THEATRE | 4 – 20 Dec
Uncle Vanya
Smock Alley Theatre and Cathal Cleary Company in association with Once Off Productions
Main Space
The air shimmers with heat. Sonya and her Uncle Vanya grind through their days on a crumbling rural estate, their hopes shrinking with the land around them. When Sonya’s father, the Professor, returns with his restless young wife Elena, the fragile balance of the household splinters. Resentments flare, desires ignite, and long-buried frustrations rise to the surface. With devastating and violent consequences. With Risteárd Cooper as Uncle Vanya.
PANTOMIME | 11 – 13 Dec
A Scandal In Bethlehem
The Collective Productions
Boys’ School
What really happened the night Jesus was born? You dont know? Let us show you.
This is our tale of how it all began, you know, the whole Christmas thing. This is a panto for adults. Yes, we have the classic tropes of dressing in whacky costumes and playing gender opposites etc but there is language, humour and gestures which may not be suitable for people younger than 18.
THEATRE / COMEDY | 16 – 19 Dec
Dead Monks
Grumble Theatre in association with Muirenn Lyons
Boys’ School
When their abbot dies and a Viking ship appears on the horizon, three cowardly medieval monks face a life-and-death decision that swiftly unravels into an chaos, self-reflection, betrayal and adventure.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 9 – 11 Jan
Mammary Mountain
Tara Baoth Mooney, Camille Baker, & Mafj Alvarez | First Fortnight
Boys’ School
Mammary Mountain is an intimate, immersive, haptic experience that explores disease in the body, and how an individual cancer journey sits within the wider landscape. It is rooted in artist Tara Baoth Mooney’s experience of breast cancer and interwoven with the voices of patients and survivors, reflecting treatment, recovery and post-treatment trauma.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 10 Jan
Future Stories
Main Space
Future Stories, an 18 month participatory art project, will premiere a new film work by 10 young people with experience of the Irish care system. Working with writer Emmet Kirwan, directors Oonagh Murphy and Em O’ Ceallaigh and film-makers Maeve Stone and Alex Gill, the co-created film captures the unique perspectives of these young artists, the stories behind the numbers.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 15 – 17 Jan
Ar Ais Arís
Brú Theatre & First Fortnight
Banquet Hall
This Virtual Reality composition is about migration and isolation. Brú’s team of performers, creators, designers and composers have come together to create three unique 180° films which the audience will watch using Virtual Reality headsets.
The experience will immerse participants in a fusion of movement, text, music and the Connemara landscape.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 15 – 17 Jan
He Dies In The End
Liam McCarthy & First Fortnight
Boys’ School
Matty’s dead, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. There’s no need to be sad, he says, sure he didn’t have much going for himself in the first place. He’s no big loss… Matty recounts his last day alive, over and over, telling us contradicting versions of a day in a life that was already falling apart.
He Dies in the End is a time-bending, funny and heartfelt piece of new writing, and a riff on time and potential.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 15 – 17 Jan
Soul Paint
Sarah Ticho & Niki Smit, & First Fortnight
Banquet Hall
Soul Paint is a multi-award winning virtual reality experience by Sarah Ticho & Niki Smit, backed by behavioural scientists and researchers. Narrated by Rosario Dawson, this experience asks you the question: ‘Where are you feeling?’
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 16 Jan
Antidote II
WeAreGriot & First Fortnight
Main Space
In 2025, First Fortnight and the Arts Council of Ireland commissioned WeAreGriot, a collective of four performance poetry artists to compose four pieces of poetry thematically connected by First Fortnight’s mission of challenging the stigma associated with mental health. The resulting show ANTIDOTE II is A dose, A herb, A flat 7-up for your mind.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL | 17 Jan
Wired Our Own Way
Niamh Garvey, Jen O’Connor, Chandrika Narayanan Mohan, Adam Harris | First Fortnight in partnership with publisher New Island Books
Main Space
The beautiful Smock Alley will be the backdrop for this powerful conversation about autism, identity and belonging in contemporary Ireland. The conversation will reflect on the diversity and brilliance of autistic lived experience and ask how true inclusion and cultural change can challenge stereotypes.
MUSIC / THEATRE / COMEDY | 20 – 23 Jan
Please Hold
Teatro Nua
Boys’ School
Hold Music, live. It’s just like being on the phone!
Teatro Nua was formed in 2022 by Kyron Bourke, Bernie Bourke, and Padraig Dooney. Please Hold was first produced at the Scene + Heard Festival in February 2025.
THEATRE / COMEDY | 24 Jan
TheatreSports
Grand Stretch
Boys’ School
TheatreSports™ is a high-octane improv showdown, fuelled by spontaneous scene challenges, team spirit, and the rising heat a live audience brings to the game.
Created in the 1970s by Keith Johnstone with Loose Moose Theatre Co., TheatreSports™ took the world by storm in the ’80s and ’90s. Light entertainment be damned! This is true competition that pushes improvisers to take risks, thrilling audiences with the unpredictability of scenes and scores. Win some, lose some — one thing’s for sure: when the spirit is right in this game, failure becomes its own reward.
THEATRE | 13 – 15 Mar
MONSTER
Dark Forest Theatre
Main Space
Being a Mother isn’t easy, it’s hard gruelling work. Being a Mother means losing yourself. Being a Mother is the most difficult job in the world, especially when you are a Mother to a Monster.
A dark tale about motherhood, desire, death and secrets.
THEATRE | 18 – 21 Mar
DO I LOVE YOU?
The John Godber Company
Main Space
Join twenty somethings Sally, Nat and Kyle in this hilarious comedy as they develop a love for, and the people involved with, Northern Soul. What started as a College project has grown into a passion, but the dance steps are exhausting.
This is Northern Soul for a new generation, but with rising costs, unemployment, and small town blues, has anything really changed? Is this 1976 or 2026? The pubs are closing, hospitality has gone, and strikes are everywhere; but when you’re out on the floor.
TALK | 22 May
Murder: Staged
Crime Viral
Main Space
Did you know that 90% of people believe they can get away with murder – are you one of them? There will be a live psychopath test to find out!