Galway Theatre Festival

Directors: Gary Keegan and Feidlim Cannon Reviewer: Ciara L. Murphy Have I No Mouth is not so much a tale of loss, as it a tale of moving forward. It focuses on how director and co-creator Feidlim Cannon’s family have dealt with their grief, resulting from the tragic and untimely deaths of Sean Cannon, Feidlim Cannon’s father, and his baby brother, ...

Writer: Leonor Bethencourt Reviewer: Tricia O’Beirne An exquisitely coiffured and be-gowned Marilyn Monroe lookalike, wearing a high-viz jacket over her pink flamingo dancer’s dress, greets audience members as they descend the stairs in Cava Bodega to take their seats on the flight with the eponymous airline. The chairs at the tables in the restaurant are all facing forward, and very ...

Writer: Timothy O’Mahoney Director: Eoin O’hAnnrachain Reviewer: John Singleton ‘Isn’t it awful to have done something wrong and be waiting to be found out?’ This is Dereenathirigy, small town nowhere. Home to the Dancing Dogs.  ‘A place of halves. A nice half, and a not nice half'. A world of delinquent distractions: suspicion’s and slanders, gossip and goading, mysteries and ...

Director: Amy Conroy Reviewer: Tricia O’Beirne Niamh McGrath and Keith Singleton play a plethora of characters in their small town send-up, Looking Deadly, and they do so with great skill, assurance and seamless segueing between the various personalities. The story of the rivalry between two funeral directing companies in Foystown, somewhere in rural Ireland, is slight enough but the telling ...

Writers: Emma O’Grady and Paddy O’Grady Directors: Jonathan Gunning, Catherine Ireton, Andy Smith, and Catherine Lynch Reviewer: Ciara L. Murphy   According to Emma O’Grady, people die twice. Once when you breathe your last breath, and again when someone says your name for the last time. In this touching and revealing performance, O’ Grady is ensuring that her grandfather’s name remains present for ...

Writer: Pierre Brault Reviewer: Ciara L. Murphy Kicking off the first day of the annual Galway Theatre Festival is Blood on The Moon, a feast of physical theatre and historical intrigue. This production charts the journey of a man called James Patrick Whelan, a Galway-born Irish immigrant who is accused of murdering Thomas D’Arcy McGee, a former Irish rebel leader, ...

Creators: Alex Allison and Davi Hora Reviewer: Sarah Hoover   The duo of Alex Allison and Davi Horawhich forms Maleta Companyis a great combination of technical skill and artistic vision. Allison, with his delicate and gentle ball juggling, is well matched in Horawith his harder-edged, more brutal skill in juggling clubs. This performance at the Galway Theatre Festival was a ...

Writer: Kate Tempest Director: Mairéad Folan Reviewer: Paige Louter Wasted is presented by No Ropes Theatre as part of the Made in Galway strand of works in progress showings. The text is written by poet, spoken word artist, author, and playwright Kate Tempest, and is actually a finished product: the “in progress” portion of the showing is the company’s experimentation ...