“Everyone’s a critic”: As column inches narrow, it's time for editors to raise standards

One of the puzzling editorial decisions, in these straitened times, is the Irish Times commissioning book reviewers who have eked out careers in literary writing as opposed to journalism. 

Beginning review: A flintily genuine view of people seeking connection

Two remaining people at a house party navigate their complicated lives. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

Irish Times Theatre Awards: Why the most conventional production is a timely winner

DruidShakespeare: Richard III mightn't be the most aesthetically groundbreaking winner but it does feel globally relevant. Photo: Robbie Jack 

Bold Moves review: Ballet Ireland search for an insurrection with the off-the-wall Gaga movement

This absorbing production is a triple-bill of dances about flights of departure. Photo: Declan English

Irish Times Theatre Awards predictions: Seeing all four Best Production nominees won’t make you any wiser

Best Production nominees: The Lost O'Casey, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, DruidShakespeare: Richard III and How It Is: Part One

Sure Look It, Fuck It review: The thick haze of a spoken word nirvana

Clare Dunne's debut play follows a returned emigrant through one day in Dublin, struggling with anxiety. Photo: Fiona Morgan 

In a freak occurrence, a new play has sold out the Gate Theatre. For once it might have been the reviews

Seán McGinley and Marie Mullen in The Children, the first recently-written play to fill the Gate in years. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

Theatre Upstairs shuts doors at Lanigan’s: A look back on the past nine years

Theatre Upstairs announced their closure on Thursday night.

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 

Womb review: An old-school dystopian play with clear inspiration but misty results

Maud Hendricks's new play is set in Dublin 100 years from now, where a woman is granted asylum for being pregnant. Photo: Jeda de Brí

Nothing but a Toerag review: Witty prison comedy earning the trust of a therapy session

In Aisling O'Mara's new comedy a prisoner confides her problems in a cellmate. 

Abbey Theatre complaints: More in-house productions will clarify employment as well as artistic vision

The directors' artistic vision won't be revealed through the admirable benevolence of coproduction but through their in-house productions. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

2019 theatre preview: 10 shows to watch out for

Promotional image for Citysong. A Thomas Kilroy adaptation, two Tennessee Williams dramas, and several new plays are on the way. 

The Signalman review: Another Charles Dickens ghost, another counsel

A spectre visits a signalman on the eve of disaster, in Charles Dickens's story. Photo: Alan Craig

Northern Lights review: A dusk-lit drama about two strangers, subtle and compassionate

Stephen Jones's new play brings together two strangers, each harbouring secrets.

The Best Theatre of 2018

My favourite theatre moments of 2018: The Lost O'Casey, Bluebeard's Castle, Orfeo ed Euridice, Asking for It, and Dolores

Before review: The familiar melody of Pat Kinevane's extravagantly intimate song

Pat Kinevane's new play follows a man reunited with his daughter after 17 years apart. Photo: Patrick Redmond 

Woman Undone review: A reimagining of Mary Coughlan's life, ethereal and terrifying like a nightmare

The singer watches her younger self suffer predatory attacks and downspins through addiction, in this avant-garde play. Photo: Simone Rudolphi

We Can't Have Monkeys in the House review: A dark surreal comedy about traumatised sisters

A woman is reunited with her sisters to fulfil their mother's dying wish in Ciara Elizabeth Smyth's affecting new comedy. 

Asking for It review: Home truths on rape culture in an outstanding production

Louise O'Neill's acclaimed novel moves to stage, and puts new shape on this essential era. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

The Bystander review: A blurry dance about staying on the sidelines

Junk Ensemble's brooding production is driven by the shocking murder of Kitty Genovese, out in the open, in 1964 New York. Photo: Marco Novara 

Double Cross review: Thomas Kilroy's hi-tech play gets an analogue production

Kilroy frames Brendan Bracken and William Joyce as Cain and Abel-like brothers, forged together by one actor's performance. Photo: Melissa Gordon

Bluebeard's Castle review: A magnificent art-horror opera exposing a male monster

A woman throws open the doors of Bluebeard's Castle, bringing her closer to his crimes, in Béla Bartók's terrific opera.

The Fever review: Compassionate interactive theatre, recognising cries for help

In 600 HIGHWAYMEN's fascinating production, the audience play guests and neighbours at a house party. Photo: Waleed Shah

Company review: Samuel Beckett's life-retrospective is a big ask for the stage

Samuel Beckett's late novella about mortality receives a sombre adaptation by Sarah Jane Scaife. Photo: Futoshi Sakauchi

ELIZA'S Adventures in the Uncanny Valley review: Some eccentricities in this absurd drama don't seem well scripted

A group of androids struggle with feelings of irrelevance in Eugene O'Brien and Gavin Quinn's new play. Photo: Ros Kavanagh 

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man review: James Joyce's coming of age refuses the move to stage

Arthur Riordan's kaleidoscopic new adaptation of Joyce's novel takes the novelist at his word. Photo: Ste Murray

Shame review: Garage rock theatre, dissenting and triumphing

Pom Boyd and Seán Miller's new music-theatre production gives paralysing self-doubt the longed-for pathos of a rock song. 

Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage), Dublin Fringe Festival 

Sep 19-22

My review of Shame by Pom Boyd and Seán Miller coming up just as soon as I smile ...

The PeopleSway review: Artists addressing the housing crisis how they know best

Grainne O Carroll's promenade production drags otherworldly displays down to ground.

MLV Studios, Dublin Fringe Festival 

Sep 13-15

My review of The PeopleSway by Dance Among Other Things coming up just as soon as I stretch my hands like an accordion ...

Everything Can Be Dismantled review: Freewheeling contemporary theatre in search of a rulebook

Discotheque Collective's interactive play involves an audience conversation about the housing crisis. 

The Lir Academy (Studio 2), Dublin Fringe Festival

Sep 12-16

My review of Everything Can Be Dismantled by Discotheque Collective coming up just as soon as I hand you a lamp ...

Astronaut review: A caustic stream of consciousness thrums towards Apollo House

Joe Wright's impassioned solo work tells the story of a homeless man. Photo: Gary James Doyle. 

The New Theatre, Dublin Fringe Festival

Sep 12-15

My review of Astronaut by Joe Wright coming up just as soon as I introduce Christy Dignam from Aslan ...

Stop / Over review: A light-flickering escape to New York unsure of what it's fleeing from

In Gary Duggan's promenade play, two reunited friends try to recreate the abandon of their student days over 48 hours. Photo: Futoshi Sakauchi.

Chocolate Factory, Dublin Fringe Festival 
Sep 12-23


My review of Stop / Over by Gary Duggan coming up just as soon as I sip on my Masochist ...

Oneday review: Striking and revitalising avant-garde theatre

Dick Walsh's riveting new play uses news reports to reconstruct what happened on March 13th, 2012. Photo: Aine McBride. 

Project Arts Centre (Cube), Dublin Fringe Festival

Sep 10-15

My review of Oneday by Dick Walsh coming up just as soon as I play Count Dracula on Broadway ...

A Holy Show review: Multiple-role comedy about Aer Lingus highjack spreads itself thin

Janet Moran's vigorous comedy revisits a bizarre episode from 1980s Ireland. 

Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage), Dublin Fringe Festival

Sep 10-15

My review of A Holy Show by Janet Moran coming up just as soon as I consecrate Russia to my immaculate heart ...

Assisted Solo review: An affectionate and surreal dance about elderly care

Philip Connaughton's absorbing new production features an appearance by his mother, who suffers from dementia. Photo: Ste Murray 

Project Arts Centre (Upstairs), Dublin Fringe Festival 

Sep 8-15

My review of Assisted Solo by Philip Connaughton coming up just as soon as my ex-boyfriend is a gynaecologist ...

FABLE review: A dance production buckling under the problems of modern life

The Human Collective's lively production for young audiences ushers street dance into the theatre. 

Project Arts Centre (Upstairs), Dublin Fringe Festival

Sep 10-16

My review of FABLE by Matt Szczerek coming up just as soon as I hop on an escalator ...

Everything I Do review: Mesmerising gig theatre, in tune with all-consuming love

Zoe Ní Riordáin's new musical performance begins with gestures of devotion necessary for love songs but becomes something more complex. Photo: Ros Kavanagh. 

Project Arts Centre (Cube), Dublin Fringe Festival
Sep 8-15

My review of Everything I Do by Zoe Ní Riordain coming up just as soon as I meet an alien ...

10 Shows to See in 2018

We’re not used to having the Gate Theatre’s programme in advance, or the Abbey’s season as plentiful. Narrowing down the field is no fun at all. Here are 10 premieres for your diaries.

The Best Theatre of 2017

In accordance with being a critic in December, I must be writing my theatre picks for 2017. Keep an eye out for a more thought-out analysis in the Irish Independent.

If you think I got it wrong, sound off in the comments. 

Pan Pan, 'The Good House of Happiness': Send in the Brechtsperts

A bleak version of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechuan loses its satirical edge. Photo: Gavin Quinn.

Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival 

Oct 13-15

A quick review of The Good House of Happiness by Eugene O’Brien and Gavin Quinn coming up just as soon as I take a 15 minute break …

Karine Polwart and Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, 'Wind Resistance': Birdsong

This illuminating solo with songs could have left out its B-sides. Photo: Aly Wight 

Pavilion Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival 

Oct 12-14

A quick review of Wind Resistance by Karine Polwart coming up just as soon as I help a robin ...