filled juggernaut of jest and japery.


DANCE

14 Nov 2018

Madeline
Angie Smalis

Based loosely on a 1798 Irish Gothic novel by Regina Maria Roche, “Madeline” illuminates something universal about the human response to personal and supernatural anxieties, and our sense of responsibility for the safety of others, through the story of a young woman. With original music by Limerick Jazz Ensemble.


THEATRE

13 Nov 2018

Best of Poetry – Transit Lounge Else – A Lift to the Stars
Else-Lasker-Schueler-Society with Astronautenkost

Transit Lounge Else is an international project of the Else Lasker-Schueler-Society (Wuppertal, Germany) in cooperation with the “Centre for Persecuted Arts” (Solingen, Germany), designed by the artist duo Astronautenkost. The focus is on the life and the outstanding work of the artist Else Lasker-Schueler.


SCIENCE

13 & 14 Nov 2018

Baking in Space
Niamh Shaw & Andrew Smyth | Part of Science Week 2018

How can a retro dessert explain how astronauts safely return to Earth? What connects molten sugar and micro-meteorite protection? How would you even bake bread in space? British Council Ireland are delighted to present ‘Baking in Space’, a Science Week family event with Andrew Smyth, aerospace engineer and Great British Bake Off finalist, and Dr Niamh Shaw, scientist, performer and space explorer for an evening of all things space, food and baking.


THEATRE

6 – 10 Nov 2018

The Little Prince
Tartarus Theatre

Venture alongside the titular Little Prince as he voyages through the cosmos, uncovering answers and unearthing knowledge about love, humanity and life. Meeting an array of interplanetary vagabonds and faux philosophers, he discovers life in the universe may not be exactly what he expected.


MUSIC

12 Nov 2018

4 Weddings and a Funeral
Co-Orch Dublin

Co-Orch proudly announces another evening of eclectic and vibrant classical music. To date, Co-Orch has raised over €110,000 for local charities performing vital work in their communities. As always, Co-Orch will take on daring and rarely performed classical works. Amongst many aural delights comes Shostakovic’s rich and wonderful Chamber symphony and a remastering of the ever-beautiful overture to Mozart’s marriage of Figaro.


MUSIC

12 Nov 2018

Phonica : Nine
Phonica

Phonica: Nine will feature performances and presentations from a range of exceptional, groundbreaking and award-winning writers, musicians and artists, in the realms of dramatic spoken word performance, experimental electronic music, avant-garde filmmaking, electroacoustic musique concréte, multimedia field research-based poetry, and improvisational spatial sounds w/ drones.


THEATRE

6 – 10 Nov 2018

Mis-Conceptions
Sugar Pie Theatre

We all love a good feisty discussion; arguing, listening and occasionally learning. The 6 members of the First Thursday Book Club are no different. Or at least that’s what they initially thought. They’ve discussed everything from Arianna’s choice of ‘Horton Hears a Who’, to Ann’s choice of ‘The Queen’s English and How To Use It’ to ‘War and Peace’ and lots more in between. But it’s only when Grace’s choice of ‘The Business of Babies’ is revealed that Elaine, Ann, Arianna, Tally, Grace and Sarah realise that they never really knew each other.


LITERARY

5 Nov 2018

Patrick Gale
Writers @ Smock Alley

Patrick Gale is one of the UK’s most popular writers and he is the author of sixteen novels including the bestsellers ‘Rough Music’, ‘Notes From An Exhibition’ and ‘A Perfectly Good Man’ as well as the Costa Award nominated ‘A Place Called Winter’. He is also the writer of the new BBC drama ‘Man in an Orange Shirt’. Patrick’s sixteenth novel, ‘Take Nothing With You’ is a sad-funny comedy of resilience and survival and we are delighted to welcome Patrick Gale to the Smock Alley theatre in Dublin to talk about it.


LITERARY FESTIVAL

2 -4 Nov 2018

Murder One Festival
Murder One

Murder One, a three-day long weekend crime writing festival that launched in November 2018 was jam packed with interviews with Irish and international authors, panel events, and a free speakers corner where attendees could listen to readings from some of Ireland’s newest crime writers.


REHEARSED READINGS

30 Oct 2018

Playground
Glass Mask

After the success of Glass Mask Theatre’s debut production ‘Idlewild’ by Jimmy Murphy, the company will now present regular nights of great play readings as part of our ‘Playground’ series.


THEATRE

27 – 31 Oct 2018

Dracula
Quintessence Theatre, in association with An Táin Arts Centre

In the echoing confines of a Victorian mental asylum an incarcerated man struggles to convince a watching gaggle of doctors of the extraordinary truth of an immortal shape-shifter – more monster than man – who lives through the consumption of human blood. As he desperately strives to piece his fragmented mind and rememberings together and make sense of the unthinkable horrors that befell him and his missing comrades, he comes to realise that he is fighting not just for his sanity, but his very living soul…


MUSIC

25 & 26 Oct 2018

Little Hours (Solo Acoustic)
MCD Productions

To celebrate the release of his new ‘Acoustic Live at Attica’ EP, Little Hours AKA John Doherty will perform two new solo acoustic shows. Fans can expect stripped back, haunting versions of the band’s best known songs, together with some never before heard songs from his forthcoming debut album, due for release on Rubyworks in 2019.


REHEARSED READING

24 Oct 2018

Inside Danny’s Box
Derek Murphy

A God-fearing comedy set in Ireland about secrets ; the kind we live with and the kind we keep in a box, about love and betrayal, about demented fathers and missing mothers. “Inside Danny’s Box” tells the story of a young, not so successful inventor, Danny Hubble, who’s life is turned upside down when he falls madly in love with his new neighbor Marybeth Doyle.


THEATRE

9 – 20 Oct 2018

St Nicholas
Dublin Theatre Festival & Donmar Warehouse

Conor McPherson’s chilling play receives its Irish premiere in an intimate new production by the Donmar Warehouse. Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey, Mary Queen of Scots, Paths to Freedom) returns to the Irish stage for the first time since 2002, directed by Simon Evans (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Donmar Warehouse).


COMEDY

20 Oct 2018

Your Ma & Other Stories Vol. I.
BonMot

Join BonMot for an in-depth analysis of dysfunctional family life through physical comedy, theatrical storytelling and self-loathing. Comedy that appeals to anyone who used to spin into a blind rage watching nature documentaries, when the camera crew wouldn’t intervene and save the animals and/or has PTSD from The Fox and the Hound. It’s either one or the other.


MUSIC / LITERATURE

19 Oct 2018

An tEarrach Thiar
IMRAM & Poetry Ireland

Composed by Galway accordionist Johnny Óg Connolly for singer Liam Ó Maonlaí, An tEarrach Thiar is a cycle of 12 songs which sets poems by Máirtín Ó Direáin to music. It is a moving and lyrical exploration of themes of Aran Islands culture; love and affection; and cultural change in one person’s lifetime.


THEATRE

17 & 18 Oct 2018

The Streets Are Ours
Fregoli Theatre Company

‘The Streets are Ours’ chronicles the night time activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in a small town in the midlands and their reunion with an old friend. Galway-based company Fregoli Theatre are champions of new Irish writing, giving a voice to an Ireland that is often silent and unheard.


MUSIC

15 Oct 2018

Film Music – Behind The Scenes
Brian Keegan

In this presentation composer Brian Keegan takes us through some of his work for film. He shows how musical responses arise from ideas and emotions that are present in a film. He looks at film composition as an act of translation that takes the intentions of the director as they occur in the film and reimagines them through the medium of music. During the presentation Brian will work through the creative process that results in finished music cues in a number of genres including action, horror, sci-fi and documentary.


LITERATURE

15 Oct 2018

Ceardaí Focal | Craftsman of Words
IMRAM & Poetry Ireland

Poet, novelist, dramatist, broadcaster, columnist, translator, critic and children’s author – Liam Ó Muirthile was a writer of extraordinary diversity, depth and breadth.


THEATRE

11 – 13 Oct 2018

Mothers Nature
Hanashi Productions

Four women, four temperaments, four very different experiences of pregnancy and motherhood. This original work explores how our personal natures affect how we experience life and change. Raw and emotive, Mothers Nature invites you into the lives and minds of four very different women. Each embodies one of the classic Greek temperaments: Melancholic (sad), Choleric (angry), Phlegmatic (calm), Sanguine (happy). An older mother, a younger mother, planned and unplanned motherhood, their experiences are transformative and they are ready to be heard.


THEATRE

27 Sep – 7 Oct 2018

The Misfits
Corn Exchange

The Corn Exchange brings Arthur Miller’s iconic film The Misfits to the stage for the first time in this new reimagining by Annie Ryan. Originally published as a novella in 1961 to coincide with the release of the iconic film by John Huston, Miller’s language is intimate, visceral, elemental, and the stage offers it the space to come into its fullest expression.


THEATRE

25 – 29 Sep 2018

Beannaithe
Guthanna Binne Síoraí

A group of nuns become the catalyst for institutional change, but will they transform forever the Church they love and have loyally served?


COMEDY

19 – 22 Sep 2018

A Line of O’Kane
Deirdre O’ Kane

Footloose from a glittering turn on Dancing with the Stars and revelling in her return to stand-up, Deirdre has really hit her stride. Don’t miss this hilarious and frank take on twelve frantic months in the life of a tango-tripping, family-minding, telly-making, house-moving, comedy dynamo.


THEATRE

18 – 22 Sep 2018

i n f i n i t y
Eoghan Carrick / Nessa Matthews

Captain’s Log, Stardate (whatever). A lone astronaut hurtles through the cosmos on a one-way mission to the edge of the universe. She’s looking for a light in the dark. The source of a signal. Traversing time and space, isolation and uncertainty, her quest to find hope will bring her to the brink of the abyss. An exploration of fact, (science) fiction and the spaces in between. A star-bound journey that looks at the stories we tell ourselves when we feel most alone.


CIRCUS

18 – 22 Sep 2018

Double Bill: Cikada & SPIT
Reckless Ross / Ali & Henrik

Cikada Two acrobats create a world between the harmonious and the absurd. In this world, lines are blurred between human and nature. Ali Stanger and Henrik Gard create a mutual acrobatic language of finesse and honesty. A fun, thoughtful and humorous display of rich imagery and dynamic riveting movement. SPIT Push hard, stand up, and spit back. Stop being hijacked by the consumer culture, by spectacle, by tits and teeth and nipple tassels. This show is a celebration of the fierce and wild. Brutality balanced by beauty. Circus that challenges set ideas of gender stereotypes and female expectations in society. A political and evocative one-woman circus.


THEATRE

18 – 22 Sep 2018

The Cat’s Mother
Erica Murray

Sinéad arrives at her sister Ciara’s door in London, all set for a weekend of respite from caring for their mother, Eileen. At least, that’s what Ciara thinks this visit is about. Sinéad has other ideas. Over one long weekend, they are forced to make a choice that will affect their lives forever. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of the family cat. This laugh-out-loud dark comedy asks: how far are you willing to go for your family?


THEATRE

18 – 22 Sep 2018

Sweet Sensations
Teri Fitzgerald

At Peafield Hospital for the Elderly, staff enjoy a slower pace of life than that of their bed-ridden patients, but a surprise inspection from HIQA forces them to make like Nixon and sweat profusely while conducting a massive cover-up. Octogenarian resident Josie, slung into this dumping ground by her ungrateful niece, isn’t about to lie down and die without exposing the staff’s lies. Criminal mastermind Toby, in for the day on community service, is happy to assist her in any way that allows him to smash shit up. With nothing left to lose, the pair are guaranteed success… or prison time.


THEATRE

17 – 22 Sep 2018

BILLY
Sarah Gordon & Alice Malseed

“BILLY wants to help you make space. BILLY is about your ‘stuff’ drawer. All the old chargers for phones you’ve stopped using. That bag of old coats you might need some day. BILLY is about the wooden porridge-stirrer (or ‘spurtle’) you spent €14 on, and your unused Nutri-Bullet. BILLY is about corporate jargon, and IKEA, and Tupperware parties. A disbelieving look at the weird ways we try and order our lives. Life is messy. But BILLY has a multi-purpose, reasonably-priced, space-saving solution.”


THEATRE

13 – 16 Sep 2018

Lex Talionis
Wandering Star

“If I told ya to jump off a buildin’ would ya?” “That’s different, we’re jumpin’ off buildin’s all day long!” Hugh’s a rook with chicks comin’. Mooney’s a younger rook whose new friend Max is not what they seem. Dónie’s a magpie, he’s bad news. After a vicious murder, one of them is out for blood. There will be vengeance. That’s what the weird Latin title means – the law of retaliation, an eye for an eye, like. From the seriously funny Liam Heylin comes a new play about savage craic on the streets of Cork.


CIRCUS

12 – 16 Sep 2018

Caged
Femme Bizarre

Right, so let’s get one thing straight: Femme Bizarre are not ‘fierce’, they are fucking FEROCIOUS. A full-on force to be reckoned with. Marvel as they put themselves through the ringer with aerial stunts, high-octane voguing, explosive vocals and spoken word. Sound good? Yeah, we thought so. Step inside the cage, the door is wide open…


COMEDY

11 – 16 Sep 2018

Dreamgun Film Reads: The Fringe Binge
Dreamgun

Getting it wrong has never felt so right! DREAMGUN amuse and exasperate cinephiles in equal measure with their skewed, joke-stuffed and wholly unrehearsed takes on established cinematic favourites. In this special Fringe Binge edition, DREAMGUN bring their classics together for a movie marathon to remember.


THEATRE

11 – 15 Sep 2018

Kiss Kiss Slap Slap
Chaos Factory

A dressing room. Three women invite you in. A multifaceted performance about the Ireland we live in. About the Ireland we could live in. #MeToo has happened. The game is changing, times are shifting and the masks are finally slipping. Everyone’s a witness. So where do we go from here? The jury is still out. A show created and performed by Fionnuala Gygax, Danielle Galligan and Venetia Bowe. About moving. Moving forward from past oppressions and microaggressions. About looking back but never returning, arriving and trying to define the new. A surreal spectacle of beauty, bravery and brutality.


THEATRE

10 – 15 Sep 2018

beat.
Fionntán Larney & Dominic O’Brien

If every time you leave the house you try to have the most fun you’ve ever had, how do you know when to go home? A new rap musical following two young men whose views on women, drugs, and each other collide and shatter. It’s about ‘old friend’ not meaning ‘good friend’, ‘better person’ not meaning ‘good person’, ‘less misogynist’ not meaning ‘not misogynist’. Original music, light show, three performers who rap what they can’t say. It’s gonna be a hell of a party.


THEATRE

9 – 16 Sep 2018

White
Some People Theatre Company

Warning: this show may contain knitting and crochet. Rich White is forming a university men’s rights activism society. However, on the morning of its inaugural meeting a student is found shot dead on campus. As Rich and his gormless band of misfits attempt to uncover the mystery surrounding the crime, truer and darker motivations begin to unravel. Could the killer be sitting among their very ranks? Is Rich too coked up to notice? An acerbic satire by Pea Dinneen.


THEATRE

8 – 13 Sep 2018

FREE EU ROAMING
Rule of Three Collective

An Irishwoman, an Englishwoman and a Germanwoman walk into a bar. A hostel bar in Barcelona where a fight for Catalonian independence rages on the streets outside. Aside from disrupted festival-going plans, all they hold in common is a fucker of a hangover. Trapped, the travellers rip stereotypes into confetti. Grab your passport for a buzzing trip of laughs through the past, present and future of three nations.


THEATRE

3 – 8 Sep 2018

The Diary of Maynard Perdu
Menapia Theatre Company

Written and directed by the award winning playwright Billy Roche and starring the acclaimed actor/musician Peter McCamley. The Diary Of Maynard Perdu is set in the fantastic, mirrored, burlesque world of the Spiegeltent where fantasy and delusion reign supreme. Based on the novella by Billy Roche, this one man show takes us on a romantic  journey of  adventure and intrigue all of which serves to  mask the pain and loss that are buried deep within.


THEATRE

27 – 31 Aug 2018

Hero
Lakedaemon in association with Theatre Upstairs

Hero by Ken Rogan, is an original work about a man’s struggles with love. Life quickly grows more complicated for Smithy (Daithí Mac Suibhne) after a chance encounter with Marissa. This is one man’s hilarious, down to earth odyssey through love, ankle injuries and what happens when you don’t know how to lose…


THEATRE

30 July – 1 Sep 2018

The Shaughraun
Smock Alley Theatre

Smock Alley Theatre presents as its tenth in-house production, The Shaughraun, written by Dion Boucicault. Written in 1874 by the Irish master of melodrama Dion Boucicault, the themes in this play still ring true – from vulture bankers, rising rents and homelessness, to Anglo-Irish relations and impending Brexit doom. But can love conquer all? That is the question… Smock Alley’s production is a modernisation of this melodrama, musically underscored and imagining ourselves in another post crash Ireland. Is history always destined to repeat itself?


THEATRE

20 – 25 Aug 2018

I’m Too Fat For This Show
Kate Huffman

This shockingly hilarious, brutally honest solo show covers decades of OCD and eating disorders, but with comedic perfection, it defies preconceived notions and connects performer and audience in the mutually experienced dilemma that is LIFE. 18 characters, multi-media effects, and gut-busting humor allow all people with any kind of neuroses or negative self-talk to laugh at themselves.


THEATRE

14 – 18 Aug 2018

The Comedy of Errors
Dublin Youth Theatre

In a strange city where everyone watches everyone else, strangers are never welcome. Two young visitors arrive in the city unaware that their long-lost twins already live there. But really, what’s the worst that could happen? Shakespeare’s most anarchic comic creation is brought vividly to life by a cast of twenty-one performers in this riotous contemporary staging, complete with original music and live band.


FASHION

25 Aug 2018

Myths of Our Own
IREGL

‘Myths of Our Own’ is a two-part event celebrating street fashion and fables all as one. We encourage you to attend wearing something inspired by your favourite legendary story or myth, or maybe something from your home!


THEATRE

29 July – 11 Aug 2018

Idlewild
Glass Mask Theatre

Revenge started a gangland tragedy. Now only sacrifice can finish it.
Dublin 2018 – After a bitter gangland feud between two childhood friends has reached a deadly impasse, only a terrifying sacrifice can end the bloodshed.


THEATRE

24 – 28 July 2018

School For Dinosaurs
Underdog Theatre Productions

Chloe doesn’t like her new school. With scary exams, stressful subjects and mountains of homework, Chloe just can’t seem to adjust to her new secondary school life. So she and her parents start the “School for Dinosaurs”, a lively lizard alternative approach to scary school subjects! But the clocks ticking down to exam time! Will Chloe make the grade in time? School For Dinosaurs is a fun reptilian romp for the whole family!


FESTIVAL

19 – 22 July 2018

Festival of Curiosity
 Dublin 2018

Playful days & Curious Nights. Experience a cultural feast of unique, visual and interactive experiences in Dublin that merge cutting edge technology, design, arts and science in playful, immersive & curious ways.


THEATRE

17 July 2018

Cardboard Coffin
Valerie Masters

Imagine if you were told to pack a bag and leave your home forever and you had nowhere to go. Meet Johnny, the vulnerable yet tortured rogue who has lost everything and is about to face life on the streets. He’s desperate to tell those he’s lost how much he loves them before it’s too late.


MUSIC

15 July 2018

The Red Guitar Tour
Billy Roche

Billy Roche, playwright (Tumbling Down, The Wexford Trilogy, The Cavalcaders etc) returns to his musical roots with his own brand of psychedelic folk. He is joined by Mike Odlum (The Roach Band) on bass/piano/harmonium and Pete McCamley on drums/percussion/flute/glockenspiel/harmonica etc.


THEATRE

10 – 16 July 2018

The Good Father
Rise Productions

New Year’s Eve. A house party like any other, in a suburb like any other. Two very different strangers meet, each looking for a new start and to shake off the disappointments of the past. But champagne, cheap lager and their chance encounter leads this unlikely couple to an unplanned pregnancy.


DANCE

8 July 2018

Irish Youth Dance Festival
Dublin Youth Dance Company

Dublin Youth Dance Company are thrilled to present an evening of dance at the Smock Alley Theatre as part of the 18th Irish Youth Dance Festival. The festival has consistently delivered exciting, highly physical and uplifting performances from a selection of up-and-coming Irish and International Youth Dance Companies and each year programmes masterclasses, workshops, informal showings and outdoor performances.


COMEDY

8 – 14 July 2018

Edinburgh Previews
Lisa Richards

The Lisa Richards agency present a week of top stand-up comedy! Each night, two comedians will perform their new work-in-progress shows. Check them out, for this bargain price, before they head to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.


DANCE

5 – 7 July 2018

Window Woman
Fiona Quilligan

Choreographer Fiona Quilligan finds herself in the woods at Fernhill – as part of a dream team – to install James McKenna’s sculptures, two dancers act as a counterweight on ropes while the figures are hauled high up into the treetops – a vantage point where they reign supreme!


THEATRE

3 – 7 July 2018

She Kills Monsters
No Drama Theatre

A comedic romp into the world of fantasy role-playing games, She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly.


TALK

2 July 2018

An Evening with Michelle McMacken
The Happy Pear

Join us for an inspirational talk with Michelle McMacken to discuss holistic lifestyle medicine and promoting optimal wellness through plant-based nutrition. Prevent disease and thrive!


TALK

30 June 2018

An Evening with Rich Roll
The Happy Pear

Rich Roll is a number one best-selling author, wellness pioneer, podcast host and Top 25 fittest men on the planet. Roll also an amazing speaker with a grounded, authentic style, and the unique ability to educate, inspire, and leave audiences filled with the motivation to unlock and unleash their best, most authentic selves!


THEATRE / MUSIC

30 June 2018

Samuel Beckett : Words and Music
Beckett Chamber Series

A rare concert performance of Samuel Beckett’s radio play Words and Music with American composer, Morton Feldman’s score. Renowned Beckett actors Barry McGovern and Stephen Brennan play the spoken roles of Words/Joe and Croak with a conducted ensemble of Beckett Chamber Music Series musicians playing the role of Music/Bob.


THEATRE / MUSIC

27 June 2018

Schoenberg and Poetry
Beckett Chamber Series

Schoenberg and Poetry presents two important works based on poetry, which span the development of composer, music theorist and painter, Arnold Schoenberg’s musical style from late Romanticism to twelve-tone. Barry McGovern reads the poems by Richard Dehmel and Albert Giraud which inspired both works in celebrated English translations by Stanley Appelbaum and Andrew Porter.


THEATRE

25-30 June 2018

Lost And Found
The Gaiety School of Acting Graduating Class 2018

An idyllic new estate in a commuter town (very convenient for the M50 and the direct train to Dublin) is flipped on its head when divine forces begin to interfere. Eager to meddle in the affairs of the picture perfect couples in residence, one of the Gods has fallen to earth with her sights set on mischief making.


THEATRE / MUSIC

24 June 2018

Instrumentalising Folk Song
Beckett Chamber Series

Instrumentalising Folk Song explores the idea of the musical setting of language in, perhaps, its purest humanistic form. The works presented use Irish folk song as a basis for three very different kinds of composition. On the subject, composer Béla Bartók writes that although folk song is “impulsively created by a community of men who have had no schooling… the single tunes – are so many examples of high artistic perfection. In their small way, they are as perfect as the grandest masterpieces of musical art.”


THEATRE

18 – 23 June 2018

Walkinstown
Monkey Backstage

From the creators of the acclaimed How To Build Your First Robot comes Walkinstown. A surreal soiree that traverses the streets of Dublin’s past, present and future. Two humans on a comedically cosmic trajectory, led by love, lust and all that’s elementary.


THEATRE

18 – 23 June 2018

The Rapture of Hugo Ball
Charisma Check

The Rapture of Hugo Ball is a rollicking satire staged as an experimental radio comedy with hard hitting live music and sound effects created before your eyes by a multi-talented cast. The story follows unknown Irish performance artist, Fergal Greene, as he struggles to gain recognition in a fickle contemporary Art world.


TALK

13 – 16 June 2018

Lady Na Master & The Synaptic Room
Collaborative Artists Company

This multi-layered work directed by David Francis Moore, featuring performances by spoken word artist Feli Speaks and composer Dan Reid, interweaves poetry, sound, installation, animation and the body to create a highly charged performance within a captivating sensorial space.


THEATRE

4 – 16 June 2018

Love A La Mode
Felicity

In this comedy of manners, double-entendres and double-crossings, an Englishman, an Irishman, a Scotsman and a dandy, compete for the hand of a rich bachelorette. But is she all she appears? Love à la Mode is a farce in two acts: there will be some lies, sword-fights, slapstick and assorted song-and-dance routines.


TALK

1 June 2018

Balding Made Me Do It
Clare Fullam

A story of struggle, perseverance and the art of learning how to be yourself. Basically a live Insta with Claire Balding! All questions answered, no holding back. An evening of fun, lol’s and uplifting, meaningful chats! Check out Claire on Instagramfacebook or on Snapchat: Claire.Balding.


VARIETY SHOW

29 May 2018

MAM Behind The Mic
Mothers Artists Makers

An informal evening of entertainment from Mothers Artists Makers. With a variety of performances from Theatre, Music, Comedy, Spoken Word and More it promises to be a fantastic night out that will leave you inspired and entertained. Mothers Artists Makers (MAM) are a movement of professional, feminist theatre and arts practitioners who are mothers.


COMEDY

29 May – 2 June 2018

Much Ado About Nothing
Arclight Drama Studio

It is said that love conquers all, but not without a few battles along the way! Arclight Drama Studio have had a wonderful relationship with Shakespeare and have previously performed acclaimed productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth and As You Like It.


FESTIVAL

19 – 27 May 2018

International Literature Festival Dublin
ILFD

The International Literature Festival Dublin, founded in 1998, is Ireland’s premier literary event and gathers the finest writers in the world to debate, provoke, delight and enthral. Described by the press as ‘boasting a stunning array of top international literary talent’ and ‘the country’s most successful and easily the best annual literary event’, International Literature Festival Dublin line-up is sure to impress.


COMEDY

17 May 2018

Things We Talk About When We Talk About Things
Rocket Octopus

From the company behind the critically acclaimed ‘Boyz of Harcourt Street’ (“Not as funny as it thinks it is”- No More Workhouse) comes a sketch comedy show of undoubtable brilliance but questionable morality. Rocket Octopus will endeavor to make you laugh and think by doing and saying things.


THEATRE

15 – 16 May 2018

Quentin Crisp : Naked Hope
Mark Farrelly

From a conventional Surrey upbringing to global notoriety via The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp was an extraordinary raconteur and wit, and one of the most memorable figures of the twentieth century. This much-acclaimed solo play, following a UK tour and off-West End season at the St. James Theatre, shows Quentin both in his beloved Chelsea flat in the 1960s, and in his adopted New York, with the new millennium beckoning.


THEATRE / LIVE PERFORMANCE / FILM

15 – 16 May 2018

Everybody Sings
Bealtaine Festival

Everybody Sings is a candid and poignant examination of the relationship between intimacy and ageing and was developed in collaboration with a group of older citizens whose stories and experiences are presented through music, film and live performance.


THEATRE

14 May 2018

The Streets Are Ours
Fregoli Theatre Company

‘The Streets are Ours’ chronicles the night time activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in a small town in the midlands and their reunion with an old friend. Meeting in an empty parking lot, the gang reconnect, reminisce and attempt to heal old wounds, but as the night goes on, things left unsaid for too long begin to resurface.


CHILDREN’S THEATRE

13 May 2018

Cinderella’s Dreamand
Myart School of Dance

Cinderella’s Dreamland is a fantasy tale for children and adults. This performance combines different styles of dance performed by MyArt students.


THEATRE

1 – 12 May 2018

The Wendy House
Dreamback

Join six year old Lily as she packs up her favourite worldly possessions. She’s going to her Wendy House and once she gets there she’s never coming back. Through the delicate intertwining of her memories, Lily explores the struggles that families face in moments of trauma and the fearless power of childhood innocence and imagination.


THEATRE

23 – 28 April 2018

HashtagRelationshipGoalz
Squad Productions

Watch our wonder couple navigate through treacherous disruptions like your stepmam being a bollocks, your best friend being a dope, an uninspired future existence, kleptomania and deciding which boxset to watch next.


THEATRE

23 April – 5 May 2018

Pilgrim
The Gonzo Theatre Company

With allusions to classical myth, PILGRIM (Fishamble New Writing Award Nomination/ Manchester Theatre Award nomination) is a powerful new comedy/drama about a hard-edged youth coming of age on a pilgrimage home for the birth of his son. Written by award-winning playwright Philip Doherty and performed by Rex Ryan. (Dublin Fringe Best Actor nomination).


MUSIC

20 April 2018

Aine Cahil
MCD

Áine Cahill is a pop singer-songwriter from County Cavan. In June 2016 Áine made her debut playing a small tent at Glastonbury when she was spotted by the BBC and asked to play an acoustic performance live on their Glastonbury TV coverage.


SPOKEN WORD

15 April 2018

Scéals of the City – The Repeal Edition
Vickey Curtis

We’ve got that repealing in feeling and we’re here to pronounce proudly our pro choice stance through spoken word and song. Come and witness some of Irelands best and most powerful voices as they stand Together For Yes and raise funds for the campaign to repeal the eighth amendment. These are our bodies, our choices and our voices.


MUSIC

9 April 2018

Music Current 2018
Dublin Sound Lab

DUBLIN SOUND LAB presents MUSIC CURRENT 2018 a three-day festival of the best in new Irish and international contemporary electronic music. Considered as the ‘Fringe’ of Irish new music festivals, MUSIC CURRENT, now in its third year, gives a platform for the newest contemporary electronic music, hosting four concerts over three days.


THEATRE

11 – 21 April 2018

Debris
Reality:Check Productions

An odyssey of pain, blood, love and loss. An unreal journey through two disturbed minds, and the unfolding events leading up to the self crucifixion of their father in the front room. Enter the insane world of siblings Michael and Michelle. Debris is a depraved vision of the world, seen through their eyes.


VARIETY SHOW / FUNDRAISER

9 April 2018

Back Our Boys
Guihen Family

Shay and Finn Guihen are 6 year old identical twins, born with Pfeiffer Syndrome Type III: a rare genetic disorder causing a number of very challenging and life limiting disabilities. Come along and show support and help to pay for nursing care to allow these loving parents a break from the 24/7 demands of caring for the boys.


FESTIVAL

6 – 7 April 2018

Scuttlers
DADA Youth Theatre

Set against the backdrop of the cotton mills where these young people work, the play follows the lives of a few of the gang leaders; living, fighting and loving on the streets where they live. Leading to inevitable tragedy, these gang members are merely cogs in a wheel and so try to make their mark in other ways, marks that can still be felt in the Manchester of today.


COMEDY / TALK

2 April 2018

Psychovertical
Andy Kirkpatrick

Top British climber, and award winning author Andy Kirkpatrick looks back at 40 years of adventure in his brand new show ‘Psychovertical’. Andy is as well known for his stand up comedy as his climbing, so lots of laughs guaranteed!


FESTIVAL

29 March – 7 April 2018

Smock Allies : Scene + Heard Revisited
The Festival of New Work

Smock Allies : Scene + Heard is platform for work that is in development. Scene + Heard Revisited was a chance for shows that were cancelled due to the inclement weather conditions of March 2018 to be rescheduled.


BOOK LAUNCH

28 March 2018

The Woman in the Woods
John Connolly

To celebrate the launch of ‘The Woman in the Woods’, a new Charlie Parker thriller, John Connolly will be joined by composer and musician David O’Brien in what promises to be a unique and thrilling evening. The launch event will be followed by a book signing in The Gutter Bookshop, Cow’s Lane.


MUSIC

26 March 2018

Phonica : Eight
Phonica

Phonica is a series of events rooted in Word and Sound and with an emphasis on multiformity and the experimental. Conceived, programmed and hosted since early 2016 by Christodoulos Makris and Olesya Zdorovetska, Phonica aims to explore compositional and performative ideas and to encourage a melting pot of audiences and artists from across artforms.


THEATRE

21 – 24 March 2018

Lysistrata by Aristophenes
Inchicore College of Further Education

Lysistrata is a comic anti-war masterpiece by Aristophanes. It recounts the story of an Athenian woman’s ingenious plot to end the ongoing Peloponnesian war. Lysistrata calls together the women of Greece and proposes that they all withhold marital relations from their menfolk until a peace treaty is signed.


MUSICAL THEATRE

20 – 24 March 2018

Daddy Long Legs
Boulevard Productions

The Irish Premiere of Daddy Long Legs The Musical. Starring Eoin Cannon (just off his run as Frank McCourt in Angela’s Ashes, the Musical) and Róisín Sullivan (best known for playing Adele Rice in the European premiere of A Man of No Importance at The Arts Theatre on London’s West End). With Direction by Killian Collins and Musical Direction by David Wray.


THEATRE

13 – 17 March 2018

Dearmad na Fola
Aisteorí Bulfin

Díríonn an dráma ar an tsochaí, agus forbairt teichnolaíochta lenar féidir le comhlacht ‘cuimhne dhaona’ a cheannach. Creideann taighdeoir amháin go bhfuil sí ag obair i dtreo leigheas a fháil ar iompar síceapatach, deirtear le taighdeoir eile go bhfuil príomhaidhm an taighde rúnda agus dáinséarach…


THEATRE

13 – 16 March 2018

Diary of a Martian Beekeeper
Niamh Shaw

Niamh is on Mars and a member of Crew 173, on a long duration mission to investigate new ways of growing food in this arid foreign land. As their 2 year mission comes to an end, one crucial experiment remains for Niamh. But will she overcome her personal struggles or put the whole crew and the mission in danger?


THEATRE

5 – 10 March 2018

BUMP
BUMP&GRIND Theatre

Lily is 23, young, free and single and waiting for her life to start, but she’s hit a bump. Bump is a tale of some of the awkward encounters and nauseating moments that make up a girl’s life. Bump is a visceral and fast paced one-woman show exploring the journey from girl to womanhood.


FESTIVAL

14 Feb – 3 March 2018

Smock Allies : Scene + Heard
The Festival of New Work

Smock Allies : Scene + Heard is platform for work that is in development. We provide a safe environment with feedback and encouragement to support artists to make new work within the arts.


TALK

9 Feb 2018

When Love Smothers : On the Struggle to Create “A Me”
Donna Redmond & Clive Brassington

This innovative day brings together psychoanaytic theory and the theatre of Samuel Beckett to reflect on and discuss concepts such as madness, identity, creativity and the nature of love and its implications in creating a sense of self.


THEATRE

7 – 10 Feb 2018

The Half Promised Land
DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama

Influenced by time she spent in Isreal, Binchy’s play revolves around two Irish schoolteachers’ experience on a working holiday spent in a rural community on a kibbutz in Israel in 1966. Performed by graduating students of the BA Drama (Performance) at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama.


THEATRE

23 Jan – 3 Feb 2018

Walkinstown
Monkey Backstage

From the creators of the acclaimed How To Build Your First Robot comes Walkinstown. A surreal soiree that traverses the streets of Dublin’s past, present and future. Two humans on a comedically cosmic trajectory, led by love, lust and all that’s elementary.


COMEDY

15 – 20 Jan 2018

Personal Space
Stephen Colfer, Hannah Mamalis & Peter McGann

A black comedy about good people, none of whom are here. Personal Space tells three stories of mutual acquaintances who bring out the worst in each other. And then there’s a twist. An anthology of short comedies from Stephen Colfer, Hannah Mamalis and Peter McGann.


FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL

8 – 13 Jan 2018

The Egg is A Lonely Hunter
Hannah Mamalis

Sophie works in a shop.
She suffers from an irrational fear of eggs.
Her nipples are behaving strangely and a black hole has appeared in her neighbourhood that could be / probably is a pervert.


FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL

9 – 13 Jan 2018

The Friday Night Effect

Sunday’s Child

The Friday Night Effect combines compelling new writing with an edge-of-your-seat interactive experience. At crucial turning points in the story, the fate of the characters will be in the hands of the audience, whose decisions will change their stories irrevocably.


FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL

4 Jan 2018

A Face In The Crowd

The Discover/Recover Theatre Project

“A Face in the Crowd” was based on true accounts of the lived experiences of individuals who have come face to face with mental health challenges. It explored stories of darkness, hope, confusion, humour, friendship, resilience and recovery.


THEATRE

6 Jan 2018

Warriors and Women

Candlelit Tales

Most of us can name the great heroes of Irish legend, but what about the great heroines? Women who fought as hard as their husbands and brothers and sons, who struggled under curses and captivity, who rebelled, who avenged their loved ones, and avenged themselves. Women who deserve to be remembered!