Theatre At Cork Midsummer Festival

The Vertigo Suite, Cork County Hall Jun 16-Jul 4 9pm 10pm €20/€15

Although the title of the Cork Midsummer Festival tends to send a worrying chill down your spine – midsummer? already? – the theatrical output of this staple of the cultural calendar is packed with seasonal warmth and excitement. Ensuring that summertime in the Peoples Republic will never be a wash- out, site-specific mavens Corcadorca stage Oscar van Woensel’s postmodern retelling of

Medea

, called

MedEia

, interlacing the Greek tragedy of sorcery and infanticide with Barbie dolls, pop cultural images and lyrical scraps from The Beatles, Joy Division and Madonna. As it’s performed at the top of a skyscraper, you will have to get high to watch it.

Vertiginous sites could be the theme of the festival. Hammergrin Theatre Company begin their "Rescued Abridged and Weightless History of Cork City" with the 17th-Century tale of warring starlings, before touring through Hollander house to reveal secret histories in every room. David Leddy's audio performance Susurrusoffers another guided tour, through Fitzgerald Park and a mental collapse, while Red Lola, from Asylum Productions, presents a different, darkly comic journey into the realm of the subconscious. And that's just in the first week of the festival. Where will we be, as Jim Morrison almost wondered, when Midsummer's gone?

Can't see that? Catch this

Dublin Shakespeare FestivalTrinity College