Event of the week
Kilkenny Cat Laughs
Until Monday, June 3rd, various venues, times and prices, thecatlaughs.com
Happy 30th birthday, Kilkenny Cat Laughs. Since 1995 the festival has mixed and matched Irish comedic talent with international merchants of mirth – take your pick from everyone from Dylan Moran, Ardal O’Hanlon and Aisling Bea to Bill Murray, Peter Kay and Tig Notaro. For this year’s festival, make a note in your diaries for Dara Ó Briain, Colm O’Regan, Eleanor Tiernan, Daniel Foxx, Susie McCabe, Scott Bennett, Joanne McNally, Des Bishop, Celya AB and Chris Kent. Side events include Karl Spain’s walking tour of Kilkenny.
Gigs
Forbidden Fruit
Saturday, June 1st, and Sunday, June 2nd, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, 2pm, €79.50-€175, forbiddenfruit.ie
With an emphasis on beats rather than words, you won’t find too many singer-songwriters at the first festival of the summer, but what you lose on the roundabouts you gain on the swings. Across the 11-year-old festival’s two days, headliners include Nelly Furtado, Four Tet and Bicep. Taking up the slack are, among others, DJ sets from Groove Armada, Sally C and DJ Boring. Way down the bill are excellent emerging acts such as Chubby Cat, Qbanaa, Saibh Skelly, The Cope and Sick Love.
Galway Folk Festival
Wednesday-Sunday, June 5th-9th, mainly Monroe’s, Galway, various times and prices, galwayfolkfestival.com
The third year of this event is its best yet, with well-known names including Beth Orton and Declan O’Rourke mingling with new and emerging acts. As anyone who has visited the festival over the past two years will tell you, the combination of more than 50 bands and performers is a winning one, with many of the emerging acts popping up here and there for impromptu sessions. If you’re paying a house call to Monroe’s, make sure to see Armagh’s Conchúr White (Thursday, June 6th), the Scottish folk group Talisk (Saturday, June 8th) and the English singer Beth Orton (Sunday, June 9th).
Podcast
I’m Grand Mam Presents That’s Showbiz
Saturday, June 1st, and Sunday, June 2nd, Cork Opera House, 8pm, €35.65 (sold out), corkoperahouse.ie; Wednesday, June 5th, Town Hall Theatre, Galway, 7.30pm, €34.65 (sold out), tht.ie; Thursday, June 6th, Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, 8pm, €35.65 limetreebelltable.ie
“Two Irish mammy’s boys from Cork always up for a skit” is how Kevin Twomey (from Douglas) and PJ Kirby (from Blarney Street) describe their immensely successful five-year-old podcast, which has more than 60,000 weekly listeners. So much for a project that the pair didn’t expect anyone to tune into. There is much fun to be had at these shows, but there are also serious aspects to their chats, which are part cabaret, part cultural digest.
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Visual art
Dorothy Cross: Veins of Other
Until Saturday, July 6th, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, kerlingallery.com
Featuring new work from the Connemara-based artist Dorothy Cross, this exhibition includes the sculptural commission Tread (which highlights evidence of life with a series of human feet carved into coloured marble from international locations) and Bloodlines, which presents archived family photographs layered with hand-poured blood-red streaked glass. The effect, resembling rock striations, highlights the contrast between forces of nature and the whims of human frailty.
Comedy
We Built This City on Rock and Coal
Saturday-Sunday, June 1st-2nd, Cecas, Myross Wood House, Leap, Co Cork, 8pm/11am, free, webuiltthiscity.ie
How can we ignore such a cleverly named science-based comedy show inspired by improv, drama, climate research, local communities and what the adaptive theatre makers term “hopepunk”? Expect interactive events that include postshow sustainability workshops. Also, Saturday, June 8th, and Sunday, June 9th, Wild Nephin National Park, Letterkeen, Co Mayo, 8pm/noon, free; Monday, June 10th, Mulranny Arts Centre, Co Mayo, 8pm, free, mulrannyarts.com; then touring until June 27th.
Festival
Carlow Arts Festival
Wednesday, June 5th, until Sunday, June 9th, Co Carlow, various venues, times and prices, carlowartsfestival.ie
“Of, by and with Carlow, for everyone” is the mission statement of the town’s arts festival, which is now in its 45th year. The programme is extraordinarily diverse, featuring theatre, film, circus, dance, literature, visual arts and music. Highlights include Mourning Is a Muscle (a work in progress by Carlow-born Barry Fitzgerald), the Italian-French circus performer Carlo Cerato and Íomha, the world premiere of a new dance production by the Carlow choreographer Róisín Whelan.
Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas
Friday-Sunday, June 7th-9th, Borris, Co Carlow, festivalofideasandwriting.com
Where to start? With an abundance of writers, thinkers, speakers, activists, historians, commentators, musicians and actors, this event goes from strength to strength. A heavyweight guest list includes Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, Adam Clayton, Neil Jordan, Minnie Driver, Ciarán Hinds, Deborah Levy, Es Devlin, Sally Philips, Kevin Barry and Anne Enright. If conversation is your thing, sign up now (although getting a ticket might prove difficult).
Still running
Blackwater Valley Opera Festival
Until Monday, June 3rd, Lismore Castle, Co Waterford, blackwatervalleyopera.ie
Lismore Castle provides an elegant key visual backdrop for the final few days of recitals, concerts and opera. This weekend sees performances of Handel’s opera Giulio Cesare; the festival finale, on Monday, June 3rd (at Dromore Yard), will feature music by Vivaldi, with the Irish Baroque Orchestra conducted by Nicholas McGegan.
Book it this week
Kilkenny Arts Festival, August 8th-18th, kilkennyarts.ie
Mercury Rev, Button Factory, Dublin, October 31st, ticketmaster.ie
Skinny Living, Academy, Dublin, November 22nd, ticketmaster.ie
Henry Rowley, Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin, November 23rd, ticketmaster.ie
