THEATRE/FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL

5 – 15 Jan

The Chronicles of Oggle

Fight2Flight + Smock Alley Theatre

Meet Pakie. An orphan, a storyteller, an adventurer and a survivor. He may not be the sharpest sandwich in the toolbox but Pakie knows a thing or two.
Pakie’s a laugh a minute…but he’s got secrets. Secrets the God-fearing people of Oggle may not be ready to hear.

THEATRE

6 – 8 Jan

Falling Through The Universe

Declan Gorman

Can a book really change your life?
On a Winter’s evening in 1982, a young Irish emigrant sits in a Munich tavern reading a collection of stories. The course of his life is changed The book is “Dubliners”, borrowed that afternoon from a library. The final tale, “The Dead”, is regarded by many as the greatest short story ever written.

DANCE/FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL

13 – 15 Jan

Cloud Study

First Fortnight Festival

Cloud Study uses the idea of clouds as a traveling, dreamy mass which floats above everything.
Witnessing, dissolving, and carrying storms.
Two compelling dancers: Mufutau Yusuf, an Irish man born in Nigeria and Salma Ataya, a Palestinian dancer, are running to somewhere or from something, speaking English, Arabic and Yourba, communicating with their bodies, hand signs and dance.
Cloud Study is about witnessing and feeling rather than understanding.
It is both hopeful and moving.

THEATRE

21 + 22 Jan

Fight Night

Rise Productions

Winner of Best Actor and Bewley’s Little Gem awards at Dublin Fringe, and nominated Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards, Aonghus Óg McAnally returns with his smash hit solo show Fight Night by Gavin Kostick for a 10th Anniversary nationwide tour.

A gripping journey charting the comeback of Dan Coyle Jr, a failed amateur boxer living in the shadows of his overbearing father and his brother’s Olympic success. After years out of the ring, the birth of his own son reignites his competitive fire, and he takes the first tentative steps on his road to redemption.

This fast-paced and engaging solo performance combines intense physicality with a deeply emotional storytelling experience that will leave audiences both exhausted and exhilarated.

SCENE & HEARD FESTIVAL

7 – 26 Feb

Scene & Heard Festival 2022

Scene & Heard

Scene + Heard was designed to nurture and support artistic collaborations and showcase new works. Each year we give time and support to help 100 new shows find their creative developmental path + reach an audience.

MUSIC

6 Mar

Schubert: WINTERREISE

Irish Songmakers

Rising star Irish tenor Andrew Gavin and pianist Niall Kinsella perform Franz Schubert’s great song-cycle, Winterreise. One of the composer’s late works, composed in the final year of his life, Winterreise, or Winter Journey, has long captured the imaginations of audiences and performers alike. The cycle is an exploration of the human condition set over twenty-four scenes, which travel the inner journey of the soul, dealing with themes of loss, isolation, rejection, anger and unrequited love.

THEATRE

9 – 12 Mar

Walkinstown

Modest Odyssey

A fast-paced comedy about two individuals separately chasing a
confused notion of romance through the streets of Dublin’s past, present and
future. Walkinstown is a satirical homage to spoken word poetry and
the Dublin monologue genre. A couple of humans on a comedically cosmic trajectory,
led by love, lust and all that’s elementary. A staged anomaly, a melodramatic oddity.
This is not a play. This, is a theatrical odyssey. Probably.

THEATRE

8 – 12 Mar

Dyin’ For It

Basement Productions

In “Dyin’ For It” devilishly funny Ballyfermot playwright Derek Murphy takes us inside the home of the Kelly women as they prepare to grieve the imminent death of their patriarch, and they would grieve… if only he’d get on with it. The Kelly’s are falling apart while trying hard not to come together.

THEATRE

13 Mar

Halcyon Days

Directions Out Theatre Company

Patricia has a zest for life and men when she is thrust together with Sean who is languishing in a nursing home.
They form a funny, spiky and close relationship. Halcyon Days examines the importance of friendship, family and community and how under duress people need to make the most of what they have. It is a play about staying positive despite the odds.

Halcyon Days is full of funny and touching moments. It is a play to warm, inspire and cheer you in difficult times.
An evening of theatre that will charm you. Not to be missed!

THEATRE

13 Mar

Hunt

Young Dramatic Arts

Hunt is about a group of Belfast teenagers playing their version of hide and seek.

Their version entails ‘borrowing’ objects from their neighbours back gardens, and ‘dumping’ them at the ‘box’ without being caught, by either the official pursuers or the neighbours who’s gardens they are infringing upon – hence the chances of being caught are twofold.

The more outlandish and extraordinary the object and the more difficult to acquire it is, the more kudos you score. The thing is, nearly all of these teenagers are far too old to play this ‘kids’ game, and it’s February, it’s freezing and there’s a storm coming, but Jo wants to impress James, the boy from her new school, he’s not from round here and she’s not from round there.

Their fledgling relationship represents a bridge across a class divide. So begrudgingly, the ‘band’ gets back together, for one last game. However, this could be the worst decision of their tiny lives as little do they know that the rumours about the strange, predatory ‘Man in the Van’ are true and the even stranger, dangerous, the one everyone has been warned to stay away from, ‘Mad’ Danielle is back on the block.

This is a hunt they will never forget.

MUSIC

16 Mar

Martin Praetorius

Martin Praetorius

Prior to the release of his new album ‘It’s OK, I’m still laughing!’, the German singer, songwriter and troubadour Martin Praetorius will make his long awaited Dublin debut on March 16th, 2022, at ‘The Boys School’ of Smock Alley Theatre.

The singer, like so many other artists, has entertained his fans on the net for the past two years with his weekly show ‘Wednesdayslive with Martin Praetorius.’

The 100th and final episode will be streamed in front of a live audience from ‘Dublin’s oldest newest theatre!’

Praetorius’ music couches somewhere in the twilight zone between Roots-Rock, Folk, Americana and Celtic influences. Although inspired by many of the great songwriters, often sharing the stage with well-known acts of the international songwriting scene, Praetorius presents his own style and sings short stories that aim point-blank, straight at the heart.

PODCAST

23 Mar

Basically with Stefanie Preissner… LIVE!

HeadStuff | Stefanie Preissner

Basically… with Stefanie Preissner is the podcast that takes news stories and issues and makes sense of them, basically.
Former guests have been wide ranging from Michael Martin, Taoiseach of Ireland to the creators and stars of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, with all sorts of experts in between on topics like mental health, politics, interviews, religion, death, fertility, dating and much, much more.

On the night we will record two full episodes with a lucky live audience in the beautiful surrounds of the Smock Alley Theatre. It will be informative, and it will be craic. You can expect some favourites from the stall of great Basically guests!

THEATRE

30 Mar – 9 Apr

Country and Irish

Fight2Flight

A man, a banana and a tape recorder.…and a bomb.

Donie Burris has a whole heap of troubles facing him: with his girlfriend, her son, Albanian gangsters, the Longford mafia and a very overbearing mammy. How can he get them all off his back? He imagines himself as the star of his own gangster movie, and he won’t go down without a fight…

Fight 2Flight Theatre presents the world stage premiere of Patrick McCabe’s play Country and Irish, a hilarious but savage portrait of a man at the end of his rope, starring Peter Gowen. It is a wild joyride that pays homage to film noir, Samuel Beckett and even the Teletubbies – a startling, provocative fever dream. Featuring a soundtrack of terrific music worthy of the title. Country and Irish is like nothing else you’ll see this year.

THEATRE

1 Apr

The Strangest Time

Blue Diamond

A group of friends take on Corona O Virus in a battle during “The Strangest Time”

Blue Diamond is a third-level drama training academy for people with intellectual disabilities. A working theatre company and a path to creating meaningful employment that suits our students needs. Our inspiring community is made up of a collective of talented individuals who share a deep-rooted passion for the Arts. From teaching to acting or directing, this is a place where students are free to explore their passion. Students of the Academy get expert tuition, acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to pursue their creative goals. The Theatre Company offers both graduates and other talented actors with intellectual disabilities a path to work in the performing arts. The idea for Blue Diamond began when Dr. Anthony and Mrs. Susan Walsh witnessed first-hand the lack of opportunities for young adults with an intellectual disability and a talent and passion for drama. In 2016, they established the Blue Diamond Drama Academy to offer students their ‘big break’ and simultaneously change societal perceptions.

THEATRE/SHOWCASE

4 – 9 Apr

In Our Veins

Inchicore College of Further Education

At the funeral of lifelong Dublin docker Patrick, his wife Esther recounts previously untold stories spanning 100 years of their family’s history in Dublin, to their children and grandchildren.

Lee Coffey was commissioned to write In Our Veins by Dublin Port Authority as part of their Port Perspectives Initiative. It was co-produced with his company Bitter as a Lemon with the Abbey Theatre and premiered in 2019.

Lee describes his play as “a love letter to Dublin, in every sense. Putting a lens up to a world that no longer exists and that will never exist again. A world of tough choices, hardship and survival where human kindness knew no bounds as the dark and unforgiving world took everything.”

THEATRE

13 + 14 Apr

Looking For América

Mermaid Arts Centre and Once Off Productions

Directed and co-written by Janet Moran (A Holy Show, Swing), Looking for América is the real-life story of writer and performer Federico Julián González.
Following his father’s arrest by a Military Junta, at the age of five, Fede and his family were forced to flee the Salvadoran Civil war. There followed years of continuous moving throughout Latin America with his mother and brother as they sought sanctuary.

In 2019, Fede and his 74-year-old mother set off on a quest through Havana to look for América. Shared memories, conflicting recollections and offline maps led them through their past. A past peopled with ghosts scattered among grand avenues, dark lanes and unnerving dead ends in the city that had taken them in, more than 30 years before. They spoke to shop-keepers, taxi drivers, old ladies and more importantly to each other. When they were about to give up, they found her.

Looking for América charts two journeys. The journey of that night in Havana looking for a Salvadoran ex-Guerilla fighter called América, and the journey of escaping the catastrophe that had engulfed his country decades before. A catastrophe whose after effects still resonate today.

MUSICAL THEATRE/DADA

22 + 23 Apr

Into the Woods

Dublin Academy of Dramatic Arts

Be careful what you wish for as Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s cock-eyed fairytale comes to life in this new take on the Tony-award winning musical Into The Woods.

Featuring all your favourite characters; Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood , Jack and the Witch in this lyrically rich retelling of the classic Brothers Grimm fables.

THEATRE

20 – 23 Apr

Over The Bridge

Bright Umbrella

Bright Umbrella present the 60th Anniversary production of Sam Thompson’s iconic Ulster play, ‘Over the Bridge’, a powerful portrayal of sectarianism and murder in the Belfast shipyards.
In 1959, after the play’s banning by the Group Theatre’s Board of Directors following government representations, Director James Ellis and many of the cast and crew resigned and formed a new company to direct a production of the play.
It was eventually seen by over 80,000 people throughout these islands including many East Belfast shipyard workers who dubbed it, ‘our play, our story’.

THEATRE

28 – 30 Apr

In One Eye, Out The Other

Tadhg Hickey

Tadhg Hickey introduces you to Feargal; a downtrodden but cheery man who fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an alcoholic. Using the Catholic calendar as a roadmap, Feargal leads us on a surreal and hilarious journey with many poignant twists in the hope of arriving at a sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the ‘bright man’.

Described by The Irish Independent as a “…brave, risky performance. This is exciting work”, In One Eye, Out The Other was programmed in Dublin Fringe under the heading, ‘shows that defy categorisation’. IEOTO seems to be at a meeting point of stand-up comedy, storytelling, and confessional monologue play. The show initially feels like a surreal character comedy piece but the experience takes a turn for the dramatic and tragic when the reality behind Feargal’s tall tales, heartbreakingly emerges.

Tadhg is very open about his own alcoholism, and wanted to create a show that’d offer something fresh to discussions about alcoholism/addiction and mental health without being preachy or depressing! His aim was to disarm with surreal humour and sneak the poignancy in the back door.

THEATRE

2 – 7 May

Catch of the Day

Red Fox Theatre

Ireland, 1966. Joe Welch, a skipper, sails into Dingle Bay with a very unusual catch…

What follows is a ridiculous series of events involving Eamon De Valera, Queen Elizabeth and a whole lot of nuns. An unbelievable true story, Catch of The Day, is a raucous, ‘side-splittingly funny’ (The Irish Post *****) and little bit-political play with live trad-inspired music, all set in a Dingle pub.

Following It’s award nominated Edinburgh Fringe run, critically acclaimed sell out UK Tour Catch of The Day, visits Dublin for the first time.

THEATRE/MUSIC

10 – 15 May

Parcel from America

Hairpin Productions

With Irish emigration at its core, Parcel From America weaves a musical story of loved ones who were forced to leave and those who had to stay behind, and the great power and significance of one particular parcel sent home from America.

The writing team for Parcel From America is an International blend. The story is by Tomáseen Foley from rural West Limerick.. The book and lyrics are by award-winning playwriting team Jahnna Beecham, Michael J. Hume and Malcolm Hillgartner, whose musicals have been produced all over the US and Canada and are published by Concord Theatricals and Broadway Licensing. The songs and arrangements are by Hillgartner and Dublin’s Kevin Corcoran, who tours with Conor O’Brien’s Villagers whose album Fever Dreams was a 2021 nominee for Best Album of the Year in Ireland. This collective has been working on the musical for almost 4 years with workshops at the New Theatre in Dublin, Irish Theatre Chicago, and Mountain the Richard Hay Theatre in Ashland, Oregon. They are thrilled to premiere this musical in Ireland, where the story is rooted, and particularly Dublin, where their journey began.

THEATRE

9 – 14 May

Nursey

No Desserts

Nursey is a heartfelt comedy about a young nurse who in 1970s Ireland who leaves the loving embrace of sheltered family life in the wilds of Mayo to head to The Rotmund Hospital in the capital to fulfil her vocation of becoming what she was born to be, the best nurse in Ireland. Nursey is enthusiastic and endlessly positive, yet very naïve.
An apparition of Florence Nightingale forces her down some very bizarre paths on her mission to heal the sick and destitute of Dublin City.

Writer and performer Aoife Martyn, plays a whole host of hilarious characters in this high octane, physical comedy.

THEATRE

23 – 28 May

Terminus

Jack of All Trades

This May Jack of all Trades Productions make their return to the stage with a version of Mark O’Rowe’s classic Terminus; a monologue play of 3 characters who traverse the comically dark grimey streets of Dublin City filled with demons, it’s the story of a fantastical world of singing serial killers, avenging angels and lovesick demons. The ordinary will become extraordinary when this play comes to Smock Alley running from May 25th to the 28th.

MUSIC/THEATRE

31 May – 4 Jun

The Soldier’s Tale

The Fews Ensemble with Ciarán Hinds

Igor Stravinsky’s First World War music theatre piece tells the dark Faustian fable of a soldier who makes a trade with the devil on the promise of untold wealth and success… or so he is led to believe. A unique opportunity to hear one of Ireland’s leading Chamber Music Ensembles bring this masterpiece to life alongside Oscar-nominated actor Ciarán Hinds and contemporary dancer Emily Ayers.

Our story telling begins in the first half when we will transport you to Argentina for a musical depiction of the History of the Tango by Astor Piazzolla and we start the concert with some arrangements from De Falla’s ballet ‘The Three Cornered Hat”

“Perhaps it’s best to say: it’s a cracker. And that’s whether your taste is for drama, poetry, modern music, jazz or dance. All the art forms are there, brilliantly delivered.” – Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent.

THEATRE

9 – 24 Jun

Dubliners

The Corn Exchange and Smock Alley Theatre

Dubliners by James Joyce
Adapted by Annie Ryan & Michael West

“Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.” – The Dead

The Corn Exchange and Smock Alley Theatre present Dubliners by James Joyce, an extraordinary opportunity to experience Joyce’s masterful collection as part of the Bloomsday Festival 2022.

Dubliners offers an astonishing and enduring portrayal of the city – a mirror in which the people of Dublin, as Joyce once wrote, could take “one good look at themselves”. The stories, sharply ironic, beautiful, despairing and mysterious cohere into what Joyce called “a chapter of the moral history of my country”.

Directed by Irish Times award winning director Annie Ryan this new contemporary production, reconfigured from the hugely successful 2012 production for Dublin Theatre Festival, deftly captures the rich humour, the small cruelties and the celebrated epiphanies of Joyce’s iconic stories.

THEATRE

14 – 18 Jun

A Rare Journey: Nora Joyce’s Odyssey

Cadence Theatre Company

A world premiere of a one woman show which celebrates the life of a remarkable Irish woman, Nora Joyce. The play, which is written and performed by Paula Greevy-Lee, is highly entertaining and filled with music, giving free reign to Nora’s witty and often acerbic commentary on her life and times.

Beginning in 1946, five years after James Joyce’s death, A RARE JOURNEY opens as Nora prepares to meet a young American journalist in a café in Zurich, where she still lives until she can get her late husband’s remains repatriated to Ireland. Anxious about what questions she’ll be asked by the journalist – and which ones she’ll answer! – Nora retraces the exhilarating highs and best-left-unsaid lows of her life since the fateful meeting with a cocky young James Joyce on Nassau Street all those years ago.

THEATRE/ GAIETY SCHOOL OF ACTING SHOWCASE

3 + 4 Dec

Strange Days

Gaiety School of Acting

Established in 1989 by the poet Theo Dorgan, Poetry Ireland’s Introductions Series offers exciting opportunities for talented, emerging poets to showcase their work. Many acclaimed poets have taken part Strange Days is a fast-paced, dark and hilarious tale of insanity. Take a step back in time, to the lawless town of Mason – full of corruption, greed and disappearances. On the verge of Election Day, the town starts to unravel as a new leader emerges. Unearthing secrets, long thought to be hidden. Conspiring gravediggers, a packed gallows and a lingering rot that fills the air. Welcome to Mason.

THEATRE

29 + 30 Jun

KITES

LipZinc Theatre

‘Come on Angel, don’t you ever want to fly?’ 1948. Cork City’s crying. Rations. Unemployment. And those unforgiving clouds. But two girls are plotting a new planet. Kitty’s a native, desperate for adventure, and Angel’s a blow-in searching for home. Through flying kites, dress-up and play, they leave behind their broken families and war-time grief, and let their fantasies find wings. But what happens when the line gets caught and reality beckons? KITES is a fast-paced, visually striking play about the rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood in post-war Ireland, exploring gender roles, sexuality, friendship, love and rage.

THEATRE

4 – 16 Jul

I Poured The Tea

Fair Dinkum Theatre!

Seamus and Boxer seem to have it made, on their paid-for holiday in the tropics … until their island starts to feel a bit deserted and rather dangerous. Meanwhile over in the Chairman’s office of an investment bank, Fitzsimons is feeling the heat and seeking to pass the buck, in this fast-moving comedy of the blame game and the financial crisis.

THEATRE/PERFORMANCE THEATRE

8 + 9 Jul

FEAR

Outlandish Theatre Platform

FEAR is a new performance developed by Outlandish Theatre Platform as part of Open Theatre Practice, a weekly experimental performance making workshop, open to the public, which runs as part of their arts, health and community residency at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital. FEAR is co-created by an ensemble of fourteen performers, Fióna Bolger, Dallal Bounekdja, Larissa Brigatti, Laurence Cunningham, Joan Somers Donnelly, Mark Dyer, Clara FitzGerald, Neo Gilson, Siber Habib, Olivia Hassett, Hannes Jung, Sabine Paschen, Rebecca Ryan, Wafaa Abusharekh and creative designers Oli Ryan (sound), James Hosty (movement), Sheila Murphy (lighting), Venetia Bowe (costume), Bernie O’Reilly and Maud Hendricks (concept directors).

DANCE/FILM SCREENING

14 Jul

Charity showcase of film-ballet «Vodurudu»

Ukrainian Signal & Untold Ukraine

Vodurudu (meaning: Will, Thought, Movement, Spirit) is a folk-improvisational film-ballet, the origins of which are environment and time. This film is an act of revival of national culture, through the expressiveness of such independent elements of folk art as music and dance, displayed in the frame of the film, that transforms their action into a dynamic picture that will be tested only by faith and time.

A group of street dancers of various genres gathers in the city, united by the impulse of plastic movement, and the search movement leads to the work of Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, who celebrated the image of creating a living action with the harmony of his works. Their role – guide (translators). The goal is a revival (genetic). Great Memory of national melos and poetry, which restores the original spirit, character and will of our people in the modern world.

This ballet film is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the tragic death of the father of Ukrainian melody Mykola Leontovych, the composer who created “Carol of the Bells” (“Shchedryk”) — one of the most famous Christmas songs in the world.

MUSIC

15 + 16 Jul

The Belly of the Earth

Stephen Gardener

A musical interpretation of 3 poems by Paula Meehan. The music will be part improvised and experimental.

On ‘Never….Never…..Never….’ ,composed by Stephen Gardner, International Record Review said ‘It must blow you away in a live performance, letting the audience feel the thrill of its visceral power.’

PERFORMED BY Matthew Jacobson, Lauren Kinsella, Shane Latimer, Paula Meehan, Cathal Roche
WRITTEN BY Stephen Gardner and Paula Meehan
DIRECTED BY Stephen Gardner
SOUND ENGINEER Simon Cullen
PERFORMANCE FILMED BY Louis Haugh

THEATRE

19 – 31 July

Albatross

MJS Enterprises

This fast-paced adventure story explores the themes of regret, isolation and the interconnected relationship between human beings and the natural world we inhabit. It takes its inspiration from Coleridge’s Mariner, an 18th-century sailor who is cursed with immortality and is thrust into the modern world. Written and performed as a rollicking sea yarn, Albatross delivers a profound and relevant message about mindfulness and the effect of our thoughtless actions on all living things. The audience sets sail in a spare but visually thrilling stagecraft, powered by the latest multimedia technology. Immersed in this sensory otherworld, audiences come to find out who the Mariner is, why he must forever tell his story, and what he is searching for as he roams the earth.

This production has been critically acclaimed in its prior runs including Off Broadway in New York City, Edinburgh Fringe, and multiple cities in the United States including Boston, Phoenix and Atlanta.

CABARET

21 – 23 Jul

Iron Annie

Luke Cassidy

A unique musical and theatrical interpretation of one of the most ambitious literary debuts of recent years, the Iron Annie Cabaret is coming to the Boys School at Smock Alley this July. It’s a show that combines live music with the intensity of monologue theatre that is in turns intimate, violent and funny. Think Reservoir Dogs meets Fleabag with a badass original soundtrack.

Set primarily against the backdrop of the North Louth/South Armagh border, Iron Annie tells the story of the obsessive love story of Aoife, a South Armagh native based in Dundalk, and Annie, a Belfast woman. A foul-mouthed wheeler-dealer type, Aoife meets the well-heeled Annie while out on the sproí and so begins the story of a doomed love that takes place in between smuggling pills and selling cocaine on the sly. Published to widespread acclaim in September 2021, the book went on to be shortlisted for the prestigious Desmond Elliott Prize for first novels published in the UK & Ireland.

THEATRE

27 – 30 Jul

King John | The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Purple Door

Experience the best upcoming talent from the North of England as one cast stage two of Shakespeare’s least known plays…

What comes to mind when you think of King John? The Magna Carta? Forget it. Shakespeare’s rarely staged tragedy about Britain’s most useless king rediscovers this overlooked gem, relocated to the middle of Thatcher’s Britain amid the miner’s strike that led to a bloody revolution. Shakespeare’s play examines the responsibility of power, the need for war, and the inability of men to rule, in an uneasily patriotic play that raises as many questions about our leaders today as it did 400 years ago.

Paired in rep with King John, The Two Gentlemen of Verona takes you to mid-90’s Liverpool in a riotous production that celebrates the messy, filthy joy of young love. What happens when you fall in love with your best friend’s other half? Come on a sensory journey with us, in a production which seeks to bring the joy of togetherness after too many solitary years of Covid. Get your shell suit and your pagers ready, it’s time to spice up your life.

THEATRE

8 – 16 Aug

Everything Is Grand, and I’m Completely Okay.

Eruption Collective

Malachy has just turned 25, and he has a few things to say about that. Dealing with the death of his younger brother, he is struggling to come to terms with all that he is, and everything that he’s not.

Working as a customer support advisor in a call centre at a bin disposal company and experiencing many different escapades with his best friend Pauline, Malachy is eager to take some time to reflect and move on with his life. He quickly comes to realise, however, that it’s not as easy as it seems on paper.

A new play about growing up, and the lessons we learn along the way.

THEATRE

24 Aug – 3 Sep

Looking at the Sun

AboutFACE

Ron wants his family and friends to experience the summer vacation of his childhood. However, his friends are too busy seeking a threesome, his kids don’t give a shit, the Australians next door want to see the “real” America and his wife won’t stop falling asleep. Will he have the summer of his life? Will he connect with his family? Will he ever get cotton candy? The world premiere of a hilarious and moving new comedy about sad people on vacation.

MUSIC/SPOKEN WORD

3 Sep

A Night of Grief and Mystery

Orphan Wisdom

Author/Activist Stephen Jenkinson and recording artist Gregory Hoskins fuse their separate work into an evening that is part book reading, part concert, part poetry, part lamentation, part ribaldry, part lifting the mortal veil and learning the mysteries there. What would you call such a thing? We called it Nights of Grief & Mystery. That’s what’s been performed to sold out houses in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Iceland and the USA.

THEATRE/MUSIC

6 + 7 Sep

On A House Like A Fire

Michelle Read and Brian Keegan present

On A House Like A Fire is a powerful story told through fragments and glimpses – an immersive experience about the nature of memory and the way we remember.

Sometimes in a gesture, or in a turn of phrase, sometimes in the scent of hairspray, or glimpsed in an old photograph, a person reappears. In this evocative and lyrical memoir piece, words and music ebb and flow to build up and undermine the past like a beach over time and tide.

‘…utterly absorbing…’
‘…a beautiful one-woman drama…’
‘…done with great feeling, affection and atmosphere…’
‘…understated but almost tangible…’
‘…an ending that’s dramatic, moving and told with great skill and sensitivity.’
Show of the week**** Irish Mail on Sunday

MUSIC

8 Sep

A Night of the Written Page

Arrivalists

One voice. One guitar.

Join us for a performance of the critically acclaimed album ‘Last of the Written Pages’ by Arrivalists.

‘A heart wrenching suite of songs’ – Tony Clayton Lea – Sunday Business Post.

‘An album that’s stately elegant and quietly magnificent’ – John Meaghar – Irish Independent

THEATRE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

10 – 14 + 16 Sep

Pig Brain

Emma Finegan, Sam Killian and Annachiara Vispi

Elon Musk is planting chips in pig brains.

VOYAGR, a lonely online streamer turned terrorist, has a terrible feeling he’s doing so much more.

As she prepares an act of terrorism that will save all future pigs, she takes us down a path of absurd realisations, wild dancing and pure heartbreak.

It’s about billionaires, animals and the online world. It’s about being too insignificant to make things change. It’s about pigs: smart, cute, and in dire need of our help.

COMEDY/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

12 – 14 Sep

An Evening with Michael Fry & Killian Sundermann

The Collaborations Agency

Experience a unique night of laughter from Ireland’s favourite internet comedians Michael Fry and Killian Sundermann, bringing their jokes, sketches and tunes live on stage. See the guys trade in the safety of standing behind the smartphone for an up close and personal performance that will leave you trawling through their social archives for more.

THEATRE/ OPERA /DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

13 – 17 Sep

24/7 Bliss

bluehouse theatre

Marina works in a 24-hour dry cleaners in a lonely Dublin. The streets feel like a film set and everyone looks like a stranger. Every day, accompanied only by radio broadcasts from musical weatherman Anthony Murphy, she creates stories from the clothes her customers won’t come to collect. Written by Iseult Deane and presented by bluehouse theatre, 24/7 Bliss is a play about film stars, banshees, build-to-rent apartments and losing the sensation of touch. A demi-opera dedicated to clean clothes.

THEATRE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

12 – 17 Sep

SPEAR

CN Smith

Three old friends meet in an abandoned athletics field to drink into the early morning. Many year have passed. Between them, the diary of an old friend is shared, now an Olympic gold medalist.

Who have they become, since they last spoke? What remains of those boys? If one is world champion, what does that make the rest of them?

IMPROV/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

13 – 15 + 18 Sep

Klankety Klank

Sissy That Pod & Phoning It In…

Roll up and take your seat for this hilarious parody of the beloved gameshow Blankety Blank.

Watch as a dazzling cast of Irish comedians, improvisers and drag queens impersonate global and local celebrities in this unique comedy quiz spectacular.

The twist is, every night has a different cast, characters and questions, so ANYTHING can and will happen. It’s sure to be… BLANK!

COMEDY/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

11 – 15 + 17 Sep

Oops, This Is Toxic

Julie Jay

Cloud Study uses the idea of clouds as a traveling, dreamy mass which floats above everything.
As a fellow early eighties Sagittarius, comedian Julie Jay’s life has had a lot of parallels with Britney Spears.
Britney was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club, Julie was a member of the Poetry Club.
Britney can sing like an angel, Julie was the only hearing child in her class of 30 who didn’t make the Confirmation Choir.
This dark comedy love letter is a nostalgia fest for anyone who has ever dropped to that Hit Me Baby beat, for anyone who came of age against the backdrop of nineties/noughties misogyny, for anyone who has wanted to be defined by their moments of joy rather than their moments of pain. From the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal to the terrifying lows of noughties reality TV, ‘Oops, This is Toxic’ is a celebration not just of Britney, but of everyone who survived an era wherein Justin Timberlake’s flew high while Janet Jacksons got grounded.*

*Warning: this show may contain images of nineties and noughties fashion which some audience members may find upsetting.

THEATRE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

15 – 18 Sep

Oh, Brother.

Ragged Ruin

Matthew and Michael have both always wanted one thing. A sibling. Now all they have to do is meet. Easy right?

But how do you introduce yourself to someone you should already know? Filled with anxiety, hope and no questions unasked. A tale of two brothers united at last.

COMEDY/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

15 – 18 Sep

DREAMGUN VIDEO

Dreamgun

The most iconic films you’ve never seen because we made them up.

The team behind FILM READS let go of the wheel with a triple feature of original laugh-aminute genre-parodies: Brumpy Goes Vroom (a coming of age talking-car movie), Kiss the Jury (an erotic courtroom drama) and Amazon Wild Adventure (a cash grab based on a fictional theme-park ride).

DRAG/COMEDY/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

16 + 17 Sep

The Wind That Shakes The Wig

Candy Warhol

A Queen ventures through the Emerald Isle on a queer crusade to champion the nation’s treasures, icons and ultimately save the masses from heteronormativity.

Aided by Saint Marian Mary The 6th, Candy writes a love letter to Ireland’s pop culture pioneers and limelight lion-hearts while exploring her camp connection to the country she once felt ostracised by.

Experience a glittering feast for the soul with craic agus ceol as our royal banríon discovers there’s no place like abhaile!

PODCAST/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

17 Sep

What Did You Eat This Week?

James Kavanagh

Join James Kavanagh for a live recording of his hit culinary podcast What Did You Eat This Week? where he speaks to Seema Pankhania of Mob fame (search @Mob on Instagram, you will not be disappointed with its stunning food content).

@SeemaGetsBaked recently left Mob and is carving out a very exciting food career of her own. James & Seema met in Barbados and gushed over the food (and rum punch), so expect a full run down of that. James will also have two special guests on hand for a bonus interview at the end: his parents.

EXHIBITION/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

19 – 24 Sep

Rising Tide

Cracking Light Productions

An interactive exhibition showcasing the voices of young environmental artists living in high flood risk counties including Dublin, Cork and Clare.

They have conjured up alternate futures, ripe with possibility, change and the ultimate hope that a rising tide will lift all boats.

THEATRE/MUSIC/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

19 – 24 Sep

We Are An Archipelago

Erin Fornoff

The somewhat true story of a 99-year-old man who moves home to Ocracoke, the strange little island of his birth, after 80 years gone.

Performed to a live score from pianist Johnny Taylor, this show imagines his return and his unlikely friendship with young pregnant woman Deena.

Washed up, they wait out a hurricane at the dusk and dawning of their two lives.

Musician: Johnny Taylor

EXHIBITION/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

19 – 24 Sep

Scopaesthesia

remi freer

The metropolis is a chaotic entity. A web of public spaces connected through ridged systems. Streetlights, security cameras, motion sensors, advertising screens. Systems that are constantly aware of us, attempting to communicate, influence or just observe.

A cross-disciplinary work that creates two interlocked digital experiences, for audiences in Dublin and Melbourne, Scopaesthesia is the creeping feeling of something’s eyes staring in the back of your head. Something unknown watching us. Watching with uncertain goals and unintelligible intention.

Happening simultaneously in cities across the world from each other, this work uses the invisible systems around us to inhabit and observe our public spaces.

COMEDY/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

19 + 20 Sep

The Chorus of Ghosts Living in my Skull Keep Telling Me to Take a shit in the Fruit Salad

Paul Currie

A brand new show from the award-winning Belfast comedian.

Hold on to your reproductive bits all you random chromosomes, you’re in for an hourlong existential genre-defying rollercoaster ride of rule-breaking stand-up comedy.

THEATRE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

20 – 24 Sep

Minimal Human Contact

AISLING GHÉAR

A new voice from the urban Gaeltacht of west Belfast. This one-man show delves deep into the world of compulsive gambling, to produce cathartic results. Gritty, intense and in Irish, this new play is written by Naoise Ó Cairealláin, award-winning rapper Moglaí Bap from KNEECAP.

Glór úr as Gaeltacht uirbeach larthar Bhéal Feirste. Déanann an seó aonar seo mionscagadh ar an chearrbhachas neamhshrianta, le toradh cartairseach a nochtadh. Cróga, dian agus i nGaeilge, seo é an drama úr scríofa ag Naoise Ó Cairealláin, an rapálaí duaiseach Moglaí Bap as KNEECAP.

THEATRE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

20 – 24 Sep

Fluff

Lianne O’Hara

What happens when men think they can buy women? When bodies are governed by someone else’s desire?

Following two Dublin strippers through an evening’s work, this performance explores bodily autonomy, feminism, entitlement, power, and money in a setting which is usually kept safely behind closed doors.

An insight into an otherwise concealed aspect of Irish life, Fluff will challenge your beliefs around sex work – and show you how it’s done.

DANCE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

21 – 24 Sep

Dance Double: Saoirse na mBan + TEST 1

Dance Double

Saoirse na mBan
Ghaliah Conroy & Saoirse Lambkin O’Kane

Celebrating Irish women and their feats over history, cracking the shell and seeing what lies beneath. This dance performance explores the treatment of Irish women throughout generations, understanding their diverse experiences and how it’s affected them and their identity.

TEST 1
Rosie Stebbings & Ornella Dufay-Miralles

Instagram lives, augmented reality, the metaverse: What are we leaving behind as we move ever further into the virtual realm, and how do we cope as our physical and digital selves grow more distant from one another?

Through hypnotic, powerful movement, two dancers grapple with these questions, confronting an uncomfortable reality. This performance is a physically poetic exploration of the complicated relationships we all have with our avatars.

CIRCUS/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

20 – 24 Sep

Snatch & Grab

Snatch Circus

DEADLY, DIRTY AND DANGEROUS.

A D.I.Y spectacle of absurd acrobatics, contorted comedy and household appliances,this show is COMPLETELY ENVIRO-MENTAL.

A radical circus car crash of dangerous juggling, drunken stunts and precariously balanced toasters from the Belfast-based fem-punk circus made up of award-winning agents of chaos Angelique Reckless Ross and Mish Mash Thoburn, aided and abetted by Ken Fanning.

COMEDY/DRAG/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

22 + 24 Sep

Platforms

Platforms

Dublin’s sharpest drag artists and trans comedians put the alt-right through the ringer in a biting satire of a media environment that not only enables hate speech, but cheers it on. No faux-outrage too faux, no dog-whistle too shrill, no moral panic too panicky.

Conspiracy theories with better contour: fake news has never looked this fabulous and mass hysteria has never been this, well, hysterical. Any familiar (and litigious) Irish faces are entirely coincidental.

CHILDREN’S THEATRE/DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL

21 + 22 Sep

Of Bluebells & Butterflies

Graffiti Theatre Company

A fantastical garden full of wondrous creatures blossoms to life in our imagination, inviting the audience to playfully engage through song, gentle movement, touch and fingerplay.

This interactive dance theatre performance for babies (0-12 months) and their adults fuses movement, sound, music and set design to create an immersive, multi-sensory, interactive experience.

MUSIC

29 + 30 Sep

Tenor Seán Kennedy and Some Stories

Seán Kennedy

I always say- you can’t just do a stuffy old recital Seán! But the music is so beautiful, it comes to life when sung, it needs to be sung! Every piece has meaning scattered in time. So I’ve placed them into a dreamscape of memories that you can feel your way through with me as I sing for you. Join me in celebrating life as the universe does it’s magic!

“Extraordinary performance which gives voice to the inexpressible” – Irish Times ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THEATRE/DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL

7 – 16 Oct

The Realistic Joneses

Gare St Lazare

Meet Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbours, John and Pony, two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and shared last name. As their relationships begin to irrevocably intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities. Gare St Lazare Ireland continue their exploration of Eno’s work following their award winning collaboration on Title and Deed which was written for the company in 2011.

“Life in Enoland isn’t what you’d call realistic — it’s more real than that.” — Time Out New York

“Funny and moving, wonderful and weird” —-The New York Times

THEATRE

12 – 15 Oct

Dancing In The Moonlight: A Play About Phil Lynott

Miles Mlambo

A solo show exploring the formative years of Phil Lynott.

Set in 1960’s Dublin, Phil tells his life story, from birth to the formation of Thin Lizzy. This one-man show explores Phil’s experience as a musician, from earlier bands, first girlfriends and the difficulties of being the only black kid in his school. This is the story of how a young man who grew up in Crumlin went on to become one of the greatest rock icons of the 1970’s.

LITERATURE/ARTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL

20 Oct

Victoria Amelina: “Nothing Bad Has Ever Happened: Stories and Poems from Ukraine”

Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann/Arts and Human Rights Festival/Dublin UNESCO City of Literature

Victoria Amelina will talk about the role of writers and artists who chose to remain in Ukraine after the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24th and discuss her new project, War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War. She will also read from her own work.

MUSIC

 22 Oct

An Cosán Draíochta

Stiuideo Cuan

MUSIC

22 Oct

Kirkos perform Ian Wilson and Annea Lockwood

Kirkos

Kirkos presents The Song Ring’d Sky a new piece by Irish composer Ian Wilson and bayou-borne, for Pauline by New Zealand-born American composer Annea Lockwood.

Both pieces have a strong ecological element and an interesting use of space:

The song-ring’d sky (string trio, horn, flute, alto saxophone & bass clarinet) is an environmental birdsong piece that uses the cries and call of some of the highest-flying birds in the world as source material and plays with horizontal and vertical space of the Boys School in Smock Alley.

bayou-borne, for Pauline (six players) is a map of the six bayous converging near Houston, Texas, with accompanying instructions. Performers improvise, each following one of the six bayous on the map. In the score, Lockwood writes, ‘while these rivers normally move sluggishly, their character changed powerfully during Hurricane Harvey (August 2017), when rapids formed, currents accelerated considerably and placid bayous became fierce conduits of floodwaters which devastated the Houston area and caused many deaths.’

THEATRE/COMEDY

25 – 29 Oct

Best Man

A Few Words

Cathal is 35, renting, eternally single, and has just spent the last three years watching all of his friends settle down, get married and have kids. Every. Single. One. Even John, his best friend, former housemate, and Casanova of the group. The one no one thought would get married. Yet here he is, the best man at John’s wedding, about to give his speech. Only he appears to have lost it! So he decides to wing it and he continues to lose it, completely unraveling in front of all his friends and family. And you get to be there to watch it all unfold.

STOKER FESTIVAL/LITERATURE/THEATRE

30 Oct

Stoker on Stoker: 125 Years of Dracula’s Secrets Unearthed

Bram Stoker Festival and Dacre C Stoker

On the 125th anniversary of the publishing of Dracula, join Dacre Stoker, one of Bram’s only living descendants, along with actors Margaret McAuliffe and Donncha O’Dea for this cocktail of expert historical insight, dramatic readings, video and a reenactment of the only interview ever discovered with Bram Stoker discussing his novel, Dracula.

Dacre has spent the last 12 years uncovering facts behind the myths and reveals unpublished portions of the novel, forays into the author’s brilliant mind, the influences, superstitions and the nonfictional events that led to the creation of this beloved supernatural novel. Join Bram’s blood relative as we delve deep into the life of a fascinating author whose infamous creation will never die.

With direction by Peter Dunne.

THEATRE/DANCE

2 – 4 Nov

Vanishing Grace

Anseo|Anois Theatre

For Grace, the World Irish Dancing Championships have been a life-long dream; a dream that’s about to become a reality. Join Grace as she bids goodbye to her Australian homeland and sets off to Dublin, Ireland to compete amongst the best of the best. Little does she know that her biggest competition… will be herself.

MUSIC

6 Nov

Benjamin Russell | Niall Kinsella

Irish Songmakers

THEATRE/POETRY

10 – 12 Nov

The Perfect Immigrant

Sam Yakura

THEATRE

14 – 16 Nov

Prison Notebooks

DMAPP in association with An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk

The handwritten gaol diaries of a visionary Irish artist and revolutionary, kept in secret and previously unpublished, have been adapted into a remarkable solo theatre performance by Sharon McArdle and Declan Gorman. Dorothy Macardle was an outstanding Irish woman of the 20th century. A novelist, playwright, Hollywood screenwriter, historian and pioneering human rights campaigner, in November 1922 she was arrested by Free State forces for Anti-Treaty propagandist activity. Her artistic and scholarly manuscripts were publicly burned on a Dublin street. She was imprisoned without trial in Mountjoy and later Kilmainham Gaol and the North Dublin Union.

Her recently uncovered prison diaries reveal Dorothy not just as a committed political thinker but a visionary artist, whose connection to the uncanny, and meditations on time, trauma and loss place her among the literary innovators of the early 20th century. Written in inhumane conditions, the journals include warm, humorous portraits of fellow women prisoners, tales of ghostly apparitions, intimate dreamscapes, paranormal episodes and devastating accounts of deprivation and violation, all captured vividly in this original performance.

IMRAM FESTIVAL/LITERATURE/MUSIC/VISUAL ART

17 Nov

GRINDR, SAGHDAR & CHER

IMRAM Féile Litríochta Gaeilge

Tógann fear tuaithe a chéad chéim riamh thar an tairseach isteach i mbeár aerach. Freastalaíonn leispiach ar chóisir na gcearc le scata ban díreach (‘díreach’ mar dhea). Tugann fear bearradh gruaige dó féin nach bhfeicfidh ach fear amháin eile.
Trí mhonalóg. Triúr carachtar LADTA+. Trí dhearcadh ar leith acu ar an saol. Trí scéal a thiteann amach ar aon oíche amháin.

A man takes his first ever step across the threshold of a gay bar. A lesbian attends a hen party with a group of straight women (or “straight” women, to be precise). A man gives himself a haircut that only one other man will see.
Three stories taking place on one fateful night.

IMRAM FESTIVAL/MUSIC/VISUAL ART

18 Nov

PORT A’ tSAOIL: TIONSCADAL KATE BUSH

IMRAM Féile Litríochta Gaeilge

Níl éinne inchurtha le Kate Bush mar ealaíontóir. Fitear rac, ceol clasaiceach agus ceol tíre go han-éifeachtach ar fad sa saothar aici. Baineann drámatúlacht thar na bearta lena liricí agus í ag tarrac go tuisceanach as réimse leathan d’fhoinsí liteartha agus cineamatagrafacha, téamaí a bhaineann leis an óige, an grá, an bás, cogadh agus miotaseolaíocht. Ón gcéad singil sin aici ‘Wuthering Heights’ go dtí an pop barócach in ‘Babooshka’ is an paisean tnúthánach in ‘Running up the Hill’  tá dúshshlán agus aoibhneas dodhearmadta iontu go léir. Anocht beidh Caitríona O’Leary againn – guth neamhshaolta an aingil aici, dar le Crescendo Magazine –  chun scoth na n-amhrán le Kate Bush a chanadh dúinn. Gabriel Rosenstock a thraschruthaigh na liricí i nGaeilge.

Kate Bush is an artist like none other – weaving rock, classical and folk music to extraordinary effect. Her lyrics are highly dramatic, drawing on a wide range of literary and cinematic sources, exploring themes of childhood, love, death, war and mythology. Tonight Caitríona O’Leary – acclaimed by Crescendo Magazine for ‘her angelic and etheral voice’ – will perform the very best of Bush’s songs, translated into Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock. She will be joined by Nick Roth (keyboard), Adrian Hart (fiddle), Éamonn Galldubh ( flute, whistles, uilleann pipes), David Redmond (double bass) and Matt Jacobson (drums). The show features on-screen projections of the lyrics with images created by Margaret Lonergan.

IMRAM FESTIVAL/LITERATURE/MUSIC/THEATRE/VISUAL ART

19 Nov

Tinnte na Farraige Duibhe

IMRAM Féile Litríochta Gaeilge

THEATRE

22 – 26 Nov

Paler, Still

Anseo|Anois Theatre