THEATRE | 5 – 21 Dec
A Streetcar Named Desire
Smock Alley Theatre and Cathal Cleary Theatre Company in association with Once Off Productions
Main Space
Blanche Dubois is adrift in the modern world and depends on the kindness of strangers.
When she unexpectedly arrives to stay with her estranged sister Stella in a boisterous, crowded corner of New Orleans, she brings with her a past that will threaten their future.
Supper + Show available on selected evenings.
CABARET | 6 + 7, 9 – 11 Dec
Songs of Theys
Marian Mary the 6th
Boys’ School
Extravagant robes dripped in gold, sacramental wine and putting other people’s bodies in your mouth…Mass or a Gay Bar?
A queer mass with choral singing at the centre, readings from the gospel according to Lady Gaga and a menu that serves only the body ody ody of Christ, this is a service not to be missed.
MUSIC / THEATRE / VISUAL ARTS | 19 – 21 Dec
Television
SexyTadhg
Boys’ School
It was the first voice you heard in the morning, and the last image before bed. Grab the remote, it’s time to watch, Television!
Flick through the channels of your psyche in this Live Cabaret Musical Performance. Check out the Catholic (Guilt) Channel, XXX After Dark, and The Real Housewives of Carlow Town, as SexyTadhg guides you through the universe of your mind.
COMEDY | 4 Jan
Girl D*ck Energy
Allie O’Rourke
Main Space
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. Join her as she comedically slaloms through topics such as Trans cultchiedom, transition, intersectionality and her years as a whitewater kayaker.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – THEATRE | 4 – 6 Jan
Shame Show
First Fortnight in partnership with Skelpie Limmer Productions and Dublin Fringe Festival
Boys’ School
Honey, you’ve got a big storm coming.
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. A worthy First Fortnight Award winner at Dublin Fringe 2024, Colm McCready & Fergus Wachala-Kelly’s hugely entertaining and poignant SHAME SHOW disempowers the negativity that shaped us and the fear we’ve been force-fed.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – WORKSHOP | 5 Jan
Mini Placard Movement
First Fortnight in partnership with Electronic Sheep
Banquet Hall
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – MUSIC | 5 Jan
An Evening with Au Revoir Tristesse
First Fortnight in partnership with Axis Ballymun
Main Space
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – EXHIBITION | 6 – 11 Jan
Towards the Future of Creative Arts Therapy in Ireland Exhibition
First Fortnight in partnership with IACAT
Banquet Hall
Creative Arts Therapists from First Fortnight’s Centre for Creative Arts Therapies worked together to highlight some of the issues facing the client group that we work with, namely children, teenagers, and adults experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
This exhibition is an evocative response to the homelessness crisis in Ireland.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – WORKSHOP | 6 – 11 Jan
LGBTI+ Traveller Spoken Word Event
First Fortnight in partnership with National Action Group for LGBTI+ Travellers & Roma
Boys’ School
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – PANEL DISCUSSION | 9 Jan
AMPLIFY
First Fortnight in partnership with Safe to Create
Banquet Hall
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – THEATRE | 9 – 11 Jan
Declan’s Got Talent
First Fortnight in partnership with Fight2Flight Theatre, Peter Gowen, Cork City Council and Waterford City Council
Main Space
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – THEATRE | 9 – 11 Jan
The Tightrope Walker
First Fortnight Festival
Boys’ School
With humour and humility, The Tightrope Walker navigates a woman’s journey through the chaotic and profound territory of illness and recovery. 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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – WORKSHOP | 10 Jan
Representing Trauma Onstage Responsibly
First Fortnight in partnership with Fight2Flight Theatre
Main Space
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – PANEL DISCUSSION | 10 Jan
Towards the Future of Creative Arts Therapy in Ireland
First Fortnight in partnership with IACAT
Banquet Hall
In partnership with First Fortnight, IACAT’s Statutory Regulation Subcommittee will host a discussion on statutory regulation and the future of Creative Arts Therapies in Ireland.
The event will highlight how statutory recognition can benefit the Creative Arts Therapy profession by enhancing standards, public trust, funding and visibility within the broader healthcare sector. Importantly, it will also explore the pathway toward achieving this significant goal.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – WORKSHOP | 11 Jan
Zine Making Workshop with Kate Escolin
First Fortnight Festival
Banquet Hall
Discover the world of zine making and create your own 8 page folded zine, bringing your own ideas to life!
Participants will learn to make their own single-sheet zine and receive print outs to take home and continue in the fun, while learning about the history of zines all the way back to the 1930s. All materials will be provided.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – THEATRE | 15 Jan
Safe Harbour
First Fortnight in partnership with HSE National Office of Suicide Prevention
Main Space
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.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – WORKSHOP | 15 Jan
Dabke Workshop
First Fortnight Festival
Main Space
This is an invitation to experience a celebration through the Palestinian traditional dance – Dabke through a joyful workshop with dance artist Amir Sabra. Suitable for all levels of dance experience including beginners.
FIRST FORTNIGHT FESTIVAL – DANCE | 15 Jan
Within This Party
First Fortnight Festival
Main Space
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.
COMEDY | 18 Jan
Broke and Alone in Dublin
Ciarán Sammon
Main Space
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”.
COMEDY/SURREAL FANTASY/HISTORICAL DRAMA | 21 – 25 Jan
Collaborators
No Drama Theatre
Boys’ School
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. 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.
THEATRE | 22 – 25 Jan
The Last Man in Ireland
Presented by Modest Odyssey
Main Space
The Last Man in Ireland is a surrealist three-hander that explores the cyclical themes of family dysfunction, grief and identity. Using the lens of millennial angst, the play delves comedically into the past to present the story of an imagined future..
THEATRE | 30 Jan – 1 Feb
Need Help (No Worries if Not)
TeoChroí
Boys’ School
‘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.
THEATRE | 7 + 8 Mar
The Sh*t Table
Don’t Think Twice Theatre
Main Space
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?
THEATRE | 28 Mar
Áine Gallagher: For the Love of Milseáin
Áine Gallagher
Main Space
Award winning comedian and Ireland’s “queen of the offbeat” Áine Gallagher, is on a mission to prove that speaking Irish can be both accessible and hilarious. 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.
