Tag Archives: Theatre

International Gay Theatre Festival

  By Niamh | May 1, 2010 - 3:39 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
2 Comments

Yes I know, I know, I already posted about the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival - but guess what? There are two Dublin gay theatre festivals on at the same time every year. No doubt there is a complicated and interesting back story to that one so if anyone would like to enlighten me, please do The International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (IDGTF) is in it’s seventh year having first debuted in summer 2004 to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Oscar Wilde. The festival celebrates the contributions of gay people to theatre, past and present with performances and shows with broadly gay themes, relevance or by gay writers. Slightly less expensive than the other festival, tickets for IDGTF performances range in price from €8-€15 in venues such as The Teachers Club on Parnell Square, The Complex on Smithfield Square, James Joyce Centre and The Cobalt Café, both on … There’s more →

ABSOLUT Gay Theatre Festival

  By Niamh | April 26, 2010 - 10:03 am | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
1 Comment

It is that time of year again already and the ABSOLUT Gay Theatre Festival is upon us. The festival is taking place in Dublin from 3 to 16 May in various venues around the city - Break For The Border, The Boys School at Smock Alley, Studio Theatre at Smock Alley, The New Theatre, The Button Factory and The George. The festival will feature the UK’s top gay musical comedy duo act TOPPING & BUTCH in their current show ‘Filth!’ as one of the highlights. Another highlight - BARBARA & LIZA - Steve Brinberg apparently does a breath taking Barbara Streisand - so much so that he has been requested to perform on occasion by the woman herself. Accompanying Steve is Rick Skye doing Liza Minelli. If what I read is to be believed we can expect “outstanding musical performances, fine-writing, comedy, characterizations, prolific gossip and spine-tingling vocal mastery”. There … There’s more →

The Picture of Dorian Gray - An Afternoon Tryst

  By Lottie | April 17, 2010 - 11:53 am | The Culch, Theatre
2 Comments

The Picture of Dorian Gray Bewley’s Tea Rooms - 15th April - 1st May 2010 The tea-room was filled with the rich odour of brewing coffee, and when the light spring sun cast it’s gentle rays across the spanning windows the dim roar of Grafton Street was no more than the bourdon note of a distant organ. No, you haven’t fallen into a decadent drawing room circa 1890 but an afternoon of delicious temptation with a production of Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Gray. “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” Wonderland Productions, in association with Dublin One City One Book present afternoon tea with a Wilde twist in the James Joyce Tea Rooms in Bewley’s, Grafton Street. Acted and narrated by Lord Henry (Simon Coury), Basil (Michael James Ford) and Dorian (Michael Winder) the play is intimate and thoroughly charming. … There’s more →

Review of Who Is Fergus Kilpatrick

  By bngr | April 15, 2010 - 1:49 pm | The Culch
Comments Off

There are two ways of coming to Who Is Fergus Kilpatrick. If you read the play’s initial subtext or come to it blind, this play is a feature about an historical Kerry rebel that veers off mid way, playing tricks with you for the rest of the time until you get comfortable with the tricks being played and accept that it is a play that’s questioning reality. Or you can read into it a bit further and know in advance that it’s a play about the philosophy of reality and with that comfort, enjoy the entertainment and comedy that is offered in the process of its analysis. I confess I came to it blind and my head hurt by the end but the question that I’m still trying to figure out is which of these two audiences are the producers trying to reach? Maybe a bit of both, and naturally … There’s more →

Traces at the Olympia Theatre

  By Darren Byrne | April 14, 2010 - 12:34 pm | Featured Post, Performance Art, The Arts, The Culch
9 Comments

Let me start by saying that I have never seen anything like Traces before. There’s no real need to read my review in full. Just trust me - go see it. It runs until Saturday 17th of this month and if you can get tickets, you will not be disappointed. Tickets are available from €28 from Ticketmaster and the show starts with a support act at 7.30 each evening. Go see it - you won’t regret it. For those of you still not convinced, let me tell you a little more.

The Abbey Theatre Presents…that play

  By Darren Byrne | April 7, 2010 - 2:00 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
4 Comments

Opening tonight, The Abbey Theatre presents Shakespeare’s psychological thriller, Macbeth. It is one of the darkest and most bloody of the Bard’s plays and this production is in the hands of director Jimmy Fay, who also brought The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, a superb production of Playboy of the Western World and Ages of the Moon to the Abbey Stage. Running until the 15th May, this Irish based version of the Scottish play stars Aidan Kelly and Eileen Walsh in the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Rooted in the Irish landscape at the time of Cromwell, this new production lays bare the darkest side of human nature. We may no longer believe in ghosts and witches but Macbeth has always been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays because of what it says to us about violence, ambition and morality. I am very excited about seeing it. I’m hoping … There’s more →

Arsenic and Old Lace

  By Niamh | March 30, 2010 - 10:19 pm | The Culch, Theatre
4 Comments

Coolmine Dramatic Society put on a performance of Arsenic and Old Lace last week at the Draíocht Theatre in Blanchardstown. A movie originally made in 1944 and starring Cary Grant, Arsenic and Old Lace is set in Brooklyn, New York in 1941. It centres on the home of two sweet old ladies who live with two nephews. But it seems the sweet little ladies have gone a step too far in trying to be helpful-they have taken to killing off any lonely elderly gentlemen who call to their house looking to rent a room-for their own good! “One of the best madcap screwball black comedies ever, this classic Broadway hit introduces the sweet, elderly Brewster sisters, their nephew Teddy, who believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt, and their drama critic nephew Mortimer (played by Cary Grant in the famous movie version), who is as surprised as anyone to learn that … There’s more →

Little Gem: Brilliant, bargain theatre

  By Sinead Keogh | March 24, 2010 - 5:10 pm | The Culch
1 Comment

“I’m not being friends with you anymore if you don’t like it,” I said to the +1 while we were sitting on the bench outside Axis having our dinner*. I’m doing a line in shallow threats at the moment. Little Gem is the sort of play you could watch again and again. I say that from the vantage point of having seen it for a second time last night. I enjoyed it so much in the Abbey in January that I followed it out to the Axis for its opening night.

Competition: The Harbour at Draiocht theatre, Blanchardstown

  By Sinead Keogh | March 19, 2010 - 5:26 pm | Competitions, Theatre
2 Comments

Do you like a bit of theatre of an evening? What about a tale of a fisherman falling in love with a woman from the sea and bringing her home - rising ructions with his Mammy? Sounds a bit like something that could happen on our own shores, but instead it’s set between Maine and Scotland and it’s the upcoming show ‘The Harbour’ at the Draiocht theatre in Blanchardstown. “Through the ages, from Maine to Scotland, stories are told of seals becoming women and fishermen falling in love. A visually arresting piece of physical theatre, The Harbour is a contemporary re-imagining of a selkie tale. The lives of a mother and her son are forever overturned when he brings home a woman from the sea. Using bittersweet humour and haunting live music, The Harbour unearths an over-fished world, filled with impossible desires and explores the fragile nature of the relationships that … There’s more →

Una Santa Oscura at the Project

  By bngr | March 6, 2010 - 4:17 am | Featured Post, The Culch
1 Comment

Una Santa Oscura is a piece of music theatre currently showing in the Project Arts Centre, performed by violinist Ioana Petcu-Cola, and inspired by the music and life of the 12th Century abbess, composer and mystic Hildegard of Bingen. See here for a sample of Hildegard’s music. Essentially this is a theatrical art installation. It’s 48 minutes of a woman going through domestic rituals, acting part visually but for the most through skilled violin playing; aided by various images and colours that are flashed onto her apartment wall and a dominant white noise that directs the action. The musical score combines the electronic background noise with a 21st Century take on Hildgard’s music that chops and changes to suit the play’s narrative.

Review: Christ Deliver Us!

  By Lottie | February 17, 2010 - 2:40 pm | The Culch, Theatre
1 Comment

The Abbey Theatre opened it’s stage doors last night to a star speckled audience for the World Premier of Thomas Kilroy’s Christ Deliver Us! Inspired by German dramatist Frank Wedekind’s ‘Spring Awakening’, Christ Deliver Us! is a story focusing mainly on the lives of three teenagers growing up in 1950s Ireland. Beautifully staged as almost everything at The Abbey is it opened with a first; a hurling match on the stage of the Abbey Theatre. Voices were raised as a sliotar flew at speed back and forth across the stage, not making me at all uncomfortable in my rather exposed seat five rows from the front.

We Will Rock You, It Will Drive You Ga-Ga

  By Lottie | January 26, 2010 - 3:06 pm | Music, The Culch, Theatre
6 Comments

Ah yes, I remember the good ole days when The Point Theatre, now the O2 (although certain generations will never acknowledge the change) would have a big stage musical every other year. I would scrimp and save my pocket money and live for the big trip to Dublin to see Chicago, Jesus Christ Super Star or Les Miserables. And while Mama Mia didn’t overwhelm me I am a huge Queen fan and thought I’d give “We Will Rock You“, the latest big show to hit Dublin a go. Written by Ben Elton with music and lyrics by the band Queen “We Will Rock You” opened in the O2 Theatre, Dublin last Wednesday and runs to Sunday 31st January 2010. Unfortunately I do not come bearing good tidings of a foot-stomping, rip-roaring good time. Heavy with irony that I’m not convinced is intentional ,the plot is mediocre to say the least … There’s more →

Grand Canal Theatre

  By bngr | January 26, 2010 - 1:45 am | The Culch
4 Comments

This is what’s called fancy. The new Grand Canal Theatre is opening in March and already has a whole load of events on offer. According to the site: “This brand new 2,111 capacity purpose built theatre was designed by world renowned architect Daniel Libeskind and is an outstanding addition to Ireland’s Theatre world. The theatre will be presenting the best of National and International Theatre, Musicals, Drama, Opera, Ballet, Family Shows & Classical Concerts and will have the facility to accommodate world class West End and Broadway productions for the first time in Ireland….The opening production at the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin on March 18, 2010 will be a stunning performance of Swan Lake by the Russian State Ballet.” For more information on the history of the theatre see here. In the coming months the theatre will be host to the likes of Ronan Keating, R Kelly, Paul Brady, … There’s more →

Stockard Channing in Earnest

  By ekilko | January 23, 2010 - 2:18 pm | The Culch, Theatre
6 Comments

Taken from my post at DublinTheatre.ie As a huge Rough Magic and West Wing fan I am thrilled that this rumour has proven to be true! Stockard Channing is to star in Rough Magic‘s upcoming production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at the Gaiety Theatre. Channing (65) who will play the part of Lady Bracknell is probably most know for her roles as Rizzo in Grease and Abigail Bartlet in the tv series, The West Wing. Artistic Director of Rough Magic Lynne Parker who will direct the production was quoted in today’s Irish Times, saying “this Earnest will be faithful to the original”. The production will open on June 2nd and run for 3 weeks.

Little Gem in The Abbey Theatre

  By Darren Byrne | January 21, 2010 - 11:10 am | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
6 Comments

On the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre last night, I was treated to a truly hilarious, but honestly moving play, Little Gem. With no shame, I’ll admit to having shed a couple of tears only to be hurled in the other direction to have the laughter pour out of me. This is not high-brow entertainment. Though tight, smart and brilliantly staged, it’s one of the most accessible Irish plays I’ve seen in some time. It really is a play for everyman, or indeed everywoman, as it centres on the lives of three generations of Dublin women - Amber, her mother Lorraine and the show-stealing grandmother Kay. In Elaine Murphy’s first full-length play Kay (a heartbreaking Anita Reeves) is past 60, but not dead, as her constantly itching nether regions and desperation for a good old fashioned orgasm reminds her. Her daughter Lorraine (Hilda Fay) is sent to “talk to … There’s more →