Fresh off her sold out Dublin Fringe run, trans comedian Allie O’Rourke is hitting the road with her new hour Girl D*ck Energy. Described as “your favourite comedian’s least favourite comedian”, Allie is gonna serve you the one thing she can’t afford; c*nt. Join her as she comedically slaloms through topics such as trans cultchiedom, transition, intersectionality and her years as a whitewater kayaker.

For your safety, please follow this pair of prancing poofs to SHAME SHOW, a sketchy comedy of catastrophic proportions from SkelpieLimmer, the creators of Scaredy Fat and Two Fingers Up.

Adam and Stevie are stuck inside. Storm Seamus is about to strike. The rural fixer-upper they’ve inherited can’t hack it – and neither can their relationship. Channel-hopping their way through programmes of poofy-past, the couple confront home, happiness and heteronormativity as they battle the storm and each other’s beliefs. A worthy First Fortnight Award winner at Dublin Fringe 2024.

Join a special panel and live performance inspired by Au Revoir Tristesse, an evocative collaboration between acclaimed artists Joe Chester and Steve Wickham.

This unique event marks the debut of Chester’s guitar compositions, performed alongside Wickham’s projected artworks, each piece reflecting themes from Françoise Sagan’s novel. Chester, celebrated as a musician and composer, and Wickham, a renowned violinist turned visual artist, offer an intimate exploration of sadness, memory, and resilience in this captivating blend of sound and visuals.

Participants are invited to a creative workshop around the subject of homelessness and mental ill health.

Ireland is currently experiencing the biggest homelessness crisis since the beginning of the state. Homelessness and accommodation insecurity have a hugely detrimental effect on the mental health of both people without a home and the wider community.

Participants will be given a mini placard and will be invited to create a small scale iconic mixed media visual on the placard. The resulting artworks will be showcased in an art exhibition at Smock Alley alongside the work of commissioned Irish artists. The artworks will be returned to participants after the exhibition – we encourage people to keep the placards as artworks, conversation pieces or ideally as messages for future protests.

The National Action Group for LGBTI+ Traveller & Roma invite you to a spoken word event that celebrates and reveals the unheard voices of some LGBTI+ Traveller community members and Traveller culture through spoken word performances. This is a safe space for conversation and discussion to understand the needs of these important members of our LGBTI+ community, the Traveller community and our wider community.

The National Action Group for LGBTI+ Traveller & Roma Rights is a collective that aims to increase the promotion, protection, inclusion and celebration of LGBTI+ Traveller and Roma individuals and their families – within their communities and within Traveller & Roma and LGBTI+ organisations and services.

In July 2024, Safe to Create launched a new research report, AMPLIFY: A Call for Transformative Action. AMPLIFY presents the findings of a comprehensive research programme, designed to shed light on the lived experiences of disabled, LGBTQIA+, and ethnically diverse artists and arts workers in Ireland.

At this special event presented in partnership with Safe to Create, First Fortnight will host a discussion on the importance of this report and its findings and a screening of Diversity Hire, a recording of a spoken word performance by Nigerian-Irish poet FELISPEAKS, commissioned and created for the launch event. The event will conclude with the premiere of an artistic response to the report by Chandrika Narayanan Mohan.

Experience a powerful theatrical journey with Peter Gowen’s latest play, a contemporary exploration of an older Irish man’s inner struggles, shaped by his upbringing in the 1950s and 60s.

Following his acclaimed role as Father Jack in Dancing at Lughnasa at The Gate Theatre, Gowen presents a piece that skilfully blends tragedy with a sharp streak of humour. The narrative follows Declan’s complex journey through childhood, burgeoning sexuality, and his aspirations to take Holy Orders. This production marks Gowen’s third play and offers a poignant reflection on identity and the complexities of the human experience.

With humour and humility, The Tightrope Walker navigates a woman’s journey through the chaotic and profound territory of illness and recovery.

It explores the grief inherent in a serious diagnosis, as well as the community and characters who share in the journey. It is a testament to the care and connection we may find in challenging times. The Tightrope Walker was written during Jenny’s time as writer in residence at the Irish Hospice Foundation, 2022-2023.

How do we present difficult topics in theatre today?

Fight2Flight Theatre presents a workshop around tackling experiences in the recent past that still impact Irish people’s lives. In particular, the trauma around the cruel treatment of children in the care of the educational institutions run by the Catholic Church.

Writer and Actor Peter Gowen will run a workshop on this topic using excerpts from his own work: an exploration of how present and past productions have managed to tell difficult stories. How they have avoided subjecting the audience to the horrors of those narratives, whilst both educating and promoting discussion.

Within this Party is a unique improvisational dance performance blending the traditional Palestinian Dabke and Hip-hop to explore themes of connection and resilience.

Created by Palestinian dance maker Amir Sabra, co-founder of dance company Stereo48, the performance brings a fresh perspective on cultural identity through movement. As a recipient of the Technical Prize for Danse Élargie 2022 in Paris and a commissioned artist of Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company, Amir’s work embodies personal and collective expression, making Within this Party a powerful exploration of heritage and the universal language of dance.
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Safe Harbour written by Patricia Forde is a new illustrated storybook for children bereaved by suicide. Safe Harbour tells the story of a family navigating life after the tragic loss of a loved one, as seen through the eyes of a child.

This Admission Free resource, developed by bereavement experts, provides comfort and support to families dealing with the sensitive subject of suicide. It is accompanied by a helpful guide for parents and carers, offering practical advice on how to use the book and navigate difficult conversations with children. At this special event, a panel of professionals will discuss the book’s impact and its potential as a tool for caregivers, teachers, and key workers.

Ciarán left dear Dublin for Australia nearly a decade ago on a famine ship. 4 years ago, having consumed all of the stereotypical potatoes he thought imaginable, he began his vocation as a standup comic and he has now returned home to give his show its Irish debut. His comedy stylings are influenced by the inception of the internet and the vapidity that it brought in abundance. He once met Britney Spears and she said that he was, verbatim; “a cutie pie”.

As a humanitarian, he sells bootleg Ozempic to emaciated, white women in Lululemon outfits so that their dermal filler-ed lips have their desired waist to lip ratio. His incline in comedy has been comparable to the weight loss of someone on Ozempic – gradual but consistent. Get to see him before cirrhosis does.

Collaborators is an award winning, sharp, surrealist fantasy which focuses on the relationship between two real life historical figures: the prominent Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, and the infamous Soviet Union dictator, Joseph Stalin.

Depicting the trials and tribulations of a writer being forced to write through writer’s block with a metaphorical (and at times literal) gun to his head, Collaborators mixes the satire of JoJo Rabbit, with the dark reality of life in Stalinist Russia during the Great Purge.

Join Bulgakov as he journeys from his (over)crowded apartment into a lethal game of cat and mouse through which the appalling compromises and humiliations on any artist by those with power are held up to scrutiny.

“It’s man vs. monster Mikhail. And the monster always wins…”

For reasons currently unknown, rising sea levels have inexplicably affected Ireland and Ireland only, reducing the island to one small indistinct piece of land owned by one remaining Irish civilian.

The Last Man in Ireland is a comedic three-hander that explores the cyclical themes of family dysfunction and grief. Using the lens of millennial angst, it delves into the past and presents the story of an imagined future. A chaotic tale of family and identity described as John B. Keane meets Bladerunner.

‘We were girls together’.

Naoise, Amelia and Sara have grown up together. They have always shared clothes, beds, lipliners, secrets.
But what happens when they start to grow in different directions?

When Naoise gets dumped the girls gather in her childhood bedroom, rallying together in her moment of need. But as the evening progresses, each of the girl’s places in each other’s lives are called into question. How do we support each other when we can barely support ourselves?

Need Help (No Worries if Not) is a new work exploring the experience of coming of age as a young woman in modern Ireland. In a generation of queerness, internet dating, polarisation, loneliness and heartbreak, navigating even the friendships you have had forever becomes a challenge.

Award-winning dance-theatre artist Luke Murphy presents excerpts from his enthralling series of installations, The Prometheus Project. Reimagining the myth of the fire-stealing god, Prometheus, it becomes a drama of power dynamics, power-cuts and the earth’s shrinking resources.

About The Prometheus Project (Episode One)
Dublin Dance Festival 2023:
“An impressive beginning to the series, with its combination of narrative, immersive installation and use of movement as emotion, saying what words can’t express.” ★★★★ – Michael Seaver, The Irish Times

Scene and Heard was designed to nurture and support artistic collaborations and showcase new works.
Glittering light in the night, a constellation of stars and bursts of creativity throughout the cosmos, was the idea behind the 2025 programme; brimming with ideas, new perspectives and blending art forms! We saw over 111 new shows.

The full 2025 programme can be found here.

But that’s what this is, isn’t it?

The ultimate bitch fight. When John takes a break from his boyfriend, he accidentally meets the girl of his dreams. Filled with guilt and indecision, he decides there is only one way to straighten this out . . .

Mike Bartlett’s razor sharp play about love and longing provides us with questions of who we are and who we want to be. John’s refusal to fix his identity disturbs and disrupts the lives of those around him in this contemporary tale of sex without nudity and struggle without violence. Mike Bartlett’s punchy story takes a playful, candid look at one man’s sexuality and the difficulties that arise when you realise you have a choice.

A one-act black comedy by writer Paul Howard.

You are cordially invited to Jarlath & Gemma’s big day! Check the seating plan carefully before you take your seat.

What do you do with the people you have to invite to your wedding when you really don’t want them there? Easy! Put them all at one table at the very back of the room. But what if putting those strangers together turns out to be the worst decision of your life?

“I have supped full with horrors”

In a brutal society where power is concentrated in the hands of warlords known as Thanes, order is maintained through unwavering devotion to the King. Away from the clans and the heavily fortified strongholds of the Thanes, satanic cults and strange rituals undermine the feudal order.

Macbeth is a war hero, disturbed, in his hour of success, by a prophecy that he will one day be ruler. Goaded by his ambitious wife into an act that goes against his deepest instincts of loyalty, he unleashes a cycle of violence that plunges the country into terror and dictatorship.

This timeless story of witchcraft, murder, totalitarianism, and how a man becomes a monster is brought to the NOH and Smock Alley by Volta, Ireland’s most exciting new Shakespearean theatre company.

Noah has recently contracted lycanthropy. At twelve o’clock tonight, he will forcibly and violently transform into a wolf. Fortunately for him, he has found a nice spot in a derelict house in Stoneybatter to isolate himself until the transformation passes. Unfortunately for him, his irrepressibly positive best friend Colm has arrived unannounced to offer unwanted moral support.

What follows is a spontaneous and highly comedic sleepover, where Noah and Colm’s physical and emotional transformation unfolds.

“I knew I was part of the problem.”

Set against a vivid, shifting backdrop of American landscapes, Robert Caisley’s SANTA FE offers three stark and darkly comedic explorations of 21st century Americana. From a pair of self-serving, fair-weather talent agents with a twisted sense of loyalty, a disastrous first date which spirals into a catastrophically oblivious non-apology, to the tequila-soaked musings of a couple of middle-aged salesmen, SANTA FE explores the dark side of the restless “American spirit” and the subtle (and not so subtle) consequences of an impulsive sense of exceptionalism.

Rich in wit and evocative imagery, SANTA FE offers a meditation on the limits of liberty, the weight of connection, and the fragile beauty of hope.

Step into a world of magic, mystery, and mayhem with Into the Woods. This Tony Award-winning masterpiece by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine weaves together classic Grimm fairy tales — Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and more — into a spellbinding journey of wishes, consequences, and self-discovery.

With a stunning score, unforgettable characters, and a story that’s as heartfelt as it is haunting, Into the Woods is a theatrical experience you won’t want to miss.

A one-man play based on the character SEESAW, AIR is an exploration on how men deal with grief, mental health and death itself. It is also an exploration on the different sides of grief, which often wakes us from the monotonous slumber of our tired lives, to remind us, often in a somewhat vicious way, that those we love will soon be grieving for us in the same way we have been grieving for them. How do we find enough hope, faith and joy to make daily life worthwhile? How can we make friends with our nemesis the AIR and still share our lives with the very person that needs us most; ourselves. If we cannot find some forms of consistent peace, why do we even try? When it comes to the AIR, it is truly a case of ‘do or die’.

Where do forgotten memories go? Are they lost forever? Or do they linger – drifting away in a void beyond time and space?

Nine ghosts find themselves trapped in a crumbling house, floating in an infinite nothingness. They don’t remember much – only that a mysterious apocalypse shattered their world, leaving time and reality in complete ruins. Now, the house keeps shrinking, mysterious earthquakes aplenty and something, or someone, seems determined to erase them for good.

Is it the house itself? Or maybe the pig? The long prophesized alien invasion? Who knows! But they’d really like to escape now… if they can.

Following an incredible year where 2024 saw Áine Gallagher embark on a national sell out tour and be listed among the Irish Times 50 People to Watch, Áine is back using her quirky and deadpan style as her secret weapon as she navigates Irish language learning, mistake-making, dating and mug-cake-baking to create a wholly unique comedy experience.

Known as Ireland’s only guerrilla Irish language enthusiast, Áine has been travelling the length of the country with her Cup of Focals (a literal cup brimming with Irish words). Understanding the nation’s widespread fear of engaging in the Irish language, Áine mostly jumps out at people from behind trees, hoping to surprise them into chatting Irish with her.

However, in FOR THE LOVE OF MILSEÁIN, audiences can sit back, feel inspired and enjoy Áine’s tales, like when she met our president Michael D Higgins and other similar disasters in her own journey to learn Irish.

Step beyond the crumbling walls and into the heart of a forgotten castle, where echoes of the past refuse to fade. From the clash of knights in training to the laughter of lost children, from grand feasts to whispered goodbyes, its stones hold the memories of generations—of love, loss, triumph, and betrayal.

Blending drama, movement, music, and mime, The Castle That Time Forgot is an unforgettable theatrical journey through the ages. The castle is waiting to tell its story. Will you listen?.

An eclectic production combining classic and modern drama, musical theatre, dance and Commedia dell’Arte.

For more than 37 years the City of Dublin FET college Inchicore South West Campus has been providing the highest standards of training in all the disciplines required for a career in the Performing Arts. Many students have developed careers in the theatre as actors, writers, directors, stand-up comedians etc, appearing on stages all over the country and Europe as well as in many popular series on TV and in films.

Brace yourself for a whirlwind of hilarious quests, epic revenge plots, and untamed Viking valor!

Fresh off the longships from Denmark, these masterful comedians will craft a fully improvised Viking saga right before your eyes— guaranteed to leave you laughing until you can’t breathe. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of Norse mythology or simply seeking a one-of-a-kind night of entertainment, this epic show is not to be missed.

So, gather your clan and join us for a riotous evening of spontaneous Viking adventures and non-stop laughter. Monsters, gods and legends await — Valhalla has nothing on this!

A dance show that intertwines a variety of dance styles and reflects on the diverse personalities of its terpsichoreans.

Dublin School of Dance and Etiquette is a dance family that was established in 2011, dancing in several locations in Dublin. Our mission is to promote dance and the well-being of our students as well as an education in all the elements of this synthesis of the physicality and artistry of dance.

Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant.

Becca and Howie had the perfect life – a happy marriage, a beautiful home, great friends and family, and their only child, Danny. But when a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down, the couple must face tough questions about themselves and their relationship.

Rabbit Hole is a Pulitzer Prize winning drama by the highly regarded dramatist, David Lindsay-Abaire.

This is a compelling and beautifully written play, filled with a distinctive wit and grace, in which grief eventually gives way to love and hope.

A story of myth, legend and identity, Ní Liomsa an Teach Álainn Seo (This is Not My Beautiful House) is a one-person play in the Irish language. With English surtitles, the show revolves around an unnamed artist as they wait in their studio for their partner to come home so that they can reveal their secret, and finally come out as non-binary.

As they wait, they begin to delve into their recent obsession with an old Irish legend about a bull that caused an all-island war many centuries before. When the bull comes alive, a battle of monologues begins, as they fiercely debate whether it is better to live as your true self and potentially be alone for it, or to exist only in other people’s expectations and remain a legend.

“You’re safe here. But you have to trust me now. For your own good. I need you to stay. Because if you go, I go and I’d rather not.”

New Year’s Eve 1979. Two souls weather the storm together at Inish Dúbh Lighthouse: Christy the Keeper, shining a ceaseless vigil for all at sea; and a young woman. Christy doesn’t know why she’s here or what she wants from him. Always the joker, always the clown, he puts on a good show. But as the storm rages and truths start to unfold, Christy must decide- to weather the storm or take a leap of faith?

Castle Gillian An Irish Tale – The Musical, tells the story of Gill Morris , a young Irishman profoundly damaged by his experiences in the Second World War who must regain his faith in love, and the world, in order to save his ancestral home – and once famous Irish racing stable, Castle Gillian.

It is 1948. Gill has lost all faith in humanity. Creditors plan to foreclose on his home, his father is befuddled with drink, and his wealthy childhood sweetheart Sylvia – heartbroken at his apparent indifference – breaks off their engagement. The only hope of saving Castle Gillian is if his younger sister Mary marries Garrett Ward, a known bully and womaniser.

Castle Gillian was originally devised and built as a stage musical within a 360˚ game- world. Visit www.castlegillian.com for more information.

THE DEVIL AND DUREX is a look at the 1970’s sexual revolution in a small rural Irish parish written by Fair Dinkum! Theatre’s award winning playwright Nick Makin.

What’s happened to the women folk? Who is filling their head with all this nonsense? Is it the new television in Maloney’s pub or the books coming over from England – The Joy of Sex! – surely that’s a sin?

Join Tom, Paddy and old mad Willie as they struggle to adjust to their wives’ new found assertiveness and determination to establish their own sexual identity. The accepted order is disappearing before their eyes and their desperate efforts to reassert their dominance are failing. The church watches on of course – perhaps starting to feel the first cracks in its own façade.

“How far would you go to protect your family?”

A poetic and touching drama about people escaping hardship in their own country and living under pressure as they attempt to get to Calais to start a new life. Contemporary writing from Iran by the internationally acclaimed Amir Reza Koohestani.

2012. English writer Paula Davey receives an award from her fellow journalists for her ‘true life’ book, ‘Stuck in the Middle with You: An RUC Story’.

September 1996, Davey’s story begins with 5 RUC officers stuck in the back of a landrover during a riot at the top of Belfast’s Albertbridge Road. Over the course of the play we hear their stories – ordinary people caught in extraordinary times. Often darkly hilarious, the play confronts the harsher realities of life in the security forces in the 1990’s head on, with an unexpected and chilling ending.

This powerful and thought-provoking piece of political theatre was written by Einat Weizman, an Israeli Jewish citizen, in conjunction with two Palestinian political prisoners. It shines light on the plight of Palestinian prisoners, the most hidden victims of the Israeli occupation, focusing on the personal and collective experiences of the prisoners and their families.

The play is the result of a long research process of interviewing and hearing testimonies from prisoners and ex-prisoners, who are actively involved at every stage of the creation of this show. The prison experiences uncovered include interrogations, hunger strikes, solitary confinement and family visits, as well as diving into the prisoners’ consciousness.

The play reveals a harrowing and brutal reality but also an account of human endurance and solidarity.

Kitty Clogg is determined not to go quietly into that good night.

Kitty Clog is an aging woman who is determined not to go quietly into that good night. Lots of attitude, a motley crew of supporting characters (all played by star of Father Ted and Fair City Rose Henderson). Kitty takes us with her on a rollercoaster journey to find her lost man.

Threading a blurry line between humour and pathos; yearning and farce; belonging and marginalisation, The Good Crank is an exploration of the flip-flop existence of an older woman at odds with the world she has been squeezed into.

Drag & Draw is coming to Smock Alley Theatre for a very special art class.

This informal life-drawing session is a little bit art class, little bit drag show… and a whole lot of fun.

Whether you’re brand new to life-drawing or a seasoned pro, drawing a drag queen is an artistic experience you won’t forget! At this fun and relaxed life-drawing session, your models will be dressed to the nines and ready to entertain and inspire. Expect lip-syncing, audience participation, and lots of low-pressure sketching. (Ignore RuPaul’s advice and feel free to mess it up!).

A man has been away for a long time. He returns and peers out the window of a flat that he shares with his wife. But is it still his home…and is this even his life? Or does he belong to the past – a spectator of his own abyss?

Find out in this surreal story by Jon Fosse, Europe’s most performed living writer – and 2010 winner of the Ibsen Award and the 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature. Don’t miss the Irish Premiere of this tragi-comic tale.

Lumina Productions presents its debut production, Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years.

Directed by Niamh McGowan, this bold new production is a unique take on a modern classic of American musical theatre. The Last Five Years tells the story of the relationship between Cathy and Jamie, from meeting to break-up. Audiences are brought into each character’s side of the story, with Cathy starting at the end and going backwards, while Jamie tells his story from the beginning. We are thrilled to be welcoming you to Smock Alley Theatre to experience this new company’s debut.

“What’s the worst first date you’ve ever had?”

Following sold out runs in Cork and Waterford Red ‘n Blue Theatre Company present John Morton’s dark comedy TABOO.

There was a boy and a girl and somehow, they met. Lily doesn’t get out much. Tom finds it hard to meet new people. And now they’re having their first date. Lily cooks a three-course meal. Tom brings flowers and wine.

On the surface, everything seems fine. But in the modern world, dating is a surprisingly complex thing with a lot of unwritten rules. There are certain things you shouldn’t do on a first date. And then there are certain things you shouldn’t do at all.

MOTHERLAND SONGS is the debut album from Dublin born actor and musician Edel Murphy. Described as having “a voice that would silence angels”, the Irish singer/songwriter brings a heartfelt intensity and serenity in equal measure to new songs and to memorable female characters in songs by The Beatles, Dolly Parton, Kate Bush and Judy Collins.

Produced by Irish musician Ewan Cowley, this new release is a compelling collection of contemporary Irish and North American folk anthems, modern classics and protest songs from great female artists such as Joan Baez, Natalie Merchant, Mary Black and Carsie Blanton, evoking the universal experiences of working life, independence, love, inequality, and the search for social justice.

Innis Puffin, a craggy rock nine miles off the Kerry coast is poised for the annual invasion of puffins. Instead, it gets a visit from not one, but two groups of somewhat bewildered humans.

There’s no wifi, only half enough beds and a mysterious man with binoculars. The boatman who brought them here smells of fish, has a lousy sense of direction and something moving under his coat.

Then there’s the fog. When there’s no way out, no way home, and no way you should’ve come here in the first place … can you count on yourself? Can you count on your friends? Can you count puffins when you can’t see your hand in front of your face?

For exactly a year, after the death of one of their husbands, the Burke sisters have refrained from seeing, talking to or even texting each other. That is all going to change today, as the sisters meet in the dead husband’s local to celebrate the end of the mourning period. The recently widowed, much changed, guilt-ridden, Carmel Burke, has a potentially life changing plan that could alter her younger sisters lives forever.

Can all the Burke Sisters make it through the day alive, or will one of them be joining the dead husband?

Table Read is a new actor-focused initiative that creates space for theatre artists to explore contemporary plays, develop their practice, and engage in meaningful dialogue with peers. Conceived and designed by Shane O’Reilly, this initiative focuses on performance and creative exchange, centring the actor’s voice while welcoming collaboration across disciplines.

First up:
Infinite Life by Annie Baker
Directed by Annabelle Comyn

Coming next:
Downstate by Bruce Norris
Directed by Mark O’Rowe

One friend moved from London to the Emerald Isle… now it’s time to fly a few others over.

This June, three Friends From the West End reunite — sharing nostalgic, heartwarming, and hilarious stories from their time in some of the world’s biggest musicals. With rich vocals and a lot of heart, this is a thoughtfully curated programme of close harmony & storytelling — with a pinch of theatrical mischief.

STARRING
Sam O’Rourke (Mary Poppins, Half a Sixpence)
Natalie Green (Wicked, Prince of Egypt, Parade)
Paul Wilkins (Les Misérables, Hair, The Dreamers)

Four candidates arrive to what seems to be an unorthodox interview. As things unravel, they find themselves part of a claustrophobic exercise which takes them to dark places. They can leave anytime they want; yet, they do not.

How far would you go?

The Grönholm Method, a play by Jordi Galceran, has received several accolades, including the Premio Max SGAE Winner in 2005 and the Premio de la Crítica de Buenos Aires. It’s a play known for its witty dialogue, tense moments, and exploration of corporate dynamics.

Everything is awful but that’s okay, argues Tom in his ridiculously entertaining show about family and growing up in a Spanish subterranean cave. A show for siblings who shared a rubbish childhood, shirtless ex-pats, and comedy fans alike.

“He has an eye for the mundanely absurd which is truly unique, with an execution that is joyfully daft.” – Rolling Stone (Top 12 shows of the Edinburgh Fringe)

“Immediately dragging us under with his menacing charm” ★★★★★ – Ed Fringe Review

“Lawrinson has turned playful menace into an art form” ★★★★ – Scotsman

Bum Notes (and a very special guest) are back in Smock Alley with a 4th of July improvized musical! And no it won’t be about Hamilton… well it could be. It is improv after all.

Performing with them — for one night only — will be American improv legend, Derek Miller! A Chicago native now living in the UK, Derek was a mainstay of the L.A. improv community — performing and teaching for over 30 years at The Second City, IOWest, and UCB. On screen he worked on Scrubs, The Goldbergs, Superstore, Drunk History, Transformers 3 and more recently with Tim Burton and Edgar Wright!

Come see this sell-out sensation and enjoy what happens when you let the story, songs, and characters of Broadway get written in real time by some of Ireland and America’s silliest improv comics.

Following on from a Dublin Fringe run and a Fishamble New Writing Award nomination, Louis Deslis brings his show Mosaic, back to Smock Alley where it all started. A Franco-Irish tale of craic, joie de vivre, and everything in between. Mosaic was first developed at the Scene and Heard festival.

Shit just got real, c’est la merde, the real big merde. You just broke up with your fella. Your hard-of-hearing granny’s got a broken leg and it’s your turn to go mind her because she can’t get on the commode chair all by herself. Home Sweet Home, you can’t say that in French, you can’t say Maison Douce Maison.

A show about going home, the things we can’t say, and the things we hear even when they’re not said.

‘An enjoyable one-man odyssey that deftly explores the power of words to obscure and reveal.’ – The Irish Times

After critically acclaimed runs at Camden Fringe, Thess Fringe and Smock Alley Theatre Dublin, Nora Kelly Lester’s Bunny Bunny returns to Smock Alley this July.

Bunny is mad. She’s mad as hell and she’s not going to take it anymore… is she?

On the edge of eviction, her love life in pieces and no money in her pockets, Bunny tries to rise again. An absurdist romantic nightmare comedy filled with empty piggy banks, landlords, ex-lovers, their new lovers, and a song about hotel soap, Bunny Bunny is a solo clown show created by Nora Kelly Lester, directed by Nessa Matthews, about trying to hold it all together while everything is falling apart.

‘A master of clowning, miming and comedic timing… Lester was playing comedic tennis with the members of audience she spoke to. There wasn’t a single answer she couldn’t turn into comedy gold’ ★★★★★ – The Reviews Hub

In this swirling and sexy comedy of bad manners, Molière’s France becomes Dublin’s FRANS, a Silicon Docks megacorp brimming with pissants, posers, and plutocrats all grubbing for power and pleasure. As terminally over-it Alceste navigates a tempest of HR complaints and office warfare, his vexed and oversexed lover Celimene treads her own social minefield as she prepares to launch a venture that could liberate her from FRANS and all her hangers-on for good.

The Irish Premiere of American Playwright Matt Minnicino’s Helen Hayes nominated adaptation from the team behind the five-star (Irish Times) production of Tempesta by Deirdre Kinahan: director/designer duo Marc Atkinson Borrull and Molly O’Cathain of Sugarglass.

★★★★★ “Witty, inventive and entertaining” – Irish Mail on Sunday

★★★★ “Knockout satire of a horny and insincere Silicon Docks” – Irish Times

“Whos that!? He’s so fine! Me-oh-my, its DANNY RYAN!”

MARK FITZ IS HAVING A FREE GAFF!!! And you’re invited. So throw on your Rihanna t-shirt, spray on your super skinny jeans and whip and nae nae with us all the way back to 2015. Oh and P.S. Didn’t you hear? DANNY RYAN JUST KINDA RSVP’d!!!

Growing up gay can rob you of your formative romances, but Mark’s on a mission. He’s been in love with Danny since Stonerock Secondary! Everyone’s in college now, the marriage ref totes just passed, and being gay is finally chic… right?

DANNY RYAN is the love letter that every little gay boy never got to send in school. It takes us on a heartfelt first-hand rollercoaster ride through teen angst, junior cup rugby, first loves and… Spin Disco?

An evening of original music, poetry, prose and monologues to celebrate the Irish Lughnasa. Lughnasa marks the beginning of the harvest season. We feel that in this time of increasing division, we want to focus on harvesting from our community. Headlining with the brilliant FILIDH, we want to bring people together to spend an evening of connection.

What will you bring to the harvest?