Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Keith James Walker Director: Ian Toner The Last Man in Ireland takes place in the last house in Ireland. After rising sea levels caused the majority of Ireland to be submerged, Dublin was broken off and sent towards England. Mick lives alone in the last house in Ireland where he is plagued by tourists while he lives a solitary life in his never ending quest to write a poem worthy of his absent love, Kitty. When his two brothers Barry, an actor from New York, and Jerry, a serial adoptive father, come to visit to convince him to sell…

Writer: Lianne O’Hara Director: Liam Halligan Bewley’s Café Theatre presents Lianne O’Hara’s one woman play and 2024’s Winner of the Dublin Fringe ‘Little Gem Award’, BABY.  At her kitchen table, Camilla is baking a cake for her friend’s baby shower. This will be Maureen’s fifth baby and our resentful chef gives “the eggs a really good beating” as she tells us “she’s done with celebrating life”.   Camilla is a 36 year old single nurse and all she wants is a baby. Everyone around her is pregnant and while she’s happy for them, she’s “sick with envy”. Does this make her…

Writer: David Linsay-Abaire  Directed By: Gerard Lee David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Rabbit Hole finds a fitting home at the Smock Alley Boys School Theatre. It explores the repercussions of a fatal accident on a small suburban family experiencing a parallel to the Kennedy Curse. Becca and Howie are trying to hold onto pieces of their late son while relatives prepare to welcome a new life or continuously compare their strength of grief. Rabbit Hole is a simmering-pot drama that sends us right into the depth of life and loss. The cast consists of Jane Tuohy as wife Becca, Greg…

Writer: Elizabeth Moynihan  Director: Liam Halligan Rekindling after the death of their mother, sisters Bridget (Rachel Dowling) and Frances (Sorcha Furlong) come together to hash out old times, which leads to a heavy discussion surrounding their current and past woes including transitioning, addiction and grief. The preceding lack of communication led to this verbal battle of “my woes are greater than yours”, however, through this discussion these sisters realise just how much they need each other. Happiness Then…is an intense one-act comedic drama perfectly suited to Bewley’s Café Lunchtime Theatre.  From the beginning there is clear tension between these sisters…

Writer: Helen McGrath Director: Esosa Ighodaro IVY, a new play written and performed by Helen McGrath, explores homelessness and its impact on a woman who has been deemed ‘an unfit mother’ by the system. McGrath, as playwright and actress, captures the pain of grief, interlacing scenes of loss with memories of what she had in her life.  In the opening scene, Ivy is surrounded by the detritus of her life now housed in plastic containers and cardboard boxes. The movement direction by Ois O’Donoghue determines the visual shape of the play’s action, incarcerating Ivy in fragmented arrangements of the props…

Writer: Hannah Moscovitch  Directed By: Samantha Cade A very strong opening night for Hannah Moscovitch’s Little One, starring Dan Monaghan and Hannah Brady. Little One is a non-linear psychological thriller where Aaron (Monaghan) relays his childhood trauma at the hands of his adopted younger sister “Claire” (Brady) which is now coming back to haunt him from a tape recorder. We follow Aaron as he relives these memories including their neighbours’ violent relationship, a camping trip and road-kill. Claire seems mysteriously intertwined in the neighbour’s lives, occasionally taking over as narrator, as if she was there… Aaron is under immense pressure…

Choreography: Merce Cunningham & John Scott Composers: John King & Mel Mercier Choreographer John Scott has taken on to support and implement Merce Cunningham’s vision as outlined in The Cunningham Dance Foundation’s Legacy Plan. This evening, at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, to music by composer John King, Irish Modern Dance Theatre performs Four Solos from his repertoire, bringing the legendary dancer and choreographer’s work to contemporary audiences, thus keeping it alive. With Begin Anywhere, the second part of tonight’s programme, Scott and composer Mel Mercier take Cunningham’s experimental composer partner, John Cage’s aphorism and use it as inspiration to create…

Writer: Rachel Thornton Director: Rachel Thornton & Úna Nolan A genuinely delightful piece of theatre, The Last Wolf in Ireland tells the story of Noah, a werewolf, and his best friend Colm as they embark on a very chaotic sleepover. With humour and heart, this play is an exploration of friendship, the pressure on people to ‘be grand’ despite the difficulties in their lives and the visibility of women’s achievements. As the audience enters Noah, played by Will Farren, is already on stage, wearing a Hannibal Lecter style mask and with rope around his ankles. In an impressive display of…