Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Martha Knight Director: Joy Nesbitt Like all of the very best pieces of theatre, Martha Knight’s The King of All Birds is somewhat indescribable. If you were absolutely forced to, you’d probably use words like “bizarre” or “mesmerising”, or make an effort to remember and retell this take on the story of Mad King Sweeney. But the best way to talk about this production is simply to talk about Knight herself. Entering the Cube she sits centre stage, in an eerie and beautiful bird costume (Jack Rogers has done a stunning job with the costuming here), patient and completely…

I had the privilege of meeting storyteller Mary Kate O’Flanagan to talk about her show Making a Show of Myself before its Off-Broadway run this month. O’Flanagan had just finished a two-show weekend at Bewley’s Café Theatre to perform the show before taking on the big apple. Making a Show of Myself celebrates seanchas—the ancient Irish art of storytelling—carrying audiences from laughter through darkness and back into light. O’Flangan kindly welcomed me into her humble abode where we had a good chat over a cup of tea about her career, how she got here and where she’s heading.  “I love…

Writer: Aoife O’Connor Director: Katie O’Halloran The lights come up on the living room of 37 year old teacher Lily’s comfortable apartment in a nice part of Dublin. Sam, her wedding singer girlfriend, is strumming a guitar on the couch. Softly, she sings that she’ll “be home for Christmas” and that we “can count” on her. Then, in a mischievous dash, Sam whips out a string of lurid coloured lights to layer over Lily’s tasteful white arrangement on their Christmas tree. It is a precursor to the contrariness in the couple’s personalities, situations and backgrounds which become increasingly apparent as…

Writer: Jonathan Spector Director: Roy Alexander Weise Welcome to Eureka Day, an independent school in Berkley California where inclusion and social justice are at the core of everything they do. We are invited into the meetings of the school’s executive board as they try to figure out how to deal with an outbreak of mumps amongst the student population. Our five person executive board is headed by Don (Stephen Brennan), who loves to quote Rumi and gives the impression that he wore sandals and burlap in the 60s. The real power of the group rests with Suzanne (Philippa Dunne), who…

Director, Artist & Choreographer: Emily Aoibheann  The Flag is a mesmerising cyclical performance of three movement pieces that took place in The Shaw Room of the National Gallery in the last week of January. It was advertised as a promenade experience that audiences could come in and out of as they pleased, but this performance was so magnetic no audience member could look away.  Created by award-winning Irish artist Emily Aoibheann, The Flag is an observance on national identity, the power of tension and resistance and how it slowly starts to impact and restrain our bodies. It was originally developed in…

Writer: Benjamin Reilly Director: Lee Coffey In 1960s Ireland, teenage best friends Colm and Peggy are planning a protest to get a day off school in honour of the recently assassinated US president John F Kennedy. In their small town of Cundannon, differences are gossip fodder and Colm and Peggy are both different in different ways. Colm is ‘away with the fairies’ and hopelessly infatuated with Martin, the son of the local doctor. Peggy is smart and curious, she searches for information not readily presented to her and dreams of leaving Cundanon and studying in Paris, London or anywhere else.…

Writer: Simon Stephens Director: Rex Ryan Glass Mask Theatre’s new play is A Slow Fire by Simon Stephens, whose A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time starts at Smock Alley next week. This is Stephens’ original work, indeed this production is its world premiere, and it’s testament to Glass Mask’s sway that they can attract such a high-profile author to the back of the Bestseller Café on Dawson Street. Directed by Rex Ryan, the play has some significant peaks, but also flaws that can outweigh the vitality and coherence of its narrative. Ashton (Ross Gaynor) and Reece (Ian…

Writer: Padraig Dooney Director: Giles Brody Teatro Nua is back in the Boy’s School this January with Padraig Dooney’s hilarious Please Hold. Developed in the same space during the Scene + Heard Festival in 2025, Please Hold is Dooney’s first one-man show, and it’s a very strong piece of theatre; full of energy, comedy, and beautiful original live music.  The premise is thoroughly bizarre; a young man makes his money playing live hold music down the line for people waiting to be connected with their service or business of choice. When reading this description one would be forgiven for having…