Fishamble, 'Spinning': Modern Family

The truth of contemporary family life is on Deirdre Kinahan's mind. However, the line between rationality and irrationality feels problematised. 

Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival

Oct 3-12

My review of Spinning by Deirdre Kinahan coming up after the jump ...

Abbey Theatre, 'Our Few and Evil Days': Boy Who Cried Wolf

The artful surface of Mark O'Rowe's play leaves us suspecting throughout. Things are not what they seem.

Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival 

Oct 3-Oct 25

My review of Our Few and Evil Days by Mark O'Rowe coming up just as soon as I say hello in Brown Thomas ...

Gate Theatre, 'The Mariner': Off a Duck's Back

Can Hugo Hamilton's play plunge the depths of the great silence that Irish men brought home from WWI? 

Gate Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival 

Sept 30-Oct 25

My review of The Mariner by Hugo Hamilton coming up after the jump ...

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 ...

The Corn Exchange, 'A Girl is a Half-formed Thing': Pieces of a Whole

Eimear McBride's boldly original novel has become a literary phenomenon. How can The Corn Exchange adapt it for the stage?

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival

Sept 28-Oct 5

My review of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, adapted from the novel by Eimear McBride, coming up just as soon as I fight for opera tickets and drink schnapps ...

ANU Productions, 'Vardo': Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect €200

The concluding chapter of ANU's Monto Cycle brings 100 years of history full circle. Photo: Patrick Redmond.

Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin Theatre Festival
Sept 25-Oct 12


A few weeks ago I talked to ANU director Louise Lowe about Vardo and the Monto Cycle as a whole. My review coming up just as soon as I count backwards from one hundred ...

Druid, 'Bailegangaire': Drawing Wisdom From the Fire

The 1984 premiere of Bailegangaire has been passed on like a folktale by those who saw it. Alongside the new prequel Brigit, will Garry Hynes' revival be as momentous?

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Sept 14, 17, 19, 20, 21

My review of Bailegangaire by Tom Murphy coming up just as soon as great rumbles start risin' in the barrel of my chest ...

Druid, 'Brigit': What the Oak Meant

30 years ago Tom Murphy conveyed the mythic timelessness of Irish storytelling in Bailegangaire. The new prequel Brigit sees the playwright tracing our traditions back further than before. 

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Sept 14, 16, 18, 20, 21

My review of Brigit by Tom Murphy coming up just as soon as I hang my cloak on a sunbeam ...

The Look of the Diamond

Promotional art for Vardo. Having 'the look of the Diamond' has given Louise Lowe a sense of permission to make the Monto Cycle this far. The ANU director talks about how the final chapter has led the company into a darker and more dangerous place than before.

We've visited brothels and laundries, been pulled into cars, given gifts of carbolic soap, recorded brutal beatings on the street, and been caught in the blast radius of a bomb. Now it's time for ANU Productions' accomplished Monto Cycle of plays about Dublin's hidden histories to come to an end.