Peat review: A superb childhood adventure about coping and moving on

Two friends bury a dead cat in Kate Heffernan's comedy for young audiences, and unearth serious questions about the world they've inherited. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

The Children review: Intimate drama presented as environmental disaster in Lucy Kirkwood’s magnificent play

Two retired nuclear scientists are visited by an old colleague in this excellent drama. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

The Country Girls review: Edna O'Brien's groundbreaking novel receives a strange otherworldly production

O'Brien adapts her novel for the Abbey Theatre, following two young women expelled from school and starting their next stages of life in Dublin. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

22 years at the Irish Times Theatre Awards: An inconsistent ceremony shows signs of growth

In 2016 DruidShakespeare was the first production to take the major awards of Best Production, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Director. Photo: Matthew Thompson

Irish Times Theatre Awards: A complete list of every nomination ever

In other countries awards are presented by theatre organisations. Here the ceremony is organised by a national newspaper, and sometimes ignored by rival media outlets.

New plays on big stages: Could this be a game-changing year for Irish theatre?

Promotional art for The Children. The Gate Theatre hasn't opened a new production in five months, but the wait was necessary to shore up its new play. 

Covering the Abbey complaints: Journalists need to get a grip when reporting on theatre

Newstalk's The Hard Shoulder showed poor research in its coverage but it did allow host Ivan Yates to interview a theatre worker as if greeting an old peacocking friend. Photo: Newstalk

The Cripple of Inishmaan review: Like watching Pulp Fiction without the brain-splattering gunshot

Martin McDonagh's dark comedy about an intolerant island community receives a tame production. Photo: Pat Redmond 

So Where Do We Begin? review: Wordy psychodrama flirts with big questions

A psychotherapist's patient is stealing memories in Seanan McDonnel's sharply clever play. Photo: Myles Shelly

The Ridleys review: Pushing two rapid monologues towards art-horror

Philip Ridley's companion plays Tonight with Donny Stixx and Dark Vanilla Jungle are staged in one sitting. Photo: Ste Murray