THEATREclub, 'HEROIN': Through the Eye of the Needle

THEATREclub's 2010 play finishes a national tour with a once-off performance in Liberty Hall, by special invitation of Dublin councillor Gary Gannon.

Liberty Hall

Feb 9

My review of HEROIN coming up just as soon as Lemass helps us play catch-up ...

THEATREclub, 'HISTORY': The Republic That Never Was

As the finale of THEATREclub's trilogy of history plays, will this look backwards move us forward? 

Below is my review of THEATREclub's HISTORY - the last play I will be reviewing this year. I will be taking a break for Christmas but check back next Monday for my top 10 theatre productions of 2013. Meanwhile, my review of HISTORY coming up just as soon as I am also in the play ...

Theatre Festival Season is Over but the Best May Still to Come

Production image of Blue Raincoat's upcoming production of First Cosmonaut by Jocelyn Clarke. The best Irish theatre of 2013 may still be on the way.

As usual, the combined mass of Dublin Fringe Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival may have exhausted many theatre goers. But not as normal is the fact that a certain benchmark feels yet to be achieved by this time of the year. The festival season usually produces some of the most powerful productions of the year. For example, at this point last year we had WillFredd's wonderful FARM, Have I No Mouth by Brokentalkers, ANU's The Boys of Foley Street, and the blistering Druid/Murphy cycle. 2013 feels yet to produce something on the same power levels as these works, though LIPPY, Thirteen, and the Gate's A Streetcar Named Desire are definitely up there.

The truth may be that the best plays of 2013 have yet to deliver. And over the next three months several of the country's most exciting companies put on their latest work. So get over your festival fatigue and mark these dates in your calendar:

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 ...

Irish Theatre in 2012: Sacred Duties

In keeping with tradition I decided to do another write-up on the year that was, theatre-wise.

Last year I wrote about how I felt about lists and how un-useful they can be, so I'll be keeping with the approach of a discussion. Feel free to contribute in the comments section below.

On the subject of 2012, you'll probably have noticed that this blog has been inactive for most of it. This has been a result of time commitments to PhD research, work, a foray into making theatre (which is perhaps better left undiscussed), and to writing about theatre elsewhere and being paid to do so.

However, I've been thinking a lot recently about returning to the self-publishing ways. Aside from the insane amount of other things I have to do, I've found myself capable of writing faster, and so I think a weekly blog post is certainly achievable.

So please stick around (any press managers out there please retain my contact information!), and I'd like to wish Happy Holidays to all who have been around these parts, even if they have been quieter than usual.

My thoughts on Irish Theatre in 2012 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:

THEATREclub and Project Arts Centre, ‘The Family’: We Begin and End With a Family

Project Arts Centre Upstairs, Dublin

Jan 17-28

My review of The Family (with spoilers) coming up just as soon as I see Mrs. Green on Sunday for book club …

THEATREclub, 'Twenty Ten': Youth Novels

Project Arts Centre, ABSOLUT Fringe 2011

Sept 10-15 (Omnibus on 17)

‘Spirit of the Fringe’-commissioned THEATREclub played the Fringe this year with Twenty Ten. Directors Grace Dyas and Doireann Coady told me the show was big. And that it was. My review coming up just as soon as I think Jim Dale should narrate all the audio books ...

Fringe Talk: Grace Dyas and Doireann Coady

I recently spoke to THEATREclub’s Grace Dyas (and eventually Doireann Coady) about their epic-sounding Twenty Ten. Read on to see what they had to say about the company’s Twenty Ten, Twenty Eleven (as well as a bit of Twenty Twelve), and why this will be the last time we’ll see their hands.

A Guide to Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2011

Finally diving into the programme for this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival. Last year, as evidenced by the reviews I wrote, I took a particular interest in the postdramatic segment of the schedule, seeing Ontroerend Goed, Tim Crouch, Pan Pan.  It probably was a gamble on festival director Loughlin Deegan’s part to give weight to such unconventional theatre. Not only were many of these productions deemed popular and critical successes, but the gesture of programming them shows that Deegan would sooner overestimate the ‘performance’ of the Irish audience before underestimating, as members of the public were made sit and chat with neighbours and whisked away into booths with strangers.

What is of most interest to me in this year’s festival, and what you’ll see written about around here, is the strong Irish involvement. In his fifth and final instalment, Deegan is focusing on our home-grown artists. Many past participants of Theatre Forum’s ‘The Next Stage’ development programme, which runs in tangent to the festival, are now featured artists. If this year’s festival is to be remembered for anything it will probably be for opening the golden gates to the next wave of Irish theatre makers.

But for now let’s focus on the present and dive right in. Find below my thoughts on this year’s programme and observe as I – like in my guide to the Fringe – try to narrow these choices down to my six must-gos.

A Guide to ABSOLUT Fringe 2011, ‘Brave New World’

Last week the line-up for this year’s ABSOLUT Fringe was revealed, which will take place in Dublin September 10-25. Sailing under the banner ‘Brave New World’ – this year’s festival intends to chart “a new course through a very changed Irish society”. Below are a few thoughts on the programme and a provisional strategy of what shows I’m going to attend.

Musings Listings: February 2011

With many of the country’s greatest theatre acts taking off these days to tackle America with Culture Ireland’s ‘Imagine Ireland’ scheme, Dublin theatre audiences appear to have been left at the mercy of oestrogen-empowered comedies such as Calendar Girls in the Grand Canal or Adele King’s Grumpy Old Women in the Gaiety. While these large-scale, internationally-toured productions are sure to bring in the big bucks, there are a lot of local performances to be excited about also. Indeed, February 2011 can be characterised as a month of Irish theatre where the parents have gone away on business and the kids are now out to play.