Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: James Joyce (adapted for stage by Liam Hourican) Director: Liam Hourican Go see this accessible lunchtime play, part of the Joyce Bloomsday Festival. The Volta Theatre Company offers stage adaptations of Joyce’s works. Their version of the Cyclops episode from Ulysses is hugely entertaining. A group of men are in an Irish pub and their fast paced, witty talk reflects the life and times of Dublin in 1904. The three main characters, Citizen, Joe Hynes and Narrator, discuss a range of topics and become more eloquent as the drink flows. Their narrow views on nationalism, sport, gambling, politics, capital punishment,…

Writer: Eva O’Connor Director: Rex Ryan Rex Ryan directs Eva O’Connor’s triumphant new play, The Kerryman, in the Glass Mask Theatre. The play dives into love in the big smoke; laugh-out-loud funny throughout and at times moving, The Kerryman is an excellent 70 minutes of theatre.  Cait (Lauren Larkin) is a sometimes-barista and sometimes-artist recently returned to Dublin from Berlin, determined to make something of herself and prove to the world, and her mother, that she is not a failure. Eoin (Sean Fox) works in finance, and dreams of returning to Kerry and taking on his family farm. The two…

Writer: Colm Maher  Director: Iseult Golden  What would you do if your ex of 10 years showed up at your doorstep after 7 weeks of no-contact? Get drunk and express everything you disliked about your relationship as an attempt to change the course of your future? This was the case for Bishop (Gemma Allen) and Rhys (Darren Mone) in Colm Maher’s The Argument of Us as Bishop comes back to their flat to find it completely cleaned out except for a messy drinks table. For a situation this extreme the stakes didn’t seem very high as Bishop stood coolly with…

Choreographer: Mufutau Yusuf Presented by: Luail The theatre is smoky and dark and remains so throughout. Several people nearly trip over on the way in. (A warning about this on the way in may have been helpful. I was supposed to be accompanied by someone with mobility and balance issues and she would have stumbled and tripped on the way in). When the performance began, even the emergency exit signs are covered to maintain the darkness. Darkness is a theme throughout, dimmed amber spotlights shine onto the dancers, but there is no other light source. The nine performers are dressed all…

“I’ve lived that story”.  Inkbrew Productions presents The BBC’s First Homosexual a docufictional play based on a banned BBC documentary of an attempt to explore male homosexuality in early 1950’s England.  I had the pleasure of interviewing writer and drama archivist Stephen M. Hornby about the creation of this piece and its journey to the Wilde Stages, Queer Theatre Festival.  The concept was first presented to Hornby when researcher Marcus Collins was exploring the BBC Archives as a part of the BBC 100 History Fellowship. Collins discovered a file titled “Sexual Offences 1953-1954” and thought Hornby would take interest. Within…

Writer: Barry McKinley Director: Liam Halligan  A painted canvas depicting an arid desert scene acts as a perfect backdrop and setting for this one-act play, Elysium Nevada by Barry McKinley. In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the underworld; unlike the gloomy Hades, it was a sun-drenched paradise reserved as a destination for anyone who lived a righteous life and was considered a place of ‘perfect happiness’ inherited by the virtuous. The title of the piece clarifies the play’s theme. We are introduced to three elderly residents of a nursing home, Bob, Michael, and Constance, who sit in their…

Director & Choreographer: Silvia Gribaudi As part of Dublin Dance Festival’s 2026 line-up, Silvia Gribaudi brings her latest solo work Suspended Chorus to Dublin’s Project Arts Centre. Italian born Gribaudi takes to the stage in arresting attire. The 52 year old wears a white anorak, white football shorts, long white socks and white ballroom dance shoes. Walking to the apron of the stage she addresses the audience directly.  Her friendly “sera” sets the tone for the evening. The show will proceed in conversation with us. One of our number, Samuel, is called upon to read aloud Gribaudi’s mission statement for…

Writer: Ryan Stewart  Director: Tiah Bullock Kinder = german for “children”  When you enter the basement space of theatre@36 to see a drag queen dressed in bedazzled lederhosen playing hide and shriek, you can only question what you’re in for.  What that is, is a beautifully warm story about the importance of listening and educating not only to ourselves but the generations to come on all topics related to sexuality and kin, told by the dynamic and sparkly Goody Prostate.  Goody is getting ready for what they believe is a Drag Reading Hour, until a phone call informs them they…