Book, Music & Lyrics: Willy Russell Directors: Bob Tomson & Bill Kenwright I first saw Willy Russell’s musical Blood Brothers at the Gaiety Theatre in 1984 at the tender age of 14. Rebecca Storm played the role of Mrs Johnstone, as she did again when I took my children to the Gaiety to see it in 2011. There is comfort in familiarity and so coming to watch Storm perform in the show for a third time, albeit at a different venue, is nostalgic in a lovely way. Especially as Blood Brothers in its earlier incarnation was instrumental in fostering my…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland
The Reviews Hub - Ireland
The Ireland team is currently under the editorship of Laura Marriott. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Writer: Morgan C Jones Director: Conall Morrison The Quiet Men is a biographical piece of work about the lives of Irish movie stars and brothers Arthur Shields and Barry Fitzgerald. It is written and performed by their great grand nephew, Morgan C Jones. As stalwarts of The Abbey Theatre for over 20 years they also found success in America, and again in Ireland as both starred in the classic John Ford film The Quiet Men. Despite their fame there were many stories that they were unable to tell at the time, so Jones takes the audience on a whistlestop tour…
Music & Lyrics: Joshua McNutt & Rachel Thornton Director: Rachel Thornton Sometime in the future, at the Basket Island Music Festival, the Real Human Girlz tribute band is performing. During their performance, they decide to give a history of the band. In this witty and charming new musical from Trip Hazard Theatre, we follow the story of the original band’s meteoric rise to fame and the complex relationship between them and the human world that they want to entertain, while they also hope that their male listeners resist the lure of the ocean when they sing. This performance is a…
Director: Jeda de Brí Original Text: Ultan Pringle Translator: HK Ní Shioradáin Muicín, is the first Irish-language production from LemonSoap Productions. Muicín is HK Ní Shioradáin’s Irish translation of Ultan Pringle’s acclaimed 2023 play Piglet. Siofra Ni Eili portrays Mercy Monroe, a lost soul working in a fish shop in County Offaly after suffering a breakdown in college. Her past comes back to haunt her in the form of two of her old best friends, Clara and Siobhan, and later on her ex-girlfriend Gemma. The first half of the play sees Ni Eili alone on stage, adeptly playing out the…
Writer: Arthur Miller Director: Andrew Flynn There have been some very clever strategies applied to ensure The Crucible at The Gaiety Theatre is a success. Arthur Miller’s allegorical play perfectly captured the zeitgeist of 1950s America under the influence of the ambitious, chaotic and bullying Republican persecutor Senator Joseph McCarthy. Sadly, the playwright’s mid-20th century script which centres around the 17th century witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, continues to resonate with its audience in 2026. In Act three, Andrew McCarthy as Deputy Governor Danforth, chillingly warns that “… a person is either with this court or he must be counted…
Writer & Performer: Ailish McCarthy Self confessed ‘nosy bitch’ Ailish McCarthy has been on a mission since 2023. A mission to have comedy funded by The Arts Council of Ireland. What started out as a quest to find out whether comedy was even funded turned into a campaign after she discovered it wasn’t. In her show, presented as part of the Scene and Heard Festival, Ailish brings us all along on her journey and tries to convince the audience (and the Arts Council) that comedy is indeed an art form worthy of recognition and funding. The show starts with no…
Composer: Leoš Janáček Director: Sophie Motley The Cunning Little Vixen is a 1923 Czech opera by Leoš Janáček. Originally inspired by a serialised illustrated novella by Rudolf Těsnohlídek, this production by the Irish National Opera invokes this original inspiration throughout. The Cunning Little Vixen is the tale of Sharp Ears, an anthropomorphic fox, her capture by the Forester, her escape and discovery of freedom, love and partnership. Těsnohlídek’s work’s influence is seen most clearly in the projection design by Neil O’Driscoll. The on screen projections are reminiscent of the simple line illustrations that accompanied Těsnohlídek’s work. Although very beautiful, the…
Writer: Una McKevitt Director: Conal Morrison There’s really nowhere better than the stage to explore familial grievances – the intimate setting, the ability to slowly release information to the audience, and the decades of intertwined history that the characters share make it the ideal dramatic set up. Una McKevitt’s Fair Deal, running at the Peacock until the end of March, looks like it’s going to do exactly this, hitting the cultural moment with references to the housing crisis, end-of-life care, vacuous self-promoters, wealthy people avoiding consequences for their criminal acts, and, naturally, dating apps. It’s an enjoyable evening that spins…