Meet Daryn Crosbie and the colourful crew behind the Gaiety panto

Plus new titles from Abi Elphinstone, Shirley Hughes and Natasha Mac a’Bháird

A ‘radio play within a play’ production; and an annual tradition at the Lyric in Belfast

Plus our reviews of all the best Christmas pantos – and the ones to avoid

Our selection of festive events around Ireland right through to the new year

Disabled artist Ian Parker has just illustrated a children’s book about a disabled character

Des Keogh and Rosaleen Linehan stage a reunion; and SoloSirens comes to Tallaght

Rory Gleeson’s Blood in the Dirt, and the Bockety World of Henry Bucket

Cal McCrystal has worked as a comedy adviser – from Paddington to One Man, Two Guvnors – and now comes to Dublin to direct Lennox (...)

Selina Cartmell’s ambitious Gate production is both intimate and involving

Plus new books on children who changed the world, the art of protest and time zone travel tales

Lisa Dwan and Colm Tóibín discuss working together on 'Pale Sister' a new piece of theatre based on the story of Antigone

Picture recipe book offers an imaginative way to explore world cuisines with kids

Baboró arts festival in Galway will bring 14 theatre companies to perform for children

Dublin Theatre Festival: This perfectly paced production for ages eight and up retells the Irish folk tale for a new audience

The Children of Lir , The Fate of Fausto , Scúnc Agus Smúirín, The Ghouls of Howlfair

The author on His Dark Materials, its follow-up trilogy, and the ‘total failure’ that is Brexit

Dublin Theatre Festival: Bronks stages a powerful, politically charged account of the Beslan massacre

Dublin Theatre Festival: Nilaja Sun plays three generations of characters with ease

Dublin Theatre Festival: Justin Butcher serves as an energetic guide along the Roman roads out of Europe

Dublin Theatre Festival: Michael Keegan-Dolan’s new dance production is 90 minutes of ritualised ecstasy

Dublin Theatre Festival: Dermot Bolger’s social drama offers a window into history, but may struggle with contemporary audiences

Dublin Fringe Festival: The parodic format is entertaining but tests an audience’s patience

Dublin Fringe Festival: The capital is underwater in this enlightening and confronting look at climate change

Catherine O’Flynn has a debut children’s novel called Lori and Max

Dublin Fringe Festival: The victories and tragedies of Mark Smith recounted through interview and performance

Dublin Fringe Festival: Much to enjoy in this ambitious production, which merges ancient myth with modern life

Dublin Fringe Festival: Vickey Curtis and Áine O’Hara practice their own version of inclusivity

Dublin Fringe Festival: This love letter to sauce delights in innuendo and provokes hysterics

Dublin Fringe Festival: Playful encounters with bowler hats, water wings and a stick bring hilarious results

Dublin Fringe Festival: Spittle takes to the pulpit with confidence as she rakes over her past

The playwright comes full circle with the Irish premiere of Hecuba at Project Arts Centre

Making documentary theatre about his life has given the actor his first opportunity to tell his own story

Plus a visual treat that doubles as an accessible parable about anxiety

An expressionistic form-bending film, giving an insight into the process and product of stage design

Humorous story gives an entirely different perspective on the much-maligned spider

For the creator of the Tom Gates character, reader’s imagination is as important as her own in the books

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton, Thomas Taylor’s Malamander, Abi Elphinstone’s Rumblestar and A Girl Called Justice by (...)

Richard Seabrooke, the man behind the upcoming three-day Kaleidoscope festival, believes that cultural experiences can fire young (...)

Swings and roundabouts are not as important as freedom to experiment and take risks

A network, The Mothership Project, aims to develop supports for artists with children

A celebration of the natural world from Nicola Skinner and delightful illustrations by Angela Brooksbank

Siblings Chris and Lynn Haughton are combining their commitment to ethical and sustainable design, and their love for the sea, to (...)

How do you approach work that dances so dangerously with ideas of political correctness?

Students are getting access to classical music with a little help from Whistleblast Quartet

Gay dads, blended families, dealing with grief, a family of puffins and sibling dynamics

Owls, frogs and bears feature in the latest kids’ books for all ages

Programme aims to enable children’s creative potential

Fed up of her work going uncredited in children’s books, Sarah McIntyre decided to act

Plus new reads from Polly Ho-Yen, Aitziber Lopez, Kate Pankhurst and Fiona Robinson

No Child 2020: Put the kids in charge – how the Ark turned to children for ideas

Inese Zandere, David LaRochelle, Karen McCrombie, Lucy Stranger and Jon Agee

The inaugural festival of arts offers workshops for singers, dancers and musicians

Lure your child back to the printed word with Alex Gardiner’s Mossbelly MacFearsome

Christmas Day is over, but there is still plenty to do with children before school restarts

Tamsin Lyons’s Ink and Light animation studio is bringing a message of mindfulness

Hugo’s spiritually benevolent message rings loudly in this immersive, cinematic staging

If you have had enough of the flashing lights of the panto, this is the show for you

A doubting Thomas, a young girl and a sheep save the day in our kids’ books round-up

Your one-stop Christmas events shop is here

The Christmas show’s sheer spectacle makes up for a few weaknesses in the plot

Children’s books: from wood mice and red squirrels to beetles and termites, there’s plenty of nature in these new releases

Ideas take shape when the mind is drifting, so give kids room ‘to let their minds wander’

A lonely Pooka, an invasion of evil teddy bears and a witch from the Louisiana swamp all feature for Halloween

Dublin Theatre Festival: Brendan Coyle stars in the Irish premiere of Conor McPherson’s 1997 play

Dublin Theatre Festival: Intimate snapshots of life in Dublin 15 pair actors with locals. The results are top-notch

Dublin Theatre Festival: The all-male ballet troupe blend dance and physical comedy

Work made for children used to be rare, but there's now a rich bounty of shows

Dublin Theatre Festival: The audience are stuck when a piece of theatre denies its characters humanity

Dublin Theatre Festival: Rough Magic’s Joyce adaptation is refreshingly unconventional

Dublin Theatre Festival: Derbhle Crotty is moving as Marina Carr’s family figurehead

Dublin Fringe Festival: Thommas Kane Byrne stars in his reinvention of the one-man show

Dublin Fringe Festival: This musical memoir of growing up gay in rural Ireland is sonically stirring but lacks focus

Dublin Fringe Festival: A few tweaks could give Christiane O’Mahony’s play a deservedly long life

Dublin Fringe Festival: Why should a woman need safety procedures when encountering men she doesn’t know?

Children’s fiction from Auxier, Burton, Doyle, Martin and Chambers

Christiane O'Mahony's new play Seahorse centres around an unlikely feminist icon

Dublin Fringe Festival: Olwen Fouéré’s Unwoman is stuck in perpetual parturition

Dublin Fringe Festival: Painful puns, silly dances, perfectly judged audience interaction

Authors’ imaginations run riot in this selection of children’s books

Decadent Theatre’s production draws out darkness of McDonagh’s Gothic work

‘Frnkstn’, at the Abbey Theatre, reanimates the monster for a new generation

Five Irish children’s books that will lead you on a summer family adventure

Children’s books: new stories from Eirlys Hunter, Ruth Quayle, Jarvis and Jo Simmons

Based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this asks who was the Wicked Witch of the West?

An alien warrior, handling grief, and a boy who loves pairs are among this month’s highlights

Production at Carlow Arts Festival puts artists, disabled and non-disabled, on stage together

Children’s fiction covers all the basics from child-eating monsters, to nature and grief

The storyteller presents war, peace and the human condition through a lens of realism

Struggling with maths? Need to relax? Or just want adventure? These books cater for all

Roald Dahl’s novel may be 30 years old, but this adaptation from the Royal Shakespeare Company resonates chillingly

Sara Keating selects the best new books for children

From picture books to YA fiction, it’s a great time to be a girl who loves to read

This month sees Ireland’s national theatre playing in London, and its British equivalent coming to Dublin

Mythical beasts lurking in the ocean; an anxious panda bear; a lone wolf on the run; raggedy witches rustling through the trees; a(...)

In 2018, a diversity of Irish women’s voices will take their place on the national stage

Sara Keating selects the best new books for children

Wide Eyes Festival brings performing arts into the hearts of the very young

An education scheme is helping children see writers as living, breathing people rather than mythical beats

Mark O’Rowe’s latest play ‘The Approach’ was triggered by three women in his head