• Search
  • Newsletters
  • Crossword
  • Notices
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In
The Irish Times
Sun, Jan 24, 2021

  • The Irish Times
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Life & Style
  • Culture
  • More
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • Executive Jobs
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Sign In
  • Culture
  • Stage
  • Dublin Theatre Festival
  • Fringe Festival
All Culture
  • Books
    • Book Reviews
    • The Book Club
    • Women Writers
    • Poetry
    • Hennessy NIW
    • IT Books
    • Fighting Words
  • Film
    • Film Reviews
    • Cannes Film Festival
  • Music
    • Album Reviews
    • Classical
    • Electric Picnic
  • Stage
    • Dublin Theatre Festival
    • Fringe Festival
  • Art & Design
  • TV, Radio, Web
    • Game of Thrones
  • Photography
    • Summer Pix
  • Tuarascáil
  • Heritage
    • Century
    • Vote 100
    • 1916
  • Specials
    • War of Independence
    • IT Irish Theatre Awards
  • Podcasts
    • The Book Club
Aisling O’Sullivan, Cathy Belton and Derbhle Crotty in The Approach by Mark O’Rowe. Photograph: Patrick Redmond '2020 was going to be the most amazing year ever for us'
  • Stage
  • Sara Keating
  • January 16, 2021, 05:00

Producer Anne Clarke on experiencing live performance for first time since pandemic

When the curtain came down on Our New Girl, did it come down on innovative programming along with it? Photograph: Ros Kavanagh Live theatre was getting interesting. Then Covid arrived
  • Stage
  • Chris McCormack
  • January 13, 2021, 05:00

Several new plays were due on the country’s big stages, a rare sight

Owen Roe pictured  after winning Best Supporting Actor Award at the The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards last year. Photograph: Aidan Crawley Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for 2020 deferred because of Covid-19
  • Stage
  • Hugh Linehan
  • December 22, 2020, 12:31

Nominations for each categories in annual awards usually announced in early January

A new play seeks to challenge Samuel Beckett’s instructions that only men may appear in Waiting for Godot. Photograph: Ali Wright Waiting for Gobnait? Beckett’s ban on women challenged
  • Stage
  • Kate Wyver
  • October 19, 2020, 19:58

Female and non-binary performers are tackling Beckett’s rigidity in a new play

  • 3 comments
Callan Cummins Matthew Malone and Mary Murray in Fishamble: The New Play Company’s Embargo by Deirdre Kinahan.  Photograph: Anthony Woods Embargo review: Deirdre Kinahan’s new play is unashamedly humanistic
  • Stage
  • Donald Clarke
  • October 13, 2020, 05:00

Dublin Theatre Festival: Unquestionably a celebration of the protest but with layers of nuance

People celebrating the independence of Ireland on O’Connell bridge before midnight on Easter Sunday, April 17th, 1949. Photograph: Larry Burrows/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images The Party to End All Parties: There is a lot going on in one-and-a-half smallish packages
  • Stage
  • Donald Clarke
  • October 9, 2020, 13:00

Dublin Theatre Festival review: Summoning the despair of an urban space in the time of Covid

Niall Henry, artistic director of Blue Raincoat Theatre Company in Sligo. Director Niall Henry takes on the lockdown challenge
  • Stage
  • Deirdre Falvey
  • October 12, 2020, 05:00

Henry marks 30 years of absurd, visual drama as Blue Raincoat packs up till Covid allows

Federico Julián González in Looking for América Looking for América review: Memory tells a different kind of truth
  • Stage
  • Sara Keating
  • October 6, 2020, 05:40

Federico Julián González’s effortlessly engaging solo performance is personal but also has deep political resonance

Cora Venus Lunny, Caimin Gilmore and Olesya Zdorovetska in the Abbey Theatre’s production of The Great Hunger by Patrick Kavanagh at IMMA. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh The Great Hunger review: ambitiously staged, with scenes of rare beauty
  • Stage
  • Sara Keating
  • October 9, 2020, 16:21

The setting at IMMA – the scope of sky and the breadth of landscape – brings to life a new theatrical version of Kavanagh’s poem

  • 1 comment
Jack Gleeson in Dead Centre’sTo Be a Machine as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2020. To be a Machine review: Experimental format well-suited to play’s core theme
  • Stage
  • Donald Clarke
  • October 5, 2020, 10:01

Self-conscious experiments complement the exploration of transhumanism

  • 1 comment
Pan Pan's production of WHAT IS THE WORD is due to screen in Belfast and Paris in the coming weeks.
Photograph: Robbie Jack/Corbis via Getty of Pan Pan's Embers by Samuel Beckett
Pan Pan Theatre captures echo of Beckett’s poetry
  • Stage
  • Amy O'Connor
  • September 29, 2020, 12:04

‘Beckett is quite a good voice, I would imagine, in terms of the tone of pandemic’

A Thousand Ways: A Phonecall is an intriguing response to the challenges faced by the theatre in recent months. Photograph: Maria Baranova A Thousand Ways – A Phone Call review: An experience for two strangers
  • Stage
  • Sara Keating
  • September 25, 2020, 13:00

Dublin Theatre Festival: Audience members meet through a guided phone call about their lives

Matthew Malone in Fishamble’s Embargo, part of the Dublin Theatre Festival ‘This image of a man tarred and feathered, driving a train out of rage, just haunted me’
  • Stage
  • Patrick Freyne
  • September 26, 2020, 05:00

Deirdre Kinahan on her site-specific play about the 1920 munitions strike

Paul Noonan’s Electric Kazoo, part of 2020 Dublin Fringe Festival. Photograph: Ruth Medjber/ruthlessimagery The Electric Kazoo review: Noonan’s mannered show maintains engaging presence
  • Stage
  • Sara Keating
  • September 14, 2020, 13:25

Dublin Fringe Festival: Recorded album would help find wider audience for family-friendly repertoire

Druid combines representations of raw sorrow, naked nationalism, and raucous humour to honour Gregory’s legacy. DruidGregory review: Captivating performance rooted in history
  • Stage
  • Ciara L. Murphy
  • September 17, 2020, 10:58

Revival of Lady Augusta Gregory’s neglected works is of vital importance

People celebrating the independence of Ireland on O’Connell bridge before midnight on Easter Sunday, 1949. Photograph: Larry Burrows/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images Experience O’Connell Bridge: A Focal point for revolution and change
  • Stage
  • Amy O'Connor
  • September 19, 2020, 05:00

The Party To End All Parties is an interactive piece created against the backdrop of Covid-19

Richard Osman: ‘I am obsessed with class. Class is everything and we don’t talk about it nearly enough’ Richard Osman: ‘The worst thing in the world is someone telling you they’re writing a novel’
  • Stage
  • Donald Clarke
  • September 8, 2020, 05:00

The star of quiz show Pointless on his new novel, being on telly, and why class is crucial

Rapid fire rounds, where Fionnuala Gygax’s questions were posed as ‘would you rathers’ and directed towards a specific context (the future climate emergency), provided a little more energy to proceedings Twenty Fifty review: a confused and confusing collaboration
  • Stage
  • Sara Keating
  • September 8, 2020, 15:58

Dublin Fringe Festival: Interesting ideas get lost amidst the casual ‘improvised’ banter of interview format

Subscriber Only

Dónall Mac Amhlaigh’s original novel, Deoraithe, was published in 1986 Exiles: Irish emigrant life in postwar Britain
 Ruth Coker Burks (centre) attends the 6th Annual Broadway Sings For Pride Concert at in Manhattan on June 20th, 2016. Photograph: Monica Schipper/WireImage All The Young Men: Medical neglect and homophobia in 1980s Arkansas
Author Bryan Washington describes his debut novel, Memorial, as ‘a gay slacker dramedy’. Memorial: The complicated love story of a young gay couple
Macnas, whose parades are a core part of their work, receive this year’s special tribute award. Photograph: Brian Arthur
Irish Theatre Awards Find out who won this year, plus all our other coverage
 

Stage Reviews

Stanley Townsend in Incanttata. Photograph: Patrick Redmond When grief and art become a gruelling, physical process
An unsentimental look at a Dublin that will not accommodate its own
Come On Home: A tale of sexual repression and provincial suffocation

The Books Podcast

The Irish Times Books Podcast - Darran Anderson, author of Inventory The Irish Times Books Podcast - Darran Anderson, author of Inventory 33:48
The Irish Times Books Podcast The best crime fiction of 2019 The Irish Times Books Podcast The best crime fiction of 2019 40:49
The Irish Times Books Podcast Remembering Maeve Binchy The Irish Times Books Podcast Remembering Maeve Binchy 35:01
The Irish Times Books Podcast Danielle McLaughlin The Irish Times Books Podcast Danielle McLaughlin 33:47

Most Read in Culture

1 Francis Bacon in his early twenties photo by Francis Julian Gutmann, Courtesy MB Art Collection ‘I’d go for a pint with Willem de Kooning and dinner with Francis Bacon’

2 Katie and Harvey Price, profiled in Katie Price: Harvey and Me, Monday on BBC1 TV guide: 23 of the best shows to watch this week

3 Merlin Holland: British biographer and the only grandchild of Oscar Wilde. Photograph:  Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images Oscar Wilde, my grandfather, ‘talked himself into prison’

4 Denis McIntyre, director of Bram Stoker’s Castle Dracula museum and cinema in Clontarf, Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne The Books Quiz: What is Bram Stoker’s Dracula short story called?

5 Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown in The Dig. Photograph: Larry Horricks/Netflix Ralph Fiennes: ‘English society is built on hierarchies’

6 It’s a Sin: the cast has a Trainspotting-esque quality of big names on the brink, such as Olly Alexander It’s a Sin: The first great, gut-punch TV drama of 2021 is here

7 Over the years Brendan O’Connor has dialled down the sardonic sneer [...] and he’s now an empathetic interviewer who wears his knowledge of books, culture and history lightly. Photograph: Kinlan Photography RTÉ Radio One's generational switch has made it the middle-aged station it needs to be

8 Eve Hewson as Adele in Behind Her Eyes Behind Her Eyes: Eve Hewson could have found star-making role in Netflix thriller

9 Charley Boorman with his friend and fellow motorbike enthusiast, Ewan McGregor. Charley Boorman: ‘I felt very free in Ireland’

10 Cathy Belton and Aisling O’Sullivan. Photograph: Patrick Redmond The Approach review: An intricate puzzle of a play

Real news has value SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe
About Us
Policy & Terms
Cookie Settings
Subscribe
  • Why Subscribe?
  • Subscription Bundles
  • Digital Subscriptions FAQs
  • Gift Subscriptions
  • Home Delivery
Irish Times Products & Services
  • ePaper
  • eBooks
  • Crosswords
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Email Alerts & Newsletters
  • Article Archive
  • Executive Jobs
  • Page Sales
  • Photo Sales
About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • The Irish Times Trust CLG
  • Careers
Download on the App Store Download on Google Play
  • Our Partners
  • Rewarding Times
  • MyHome.ie
  • Irish Racing
  • Top 1000
  • MyAntiques.ie
  • The Gloss
  • Irish Times Training
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Information
  • Cookie Settings
  • Community Standards
  • Copyright
  • FAQs
© 2018 THE IRISH TIMES

Sign In

Forgot Password?
Don't have an account?
Subscribe

  • Digital Subscriptions FAQs
  • Subscriber Only Articles
  • The ePaper
  • Subscriber Rewards
  • Subscriber Tour
  • Breaking news app
  • My Account
  • eBooks
  • Email Newsletters
  • Crossword Club
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Sign Out
SUBSCRIBE

Sun 24/1/2021
  • News
    • Coronavirus
    • Ireland
    • World
    • Politics
    • Crime & Law
    • Health
    • Education
    • Subscriber Only
    • ePaper
    • Brexit
  • Sport
    • Gaelic Games
    • Soccer
    • Rugby
    • Golf
    • Racing
    • Other Sports
    • Women in Sport
    • Comment
  • Business
    • Open for Business
    • The Economy
    • Your Money
    • Companies
    • Technology
    • Work
    • Commercial Property
    • Comment
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Letters
    • Columnists
    • An Irishman's Diary
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Martyn Turner
  • Life & Style
    • Food & Drink
    • Homes & Property
    • Health & Family
    • People
    • Travel
    • Motors
    • Fashion
    • Abroad
  • Culture
    • Books
    • Film
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Art & Design
    • TV, Radio, Web
    • Tuarascáil
    • Heritage
  • More
    • You are what you read
    • eBooks
    • Offers
    • Jobs
    • Family Notices
    • Competitions
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • Confronting Coronavirus
    • Inside Politics
    • The Women's Podcast
    • Inside Business
    • Added Time
    • World View
    • Back to Yours
    • The Irish Times Book Club
  • Executive Jobs
  • Crosswords
  • Newsletters
  • Notices
Forgot Password?

Invalid email or password.

Not an Irish Times subscriber? Subscribe
  • Digital Subscriptions FAQs Frequently asked questions about your digital subscription
  • Subscriber Only Articles Specially selected and available only to our subscribers
  • Subscriber Rewards Exclusive offers, discounts and invitations
  • Subscriber Tour Explore the features of your subscription
  • Crossword Club Digital Simplex and Crosaire crosswords
  • Newspaper Archive 150 years of Irish Times journalism
  • My Account Manage your account
  • eBooks Carefully curated selections of Irish Times writing
  • Email Newsletters Sign up to get the stories you want delivered to your inbox
  • The ePaper An exact digital replica of the printed paper
  • Breaking news app Our Apple and Android apps to read on the go
  • Sign Out