Now in its 40th year, the Dublin Theatre Festival offers Irish audiences an opportunity to see the best of international theatre. Together with the Fringe Festival it also provides a launching pad for emerging writers, actors and directors. Children have also been catered for with their own season of contemporary theatre at the Ark. Festival openings include:
Tomorrow: Main Festival: Cirque Plume, RDS Showjumping Arena, Ballsbridge, until 18th, 8 p.m. (no Monday shows), Wednesday matinee 3 p.m.
Monday 6th: Main Festival: Viper's Opium by Godfrey Hamilton, presented by Starving Artists (USA), 8 p.m. Andrew's Lane Theatre, until 11th, at 8 p.m. Dead Souls performed by Carbone 14 (Canada), Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD until 11th, 8 p.m. Parallel Lines presented by Theatre Cryptic (UK), Project @ The Mint, until 11th, 8 p.m.
Fringe:
At The Same Time As, 10 p.m. Temple Bar Gallery (ends 8th)
The Zoo Story, 1 p.m. Trinity Players, TCD (ends 8th)
11.58, 6 p.m. Andrew's Lane Studio (ends 11th)
Savage/Love Tongues, 8 p.m. Trinity Players, TCD (ends 11th)
The Cave, 8 p.m. DA Club (ends 11th)
Baggage, 1.10 p.m. Bewleys (ends 11th)
Tension, 6 p.m. Da Club, (ends 11th)
Sucker, 8 p.m. Temple Bar Gallery (ends 11th) Kolya's Coat, 6 p.m. City Arts Centre (ends 11th)
Metamorphosis, 8.30 p.m. City Arts Centre (ends 11th)
Ready Or Not, 6 p.m. Crypt (ends 11th)
Nobody's Child, 1.05 p.m. Andrews Lane Studio (ends 11th)
Typhoid Mary, 6 p.m. Bewley's (ends 11th)
Xlrxalta, 8.30 p.m. B of I Arts Centre (ends 11th)
No Way Out, 6.30 p.m. Eamonn Doran's (ends 11th)
Somewhere Over The Balcony, 8.15 p.m. Bewley's (ends 11th)
I Never Do Anything Twice, 11.15 p.m. Bewley's (ends 11th)
Lillian, 7.30 p.m. Joyce Centre (ends 11th)
Mololoy, 6 p.m. International Bar (ends 11th)
Diptych, 8.30 p.m. Basement Theatre, New Orleans Cafe (ends 11th)
The Evening, 1 p.m. International Bar (ends 11th)
In Bed And Bored, 8 p.m. River Club (ends 16th)
Geebags, 8.30 p.m. Ha'penny Bridge Inn (ends 11th)
Children's:
New Kid by Green Thumb Theatre, The Ark, until 9th, various times, ages 8-13
Tuesday 7th:
The Weeping Of Angels by Joseph O'Connor, 8 p.m. Gate Theatre
Measure For Measure by Shakespeare, Gaiety Theatre, runs until 11th, 7.30 p.m.; Saturday matinee, 2.30 p.m.
The Leenane Trilogy by Martin McDonagh: The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, 7th, 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th, 8 p.m.; A Skull In Connemara, 8th, 15th, 8 p.m.; The Lonesome West, 9th, 16th, 8 p.m.; Trilogy Days (performances of three plays, at 1 p.m.; 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.): 11th and 18th.
Olympia Theatre:
Phaedra, SFX Centre, 7th and 8th, 8 p.m. Wednesday matinee, 3 p.m.
It's A Slippery Slope by Spalding Gray, Tivoli, until 11th, 8 p.m. Fringe: Marriage Of Convenience, 8.15 p.m. Andrew's Lane Studio (ends 11th)
Anna Livia Plurabelle, 9.30 p.m. Joyce Centre (ends 11th)
Wednesday 8th
The Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde by Thomas Kilroy, Abbey Theatre, 8 p.m. with Saturday matinees, 2.30 p.m.
Thursday 9th
Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare, SFX Cen- tre, until 11th, 8 p.m. Saturday matinee, 3 p.m. Fringe: The Shopper And The Boy, 1 p.m. Trinity Players, TCD (ends 11th)
Eyes In The Big City, 6 p.m. Andrew's Lane (ends 11th)
All About H Hatter, 8 p.m. The Crypt (ends 11th)
Three Night Stand, midnight, Da Club (ends 11th) Children's: The Amazing Adventures Of Mr De Wit, The Ark, until 13th, varying times
Friday 10th
Scraping The Surface, The Ark, until 12th, varying times.
Dublin Theatre Festival box office, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, booking (01) 874 8525/fax 6796542. Dublin Fringe Festival information at the Irish Film Centre, Eustace Street, phone (01) 6704567/fax 8729138/email fringe@indigo.ie /website is at http://indigo.ie/ fmk/fringe/