The Dragon: The uplifting fantasy comedy staged at the end of a pandemic

Lady Gregory's 1919 comedy is set in a mythical castle on the Burren, where, according to a prophecy, a princess will be devoured by a dragon. Photo: NUI Galway archives

Coronavirus: Art has a kind of magic. It’s helping to counteract feelings of separation and loneliness

As the virus spreads, art is synthesising new connections. Painting: Three Witches (scene from Macbeth) by William Rimmer. 

The Cherry Orchard review: Tonally uneven production of Anton Chekhov’s Russian revolution comedy

A broke aristocratic family face selling their estate, in Anton Chekhov's comedy. Photo: Robbie Jack 

Our New Girl review: Sexism satire meets psychological thriller in Nancy Harris’s outstanding play

A nanny arrives out of the blue, to help a woman with her troubled son, in Nancy Harris's psychological thriller. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

The Fall of the Second Republic review: Dark satire trying to bare a heart of gold

The Corn Exchange and the Abbey's new comedy is set in a 1970s version of Ireland, where an opportunistic Taoiseach conspires to cling onto power. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

Dream, Sleep, Connect review: Romantic comedy struggling to make big statements about the digital era

A singleton working in big data searches for a date to his office party, in Rosemary Jenkinson's new comedy. 

Mamafesta Memorialising review: A superb dance against dementia both sad and uplifting

Choreographer Philip Connaughton fears losing his memory in this marvellous new dance. Photo: Luca Truffarelli 

Medea review: Serious performances in an adaptation that doesn’t show the same commitment

Euripides's ancient tragedy is seen from a child's perspective, in Kate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks’s version. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

Election 2020: When do you know you’re walking around a cultural ghost town?

Irish writer Maeve Brennan wrote about the demolishment of culture in 1960s New York. Photo: Getty Images

The Lieutenant of Inishmore review: Martin McDonagh’s spectacular gunfight takes risky new shots

Martin McDonagh's dark comedy about a Republican terrorist is more ridiculing and subversive than ever. Photo: Patrick Redmond

Irish Times Theatre Awards nominations: The most bizarre shortlist ever

Epiphany, Brian Watkins's Joyce-inspired play for Druid, is one of the best production nominees not nominated for either best actress, best actor or best director. Photo: Robbie Jack 

Flights review: The sad dispossession of our era in a play that isn’t quite there

Three men gather on the anniversary of their friend's death in One Duck's funny and tragic new play. Photo: Ste Murray 

Gone Full Havisham review: Enjoyably ridiculous old-school psychological horror

In her enjoyable solo play, Irene Kelleher is pleasantly over the top as a bride whose breakdown has gone viral. 

Collapsing Horse has disbanded, THEATREclub's future is uncertain. Both embodied youthful resistance to the Recession

Bears in Space, a puppet comedy by Collapsing Horse. Photo: Idil Sukan

2010s review: Writing about the art of terrible men

#MeToo is transforming theatre, and it is transforming criticism. Illustration: Don Conroy

2019: The best theatre of the year

My favourite theatre moments of 2019: The Children, Pretty Feelings, Beckett's Room, Tall Tail, and Endgame. 

Faultline review: A heartfelt depiction of a movement gaining ground

ANU and the Gate Theatre's new immersive play is set in 1982, when hundreds of LGBTQ+ people were under investigation. Photo: Pat Redmond 

The Beacon review: An absorbing thriller about blood thirst

A famous artist relocates to an island cottage - the spot where she's suspected of having murdered her husband - in Nancy Harris's new play. Photo: Robbie Jack 

Last Orders at the Dockside review: An old-fashioned play, and not because it's set in the 1980s

A community joins in paying tribute to a dead man in Dermot Bolger's new play. Photo: Ros Kavanagh  

Your Words in My Mouth - Brussels Take review: A play casting its audience and cementing their eyes to the script

Inside a secretive meeting place, a small audience recreates a real conversation between Belgian residents. 

Hecuba review: A touching war story encouraging us to look closer

Queen Hecuba is exiled in this ancient tragedy, but Marina Carr's intimate reimagining gives all its characters multiple perspectives. Photo: Ste Murray  

Pasolini’s Salò Redubbed review: A notorious film becomes an overwhelming mirror up to Ireland’s past

Dylan Tighe's bold adaptation transposes Salò from Italy to the early decades of the Irish state, an era when alliances were hatched between church and state. Photo: Luca Truffarelli 

Mám review: A dance through Ireland’s subconscious without any coherent point

Michael Keegan-Dolan's new dance resembles scenes from a dramatic community gathering, but its nostalgia doesn't make it complete. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

Beckett’s Room review: Samuel Beckett and Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil’s touching story of survival

This miraculous play without performers takes us to Nazi-occupied Paris, and the source of Samuel Beckett's storytelling. Photo: Kyle Tunney

Incantation review: Misty performance art about intergenerational trauma

Maïa Nunes, an artist of Irish-Trinidadian descent, connects to her forebears in this performance art. Photo: Alan Gilsenan

Sorry Gold review: An intoxicating and profound aerial epic

 

Emily Aoibheann's extraordinary aerial dance brings us from the heights of civilisation to its wreckage.  Photo: Eoin Kirwan 

Some Names Were Changed review: Fiction brings us closer to the truth in this cluttered documentary play

In Ross Dungan and Ronan Phelan's new interactive play, the audience help tell the story of a married couple. Photo: Patricio Cassinoni

Fetch review: Superb art-horror installation about impending disaster

Two strangers meet onboard a flight in this installation, presented inside a shipping container. Photo: Paula Trojner

Pretty Feelings review: A magnificent surreal comedy about the art of love

The goddess Venus is the director of a match-making agency in this ebullient production. 

Sink review: A play excavating two women's lives and discovering too little

An archaeologist digs up a bog body in John O'Donovan's new play, but ends up uncovering the trauma of another woman. Photo: Keith Dixon 

Bodies of Water review: An arty play-installation but a shallow exploration of grief

A curator holds a retrospective of her missing partner's artwork in this new play-installation.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings review: Sublime children’s theatre about an elderly prisoner

A couple stumble across an old man with wings in Gabriel García Márquez's story for children. Photo: Ste Murray 

This Beautiful Village review: A simplistic play dismantling the patriarchy over wine and crackers

Members of a residents association meet to discuss a piece of graffiti in Lisa Tierney-Keogh's new play. Pat Redmond 

The Hunger review: Donnacha Dennehy’s plotless opera set during the Famine

The Hunger is based on the writings of an American philanthropist who visited Ireland during the Famine. Photo: Pat Redmond

The Roaring Banshees review: This gangster play would be a scream if it spilled more blood

A rogue Cumann na mBan unit fight Chicago gangsters in Peter McGann and John Morton's new play. 

Where are You From? review: Slick but unfocused docudrama from Dublin to the New Territories

Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng pieces together her mixed race and queer identity in a new play with fresh perspectives. Photo: Isaac Harris

Least Like the Other review: This opera about JFK’s hidden sister is swamped by visual effects

Bill Irvine and Netia Jones's new opera treats its performers like ciphers instead of characters. 

Epiphany review: Druid’s new play has too many ghosts not enough plot

In Brian Watkins's new play, guests at a dinner party try to solve what the Epiphany is about. Photo: Robbie Jack

Tree authorship accusation: The job specifics of dramaturg have been hazy long enough

Playwrights Sarah Henley and Tori Allen-Martin said they were dismissed from writing Tree, as a script continued to be developed by dramaturg Kwame Kwei-Armah. Tree photo: Marc Brenner

Plays and adaptations: Is the Abbey playing the Gate’s game?

An adaptation of Roddy Doyle's novella Two Pints plays the Abbey Theatre. 

Brendan Galileo for Europe review: A heartfelt comedy about a union in trouble

An independent candidate runs in the European elections in Fionn Foley's superb comedy. Photo: Cáit Fahey. 

Evening Train review: This dark barroom musical is staged as if it's already closing time

Life is a series of wagers in Mick Flannery's new musical, as its characters seek escape from a small town. 

Tall Tail review: An excellent Pixar-bright debut about a dog caught in the homelessness crisis

Al Dalton's play for young audiences finds a dog who takes us through life with his homeless master.

Midsummer (a play with songs) review: A romantic comedy where the characters spend more time talking to us than each other

David Greig's play follows two lovers on a dizzying weekend in Edinburgh. Photo: Keith Dixon 

Citysong review: Wordy play about a Dublin family misses its tragicomic notes

Dublin is a record in Dylan Coburn Gray's new play, and time jumps like a needle skipping backwards. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

The Magic Flute review: Trying to make something of Mozart’s wild music

A prince accepts a mission to rescue a princess in The Magic Flute but not all of it is plausible. Photo: Pat Redmond

La Natura Delle Cose review: A dance masterpiece chronicling the life of one character

Dublin Dance Festival present Virgilio Sieni's dance inspired by a Lucretius poem. Photo: Paulo Porto 

A Streetcar Named Desire review: Tennessee Williams's masterpiece becomes an absorbing psychodrama

This revival of Williams's play about a woman visiting her sister shows the horrors of domestic abuse. Photo: Johnny Frazer

The Glass Menagerie review: Tennessee Williams's breakout play with a little too much polish

The Wingfield family of The Glass Menagerie are all left behind, in some respect, by the world. Photo: Ste Murray 

It Was Easy (in the End) review: THEATREclub's coproduction with the Abbey is a bit of a mess

Grace Dyas's new play follows a group of off-the-grid artists imagining the end of capitalism. Photo: Dorje de Burgh