ALSO PLAYING
between what is lived and what’s imagined. See dublintheatrefestival.ie
■ Dublin Theatre Festival(Sept 29 – October 16) has 17 world premieres lined up and a bigger contribution than usual from outlying venues – Pavilion Dún Laoghaire, Civic Tallaght, Axis Ballymun, Draíocht, Riverbank Arts Centre and Mermaid Bray.
Along with dramatic works, there’s a number of dance performances including Jezebel at the Project Arts Centre, inspired by the ‘Video Vixen’, and How To Be A Dancer In Seventy-Two Thousand Easy Lessons at the Gate, written and performed by Michael Keegan-Dolan and Rachel Poirier, about innocence, sexuality, shame, and the boundary
■ Previews for Joyce’s Women, the muchanticipated play by Edna O’Brien about the women in James Joyce’s life, run at The Abbey until Wednesday, before the official dates from Thursday until October 15. Among other Theatre Festival shows inspired by Joyce’s Ulysses, are All
Hardest Of Women (National Maternity Hospital, Sept 28–Oct 22) from episode 14 of the book, about birth, maternity and motherhood in collaboration with the patients and staff of the Holles
Street hospital, and Lolling, a reflective, immersive piece from Episode 5 that excavates the past to throw light on the present (Kennedy’s Pub, Oct 5–21). Blackwater Lightship from Colm Tóibín’s novel, is set in Ireland in the 1990s, when HIV/Aids was a terminal illness (Gaiety, Sept 27–Oct 2.) See dublintheatrefestival.ie
■ Dinner With Groucho by Frank McGuinness, Civic Theatre (Sep 26–Oct 1), serves up an intriguing encounter between two American greats, comic Groucho Marx and poet TS Eliot.
See dublintheatrefestival.ie
■ Heaven, by Eugene O’Brien, at Draíocht (Oct 6–8) and the Pavilion
(Oct 12–16) is described as a poignant, funny play about a couple’s marriage struggles. Will attending a wedding help, or just raise uncomfortable questions? See dublintheatrefestival.ie
■ Oliver Cromwell Is Really Very Sorry by Xnthony LTD is a musical at the Project Arts Centre (Wednesday-Saturday), as part of the Fringe Festival. It promises ‘a night of pure carnage, legendary pop anthems and bloody historical reenactments’. See projectartscentre.ie and fringefest.com