Abbey theatre, DublinAn imaginative production including semi-streaking brings a play full of longing and unrequited desire into the presentOpening with the semi-clad Duke Orsino blasting …
Gate, DublinMuch has dated in Oscar Wilde's 1895 political melodrama, but his treatment of marital politics still stings todayA hall of mirrors is a well-chosen image for the stage set for O…
Peacock, DublinDespite two great central performances, the play loses its focus when it attempts to portray the fraying social fabric of Protestant IrelandThe elderly couple in Michael West'…
Gate theatre, DublinNoël Coward's drawing room play about a 1920s socialite and her decadent son is as riveting and barbed as everIn this play that became a sensation in 1920s London, NoÅ
Abbey theatre, DublinThe possibilities for a potent work of political music-theatre are squandered in this ambitious look at the 1913 Dublin lockoutTo mark the centenary of the 1913 Dublin l…
Black Box theatre, GalwayPathos meets farcical high jinks in this Irish tale of mistaken identities and secret passionsPlaywright and impresario Dion Boucicault made stage Irishness an inter…
"Come out to play" is the tagline for this year's Dublin Theatre Festival, and a great deal of the work presented in the programme manifested suitably playful exuberance. Running over 18 day…
Abbey, DublinA manipulative patriarch's decline into dementia is seen from the perspectives of his adult children in a play that isn't quite fleshed outGardens in autumnal shades are the dom…
Culture Box, DublinAs a celebration of a rich theatre tradition, this play has fun. As a commentary on critics and the theatre, it's heavy-handedAs manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, …
Gate, DublinLia Williams's dazzling Blanche is the highlight of this beautifully choreographed production of the Tennessee Williams classicLight is a central metaphor in Tennessee Williams's…
Beckett, DublinWe step inside the head of a frustrated writer in this riveting staging of Beckett's 1959 radio playDoes staging a radio play reduce its impact, or expand it? If it is written…
Abbey theatre, DublinFriendships are strained to breaking point in Elaine Murphy's new comedy, in which four Dublin women rally around their depressed pal on her birthday. Breda, in her late…
Project, DublinFour minutes, 600 words, 25 plays " last year, Fishamble theatre company held an open call for mini-plays portraying aspects of contemporary Ireland. Submissions poured in, fr…
Abbey, DublinNow that James Joyce's work is out of copyright, a number of attempts have been made to dramatise his celebrated short story, The Dead. While beautifully transposed to the scree…
Peacock, DublinA Belfast pub, a man drinking pints, and a barman staring vacantly at a television screen: the opening scene of Owen McCafferty's new play is deceptively downbeat. There is so…
The Mac, BelfastIn Stacey Gregg's new play for Belfast festival at Queen's, four would-be rock stars spend so much time bickering that it is astonishing their band, Huzzies, ever performs in…
Irish theatre generates high expectations. So much so, that if there isn't a premiere of a play by one of Ireland's leading playwrights " Sebastian Barry, Enda Walsh, Marina Carr, Frank McGu…
Peacock, DublinWith a title that refers to the art of Japanese bondage, Gary Duggan's new play looks at contemporary Dublin through a multi-ethnic lens. An abstract set in the form of a…
Gaiety, DublinThe release of James Joyce's work from copyright this year opens up new theatrical possibilities, which the Corn Exchange theatre company has seized in its adaptation…
Ardhowen, EnniskillenWhite-faced, open-mouthed, and spattered with shards of white light, Robert Wilson's Krapp might already have passed over to the other side. His performance, in his own …
Abbey, DublinA double-edge runs through Tom Murphy's penetrating portrayal of exile and return, set in 1950s Ireland. On an annual summer visit to their hometown, a group of returned emigran…
Peacock, DublinSilent screen idol Rudolph Valentino may be the inspiration for this one-man show, but there is nothing quiet about it. Playwright and performer Pat Kinevane brings extravagan…
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Smock Alley, DublinPan Pan theatre company's production of Ibsen's classic is an uncomfortable experience. Director Gavin Quinn and designer AedÃÂn Cosgrove seem to be x-raying rather than…
Project, DublinWhat can 25 short plays tells us about Ireland? Fishamble Theatre Company held an open submission last year for mini-plays that address aspects of contemporary Ireland in 600 …