Sara Keating

This year’s Classics Now festival recognises how the current classical cultural resurgence has been driven by prominent female writers and historians

Including Frigid, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Twelfth Night, Reggie’s Guide to Social Climbing and Hangmen

From a stunning achievement involving time-travel and wonderful art to a sensitive story that will give emotional confirmation to sick kids

Theatre: Plenty of talent is evident both on stage and behind it, but ultimately this comes across as a self-congratulatory, if spectacular, marketing ploy

Theatre: Audience treated to a celebration of difference and the power of friendship

Big casts, full houses and genre-busting shows made for a vibrant year

Theatre: Caitríona McLaughlin’s production runs for 100 minutes but holds your attention throughout

Theatre: Refreshingly, this production is pitched at children. A brilliant first pantomime for young families

Theatre: Be Our Guest routine will be seared into imagination of viewers young and old for years to come

Theatre: Plenty of songs and laughs in this crowd-pleasing show that honours panto’s legacy

Sara Keating selects her favourite children's titles of the year

This year’s productions include Aladdin at the Waterfront in Belfast, Cinderella at the Everyman in Cork, and The Jungle Book at the Gaiety in Dublin

Theatre review: In Haunted and If These Wigs Could Talk, from the Abbey and Thisispopbaby, the activists and performers reflect on success and its price

Reports of a problematic workplace culture were followed by financial concerns. The Dublin theatre’s new directors, Róisín McBrinn and Colm O’Callaghan, are looking to the future

Stanley Townsend carries the weight of this haunting adaptation of Mike McCormack’s novel