Carmel Winters, 'Witness': Setting the Record Straight

A mother and son shock a nation in Witness. But provocateur/playwright Carmel Winters risks being the scandal of this story.  

Project Arts Centre

Mar 2-7

My review of Witness by Carmel Winters coming up after the jump ...

Rough Magic, 'Everything Between Us': Ignorance is Bliss?

Two sisters collide in the foreground of Northern Ireland's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But obliteration isn't the goal. 

Project Arts Centre

13-28 Feb 

My review of Everything Between Us by David Ireland coming up just as soon as I become manager of a Starbucks in Ballymena ...

THISISPOPBABY and Panti, 'High Heels in Low Places': National F*&king Treasure

Earlier this year, Panti dragged a debate about homophobia into the public realm. Resisting the pressure of being a LGBT representative, the drag queen returns to form. 

  

Project Arts Centre
Dec 1-6


Earlier this year I wrote about Panti's performances on the Saturday Night Show and her Noble Call. My review of High Heels in Low Places coming up just as soon as I see Madonna's arm ...

Devious Theatre, 'War of Attrition': Bitches be Chuggin'

A blogger turns a chugger's life into a nightmare in John Morton's play. An apathetic generation is using the internet as a battlefield.   

Project Arts Centre

Dec 16-20

My review of War of Attrition by John Morton coming up just as soon as I listen to Toto in an elevator ...

Maiden Voyage Dance and Liz Roche Company, 'Neither Either': In Two Places at Once

Seamus Heaney's 'strain of being in two places at once' inspires this North-South co-production. 

Project Arts Centre

Nov 11-15

My review of Neither Either coming up after the jump ...

Ether Productions, 'The Locked Room': Flown Away With the Circus

Two circus performers wake up with amnesia inside a locked room. For Ether Productions, the only way is up.

Project Arts Centre

Oct 29-Nov 1

My review of The Locked Room coming up just as soon as I beat you in Rock-Paper-Scissors ...

Brokentalkers, 'Frequency 783': Future Forecasting

Do you like to think about the future? In Brokentalkers' new production, an elderly performer envisions utopia while a younger performer can't help but meditate on his own destruction.  

Project Arts Centre, Dublin Theatre Festival

Oct 2-5

My review of Frequency 783 coming up just as soon as I don't drink wine in case I short-circuit ... 

Pan Pan, 'The Seagull and Other Birds': Avant Garde a Clue

The artist in Chekov's The Seagull desperately searches for new art forms. Pan Pan's strategy for success is a fray of colliding texts. 

Project Arts Centre, Dublin Theatre Festival 

Sept 29-Oct 5

My review of The Seagull and Other Birds coming up just as soon as I buy two bottles of Pinot Grigio in the off licence ...

Claire & Leah & Dylan, 'B(r)itches': Do Brecht

A satire of the industry and its treatment of women takes the form of improvisational theatre. The problem is that its clearly pre-scripted. 

Project Arts Centre, Dublin Fringe Festival
Sept 17-20


My review of B(r)itches by Clare Galvin, Leah Minto and Dylan Coburn Gray coming up just as soon as I can't play the boat ...

Stepping Out From Under Destiny

Promotional art for The Rest Is Action. How do you present the world without denying that it is completely manufactured? The Company talk about their reinvention of The Oresteia. 

"Maybe I'm older now and bitter" says Jose Miguel Jiminez, theatre director and co-founder of The Company, "but the idea I had when I was younger was that my theatre practice, to a certain extent, had to do with changing the world".

Veronica Dyas, 'Here & Now': A House is Not a Home

136,564 Irish citizens have residential mortgages in arrears. Does Veronica Dyas' pilgrimage tell us anything new about what makes a home?

Project Arts Centre

Performance: May 15-17

Installation: May 13-17

My review of Here & Now by Veronica Dyas coming up after the jump ...

Project Arts Centre, 'Boys and Girls': Here Comes the Night Time

From Dublin's spoken word scene, Dylan Coburn Gray's verse drama sets four college students loose for a night. 

May 13-17

Project Arts Centre

My review of Boys and Girls by Dylan Coburn Gray coming up just as soon it's unreal how painfully sexy your cigarette is ...

Catherine Young Dance, 'Woman Stood Regardless': Welcome To the Bell Jar

Women's bodies are beaten down in Catherine Young's visceral dance. How will they be able to stand back up?

Project Arts Centre
Apr 4-5


My review of Woman Stood Regardless by Catherine Young coming up after the jump ...

CoisCéim Reveal New Dance Show About Former Project Arts Centre Director

Berlin-born Agnes Bernelle worked for British Special Operations during World War II as a 'Black Propaganda' radio announcer in Germany. She later became an international actress and cabaret singer, and spent the last years of her life in Dublin where she worked as Creative Director of Project Arts Centre

CoisCéim Dance Theatre launched their artistic programme for 2014 today. New collaborations see David Bolger and company donating their catalogue of twenty years' work to the National Dance Archive of Ireland (making them the first dance company to do so) as well as a residency in the National Gallery in February to develop a special performance in the gallery in June to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Most exciting is the March premiere of the company's next dance piece AGNES - a work based on the life of Agnes Bernelle.

THEATREclub, 'THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU VOL. III': Bonus Track Version

THEATREclub's mini-festival THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON, VOL. III has run it's course (check out my previous coverage here). A few more words on it after the jump ...

THEATREclub, 'THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON VOL. III': A Revolution Is A Change Of Mind

Project Arts Centre, Dublin
Jan 8-12, 15-19

Last night I attended the opening night of THEATREclub's THE THEATRE MACHINE TURNS YOU ON VOL. III. My thoughts on the evening coming up after the jump ...

ABSOLUT Fringe and Project Arts Centre give us Turn Around

THEATREclub’s sonorous and rompous The Family finished its run this weekend at Project Arts Centre, thus leaving a void in our lives as we await that rare contemporary theatre piece unbound by convention until our Fringe overdose in September.

Thankfully, both the Fringe and Project will be making the wait easier as they announced last week their Turn Around season. In April we will be reunited with five Fringe shows from the past. The release states fringes, so it’s possible we’ll see productions not just from last year but the 2010 and 2009 festivals as well. The Final selected five haven’t been revealed yet but it’s fun to speculate.

So I pose the question: if you could bring back five Fringe productions – whether to relive something you loved or rewrite the past and see what you had previously missed – what would they be?

Here are mine: