Drama

Writer: Steve Dimmer Director: Rosemary Hill Reviewer: James Garrington It’s 60 years since the Carry On films first appeared on our screens with Carry On Sergeant. For many years fans waited in eager anticipation as one or often two new films were released per year, each usually with a very similar cast whose names became synonymous with the franchise – ...

Writer: Anthony Keigher Music: Sally Ó Dúnlaing Reviewer: Saoirse Anton “I left Anthony in Ireland and took Xnthony with me.” Confirmation is a musical memoir about growing up in Roscommon, coming out as gay, finding a new life in London, and returning home to understand it and belong in a new way. It is about finding the in-between spaces in which ...

Writer: Anna Shiels-McNamee Director: Gemma Aked-Priestly Reviewer: Ciarán Leinster My Dad’s Blind, written by Anna Shiels-McNamee, who also plays the nameless female character, is an outstanding piece of work that balances humour and sorrow, pity and anger, and cynicism and sentimentality. Shiels-McNamee and David O’Meara, the only other actor, fill the Project’s upstairs space with ease, not an easy task, ...

Writer: Kate McGrew Director: Kate McGrew Reviewer: Ciara L. Murphy Hookers Do It Standing Up is a self-proclaimed ‘stand-up hip-hop mash up’, but Lady Grew’s blend of comedy, music, performance, and activism is actually much more than that. This funny, but exposing, performance pushes the audience out of its comfort zone while also providing an entertaining evening of truly ‘fringy’ performance. ...

Writer: Karen Cogan Director: Oonagh Murphy Reviewer: David Keane Brenda has made a few dubious choices. These often involve alcohol and Olivia. Olivia is Brenda’s ex-girlfriend, though Brenda struggles to accept the ‘ex’ prefix, even if it has been years. Rifling through someone else’s recyclable rubbish was never part of the plan, yet here she is. Comforted through the toughest ...

Writer: Pom Boyd with Seán Millar Director: Pom Boyd with Seán Millar Reviewer: Ciarán Leinster Shows in the Dublin Fringe Festival often throw up the question of what constitutes over-sharing on behalf of the performer. Not from an ethical point of view, as this issue has long since been resolved, but more from the dramaturgical point of view – in ...

Creator: Helena Thompson Reviewer: Nina Reece SPID is not an ordinary theatre company. Born out of council estates and community spaces the company and registered charity makes and tours participatory theatre with young people. The Burning Tower; an emotive telling of last year’s fire at Grenfell Tower and a moving history of social housing is one such example, now showing ...

Writer: Nessah Muthy Director: Daniel Winder Reviewer: Stephen Bates A smell of burning incense fills the air and a faint haze lingers. Hoxton Hall, with its dark walls and ornate decorations, was once a Victorian Music Hall and it is certainly not short on atmosphere for Iris Theatre’s family-friendly telling of fables of the fabulous and fearsome, drawn from a ...