CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><script data-integration="inlineScripts"> (function() { var _sf_async_config = window._sf_async_config = (window._sf_async_config || {}); _sf_async_config.uid = 31036; _sf_async_config.domain = "irishtimes.com"; _sf_async_config.useCanonical = true; _sf_async_config.useCanonicalDomain = true; _sf_async_config.sections = "culture,culture/stage"; _sf_async_config.flickerControl = false; var _cbq = window._cbq = (window._cbq || []); const OT = document.cookie.split('; ').find(row => row.startsWith('blaize_jwt')); if (OT) { _cbq.push(['_acct', 'paid']); } else { _cbq.push(['_acct', 'anon']); } })(); ; var _comscore = _comscore || []; _comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "8946263" }); ;gtmParamsString='';if(new RegExp("^https://irishtimes.arcpublishing.com", "i").test(window.location)){gtmParamsString='&gtm_auth=om4Ly4wwqa_7E-fLbBv46g&gtm_preview=env-6&gtm_cookies_win=x'};(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl+gtmParamsString;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-NRHQKJ4');; window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { queryly.init("954cd8bb239245f9", document.querySelectorAll("#fusion-app")); }); ;window.isIE = !!window.MSInputMethodContext && !!document.documentMode;</script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0002" async="" data-integration="chartbeat" src="https://static.chartbeat.com/js/chartbeat.js"></script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0002" async="" src="https://static.chartbeat.com/js/chartbeat_mab.js"></script><script>!function(n,e,i){if(!n){n=n||{},window.permutive=n,n.q=[],n.config=i||{},n.config.apiKey=e,n.config.environment=n.config.environment||"production";for(var o=["addon","identify","track","trigger","query","segment","segments","ready","on","once","user","consent"],r=0;r<o.length;r++){var t=o[r];n[t]=function(e){return function(){var i=Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0);n.q.push({functionName:e,arguments:i})}}(t)}}}(window.permutive, "4888a725-f640-4782-bd70-a3dd37877c2f", { "consentRequired": true }); window.googletag=window.googletag||{},window.googletag.cmd=window.googletag.cmd||[],window.googletag.cmd.push(function(){if(0===window.googletag.pubads().getTargeting("permutive").length){var g=window.localStorage.getItem("_pdfps");window.googletag.pubads().setTargeting("permutive",g?JSON.parse(g):[])}});</script><script async="" src="https://fce2b75e-f11a-48ad-a60f-7e004eb1d340.edge.permutive.app/fce2b75e-f11a-48ad-a60f-7e004eb1d340-web.js"></script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0002-C0004">window.addEventListener('OneTrustGroupsUpdated', function() { if (document.cookie.indexOf("OptanonAlertBoxClosed=") >=0 && OptanonActiveGroups.match(/(?=.*,C0002,)(?=.*,C0004,).*/)) { const OTConsentToken = document.cookie .split('; ') .find(row => row.startsWith('OptanonConsent=')) .split('&') .find(row => row.startsWith('consentId')) .split('=')[1]; permutive.consent({ "opt_in": true, "token": OTConsentToken }); } else{ permutive.consent({ "opt_in": false }); } });</script><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"/><link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/pf/resources/favicon.ico?d=168"/><title>Stage | The Irish Times</title><meta name="description" content="Theatre news, reviews, interviews and more from the definitive brand of quality journalism. Read The Irish Times."/><meta property="og:description" content="Theatre news, reviews, interviews and more from the definitive brand of quality journalism. Read The Irish Times."/><meta name="twitter:description" content="Theatre news, reviews, interviews and more from the definitive brand of quality journalism. Read The Irish Times."/><meta property="og:title" content="Stage - The Irish Times"/><meta name="twitter:title" content="Stage - The Irish Times"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub%2Firishtimes%2F1647534191476.png?auth=631eeaa12e7a61c005c8eb0bbf348f785c131b10c4d6b25c28247a15965b5a36&width=1200"/><meta property="og:image:alt" content="Stage - The Irish Times"/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub%2Firishtimes%2F1647534191476.png?auth=631eeaa12e7a61c005c8eb0bbf348f785c131b10c4d6b25c28247a15965b5a36&width=1200"/><meta name="twitter:image:alt" content="Stage - The Irish Times"/><meta name="paywall-status" property="paywall-status" content="free"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="The Irish Times"/><meta name="twitter:site" content="@IrishTimes"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/"/><link rel="alternate" hrefLang="en-IE" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/"/><link id="fusion-template-styles" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/pf/dist/components/combinations/default.css?d=168"/><link id="fusion-siteStyles-styles" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/pf/dist/css/irishtimes.css?d=168"/><style data-styled="" data-styled-version="5.3.5">.gKEhzJ .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty){max-width:100%;}/*!sc*/ .gKEhzJ .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty)::before{content:'ADVERTISEMENT';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;font-family:star-font,'Roboto',sans-serif;}/*!sc*/ .gKEhzJ .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:empty[style]{width:0 !important;height:0 !important;}/*!sc*/ .kjbLvz .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty){max-width:100%;}/*!sc*/ .kjbLvz .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:not(:empty)::before{content:'ADVERTISEMENT';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;font-family:star-font,'Roboto',sans-serif;display:none;}/*!sc*/ .kjbLvz .arcad > [id^='google_ads_iframe']:empty[style]{width:0 !important;height:0 !important;}/*!sc*/ data-styled.g8[id="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0"]{content:"gKEhzJ,kjbLvz,"}/*!sc*/ </style><script type="application/javascript" id="polyfill-script">if(!Array.prototype.includes||!(window.Object && window.Object.assign)||!window.Promise||!window.Symbol||!window.fetch){document.write('<script type="application/javascript" src="/pf/dist/engine/polyfill.js?d=168" defer=""><\/script>')}</script><script id="fusion-engine-react-script" type="application/javascript" src="/pf/dist/engine/react.js?d=168" defer=""></script><script id="fusion-engine-combinations-script" type="application/javascript" src="/pf/dist/components/combinations/default.js?d=168" defer=""></script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0004" async="" data-integration="nativo-ad" src="https://s.ntv.io/serve/load.js"></script><script type="text/plain" class="optanon-category-C0002" async="" data-integration="comscore" src="https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js"></script><script defer="" data-integration="queryly" src="https://www.queryly.com/js/queryly.v4.min.js"></script><script id="xtreme-push" type="text/javascript"> (function(p,u,s,h,e,r,l,i,b) {p['XtremePushObject']=s;p[s]=function(){ (p[s].q=p[s].q||[]).push(arguments)};i=u.createElement('script');i.async=1; i.src=h;b=u.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];b.parentNode.insertBefore(i,b); })(window,document,'xtremepush','https://prod.webpu.sh/tEEXuB8vRMsRMzIydjRZIQjnQzT-EXwR/sdk.js'); xtremepush('ready', function () { if (window.safari !== undefined) { const permission = xtremepush('push', 'permission'); const views = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('xtremepush.data'))?.page_views; const sendPush = views % 55 === 0 || views === 1; if ((permission === 'default' || !permission) && (permission !== 'unavailable' && permission !== 'denied' ) && sendPush) { xtremepush('event', 'User Gesture'); } } else { xtremepush('push', 'auto_prompt', true); } }); </script><script type="application/ld+json">{ "@context": "http://schema.org/", "@type": "Organization", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "postOfficeBoxNumber": "PO Box 74", "streetAddress": "24-28 Tara Street", "addressLocality": "Dublin 2", "addressRegion": "County Dublin", "addressCountry": "Ireland", "postalCode": "D02 CX89" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "contactType": "Customer Support", "email": "services@irishtimes.com", "telephone": "+353 1 9203901" }, { "@type": "ContactPoint", "contactType": "Sales", "email": "mediasolutions@irishtimes.com", "telephone": "+353 1 5320978" }, { "@type": "ContactPoint", "contactType": "News Desk", "email": "newsdesk@irishtimes.com", "telephone": "" } ], "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "", "width": 1024, "height": 547 }, "name": "The Irish Times", "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/irishtimes/", "http://www.linkedin.com/company/the-irish-times", "https://www.youtube.com/user/IrishTimes", "https://twitter.com/IrishTimes" ], "url": "https://www.irishtimes.com" }</script><link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com"/><link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin=""/><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Noto+Serif+JP:wght@400;700&family=Roboto:wght@400;700&display=swap"/><script> function PoWaReady() { // 0. DEFAULTS window.PoWaSettings = window.PoWaSettings || []; window.PoWaSettings.advertising = window.PoWaSettings.advertising || []; // 1. CookieBanner ONLOAD window.addEventListener("powaRender", function() { window.PoWaSettings.advertising.adBar = {skipOffset: 6}; if (typeof OptanonActiveGroups==="string" && OptanonActiveGroups.match(/(?=.*,C0002,).*/)) { // 2. Cookies Granted window.PoWaSettings.advertising.gdprConsentGranted = true; } else { // 3. Set Default value window.PoWaSettings.advertising.gdprConsentGranted = window.PoWaSettings.advertising.gdprConsentGranted || false; } }); // 4. CookieBanner ONCLICK window.addEventListener("OneTrustGroupsUpdated", function() { // 1. Set Default value window.PoWaSettings.advertising.gdprConsentGranted = !!OptanonActiveGroups.match(/(?=.,C0002,)./); }); // 5. DataLayer event window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; dataLayer.push({ "has_PoWaSettings_load": true, "event": "donewith_PoWaSettings" }); } var i = 0; function checkIsPoWaReady() { i = i + 1; if (typeof window.PoWaSettings==="object" && typeof OptanonActiveGroups==="string") { //stop the polling PoWaReady(); clearInterval(pollforPoWaReady); } else if (i > 500) { //give up after 5 sec clearInterval(pollforPoWaReady); } } // Start polling var pollforPoWaReady = setInterval(checkIsPoWaReady, 10); </script><script> const playFullScreen = (e) => { if (!!e.element.dataset.mobilefullscreen) { const windowWidth = document.querySelector('#fusion-app').offsetWidth || window.innerWidth; const mobileWidth = 733; if (windowWidth < mobileWidth) { if (!e.powa.isFullscreen()) { if (document.fullscreenEnabled) { // Set the PoWa element itself to fullscreen not the player, this overcomes an // issue with Android and fullscreen video rotation closing the video when the // device is rotated and the video is in fullscreen mode e.element.requestFullscreen(); return; } e.powa.fullscreen(); } } } } const mobilePoWaFullscreen = (event) => { const player = event.detail.powa; player.on('firstFrame', (e) => { playFullScreen(e); }); player.on('play', (e) => { // Delay calling our function 100ms to not have a race condition with the // firstFrame event setTimeout(() => { playFullScreen(e); }, 100); }); }; window.addEventListener('powaReady', mobilePoWaFullscreen); </script><script src="https://cdn.cookielaw.org/consent/tcf.stub.js" type="text/javascript"></script></head><body class="custom-it"><noscript data-integration="comscore"><img alt="comscore" src="https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=8946263&cv=2.0&cj=1"/></noscript><noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-NRHQKJ4" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript><div id="fusion-app"><div id="pw-zpr-modal"></div><div class="b-it-right-rail-advanced"><header class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__navigation page-header" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><nav id="main-nav" class="b-header-nav-chain " aria-label="Sections Menu"><div class="b-header-nav-chain__top-layout"><div class="b-header-nav-chain__nav-left"><div class="nav-components--mobile" data-testid="nav-chain-nav-components-mobile-left"><button data-testid="nav-chain-nav-section-button" aria-label="Sections" class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse" type="button"><svg class="c-icon" width="48" height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M25 96C25 78.33 39.33 64 57 64H441C458.7 64 473 78.33 473 96C473 113.7 458.7 128 441 128H57C39.33 128 25 113.7 25 96ZM25 256C25 238.3 39.33 224 57 224H441C458.7 224 473 238.3 473 256C473 273.7 458.7 288 441 288H57C39.33 288 25 273.7 25 256ZM441 448H57C39.33 448 25 433.7 25 416C25 398.3 39.33 384 57 384H441C458.7 384 473 398.3 473 416C473 433.7 458.7 448 441 448Z"></path></svg></button></div><div class="nav-components--desktop" data-testid="nav-chain-nav-components-desktop-left"><button aria-label="Search" class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="48" height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M505 442.7L405.3 343c-4.5-4.5-10.6-7-17-7H372c27.6-35.3 44-79.7 44-128C416 93.1 322.9 0 208 0S0 93.1 0 208s93.1 208 208 208c48.3 0 92.7-16.4 128-44v16.3c0 6.4 2.5 12.5 7 17l99.7 99.7c9.4 9.4 24.6 9.4 33.9 0l28.3-28.3c9.4-9.4 9.4-24.6.1-34zM208 336c-70.7 0-128-57.2-128-128 0-70.7 57.2-128 128-128 70.7 0 128 57.2 128 128 0 70.7-57.2 128-128 128z"></path></svg></span></button><button data-testid="nav-chain-nav-section-button" aria-label="Sections" class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse" type="button"><span>Sections</span><svg class="c-icon" width="48" height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M25 96C25 78.33 39.33 64 57 64H441C458.7 64 473 78.33 473 96C473 113.7 458.7 128 441 128H57C39.33 128 25 113.7 25 96ZM25 256C25 238.3 39.33 224 57 224H441C458.7 224 473 238.3 473 256C473 273.7 458.7 288 441 288H57C39.33 288 25 273.7 25 256ZM441 448H57C39.33 448 25 433.7 25 416C25 398.3 39.33 384 57 384H441C458.7 384 473 398.3 473 416C473 433.7 458.7 448 441 448Z"></path></svg></button></div></div><a title="The Irish Times" class="c-link b-header-nav-chain__logo b-header-nav-chain__logo--center nav-logo-hidden svg-logo" href="/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img src="https://static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191733.svg" alt="The Irish Times" data-chromatic="ignore"/></a><div class="b-header-nav-chain__nav-right"><div class="nav-components--mobile" data-testid="nav-chain-nav-components-mobile-right"><div class="c-stack b-signin-subscribe-block" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><a target="_blank" style="display:none" rel="noreferrer" class="c-button c-button--link c-button--small c-button--primary b-signin-subscribe-block__subscribe" href="/subscribe"><span><span style="display:none">Subscribe</span></span></a><button class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse b-signin-subscribe-block__btn--signin" type="button"><span><div class="c-stack" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:0.5rem"><svg width="14" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><mask id="mask0_757:236487" style="mask-type:alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="0" y="0" width="24" height="24"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="#C4C4C4"></rect></mask><g mask="url(#mask0_757:236487)"><ellipse cx="9.79117" cy="6.02353" rx="5.02353" ry="5.02353" fill="white"></ellipse><path d="M11.0471 22.35V12.3029H5C2.79086 12.3029 1 14.0938 1 16.3029V20.35C1 21.4546 1.89543 22.35 3 22.35H11.0471Z" fill="white"></path><path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M19.3391 22.1044C19.2762 22.1862 19.1937 22.2477 19.0916 22.2886C18.9894 22.3295 18.8833 22.35 18.7733 22.35C18.5533 22.35 18.3647 22.2681 18.2075 22.1044C18.0504 21.9406 17.9718 21.7441 17.9718 21.5148C17.9718 21.4002 17.9954 21.2896 18.0425 21.1832C18.0897 21.0767 18.1447 20.9907 18.2075 20.9252L20.8478 18.174H14.3839C14.1482 18.174 13.9517 18.0921 13.7946 17.9283C13.6374 17.7646 13.5588 17.568 13.5588 17.3388C13.5588 17.1095 13.6374 16.913 13.7946 16.7492C13.9517 16.5854 14.1482 16.5036 14.3839 16.5036H20.8478L18.2075 13.7277C18.1447 13.6622 18.0897 13.5762 18.0425 13.4698C17.9954 13.3633 17.9718 13.2528 17.9718 13.1382C17.9718 12.9089 18.0504 12.7124 18.2075 12.5486C18.3647 12.3848 18.5533 12.3029 18.7733 12.3029C18.8833 12.3029 18.9894 12.3275 19.0916 12.3766C19.1937 12.4258 19.2762 12.4831 19.3391 12.5486L23.3702 16.7492C23.433 16.8147 23.488 16.9007 23.5352 17.0071C23.5823 17.1136 23.6059 17.2241 23.6059 17.3388C23.6059 17.4534 23.5823 17.5598 23.5352 17.6581C23.488 17.7564 23.433 17.8464 23.3702 17.9283L19.3391 22.1044Z" fill="white"></path></g></svg></div></span></button></div></div><div class="nav-components--desktop" data-testid="nav-chain-nav-components-desktop-right"><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0f1j0n1myTR7B9-0-0-0" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0f1j0n1myTR7B9-0-0-0"></div><div><iframe scrolling="no" id="fw-desktop" data-src="https://lw.foreca.com/v3/en/site/irishtimes/widget/?name=Dublin&id=102964574" style="width: 85px; height: 40px; border:0; margin: 0; display: flex; align-items: center;"></iframe></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0f1j0n1myTR7B9-0-0-0" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0f1j0n1myTR7B9-0-0-0"></div><div class="c-stack b-signin-subscribe-block" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><a target="_blank" style="display:none" rel="noreferrer" class="c-button c-button--link c-button--small c-button--primary b-signin-subscribe-block__subscribe" href="/subscribe"><span><span style="display:none">Subscribe</span></span></a><button class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse b-signin-subscribe-block__btn--signin" type="button"><span><div class="c-stack" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:0.5rem"><svg width="14" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><mask id="mask0_757:236487" style="mask-type:alpha" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x="0" y="0" width="24" height="24"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="#C4C4C4"></rect></mask><g mask="url(#mask0_757:236487)"><ellipse cx="9.79117" cy="6.02353" rx="5.02353" ry="5.02353" fill="white"></ellipse><path d="M11.0471 22.35V12.3029H5C2.79086 12.3029 1 14.0938 1 16.3029V20.35C1 21.4546 1.89543 22.35 3 22.35H11.0471Z" fill="white"></path><path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M19.3391 22.1044C19.2762 22.1862 19.1937 22.2477 19.0916 22.2886C18.9894 22.3295 18.8833 22.35 18.7733 22.35C18.5533 22.35 18.3647 22.2681 18.2075 22.1044C18.0504 21.9406 17.9718 21.7441 17.9718 21.5148C17.9718 21.4002 17.9954 21.2896 18.0425 21.1832C18.0897 21.0767 18.1447 20.9907 18.2075 20.9252L20.8478 18.174H14.3839C14.1482 18.174 13.9517 18.0921 13.7946 17.9283C13.6374 17.7646 13.5588 17.568 13.5588 17.3388C13.5588 17.1095 13.6374 16.913 13.7946 16.7492C13.9517 16.5854 14.1482 16.5036 14.3839 16.5036H20.8478L18.2075 13.7277C18.1447 13.6622 18.0897 13.5762 18.0425 13.4698C17.9954 13.3633 17.9718 13.2528 17.9718 13.1382C17.9718 12.9089 18.0504 12.7124 18.2075 12.5486C18.3647 12.3848 18.5533 12.3029 18.7733 12.3029C18.8833 12.3029 18.9894 12.3275 19.0916 12.3766C19.1937 12.4258 19.2762 12.4831 19.3391 12.5486L23.3702 16.7492C23.433 16.8147 23.488 16.9007 23.5352 17.0071C23.5823 17.1136 23.6059 17.2241 23.6059 17.3388C23.6059 17.4534 23.5823 17.5598 23.5352 17.6581C23.488 17.7564 23.433 17.8464 23.3702 17.9283L19.3391 22.1044Z" fill="white"></path></g></svg></div></span></button></div></div></div></div><div id="flyout-overlay" data-testid="nav-chain-flyout-overlay" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__flyout-overlay closed" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div><div class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__flyout-nav-wrapper closed" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="b-header-nav-chain__flyout-close-button"><button aria-label="Close" class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse" type="button"><svg class="c-icon" width="24" height="24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M406.6 361.4C419.1 373.9 419.1 394.15 406.6 406.65C400.4 412.9 392.2 416 384 416C375.8 416 367.62 412.875 361.38 406.625L256 301.3L150.63 406.6C144.38 412.9 136.19 416 128 416C119.81 416 111.63 412.9 105.375 406.6C92.875 394.1 92.875 373.85 105.375 361.35L210.775 255.95L105.375 150.6C92.875 138.1 92.875 117.85 105.375 105.35C117.875 92.85 138.125 92.85 150.625 105.35L256 210.8L361.4 105.4C373.9 92.9 394.15 92.9 406.65 105.4C419.15 117.9 419.15 138.15 406.65 150.65L301.25 256.05L406.6 361.4Z"></path></svg></button></div><div class="nav-menu"><div data-testid="nav-chain-nav-components-mobile" class="c-stack nav-components--mobile" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="b-subscribe-button-block"><div><iframe scrolling="no" id="fw-mobile" data-src="https://lw.foreca.com/v3/en/site/irishtimes/widget/?name=Dublin&id=102964574" style="width: 85px; height: 40px; border:0; margin: 0;"></iframe></div><a target="_blank" class="c-button c-button--link c-button--full-width c-button--medium c-button--primary" href="/subscribe"><span>Subscribe</span></a></div><button aria-label="Search" class="c-button c-button--small c-button--secondary-reverse" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="48" height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M505 442.7L405.3 343c-4.5-4.5-10.6-7-17-7H372c27.6-35.3 44-79.7 44-128C416 93.1 322.9 0 208 0S0 93.1 0 208s93.1 208 208 208c48.3 0 92.7-16.4 128-44v16.3c0 6.4 2.5 12.5 7 17l99.7 99.7c9.4 9.4 24.6 9.4 33.9 0l28.3-28.3c9.4-9.4 9.4-24.6.1-34zM208 336c-70.7 0-128-57.2-128-128 0-70.7 57.2-128 128-128 70.7 0 128 57.2 128 128 0 70.7-57.2 128-128 128z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div data-testid="nav-chain-nav-components-desktop" class="c-stack nav-components--desktop" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"></div></div><ul class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__flyout-nav" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Home</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/latest/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Latest</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/subscriber-only/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Subscriber Only</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Crosswords & Puzzles</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_crosswords-puzzles" aria-label="Show Crosswords & Puzzles sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_crosswords-puzzles"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles/crosaire" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Crosaire</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles/simplex" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Simplex</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles/sudoku" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Sudoku</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles/news-quiz/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">News Quiz</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/ireland" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Ireland</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_ireland" aria-label="Show Ireland sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_ireland"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/dublin" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Dublin</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/education" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Education</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/housing-planning" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Housing & Planning</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/social-affairs" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Social Affairs</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/stardust/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Stardust</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/politics" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Politics</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_politics" aria-label="Show Politics sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_politics"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/politics/poll/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Poll</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/politics/oireachtas" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Oireachtas</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/common-ground/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Common Ground</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/election2024/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Election 2024</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/politics/elections-referendums/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Elections & Referendums</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/opinion" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Opinion</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_opinion" aria-label="Show Opinion sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_opinion"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/editorials" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Editorials</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/an-irish-diary" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">An Irish Diary</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/letters" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Letters</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/opinion/cartoon" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Cartoon</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/business" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Business</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_business" aria-label="Show Business sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_business"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/business/economy" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Economy</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/business/farming-food" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Farming & Food</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/business/financial-services" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Financial Services</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/business/innovation" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Innovation</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/business/markets" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Markets</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/business/work" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Work</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/commercial-property" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Commercial Property</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/world" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">World</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_world" aria-label="Show World sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_world"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/europe" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Europe</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/uk" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">UK</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/us" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">US</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/canada" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Canada</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/australia" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Australia</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/africa" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Africa</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/americas" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Americas</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/asia-pacific" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Asia-Pacific</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/world/middle-east" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Middle East</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/sport" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Sport</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_sport" aria-label="Show Sport sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_sport"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/rugby" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Rugby</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/six-nations/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Six Nations</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/gaelic-games" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Gaelic Games</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/soccer" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Soccer</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/golf" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Golf</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/racing" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Racing</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/athletics" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Athletics</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/boxing" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Boxing</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/cycling" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Cycling</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/hockey" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Hockey</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/tennis" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Tennis</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/your-money" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Money</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_your-money" aria-label="Show Your Money sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_your-money"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/tags/pricewatch" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Pricewatch</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/budget/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Budget 2025</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/crime-law" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Crime & Law</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_crime-law" aria-label="Show Crime & Law sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_crime-law"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crime-law/courts" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Courts</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/property" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Property</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_property" aria-label="Show Property sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_property"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/residential" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Residential</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/commercial-property" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Commercial Property</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/property/interiors" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Interiors</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/food" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Food</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_food" aria-label="Show Food sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_food"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/food/drink" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Drink</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/food/recipes" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Recipes</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/food/restaurants" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Restaurants</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/health" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Health</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_health" aria-label="Show Health sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_health"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-family" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Family</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-fitness" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Fitness</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-wellness" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Your Wellness</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/health/your-fitness/get-running" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Get Running</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Life & Style</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_life-style" aria-label="Show Life & Style sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_life-style"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/fashion" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Fashion</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/tags/beauty/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Beauty</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/fine-art-antiques" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Fine Art & Antiques</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/gardening" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Gardening</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/people" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">People</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/life-style/travel" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Travel</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/culture" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Culture</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_culture" aria-label="Show Culture sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_culture"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/art" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Art</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/books" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Books</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/film" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Film</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/music" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Music</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Stage</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/tv-radio" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">TV & Radio</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/environment" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Environment</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_environment" aria-label="Show Environment sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_environment"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/environment/climate-crisis" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Climate Crisis</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/technology" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Technology</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_technology" aria-label="Show Technology sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_technology"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/big-tech" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Big Tech</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/consumer-tech" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Consumer Tech</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/data-security" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Data & Security</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/technology/gaming" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Gaming</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/science" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Science</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_science" aria-label="Show Science sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_science"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/science/space" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Space</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/media" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Media</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/abroad" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Abroad</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/obituaries" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Obituaries</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/transport" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Transport</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/motors" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Motors</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_motors" aria-label="Show Motors sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_motors"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/motors/car-reviews/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Car Reviews</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/listen/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Listen</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Podcasts</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_podcasts" aria-label="Show Podcasts sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_podcasts"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/in-the-news" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">In the News Podcast</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/inside-politics" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Inside Politics Podcast</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/the-womens-podcast" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">The Women's Podcast</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/inside-business" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Inside Business Podcast</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/ross-ocarroll-kelly" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Ross O'Carroll-Kelly</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/the-counter-ruck" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">The Counter Ruck Podcast</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/podcasts/conversations-with-parents" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Conversations with Parents Podcast</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/video" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Video</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/photography" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Photography</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/history" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">History</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_history" aria-label="Show History sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_history"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/history/century" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Century</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/tuarascail" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Tuarascáil</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/student-hub" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Student Hub</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/offbeat" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Offbeat</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="https://notices.irishtimes.com" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Family Notices<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><div data-testid="nav-chain-section-item-subsection" class="c-stack b-header-nav-chain__subsection-anchor subsection-anchor " data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="/sponsored" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Sponsored</a><button aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="header_sub_section_sponsored" aria-label="Show Sponsored sub sections" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--default submenu-caret" type="button"><span><svg class="c-icon" width="20" height="20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M256 416C247.812 416 239.62 412.875 233.38 406.625L41.38 214.625C28.88 202.125 28.88 181.875 41.38 169.375C53.88 156.875 74.13 156.875 86.63 169.375L256 338.8L425.4 169.4C437.9 156.9 458.15 156.9 470.65 169.4C483.15 181.9 483.15 202.15 470.65 214.65L278.65 406.65C272.4 412.9 264.2 416 256 416Z"></path></svg></span></button></div><div class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-container "><ul class="b-header-nav-chain__subsection-menu" id="header_sub_section_sponsored"><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/advertising-feature" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Advertising Feature</a></li><li class="subsection-item" data-testid="nav-chain-subsection-item"><a class="c-link" href="/special-reports" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Special Reports</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/subscriber-rewards/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Subscriber Rewards</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/competitions" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Competitions</a></li><li class="section-item" data-testid="nav-chain-section-item"><a class="c-link" href="/weather/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1">Weather Forecast</a></li><li class="section-menu--bottom-placeholder"></li></ul></div></div></div></nav></header><section role="main" tabindex="-1" class="b-it-right-rail-advanced__main" id="main"><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__full-width-1" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div id="arcad-feature-f0fJKL80l2wX2PY-71d984bf0f057" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="min-height:107px;--mobile-display:none;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:970px"><div id="arcad_f0fJKL80l2wX2PY-71d984bf0f057" class="arcad ad-970x90"></div></div></div><div class="c-stack b-section-title" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><h1 class="c-heading">Stage</h1><div class="b-section-title__links"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/stage-reviews/">Stage Reviews</a><span class="c-separator"></span><a class="c-link" href="/tags/irish-theatre-awards/">Irish Theatre Awards</a></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/><div id="lazy_47099" class="lazy_container"><div class="b-flex-chain"><div class="b-flex-chain__grid-container b-flex-chain__grid-container__444 has-divider gap-divider"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__top c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Des Bishop preaches to the faithful in show packed with family, relationships and Catholic karaoke" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-3-2 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg?smart=true&auth=67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52&width=800&height=450" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg?smart=true&auth=67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg?smart=true&auth=67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52&width=400&height=225 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg?smart=true&auth=67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg?smart=true&auth=67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52&width=800&height=450 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg?smart=true&auth=67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52&width=1200&height=675 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 400px, (max-width: 800px) 50vw, 100vw" width="800" height="450"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/">Des Bishop preaches to the faithful in show packed with family, relationships and Catholic karaoke</a></h3><p class="c-paragraph"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/">Irish-American comedian’s latest set lacks a strong theme, providing more of a status update on his life</a></p><div class="b-flex-promo-card__metadata"><span class="c-it-byline c-it-byline--list"><span>By</span><span> Martin Doyle</span><span class="c-separator"></span></span><time class="c-it-promo-date" dateTime="2025-02-27T15:22:54.812Z">Thu Feb 27 2025 - 15:22</time></div></div></div></article></div></div><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-hide b-flex-promo-card__image-square-mobile-right c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/27/king-lear-at-the-gate-review-propulsive-production-doesnt-quite-solve-this-tragedys-age-old-problems/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="King Lear at the Gate review: Propulsive production doesn’t quite solve this tragedy’s age-old problems" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-1-1 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-3-2" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg?focal=2450%2C1767&auth=3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg?focal=2450%2C1767&auth=3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41&width=200&height=132 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg?focal=2450%2C1767&auth=3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41&width=400&height=265 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg?focal=2450%2C1767&auth=3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41&width=600&height=398 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg?focal=2450%2C1767&auth=3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41&width=800&height=531 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg?focal=2450%2C1767&auth=3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41&width=1200&height=797 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="182"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/27/king-lear-at-the-gate-review-propulsive-production-doesnt-quite-solve-this-tragedys-age-old-problems/">King Lear at the Gate review: Propulsive production doesn’t quite solve this tragedy’s age-old problems</a></h3></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-hide b-flex-promo-card__image-square-mobile-right c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/26/what-ireland-could-learn-from-canada-about-how-to-enhance-its-cities/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="What Ireland could learn from Canada about how to enhance its cities" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-1-1 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-3-2" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg?smart=true&auth=1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg?smart=true&auth=1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353&width=200&height=132 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg?smart=true&auth=1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353&width=400&height=265 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg?smart=true&auth=1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353&width=600&height=398 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg?smart=true&auth=1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353&width=800&height=531 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg?smart=true&auth=1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353&width=1200&height=797 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="182"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/26/what-ireland-could-learn-from-canada-about-how-to-enhance-its-cities/">What Ireland could learn from Canada about how to enhance its cities</a></h3></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-hide b-flex-promo-card__image-square-mobile-right c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/24/lynne-parker-the-abbey-does-so-much-but-ireland-needs-a-national-theatre-for-the-21st-century/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Lynne Parker: The Abbey does so much. But Ireland needs a national theatre for the 21st century " class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-1-1 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-3-2" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg?focal=3572%2C1215&auth=9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg?focal=3572%2C1215&auth=9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752&width=200&height=132 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg?focal=3572%2C1215&auth=9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752&width=400&height=265 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg?focal=3572%2C1215&auth=9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752&width=600&height=398 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg?focal=3572%2C1215&auth=9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752&width=800&height=531 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg?focal=3572%2C1215&auth=9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752&width=1200&height=797 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="182"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/24/lynne-parker-the-abbey-does-so-much-but-ireland-needs-a-national-theatre-for-the-21st-century/">Lynne Parker: The Abbey does so much. But Ireland needs a national theatre for the 21st century </a></h3></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-hide b-flex-promo-card__image-square-mobile-right c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/21/milk-spectacle-is-tinged-with-tragedy-in-the-abbeys-palestinian-dance-play/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Milk: Spectacle is tinged with tragedy in the Abbey’s Palestinian dance play" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-1-1 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-3-2" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg?focal=1281%2C773&auth=f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg?focal=1281%2C773&auth=f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3&width=200&height=132 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg?focal=1281%2C773&auth=f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3&width=400&height=265 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg?focal=1281%2C773&auth=f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3&width=600&height=398 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg?focal=1281%2C773&auth=f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3&width=800&height=531 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg?focal=1281%2C773&auth=f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3&width=1200&height=797 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="182"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/21/milk-spectacle-is-tinged-with-tragedy-in-the-abbeys-palestinian-dance-play/">Milk: Spectacle is tinged with tragedy in the Abbey’s Palestinian dance play</a></h3></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-hide b-flex-promo-card__image-square-mobile-right c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/16/from-game-of-thrones-to-king-lear-northern-actor-conleth-hill-on-creativity-wizards-and-the-benefit-of-not-having-a-plan/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill: ‘I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards’" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-1-1 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-3-2" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg?focal=2439%2C2896&auth=83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg?focal=2439%2C2896&auth=83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2&width=200&height=132 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg?focal=2439%2C2896&auth=83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2&width=400&height=265 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg?focal=2439%2C2896&auth=83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2&width=600&height=398 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg?focal=2439%2C2896&auth=83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2&width=800&height=531 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg?focal=2439%2C2896&auth=83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2&width=1200&height=797 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="182"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h3 class="c-heading c-heading__md-sm text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/16/from-game-of-thrones-to-king-lear-northern-actor-conleth-hill-on-creativity-wizards-and-the-benefit-of-not-having-a-plan/">Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill: ‘I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards’</a></h3></div></div></article></div></div><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="b-newsletter-block c-border__bottom "><div class="c-stack b-newsletter-block__vertical" data-style-direction="inherit" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="image-wrapper_top"><div style="aspect-ratio:600 / 0;background-color:var(--global-neutral-1)" class=""><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Book Club" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Firishtimes%2FSJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png?auth=da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f&width=600" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Firishtimes%2FSJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png?auth=da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f&width=400 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Firishtimes%2FSJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png?auth=da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f&width=440 440w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Firishtimes%2FSJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png?auth=da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f&width=600 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Firishtimes%2FSJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png?auth=da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f&width=800 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 400px, (max-width: 440px) 440px, (max-width: 600px) 600px, (min-width: 601px) 800px" width="600"/></div></div><div class=""><h2 class="c-heading">Book Club</h2><p class="c-paragraph">Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more</p></div></div><div><button class="c-button c-button--full-width c-button--large c-button--primary b-newsletter-block__button " type="submit"><span>Sign up</span></button></div></div></div></div></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/></div><div class="c-grid b-it-right-rail-advanced__rail-container"><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-interior-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-interior-item-1" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div id="arcad-feature-f0fDE4OavSwT7Jf-10fcf88e60a6c1" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="min-height:107px;--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:728px"><div id="arcad_f0fDE4OavSwT7Jf-10fcf88e60a6c1" class="arcad ad-728x90"></div></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/></div><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-interior-item-2" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/15/playwright-simon-stephens-our-sense-of-self-is-defined-by-the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-my-family-told-themselves-we-were-irish/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Playwright Simon Stephens: ‘Our sense of self is defined by the stories we tell ourselves. My family told themselves we were Irish’" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg?focal=2166%2C2344&auth=2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg?focal=2166%2C2344&auth=2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg?focal=2166%2C2344&auth=2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg?focal=2166%2C2344&auth=2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg?focal=2166%2C2344&auth=2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg?focal=2166%2C2344&auth=2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/15/playwright-simon-stephens-our-sense-of-self-is-defined-by-the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-my-family-told-themselves-we-were-irish/">Playwright Simon Stephens: ‘Our sense of self is defined by the stories we tell ourselves. My family told themselves we were Irish’</a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/14/mens-business-review-avant-garde-date-night-pregnant-with-commitment-issues/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Men’s Business review: Avant-garde date night pregnant with commitment issues " class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg?focal=2126%2C1634&auth=2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg?focal=2126%2C1634&auth=2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg?focal=2126%2C1634&auth=2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg?focal=2126%2C1634&auth=2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg?focal=2126%2C1634&auth=2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg?focal=2126%2C1634&auth=2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/14/mens-business-review-avant-garde-date-night-pregnant-with-commitment-issues/">Men’s Business review: Avant-garde date night pregnant with commitment issues </a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/14/steve-coogan-pulls-out-of-performance-of-dr-strangelove-in-dublin/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Steve Coogan pulls out of performance of Dr Strangelove in Dublin" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?focal=1791%2C960&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?focal=1791%2C960&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?focal=1791%2C960&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?focal=1791%2C960&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?focal=1791%2C960&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?focal=1791%2C960&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/14/steve-coogan-pulls-out-of-performance-of-dr-strangelove-in-dublin/">Steve Coogan pulls out of performance of Dr Strangelove in Dublin</a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/art/review/2025/02/11/oscar-fouz-lopez-tenets-of-growing-review-watercolour-tableaux-seek-to-rejuvenate-their-subjects-through-a-nurturing-ecosystem/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Oscar Fouz Lopez: Tenets of Growing review – Watercolour tableaux seek to rejuvenate their subjects through a nurturing ecosystem" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg?focal=1115%2C1187&auth=3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg?focal=1115%2C1187&auth=3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg?focal=1115%2C1187&auth=3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg?focal=1115%2C1187&auth=3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg?focal=1115%2C1187&auth=3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg?focal=1115%2C1187&auth=3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/art/review/2025/02/11/oscar-fouz-lopez-tenets-of-growing-review-watercolour-tableaux-seek-to-rejuvenate-their-subjects-through-a-nurturing-ecosystem/">Oscar Fouz Lopez: Tenets of Growing review – Watercolour tableaux seek to rejuvenate their subjects through a nurturing ecosystem</a></h2></div></div></article></div><div id="arcad-feature-f0fCeqL9kCfDdvL-116cc9e36b543f" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 kjbLvz arcad-feature" style="--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:fluidpx"><div id="arcad_f0fCeqL9kCfDdvL-116cc9e36b543f" class="arcad ad-fluid"></div></div></div><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0fI87yIAwkvcqS" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fI87yIAwkvcqS"></div><div><hr class></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0fI87yIAwkvcqS" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fI87yIAwkvcqS"></div><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/music/2025/02/10/celebrating-the-voice-expert-paul-kwak-i-live-and-breathe-singing-and-voices-all-day-long/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Celebrating the Voice expert Paul Kwak: ‘I live and breathe singing and voices all day long’" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/music/2025/02/10/celebrating-the-voice-expert-paul-kwak-i-live-and-breathe-singing-and-voices-all-day-long/">Celebrating the Voice expert Paul Kwak: ‘I live and breathe singing and voices all day long’</a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/08/actor-tony-roberts-who-often-worked-with-woody-allen-dies-aged-85/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Actor Tony Roberts, who often worked with Woody Allen, dies aged 85" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg?smart=true&auth=4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg?smart=true&auth=4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg?smart=true&auth=4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg?smart=true&auth=4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg?smart=true&auth=4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg?smart=true&auth=4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/08/actor-tony-roberts-who-often-worked-with-woody-allen-dies-aged-85/">Actor Tony Roberts, who often worked with Woody Allen, dies aged 85</a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/08/begin-anywhere-its-like-your-daughter-was-told-her-dress-wouldnt-arrive-until-the-day-of-the-wedding-but-its-a-dior/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Begin Anywhere: ‘It’s like your daughter was told her dress wouldn’t arrive until the day of the wedding – but it’s a Dior!’" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg?focal=2325%2C2262&auth=e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg?focal=2325%2C2262&auth=e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg?focal=2325%2C2262&auth=e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg?focal=2325%2C2262&auth=e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg?focal=2325%2C2262&auth=e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg?focal=2325%2C2262&auth=e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/08/begin-anywhere-its-like-your-daughter-was-told-her-dress-wouldnt-arrive-until-the-day-of-the-wedding-but-its-a-dior/">Begin Anywhere: ‘It’s like your daughter was told her dress wouldn’t arrive until the day of the wedding – but it’s a Dior!’</a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/aurora-a-modern-myth-review-an-ecoaware-play-with-a-surprising-amount-of-sass/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Aurora: A Modern Myth review – An ecoaware play with a surprising amount of sass" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg?smart=true&auth=c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg?smart=true&auth=c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg?smart=true&auth=c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg?smart=true&auth=c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg?smart=true&auth=c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg?smart=true&auth=c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/aurora-a-modern-myth-review-an-ecoaware-play-with-a-surprising-amount-of-sass/">Aurora: A Modern Myth review – An ecoaware play with a surprising amount of sass</a></h2></div></div></article><article class="b-flex-promo-card b-flex-promo-card__right-left c-it-border__bottom c-it-border--mobile c-it-border--tablet c-it-border--desktop"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-flex-promo-card__link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Dr Strangelove in Dublin review: Steve Coogan gives a bravura performance, but the play around him falls a little flat" class="c-image b-flex-promo-card__mobile-image-16-9 b-flex-promo-card__desktop-image-16-9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=274&height=154" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=200&height=112 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=400&height=224 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=600&height=337 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=800&height=449 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg?smart=true&auth=101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709&width=1200&height=674 1200w" sizes="30vw" width="274" height="154"/></a></figure><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text"><div class="b-flex-promo-card__text-no-overline"><h2 class="c-heading c-heading__md text-align_left"><a class="c-link font-bold" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/">Dr Strangelove in Dublin review: Steve Coogan gives a bravura performance, but the play around him falls a little flat</a></h2></div></div></article></div><div id="arcad-feature-f0frlqC2ElKCdb9-3d55bcc5be96b" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 kjbLvz arcad-feature" style="--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:fluidpx"><div id="arcad_f0frlqC2ElKCdb9-3d55bcc5be96b" class="arcad ad-fluid"></div></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-divider" aria-hidden="true"/><div id="lazy_35122" class="lazy_container"><div class="b-flex-chain"><div class="b-flex-chain__grid-container b-flex-chain__grid-container__12 gap"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-results-list__wrapper" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="The Irish musical slammed by the White House as an ‘insane’ waste of $70,000 " class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4.jpg?focal=4059%2C1393&auth=ce43ae09dc58ff1af90388d17d10ebbee91e1a5150fbab4026afbfffc16154dc&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4.jpg?focal=4059%2C1393&auth=ce43ae09dc58ff1af90388d17d10ebbee91e1a5150fbab4026afbfffc16154dc&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4.jpg?focal=4059%2C1393&auth=ce43ae09dc58ff1af90388d17d10ebbee91e1a5150fbab4026afbfffc16154dc&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/">The Irish musical slammed by the White House as an ‘insane’ waste of $70,000 </a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Fledermaus review: Irish National Opera’s touring production is a delight from start to finish" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY.jpg?focal=1736%2C809&auth=b5df2d04040a5d4cabe5d48edfb982578e4cb4926bf4c20713e813d4e93c7353&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY.jpg?focal=1736%2C809&auth=b5df2d04040a5d4cabe5d48edfb982578e4cb4926bf4c20713e813d4e93c7353&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY.jpg?focal=1736%2C809&auth=b5df2d04040a5d4cabe5d48edfb982578e4cb4926bf4c20713e813d4e93c7353&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/">Fledermaus review: Irish National Opera’s touring production is a delight from start to finish</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Des Bishop: ‘I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother’" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ.jpg?focal=2618%2C1760&auth=d40553702e377f77026cb1bcd174f9c528b14c3caf51f43dc042946f1f725969&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ.jpg?focal=2618%2C1760&auth=d40553702e377f77026cb1bcd174f9c528b14c3caf51f43dc042946f1f725969&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ.jpg?focal=2618%2C1760&auth=d40553702e377f77026cb1bcd174f9c528b14c3caf51f43dc042946f1f725969&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/">Des Bishop: ‘I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother’</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="The Ferryman at the Gaiety review: This British play about the Troubles sounds as if it was written using Wikipedia" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM.jpg?smart=true&auth=e7d099af7c5ffd5274cd0756443d9b12685e554ef6ae0ae032c8bdf1198e9b1d&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM.jpg?smart=true&auth=e7d099af7c5ffd5274cd0756443d9b12685e554ef6ae0ae032c8bdf1198e9b1d&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM.jpg?smart=true&auth=e7d099af7c5ffd5274cd0756443d9b12685e554ef6ae0ae032c8bdf1198e9b1d&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/">The Ferryman at the Gaiety review: This British play about the Troubles sounds as if it was written using Wikipedia</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Britney Spears meets Shakespeare: How & Juliet puts a pop twist on star-cross’d lovers" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4.jpg?smart=true&auth=0100ee4836c4703e0a5542b8b74b09a6a48df503fd4b6e46e5d56f21f4a5670c&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4.jpg?smart=true&auth=0100ee4836c4703e0a5542b8b74b09a6a48df503fd4b6e46e5d56f21f4a5670c&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4.jpg?smart=true&auth=0100ee4836c4703e0a5542b8b74b09a6a48df503fd4b6e46e5d56f21f4a5670c&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/">Britney Spears meets Shakespeare: How & Juliet puts a pop twist on star-cross’d lovers</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=c91e4f8e7c0508fc48b1836e49b8fa96977043097312d6766c153609f4345513&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=c91e4f8e7c0508fc48b1836e49b8fa96977043097312d6766c153609f4345513&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q.jpg?smart=true&auth=c91e4f8e7c0508fc48b1836e49b8fa96977043097312d6766c153609f4345513&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/">Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Accents review: The late Eoin French’s remarkable music accompanies Emmet Kirwan’s fatherhood search" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI.jpg?smart=true&auth=918e31587c685d0bced3de5571c487096c8691f4af9588140e0ad34f7321eb14&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI.jpg?smart=true&auth=918e31587c685d0bced3de5571c487096c8691f4af9588140e0ad34f7321eb14&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI.jpg?smart=true&auth=918e31587c685d0bced3de5571c487096c8691f4af9588140e0ad34f7321eb14&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/">Accents review: The late Eoin French’s remarkable music accompanies Emmet Kirwan’s fatherhood search</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM.jpg?smart=true&auth=6550cea46f079be9b8f557d87bddbee2e452460932c18345a7b2fb82a40f2a6a&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM.jpg?smart=true&auth=6550cea46f079be9b8f557d87bddbee2e452460932c18345a7b2fb82a40f2a6a&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM.jpg?smart=true&auth=6550cea46f079be9b8f557d87bddbee2e452460932c18345a7b2fb82a40f2a6a&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/">Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Madeira: Secrets of Sisters review – Four siblings, three actors and a tale that penetrates emotional barriers" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU.jpg?smart=true&auth=7777f19931fac85275857c5b81ab599014d82f2c32ee3076d33b3082a909a2c3&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU.jpg?smart=true&auth=7777f19931fac85275857c5b81ab599014d82f2c32ee3076d33b3082a909a2c3&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU.jpg?smart=true&auth=7777f19931fac85275857c5b81ab599014d82f2c32ee3076d33b3082a909a2c3&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/">Madeira: Secrets of Sisters review – Four siblings, three actors and a tale that penetrates emotional barriers</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Abbey Theatre gets €9.5m in strategic funding from Arts Council, €1m more than last year" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI.jpg?focal=3371%2C504&auth=96814d1e4ee76298008a890b37c8118deb136aa9f99a5237df4f3907909dfd54&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI.jpg?focal=3371%2C504&auth=96814d1e4ee76298008a890b37c8118deb136aa9f99a5237df4f3907909dfd54&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI.jpg?focal=3371%2C504&auth=96814d1e4ee76298008a890b37c8118deb136aa9f99a5237df4f3907909dfd54&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/">Abbey Theatre gets €9.5m in strategic funding from Arts Council, €1m more than last year</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong review – Don Wycherley is incandescent in this journey from disaster to redemption" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI.jpg?smart=true&auth=cc87132abf35b13fe7f46cb8a32ce320d566e588c0e60d8c65eadc8b2bf416c7&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI.jpg?smart=true&auth=cc87132abf35b13fe7f46cb8a32ce320d566e588c0e60d8c65eadc8b2bf416c7&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI.jpg?smart=true&auth=cc87132abf35b13fe7f46cb8a32ce320d566e588c0e60d8c65eadc8b2bf416c7&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/">Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong review – Don Wycherley is incandescent in this journey from disaster to redemption</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Musicals for grown ups: Stephen Sondheim presents ‘life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray’" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A.jpg?smart=true&auth=ce093d3a27d5b1c25c4ef7cb2a1cc0188bf942ec72dfa34ea33c41cf37c9d8d2&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A.jpg?smart=true&auth=ce093d3a27d5b1c25c4ef7cb2a1cc0188bf942ec72dfa34ea33c41cf37c9d8d2&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A.jpg?smart=true&auth=ce093d3a27d5b1c25c4ef7cb2a1cc0188bf942ec72dfa34ea33c41cf37c9d8d2&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/">Musicals for grown ups: Stephen Sondheim presents ‘life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray’</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Brian Friel’s plays to be brought home to cross-Border communities that inspired them" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=1caddb583b9ef0359d08725f47cfb442a8c7c9e951e1a62eb82552f11d912121&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=1caddb583b9ef0359d08725f47cfb442a8c7c9e951e1a62eb82552f11d912121&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=1caddb583b9ef0359d08725f47cfb442a8c7c9e951e1a62eb82552f11d912121&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/">Brian Friel’s plays to be brought home to cross-Border communities that inspired them</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="War Horse: ‘I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing, making sounds and moving like a horse would’" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA.JPG?focal=3199%2C2375&auth=fb19ddcba9834d40834b36ead89c489c6856747d243cca1d64f4291a2b757695&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA.JPG?focal=3199%2C2375&auth=fb19ddcba9834d40834b36ead89c489c6856747d243cca1d64f4291a2b757695&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA.JPG?focal=3199%2C2375&auth=fb19ddcba9834d40834b36ead89c489c6856747d243cca1d64f4291a2b757695&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/">War Horse: ‘I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing, making sounds and moving like a horse would’</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="2025 on stage: 21 plays, operas and dance works to see over the next 12 months" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34.jpg?focal=1795%2C2455&auth=688b389e90ff8be367a73ca4d16edb9d2431ea5335d5265c0c234293cbf1a706&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34.jpg?focal=1795%2C2455&auth=688b389e90ff8be367a73ca4d16edb9d2431ea5335d5265c0c234293cbf1a706&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34.jpg?focal=1795%2C2455&auth=688b389e90ff8be367a73ca4d16edb9d2431ea5335d5265c0c234293cbf1a706&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/">2025 on stage: 21 plays, operas and dance works to see over the next 12 months</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takers" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA.jpg?focal=3745%2C2335&auth=29bb5d4a01612cce0f442811fbd1b6061e0cb8bd91969c63c6c69dae46549f92&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA.jpg?focal=3745%2C2335&auth=29bb5d4a01612cce0f442811fbd1b6061e0cb8bd91969c63c6c69dae46549f92&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA.jpg?focal=3745%2C2335&auth=29bb5d4a01612cce0f442811fbd1b6061e0cb8bd91969c63c6c69dae46549f92&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/">The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takers</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Oh yes it is ... the Christmas panto and how it keeps Ireland’s theatre community going" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4.JPG?smart=true&auth=7a6743faa349ac75535eab7282719b6675811567e6af5d9176d31f8d1df194cd&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4.JPG?smart=true&auth=7a6743faa349ac75535eab7282719b6675811567e6af5d9176d31f8d1df194cd&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4.JPG?smart=true&auth=7a6743faa349ac75535eab7282719b6675811567e6af5d9176d31f8d1df194cd&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/">Oh yes it is ... the Christmas panto and how it keeps Ireland’s theatre community going</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendation" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ.jpg?focal=1425%2C1475&auth=9f1bdde6ef90ff6fd721946ecf5924296262bb1170a878d85613e20c48e807ef&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ.jpg?focal=1425%2C1475&auth=9f1bdde6ef90ff6fd721946ecf5924296262bb1170a878d85613e20c48e807ef&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ.jpg?focal=1425%2C1475&auth=9f1bdde6ef90ff6fd721946ecf5924296262bb1170a878d85613e20c48e807ef&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/">Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendation</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Ralph Fiennes at the Abbey Theatre: An electrifying, moving reading of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM.jpg?focal=1525%2C957&auth=6bc5626b070f43e2f6bb1b9110db1343634dee75bc65c5b5a930ca1e9b8d1ac4&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM.jpg?focal=1525%2C957&auth=6bc5626b070f43e2f6bb1b9110db1343634dee75bc65c5b5a930ca1e9b8d1ac4&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM.jpg?focal=1525%2C957&auth=6bc5626b070f43e2f6bb1b9110db1343634dee75bc65c5b5a930ca1e9b8d1ac4&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/">Ralph Fiennes at the Abbey Theatre: An electrifying, moving reading of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="b-results-list b-results-list--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’" class="c-image" loading="eager" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU.jpg?focal=3963%2C2680&auth=04741a907bed2db54f3d5be95d23715f3abeb27d012736547b080f528671b8ee&width=500&height=333" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU.jpg?focal=3963%2C2680&auth=04741a907bed2db54f3d5be95d23715f3abeb27d012736547b080f528671b8ee&width=250&height=166 250w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU.jpg?focal=3963%2C2680&auth=04741a907bed2db54f3d5be95d23715f3abeb27d012736547b080f528671b8ee&width=500&height=333 500w" sizes="(min-width: 48rem) 500px, 250px" width="500" height="333"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/">The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’</a></h3></div><hr class="c-divider"/><div class="c-stack b-results-list__seeMore" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><button aria-label="See more stories about this topic" class="c-button c-button--medium c-button--primary" type="button"><span>See more</span></button></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="c-stack b-flex-promo-list-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:1rem"><div> <div class="d-flex justify-content-center pagination-flex"><nav aria-label="Page navigation example" class="pagination-nav margin-sm-bottom"><ul class="pagination"><li class="page-item page-item-prev disabledCursor"><a class="page-link" href="/culture/stage/"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="30" height="30" fill="none"><path fill="#191919" d="M7.865 14.202 17.952 4.115a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 1.762 0L20.89 5.29c.486.486.487 1.273.002 1.76l-7.994 8.031 7.994 8.032a1.245 1.245 0 0 1-.002 1.76l-1.177 1.177a1.246 1.246 0 0 1-1.761 0L7.865 15.963a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 0-1.761Z"></path><mask id="a" width="15" height="24" x="7" y="3" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" style="mask-type:luminance"><path fill="#fff" d="M7.865 14.202 17.952 4.115a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 1.762 0L20.89 5.29c.486.486.487 1.273.002 1.76l-7.994 8.031 7.994 8.032a1.245 1.245 0 0 1-.002 1.76l-1.177 1.177a1.246 1.246 0 0 1-1.761 0L7.865 15.963a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 0-1.761Z"></path></mask><g mask="url(#a)"><path fill="#191919" d="M0 0h30v30H0z"></path><path fill="#fff" d="M0 0h30v30H0z"></path><path fill="#2C5472" d="M0 0h30v30H0z"></path></g></svg></a></li><li class="page-item page-item-number active"><a href="/culture/stage/" class="page-link">1</a></li><li class="page-item page-item-number "><a href="/culture/stage/2/" class="page-link">2</a></li><li class="page-item page-item-number "><a href="/culture/stage/3/" class="page-link">3</a></li><li class="page-item page-item-number "><a href="/culture/stage/4/" class="page-link">4</a></li><li class="page-item page-item-number "><a href="/culture/stage/5/" class="page-link">5</a></li><li class="page-item page-item-dot">…</li><li class="page-item page-item-number "><a href="/culture/stage/83/" class="page-link">83</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/6/" class="page-link">6</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/7/" class="page-link">7</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/8/" class="page-link">8</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/9/" class="page-link">9</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/10/" class="page-link">10</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/11/" class="page-link">11</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/12/" class="page-link">12</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/13/" class="page-link">13</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/14/" class="page-link">14</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/15/" class="page-link">15</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/16/" class="page-link">16</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/17/" class="page-link">17</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/18/" class="page-link">18</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/19/" class="page-link">19</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/20/" class="page-link">20</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/21/" class="page-link">21</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/22/" class="page-link">22</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/23/" class="page-link">23</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/24/" class="page-link">24</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/25/" class="page-link">25</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/26/" class="page-link">26</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/27/" class="page-link">27</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/28/" class="page-link">28</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/29/" class="page-link">29</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/30/" class="page-link">30</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/31/" class="page-link">31</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/32/" class="page-link">32</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/33/" class="page-link">33</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/34/" class="page-link">34</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/35/" class="page-link">35</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/36/" class="page-link">36</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/37/" class="page-link">37</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/38/" class="page-link">38</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/39/" class="page-link">39</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/40/" class="page-link">40</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/41/" class="page-link">41</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/42/" class="page-link">42</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/43/" class="page-link">43</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/44/" class="page-link">44</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/45/" class="page-link">45</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/46/" class="page-link">46</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/47/" class="page-link">47</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/48/" class="page-link">48</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/49/" class="page-link">49</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/50/" class="page-link">50</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/51/" class="page-link">51</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/52/" class="page-link">52</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/53/" class="page-link">53</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/54/" class="page-link">54</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/55/" class="page-link">55</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/56/" class="page-link">56</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/57/" class="page-link">57</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/58/" class="page-link">58</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/59/" class="page-link">59</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/60/" class="page-link">60</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/61/" class="page-link">61</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/62/" class="page-link">62</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/63/" class="page-link">63</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/64/" class="page-link">64</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/65/" class="page-link">65</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/66/" class="page-link">66</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/67/" class="page-link">67</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/68/" class="page-link">68</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/69/" class="page-link">69</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/70/" class="page-link">70</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/71/" class="page-link">71</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/72/" class="page-link">72</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/73/" class="page-link">73</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/74/" class="page-link">74</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/75/" class="page-link">75</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/76/" class="page-link">76</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/77/" class="page-link">77</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/78/" class="page-link">78</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/79/" class="page-link">79</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/80/" class="page-link">80</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/81/" class="page-link">81</a></li><li class="pagination-flex"><a href="/culture/stage/82/" class="page-link">82</a></li><li class="page-item page-item-next "><a class="page-link" href="/culture/stage/2/"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="30" height="30" fill="none"><path fill="#191919" d="M23.39 15.963 13.303 26.051a1.246 1.246 0 0 1-1.762 0l-1.176-1.177a1.246 1.246 0 0 1-.002-1.76l7.994-8.031-7.994-8.032a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 .002-1.76l1.176-1.176a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 1.762 0L23.39 14.202a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 0 1.761Z"></path><mask id="b" width="14" height="24" x="10" y="3" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" style="mask-type:luminance"><path fill="#fff" d="M23.39 15.963 13.303 26.051a1.246 1.246 0 0 1-1.762 0l-1.176-1.177a1.246 1.246 0 0 1-.002-1.76l7.994-8.031-7.994-8.032a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 .002-1.76l1.176-1.176a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 1.762 0L23.39 14.202a1.246 1.246 0 0 1 0 1.761Z"></path></mask><g mask="url(#b)"><path fill="#191919" d="M0 0h30v30H0z"></path><path fill="#fff" d="M0 0h30v30H0z"></path><path fill="#2C5472" d="M0 0h30v30H0z"></path></g></svg></a></li></ul></nav><hr/></div></div></div></div></div><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-right-rail " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-right-rail-top" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"></div><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-right-rail-middle" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"></div><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__main-right-rail-bottom" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="b-it-sticky-chain sticky-chain"><div><div class="c-grid b-it-header-block"><div class="b-it-header-block__header-block font-normal "><a class="c-link b-it-header-block__link font-normal" href="/most-read/"><div class="c-stack b-it-header-block__heading-h5 font-normal" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack headline-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:0"><h2 as="h5" class="c-heading font-normal margin_none"><span class=" font-normal">MOST READ<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="14" height="24" viewBox="0 0 14 24" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" class="c-icon"><path d="M1.13096 0.799122C1.80974 0.102652 2.7203 -0.288062 3.25008 0.255525L13.3161 10.5835C14.2279 11.4523 14.228 12.9331 13.3161 13.802L3.78 23.0857C2.92237 23.9029 2.18997 24.7165 0.637788 22.9345C-0.650965 21.455 0.273466 20.6414 1.1311 19.8243L8.71733 12.5593C8.91647 12.3686 8.92364 12.0527 8.73336 11.8531L0.748709 3.47961C-0.108924 2.6625 0.0713963 1.88627 1.13096 0.799122Z"></path></svg></span></h2></div></div></a></div></div></div><div><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list__items" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list__item" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><p class="c-paragraph">1</p><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/2025/03/01/plans-to-base-combat-jets-at-shannon-airport-at-annual-cost-of-100m/"><h2 class="c-heading">Plans to base combat jets at Shannon airport at annual cost of €100m</h2></a><a class="c-link b-numbered-list__item-image" href="/ireland/2025/03/01/plans-to-base-combat-jets-at-shannon-airport-at-annual-cost-of-100m/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NXEJYC3XQNHUFMSG2CKAY7FWY4.jpg?focal=430%2C287&auth=c176f51c88afcf89f069bf4f0069f8631972dae40b7a66b718031719eeaa8e83&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NXEJYC3XQNHUFMSG2CKAY7FWY4.jpg?focal=430%2C287&auth=c176f51c88afcf89f069bf4f0069f8631972dae40b7a66b718031719eeaa8e83&width=137&height=91 137w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NXEJYC3XQNHUFMSG2CKAY7FWY4.jpg?focal=430%2C287&auth=c176f51c88afcf89f069bf4f0069f8631972dae40b7a66b718031719eeaa8e83&width=274&height=182 274w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/NXEJYC3XQNHUFMSG2CKAY7FWY4.jpg?focal=430%2C287&auth=c176f51c88afcf89f069bf4f0069f8631972dae40b7a66b718031719eeaa8e83&width=548&height=364 548w" width="274" height="182"/></a></div><hr aria-hidden="true"/><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list__item" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><p class="c-paragraph">2</p><a class="c-link" href="/crime-law/courts/2025/02/28/garda-driver-who-turned-70-must-stop-turning-up-for-work-court-rules/"><h2 class="c-heading">Garda driver who turned 70 must stop turning up for work, court rules</h2></a><a class="c-link b-numbered-list__item-image" href="/crime-law/courts/2025/02/28/garda-driver-who-turned-70-must-stop-turning-up-for-work-court-rules/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SUFYSL77ZBK3XL6NBCYREA5JQM.jpg?focal=691%2C308&auth=506201d1f27a6e4cb279805e897158fde9b8e3ba0eb93395fcc242d03e4f4cf9&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SUFYSL77ZBK3XL6NBCYREA5JQM.jpg?focal=691%2C308&auth=506201d1f27a6e4cb279805e897158fde9b8e3ba0eb93395fcc242d03e4f4cf9&width=137&height=91 137w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SUFYSL77ZBK3XL6NBCYREA5JQM.jpg?focal=691%2C308&auth=506201d1f27a6e4cb279805e897158fde9b8e3ba0eb93395fcc242d03e4f4cf9&width=274&height=182 274w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/SUFYSL77ZBK3XL6NBCYREA5JQM.jpg?focal=691%2C308&auth=506201d1f27a6e4cb279805e897158fde9b8e3ba0eb93395fcc242d03e4f4cf9&width=548&height=364 548w" width="274" height="182"/></a></div><hr aria-hidden="true"/><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list__item" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><p class="c-paragraph">3</p><a class="c-link" href="/property/interiors/2025/03/02/roisin-ingle-puts-a-thermomix-to-the-test-i-am-a-convert-but-theres-one-enormous-catch/"><h2 class="c-heading">Róisín Ingle puts a Thermomix to the test: ‘I am a convert but there’s one enormous catch’</h2></a><a class="c-link b-numbered-list__item-image" href="/property/interiors/2025/03/02/roisin-ingle-puts-a-thermomix-to-the-test-i-am-a-convert-but-theres-one-enormous-catch/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QM3MQIZR2BDIZGQMQAY4KCTKZU.JPG?smart=true&auth=bf9f14963f9b1f1648e24eb5e13802386651278e567055ddac5535a1ffbc8a52&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QM3MQIZR2BDIZGQMQAY4KCTKZU.JPG?smart=true&auth=bf9f14963f9b1f1648e24eb5e13802386651278e567055ddac5535a1ffbc8a52&width=137&height=91 137w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QM3MQIZR2BDIZGQMQAY4KCTKZU.JPG?smart=true&auth=bf9f14963f9b1f1648e24eb5e13802386651278e567055ddac5535a1ffbc8a52&width=274&height=182 274w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QM3MQIZR2BDIZGQMQAY4KCTKZU.JPG?smart=true&auth=bf9f14963f9b1f1648e24eb5e13802386651278e567055ddac5535a1ffbc8a52&width=548&height=364 548w" width="274" height="182"/></a></div><hr aria-hidden="true"/><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list__item" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><p class="c-paragraph">4</p><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/2025/03/02/overheard-daily-mail-owner-lord-rothermere-in-a-spot-of-bother-with-his-dublin-tenants/"><h2 class="c-heading">Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere in a spot of bother with his Dublin tenants</h2></a><a class="c-link b-numbered-list__item-image" href="/ireland/2025/03/02/overheard-daily-mail-owner-lord-rothermere-in-a-spot-of-bother-with-his-dublin-tenants/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/CYEPMY6U3UUDWIIMDPRW2HCXF4.jpg?focal=2260%2C1568&auth=f4902c6904d37f5a232dabd944e704deec9378d805d2297d395ca233725e45e0&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/CYEPMY6U3UUDWIIMDPRW2HCXF4.jpg?focal=2260%2C1568&auth=f4902c6904d37f5a232dabd944e704deec9378d805d2297d395ca233725e45e0&width=137&height=91 137w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/CYEPMY6U3UUDWIIMDPRW2HCXF4.jpg?focal=2260%2C1568&auth=f4902c6904d37f5a232dabd944e704deec9378d805d2297d395ca233725e45e0&width=274&height=182 274w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/CYEPMY6U3UUDWIIMDPRW2HCXF4.jpg?focal=2260%2C1568&auth=f4902c6904d37f5a232dabd944e704deec9378d805d2297d395ca233725e45e0&width=548&height=364 548w" width="274" height="182"/></a></div><hr aria-hidden="true"/><div class="c-stack b-numbered-list__item" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><p class="c-paragraph">5</p><a class="c-link" href="/ireland/dublin/2025/02/27/derelict-victorian-houses-crumbling-six-years-after-purchase-by-dublin-city-council/"><h2 class="c-heading">Derelict Victorian houses ‘crumbling’ six years after €700,000 purchase by Dublin City Council</h2></a><a class="c-link b-numbered-list__item-image" href="/ireland/dublin/2025/02/27/derelict-victorian-houses-crumbling-six-years-after-purchase-by-dublin-city-council/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D5Y6XU7H6RCP3ILXNFKEFYPQGI.jpg?smart=true&auth=f098e62b9977ba917243d37bbc7cce447da8eea852400b1af247773c68e994e6&width=274&height=182" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D5Y6XU7H6RCP3ILXNFKEFYPQGI.jpg?smart=true&auth=f098e62b9977ba917243d37bbc7cce447da8eea852400b1af247773c68e994e6&width=137&height=91 137w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D5Y6XU7H6RCP3ILXNFKEFYPQGI.jpg?smart=true&auth=f098e62b9977ba917243d37bbc7cce447da8eea852400b1af247773c68e994e6&width=274&height=182 274w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D5Y6XU7H6RCP3ILXNFKEFYPQGI.jpg?smart=true&auth=f098e62b9977ba917243d37bbc7cce447da8eea852400b1af247773c68e994e6&width=548&height=364 548w" width="274" height="182"/></a></div></div></div></div><div class="b-it-sticky-chain__container sticky-container"><div><div id="arcad-feature-f0fvYtLWRYJ38bq-6-0-2-1e3935ffb16f37" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:300px"><div id="arcad_f0fvYtLWRYJ38bq-6-0-2-1e3935ffb16f37" class="arcad ad-300x250"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__full-width-2" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div id="lazy_29767" class="lazy_container"><div class="b-flex-chain"><div class="b-flex-chain__grid-container b-flex-chain__grid-container__12 gap"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/><div class="c-grid b-it-header-block"><div class="b-it-header-block__header-block font-normal "><div class="c-stack b-it-header-block__heading-h5 font-normal" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="center" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div class="c-stack headline-block" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap" style="--c-stack-gap:0"><h3 as="h5" class="c-heading font-normal margin_none">YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...</h3></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="lazy_31617" class="lazy_container"><div class="b-flex-chain"><div class="b-flex-chain__grid-container b-flex-chain__grid-container__444 has-divider gap-divider"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><article class="b-medium-manual-promo b-medium-manual-promo--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-medium-manual-promo__img" href="/crosswords-puzzles/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Crosswords & Puzzles" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png?smart=true&auth=36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97&width=600&height=400" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png?smart=true&auth=36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97&width=200&height=133 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png?smart=true&auth=36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png?smart=true&auth=36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97&width=600&height=400 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png?smart=true&auth=36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png?smart=true&auth=36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97&width=1200&height=800 1200w" width="600" height="400"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles/">Crosswords & Puzzles</a></h3><p class="c-paragraph">Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained</p></article><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0fD0fkQ5DvG2Oj-7-1-1" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fD0fkQ5DvG2Oj-7-1-1"></div><div><div align="center"> <iframe src="https://www.recruitireland.com/embed/search/jobs " width="100%" height="380px" frameBorder="0" loading="lazy" style="min-width: 300px; max-width: 450px; display: block"> </iframe> </div></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0fD0fkQ5DvG2Oj-7-1-1" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fD0fkQ5DvG2Oj-7-1-1"></div></div><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0fYXt8xLXzMaAS-7-1-2" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fYXt8xLXzMaAS-7-1-2"></div><div><b><center>The Irish Times ePaper</center></b></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0fYXt8xLXzMaAS-7-1-2" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fYXt8xLXzMaAS-7-1-2"></div><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0fOERSALXzMa3N-7-1-3" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fOERSALXzMa3N-7-1-3"></div><div><style> a.epaper-link { text-decoration: none; } .epaper-bg { background-color: #f1f1f1; width: 100%; margin: auto; padding: 2px; } .epaper { width: 100%; height: 530px; margin: 20px auto; background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/WoiCg-HuQT0vbRYhs9ZZLxsEyBc=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/SFHQMXWUAJB6THFBFIMLCTEGPE.png"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; animation: epaper--animation 30s ease forwards 5; opacity: 0; } @keyframes epaper--animation { 0% { opacity: 1; } 3% { opacity: 1; } 7.5% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/WoiCg-HuQT0vbRYhs9ZZLxsEyBc=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/SFHQMXWUAJB6THFBFIMLCTEGPE.png"); opacity: 0; } 7.6% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/o1nhqi_gxGQqIGONiXa2Gh5bgQs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/H2CCKPCMV5HI3DMOFUHTAUMTLE.png"); opacity: 0; } 12% { opacity: 1; } 25% { opacity: 1; } 30.5% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/o1nhqi_gxGQqIGONiXa2Gh5bgQs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/H2CCKPCMV5HI3DMOFUHTAUMTLE.png"); opacity: 0; } 30.6% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/uXAw0csJa4oy9GEtudqVFYJz7xs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/3HMM3WSTX5EGJDLXI7DC67ANCQ.png"); opacity: 0; } 35% { opacity: 1; } 55% { opacity: 1; } 60.5% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/uXAw0csJa4oy9GEtudqVFYJz7xs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/3HMM3WSTX5EGJDLXI7DC67ANCQ.png"); opacity: 0; } 60.6% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/pY4nBgIYPKMSvjqcnzXqjMk52Gg=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/WYQ7LHQVD5AYXKU3CEQADTD44Y.png"); opacity: 0; } 65% { opacity: 1; } 85% { opacity: 1; } 90.5% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/pY4nBgIYPKMSvjqcnzXqjMk52Gg=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/WYQ7LHQVD5AYXKU3CEQADTD44Y.png"); opacity: 0; } 90.6% { background-image: url("https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/WoiCg-HuQT0vbRYhs9ZZLxsEyBc=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/SFHQMXWUAJB6THFBFIMLCTEGPE.png"); opacity: 0; } 95% { opacity: 1; } 100% { opacity: 1; } } </style> <div class="epaper-bg"> <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/epaper" class="epaper-link" target="_blank"> <div class="epaper"></div> </a> </div></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0fOERSALXzMa3N-7-1-3" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fOERSALXzMa3N-7-1-3"></div></div><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><article class="b-medium-manual-promo b-medium-manual-promo--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-medium-manual-promo__img" href="/sport/six-nations/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Six Nations 2025" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg?smart=true&auth=e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923&width=600&height=400" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg?smart=true&auth=e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923&width=200&height=133 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg?smart=true&auth=e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg?smart=true&auth=e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923&width=600&height=400 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg?smart=true&auth=e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg?smart=true&auth=e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923&width=1200&height=800 1200w" width="600" height="400"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/sport/six-nations/">Six Nations 2025</a></h3><p class="c-paragraph">Get the latest news, analysis and match reports from the M6N and W6N championships</p></article><article class="b-medium-manual-promo b-medium-manual-promo--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-medium-manual-promo__img" href="/common-ground/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Common Ground" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png?smart=true&auth=67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a&width=600&height=400" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png?smart=true&auth=67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a&width=200&height=133 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png?smart=true&auth=67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png?smart=true&auth=67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a&width=600&height=400 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png?smart=true&auth=67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png?smart=true&auth=67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a&width=1200&height=800 1200w" width="600" height="400"/></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="/common-ground/">Common Ground</a></h3><p class="c-paragraph">How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands</p></article><article class="b-medium-manual-promo b-medium-manual-promo--show-image"><figure class="c-media-item"><a class="c-link b-medium-manual-promo__img" href="https://notices.irishtimes.com/" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"><img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="Family Notices" class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg?smart=true&auth=4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a&width=600&height=400" srcSet="https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg?smart=true&auth=4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a&width=200&height=133 200w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg?smart=true&auth=4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg?smart=true&auth=4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a&width=600&height=400 600w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg?smart=true&auth=4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a&width=800&height=533 800w, https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg?smart=true&auth=4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a&width=1200&height=800 1200w" width="600" height="400"/><span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></figure><h3 class="c-heading"><a class="c-link" href="https://notices.irishtimes.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Family Notices<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></h3><p class="c-paragraph">Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices</p></article></div></div></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/><div id="arcad-feature-f0fyXzPP4qoVb5N-d56c10ffb2533" class="default__StyledAdUnit-sc-1moicrg-0 gKEhzJ arcad-feature" style="min-height:107px;--mobile-display:block;--tablet-display:block;--desktop-display:block"><div class="arcad-container width_100" style="max-width:970px"><div id="arcad_f0fyXzPP4qoVb5N-d56c10ffb2533" class="arcad ad-970x90"></div></div></div><hr class="c-divider b-it-divider-block"/></div></section><footer class="c-stack b-it-right-rail-advanced__footer" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div id="lazy_48856" class="lazy_container"><div class="b-flex-chain"><div class="b-flex-chain__grid-container b-flex-chain__grid-container__12 gap"><div class="c-stack grid-item " data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0fbv2KMxkeL6rG-8-0-0" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fbv2KMxkeL6rG-8-0-0"></div><div><style> /*Override copyright*/ .copyright-column p, .copyright, /*Footer*/ footer .footer-header, footer .footer-section ul, [aria-label="our-partners"], [aria-label="our-partners"] span, .b-links-bar span, footer span { font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #575757; } /* Change the order in the footer*/ footer .legacy-footer-row { position: relative; } /*Hide the logo from the footer*/ footer .primaryLogo, footer hr { display: none!important; } /* Hide the top border in the footer*/ footer .section-separator { border-top: none; } footer .socialBtn-container, footer .socialBtn-container a { border: none; } /*Copyright*/ .copyright-column { width: 82%!important; } .copyright-column p { text-align: right!important; } .copyright { font-size: small; padding: 0; } /* Style our partners*/ [aria-label="our-partners"] { background-color: #f1f1f1; padding-top: 0.75rem; padding-bottom: 0.75rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; } [aria-label="our-partners"] hr, { display: none; } [aria-label="our-partners"]:before { font-size: small; content: 'Our partners: '; font-weight: bold; color: #575757; text-transform: uppercase; } /*Mobile styles*/ @media screen and (max-width: 767px) { footer { margin-bottom: 0 !important; } footer .layout-section>* { margin-bottom: 0; } .legacy-footer-row { display:flex; flex-direction: row; /*background-color:#f1f1f1;*/ width: 100vw; position: relative; left: -20px; padding-top: 2rem; } .footer-header { text-align: center; } .footer-item { text-align: center; font-size: 14px; } [aria-label="our-partners"] { display: block; text-align: center; color: #000; margin-bottom: 0; } [aria-label="our-partners"]:before { text-align: center; display: block; } [aria-label="our-partners"] .b-links-menu { display: flex; flex-direction: column; text-align: center; visibility: hidden; height: 40px; } [aria-label="our-partners"] .b-links-menu a { visibility: visible; } .apps { padding-top: 0.75rem; border-top: 2px solid #000; border-bottom: 2px solid #000; padding-bottom: 1rem; } [aria-label="our-partners"] .c-separator { --separator-content: var(--c-separator-content, none); display: block; margin-bottom: 0.2rem; } .static-footer-links { background-color: #333; padding: 1rem; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0 !important; } .static-footer-links .static-footer-links-item { border-right: none; } .static-footer-links a { color: #fff !important; border-right: none; padding: 0.5rem; } } </style></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0fbv2KMxkeL6rG-8-0-0" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fbv2KMxkeL6rG-8-0-0"></div><div class="c-stack b-footer" data-style-direction="vertical" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><section class="b-footer__top-container"><div class="b-footer__social-links-container"><div class="c-stack b-footer__social-links" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="start" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"><a class="c-link" href="https://www.facebook.com/irishtimes/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"><svg class="c-icon" width="48" height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M504 256C504 119 393 8 256 8S8 119 8 256c0 123.78 90.69 226.38 209.25 245V327.69h-63V256h63v-54.64c0-62.15 37-96.48 93.67-96.48 27.14 0 55.52 4.84 55.52 4.84v61h-31.28c-30.8 0-40.41 19.12-40.41 38.73V256h68.78l-11 71.69h-57.78V501C413.31 482.38 504 379.78 504 256z"></path></svg><span class="visually-hidden">Facebook page</span></a><a class="c-link" href="https://twitter.com/IrishTimes" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"><svg class="c-icon" width="48" height="48" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512" fill="currentColor" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M389.2 48h70.6L305.6 224.2 487 464H345L233.7 318.6 106.5 464H35.8L200.7 275.5 26.8 48H172.4L272.9 180.9 389.2 48zM364.4 421.8h39.1L151.1 88h-42L364.4 421.8z"></path></svg><span class="visually-hidden">Twitter feed</span></a></div></div><p class="c-paragraph">© 2025 The Irish Times DAC</p></section><div class="c-grid b-footer__links"><div class="b-footer__links-group"><h3 class="c-heading">Subscribe</h3><ul class="b-footer__links-group-list"><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/your-subscription/subscription-tour">Why Subscribe?</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/subscribe">Subscription Bundles</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/subscriber-rewards/">Subscriber Rewards</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/subscribe/student/">Student Subscription</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="https://help.irishtimes.com/s/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Subscription Help Centre<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="http://www.newsdelivery.ie" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Home Delivery<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/subscribe/gift">Gift Subscriptions</a></li></ul></div><div class="b-footer__links-group"><h3 class="c-heading">Support</h3><ul class="b-footer__links-group-list"><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/about-us/contact-us">Contact Us</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="https://help.irishtimes.com/s/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Help Centre<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/myaccount">My Account</a></li></ul></div><div class="b-footer__links-group"><h3 class="c-heading">About Us</h3><ul class="b-footer__links-group-list"><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/about-us/advertise">Advertise</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/about-us/contact-us">Contact Us</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/about-us/the-irish-times-trust/">The Irish Times Trust</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/about-us/career-opportunities">Careers</a></li></ul></div><div class="b-footer__links-group"><h3 class="c-heading">Irish Times Products & Services</h3><ul class="b-footer__links-group-list"><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/epaper">ePaper</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/crosswords-puzzles/">Crosswords & puzzles</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/archive">Newspaper Archive</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="/newsletters">Newsletters</a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/article-index/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Article Index<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></li><li class="b-footer__links-group-list-item"><a class="c-link" href="https://discountcodes.irishtimes.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Discount Codes<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></li></ul></div></div><figure class="c-media-item"><img alt="The Irish Times" class="c-image b-footer__logo" src="https://static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191733.svg" height="64"/></figure><div></div></div><div id="fusion-static-enter:html-block-f0fcSRSNS9zi6b4-8-0-2" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fcSRSNS9zi6b4-8-0-2"></div><div><div class="apps text-align_center" style="margin:0 auto;text-align:center;"> <span class="font_bold" style="display:block;"><b>Download the app</b></span> <a target="_blank" href="https://apps.apple.com/ie/developer/the-irish-times-ltd/id365544597"> <img alt="Download on the App Store" src="https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/BJJKNJJHDJDGDDODHEER7FDH44.png" width="108" height="34" loading="lazy"></a>   <a target="_blank" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=The+Irish+Times+Ltd"> <img alt="Download on Google Play" src="https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/T2XGUGDSUZCOZAYIQEKG2TWML4.png" width="108" height="34" loading="lazy"></a> </div> <style> .apps img{ margin-top:0.55rem; } .apps span{position:relative;display:block;margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:0;color:#575757;font-size:1rem; } </style></div><div id="fusion-static-exit:html-block-f0fcSRSNS9zi6b4-8-0-2" style="display:none" data-fusion-component="html-block-f0fcSRSNS9zi6b4-8-0-2"></div><nav aria-label="our-partners" class="c-stack b-links-bar" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="wrap"><a class="c-link" href="https://www.myhome.ie" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">MyHome.ie<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a><span class="c-separator"></span><a class="c-link" href="https://www.thegloss.ie" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">The Gloss<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a><span class="c-separator"></span><a class="c-link" href="https://recruitireland.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Recruit Ireland<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a><span class="c-separator"></span><a class="c-link" href="https://www.irishtimestraining.com/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Irish Times Training<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a><span class="c-separator"></span><a class="c-link" href="https://rip.ie/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">RIP.ie<span class="visually-hidden">Opens in new window</span></a></nav><hr class="c-divider"/></div></div></div></div></footer></div><ul class="c-stack b-static-footer-links-bar" data-style-direction="horizontal" data-style-justification="center" data-style-alignment="unset" data-style-inline="false" data-style-wrap="nowrap"> <li class="b-static-footer-links-bar__item "><a href="/policy-and-terms/terms-conditions/" class=" b-static-footer-links-bar__item-link">Terms & Conditions</a></li><li class="b-static-footer-links-bar__item "><a href="/policy-and-terms/privacy-policy/" class=" b-static-footer-links-bar__item-link">Privacy Policy</a></li><li class="b-static-footer-links-bar__item "><a href="/policy-and-terms/cookie-policy/" class=" b-static-footer-links-bar__item-link">Cookie Information</a></li><li class="b-static-footer-links-bar__item "><a href="#/" class="ot-sdk-show-settings b-static-footer-links-bar__item-link">Cookie Settings</a></li><li class="b-static-footer-links-bar__item "><a href="/policy-and-terms/community-standards/" class=" b-static-footer-links-bar__item-link">Community Standards</a></li><li class="b-static-footer-links-bar__item "><a href="/policy-and-terms/copyright/" class=" b-static-footer-links-bar__item-link">Copyright</a></li></ul></div><script id="fusion-metadata" type="application/javascript">window.Fusion=window.Fusion||{};Fusion.arcSite="irishtimes";Fusion.contextPath="/pf";Fusion.deployment="168";Fusion.globalContent={"_id":"/culture/stage","navigation":{"nav_title":"Stage"},"metadata":{"metadata_description":"Theatre news, reviews, interviews and more from the definitive brand of quality journalism. Read The Irish Times.","metadata_title":"Stage | The Irish Times"},"Paywall":{"paywall-status":"free"},"_website":"irishtimes","name":"Stage","inactive":false,"node_type":"section","children":[],"Newsletter":{"newsletterid":"Book Club [17]","headline":"Book Club","description":"Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more","imagetop":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png","imageside":"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/t1B3oP9mDm5T_WnwFGB0XcR3GaQ=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/OACS3AMXAZAU5IJWIED4LGZP6U.jpg","newsletterpremium":"false","signingResponseTop":"da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f","signingResponseSide":"6fc1d850008f0e704a038fd1cdf92a35e538d80cad1cad9ef70f1ab3cb6eaa16"},"Page":null,"Operator":"Section"};Fusion.globalContentConfig={"source":"site-service-hierarchy-it","query":{"uri":"/culture/stage/","hierarchy":"default","sectionId":"/culture/stage","arc-site":"irishtimes"}};Fusion.lastModified=1740925020158;Fusion.contentCache={"signing-service":{"{\"id\":\"https://static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png\"}":{"data":{"hash":"631eeaa12e7a61c005c8eb0bbf348f785c131b10c4d6b25c28247a15965b5a36","type":"sha256","_id":"8bd659e252b82de6c27bac42028373920e436646b273a5c0296651a455305fed"},"expires":1772457110487,"lastModified":1740921110354},"{\"id\":\"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sandbox.irishtimes/2RXL6SYZVZCZFBDMDTNTNY33HA.png\"}":{"data":{"hash":"15f787193c09efa80935ca6d4dfb7f7754960702da17e8fa81b2323bc950c14b","type":"sha256","_id":"a337e5f292684c3c7ed4f044ed69eaac02508a5c2e2a964629e127df1db12e92"},"expires":1772319837047,"lastModified":1740783836637},"{\"id\":\"QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4\"}":{"data":{"1":"36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97","hash":"36f6e08f0135625b6740a8e04a365927ee4786ccdd95a116281ce8f2bffa9e97","type":"sha256","_id":"5bfed4ca905f35f178678474995ad7816092bfeb4935ff9068dc5101990292e7"},"expires":1772435228432,"lastModified":1740899228276},"{\"id\":\"D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4\"}":{"data":{"1":"e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923","hash":"e084a2a8c017cd709d9c61baa093d6559f7b9fc6fc012b91d581a0a7a8ee7923","type":"sha256","_id":"23cdbceebacabde217e5b50b38a351c61b65bfbdc9146e0ad4de0ed6c50652fc"},"expires":1772390878496,"lastModified":1740854878344},"{\"id\":\"TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA\"}":{"data":{"1":"67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a","hash":"67980eea6b25876cc3dfe2008fa2e6e8ec7c2daf37134d770627542b7d4f139a","type":"sha256","_id":"b9ec9564e3fd4253b66ec2900b2055cf611606e0a60806d528848a1b8536d164"},"expires":1772428900058,"lastModified":1740892899866},"{\"id\":\"6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU\"}":{"data":{"1":"4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a","hash":"4965b5a2aad52f7c7d4aef4829ab2dcaab7aae35a63a483ae8f447f1a856de1a","type":"sha256","_id":"86c84293de1631d9ad3eacc2af75907c5ad819c1d46f5e7d80c4af94d86ad396"},"expires":1772350184034,"lastModified":1740814183860}},"site-service-hierarchy":{"{\"feature\":\"header-nav-chain\",\"hierarchy\":\"hamburger-menu\"}":{"data":{"children":[{"_id":"link-MY7K0TYT012WZ0V1ZB8PHF0MJC","children":[],"display_name":"Home","node_type":"link","url":"/"},{"_id":"link-TB2EY564VN0N56D137NVP6G5MW","children":[],"display_name":"Latest","node_type":"link","url":"/latest/"},{"_id":"link-ZNGH139WJX4419P1E6XFB2YQBM","children":[],"display_name":"Subscriber Only","node_type":"link","url":"/subscriber-only/"},{"_id":"/crosswords-puzzles","children":[{"_id":"link-9RFF8NMDUX08917NND3Z3M1JDR","display_name":"Crosaire","node_type":"link","url":"/crosswords-puzzles/crosaire"},{"_id":"link-31JQ6NX1K92T907WWAU7P7R5RG","display_name":"Simplex","node_type":"link","url":"/crosswords-puzzles/simplex"},{"_id":"link-FVP3FUVCB93Z5DEH56JPZQA70C","display_name":"Sudoku","node_type":"link","url":"/crosswords-puzzles/sudoku"},{"_id":"link-OZWXQ6FKZNAJJGASG6FTFLQRC4","display_name":"News Quiz","node_type":"link","url":"/crosswords-puzzles/news-quiz/"}],"name":"Crosswords & Puzzles","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/ireland","children":[{"_id":"/ireland/dublin","name":"Dublin","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/ireland/education","name":"Education","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/ireland/housing-planning","name":"Housing & Planning","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/ireland/social-affairs","name":"Social Affairs","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-432NSPB3WJAAXKSTOTZHACT5EA","display_name":"Stardust","node_type":"link","url":"/ireland/stardust/"}],"name":"Ireland","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/politics","children":[{"_id":"link-MWT7CPJ6Z906HA5HZY5HARQ548","display_name":"Poll","node_type":"link","url":"/politics/poll/"},{"_id":"/politics/oireachtas","name":"Oireachtas","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-OVTSEK2LEVCQ7GP5I7N7EIKPG4","display_name":"Common Ground","node_type":"link","url":"/common-ground/"},{"_id":"link-NEXLKC3P6FGHTETMXIAACQJCZY","display_name":"Election 2024","node_type":"link","url":"/election2024/"},{"_id":"link-8RRAYZT2TN65HCHPB8CHE4QEPR","display_name":"Elections & Referendums","node_type":"link","url":"/politics/elections-referendums/"}],"name":"Politics","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/opinion","children":[{"_id":"/opinion/editorials","name":"Editorials","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/opinion/an-irish-diary","name":"An Irish Diary","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/opinion/letters","name":"Letters","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/opinion/cartoon","name":"Cartoon","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Opinion","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/business","children":[{"_id":"/business/economy","name":"Economy","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/business/farming-food","name":"Farming & Food","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/business/financial-services","name":"Financial Services","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/business/innovation","name":"Innovation","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/business/markets","name":"Markets","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/business/work","name":"Work","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-WE72QDDTEN5EFDZ52U3CGYEZGC","display_name":"Commercial Property","node_type":"link","url":"/property/commercial-property"}],"name":"Business","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world","children":[{"_id":"/world/europe","name":"Europe","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/uk","name":"UK","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/us","name":"US","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/canada","name":"Canada","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/australia","name":"Australia","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/africa","name":"Africa","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/americas","name":"Americas","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/asia-pacific","name":"Asia-Pacific","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/world/middle-east","name":"Middle East","node_type":"section"}],"name":"World","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport","children":[{"_id":"/sport/rugby","name":"Rugby","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-LLM3EYX2GRDYRCYWCJ6EI5XCZU","display_name":"Six Nations","node_type":"link","url":"/sport/six-nations/"},{"_id":"/sport/gaelic-games","name":"Gaelic Games","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/soccer","name":"Soccer","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/golf","name":"Golf","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/racing","name":"Racing","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/athletics","name":"Athletics","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/boxing","name":"Boxing","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/cycling","name":"Cycling","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/hockey","name":"Hockey","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/sport/tennis","name":"Tennis","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Sport","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/your-money","children":[{"_id":"link-C1H4ZB3MP50VZ1C521YDGVJEXR","display_name":"Pricewatch","node_type":"link","url":"/tags/pricewatch"},{"_id":"link-Y4XAEWLBNJH7DOEQJ3UQ4UXOOU","display_name":"Budget 2025","node_type":"link","url":"/budget/"}],"name":"Your Money","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/crime-law","children":[{"_id":"/crime-law/courts","name":"Courts","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Crime & Law","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/property","children":[{"_id":"/property/residential","name":"Residential","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/property/commercial-property","name":"Commercial Property","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/property/interiors","name":"Interiors","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Property","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/food","children":[{"_id":"/food/drink","name":"Drink","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/food/recipes","name":"Recipes","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/food/restaurants","name":"Restaurants","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Food","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/health","children":[{"_id":"/health/your-family","name":"Your Family","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/health/your-fitness","name":"Your Fitness","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/health/your-wellness","name":"Your Wellness","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/health/your-fitness/get-running","name":"Get Running","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Health","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/life-style","children":[{"_id":"/life-style/fashion","name":"Fashion","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-54NMKENEB5ALXEEOCI6MUIRMDI","display_name":"Beauty","node_type":"link","url":"/tags/beauty/"},{"_id":"/life-style/fine-art-antiques","name":"Fine Art & Antiques","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/life-style/gardening","name":"Gardening","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/life-style/people","name":"People","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/life-style/travel","name":"Travel","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Life & Style","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/culture","children":[{"_id":"/culture/art","name":"Art","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/culture/books","name":"Books","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/culture/film","name":"Film","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/culture/music","name":"Music","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","name":"TV & Radio","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Culture","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/environment","children":[{"_id":"/environment/climate-crisis","name":"Climate Crisis","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Environment","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/technology","children":[{"_id":"/technology/big-tech","name":"Big Tech","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/technology/consumer-tech","name":"Consumer Tech","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/technology/data-security","name":"Data & Security","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/technology/gaming","name":"Gaming","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Technology","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/science","children":[{"_id":"/science/space","name":"Space","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Science","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/media","children":[],"name":"Media","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/abroad","children":[],"name":"Abroad","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/obituaries","children":[],"name":"Obituaries","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/transport","children":[],"name":"Transport","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/motors","children":[{"_id":"link-9JYG4R2HT934Q3XVN59UWD3R44","display_name":"Car Reviews","node_type":"link","url":"/motors/car-reviews/"}],"name":"Motors","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-TW6BFCQ2W149F0E26FF5PJ8AEM","children":[],"display_name":"Listen","node_type":"link","url":"/listen/"},{"_id":"/podcasts","children":[{"_id":"/podcasts/in-the-news","name":"In the News Podcast","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/podcasts/inside-politics","name":"Inside Politics Podcast","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/podcasts/the-womens-podcast","name":"The Women's Podcast","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/podcasts/inside-business","name":"Inside Business Podcast","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/podcasts/ross-ocarroll-kelly","name":"Ross O'Carroll-Kelly","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/podcasts/the-counter-ruck","name":"The Counter Ruck Podcast","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/podcasts/conversations-with-parents","name":"Conversations with Parents Podcast","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Podcasts","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/video","children":[],"name":"Video","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/photography","children":[],"name":"Photography","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/history","children":[{"_id":"/history/century","name":"Century","node_type":"section"}],"name":"History","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/tuarascail","children":[],"name":"Tuarascáil","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/student-hub","children":[],"name":"Student Hub","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/offbeat","children":[],"name":"Offbeat","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-60C66RDFC91ZZ7GZUA0N497XAC","children":[],"display_name":"Family Notices","node_type":"link","url":"https://notices.irishtimes.com"},{"_id":"/sponsored","children":[{"_id":"/advertising-feature","name":"Advertising Feature","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/special-reports","name":"Special Reports","node_type":"section"}],"name":"Sponsored","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-20YXWFDCNH4233PCDANMHA4VT8","children":[],"display_name":"Subscriber Rewards","node_type":"link","url":"/subscriber-rewards/"},{"_id":"/competitions","children":[],"name":"Competitions","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"link-2YA5DNVQF928HEF4EKE1Q0AMEM","children":[],"display_name":"Weather Forecast","node_type":"link","url":"/weather/"}],"_id":"/"},"expires":1740925298839,"lastModified":1740924998781},"{\"feature\":\"footer\",\"hierarchy\":\"footer\"}":{"data":{"children":[{"_id":"/subscribe","children":[{"_id":"link-DGDAM5YPRN6XFDAP5JVDMNAVVC","display_name":"Why Subscribe?","node_type":"link","url":"/your-subscription/subscription-tour"},{"_id":"link-CM7751G0QH6MZDQGFJ2U872KJW","display_name":"Subscription Bundles","node_type":"link","url":"/subscribe"},{"_id":"link-20YXWFDCNH4233PCDANMHA4VT8","display_name":"Subscriber Rewards","node_type":"link","url":"/subscriber-rewards/"},{"_id":"link-INNQ4KIFSFDWHLJIC7INQXWWGY","display_name":"Student Subscription","node_type":"link","url":"/subscribe/student/"},{"_id":"link-MFHX19ZTJ90JDAV1MZWFRRRCBR","display_name":"Subscription Help Centre","node_type":"link","url":"https://help.irishtimes.com/s/"},{"_id":"link-5YM8CZDMVH2CQ08T2B33MHANWR","display_name":"Home Delivery","node_type":"link","url":"http://www.newsdelivery.ie"},{"_id":"link-QUQFWNZ8197RQBK5CKWCM4T8HW","display_name":"Gift Subscriptions","node_type":"link","url":"/subscribe/gift"}],"name":"Subscribe","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/support","children":[{"_id":"link-G3XEUGHAGT79B4DJ5W73WNFQY0","display_name":"Contact Us","node_type":"link","url":"/about-us/contact-us"},{"_id":"link-C8T475KX5D1KDAW12U8Q12T5MC","display_name":"Help Centre","node_type":"link","url":"https://help.irishtimes.com/s/"},{"_id":"link-NV2UTHTYXX1EN982NWZ92BVPZW","display_name":"My Account","node_type":"link","url":"/myaccount"}],"name":"Support","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/about-us","children":[{"_id":"link-Z9KM76KCK1375DMR7HKZ3BAAYG","display_name":"Advertise","node_type":"link","url":"/about-us/advertise"},{"_id":"link-C0YP70N1BT3BTF13YZ3GQFFW5R","display_name":"Contact Us","node_type":"link","url":"/about-us/contact-us"},{"_id":"link-HPPYKQZRWN3T10Y4E0NXN002NC","display_name":"The Irish Times Trust","node_type":"link","url":"/about-us/the-irish-times-trust/"},{"_id":"link-YV5H3Y4TQH5AVE8N4AUH222RK4","display_name":"Careers","node_type":"link","url":"/about-us/career-opportunities"}],"name":"About Us","node_type":"section"},{"_id":"/product-and-services","children":[{"_id":"link-QR4AME90917AK29M6XVEJMX9N8","display_name":"ePaper","node_type":"link","url":"/epaper"},{"_id":"link-8XJ7X9GPZX2H11NJE3GWW45748","display_name":"Crosswords & puzzles","node_type":"link","url":"/crosswords-puzzles/"},{"_id":"link-B7ENRD4YCD77ZCV67531F5ZEP8","display_name":"Newspaper Archive","node_type":"link","url":"/archive"},{"_id":"link-7XMTETWQ05553ADVQ26YD2PN5M","display_name":"Newsletters","node_type":"link","url":"/newsletters"},{"_id":"link-QKK62NMCJT4751EU158MVUQ6J8","display_name":"Article Index","node_type":"link","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/article-index/"},{"_id":"link-1YQEPDVX8X06D9BVQXQZ2U9GWM","display_name":"Discount Codes","node_type":"link","url":"https://discountcodes.irishtimes.com/"}],"name":"Irish Times Products & Services","node_type":"section"}],"_id":"/"},"expires":1740925060227,"lastModified":1740924760104}},"site-service-hierarchy-it":{"{\"arcSite\":\"irishtimes\",\"hierarchy\":\"Logged-in-navigation\"}":{"data":{"children":[{"display_name":"My Account;Manage your account","url":"/myaccount"},{"display_name":"Digital Subscriptions; Frequently asked questions and support","url":"https://help.irishtimes.com"},{"display_name":"Subscriber Only Articles;Specially selected and available only to our subscribers","url":"/subscriber-only/"},{"display_name":"Crosswords & Puzzles;Digital Simplex and Crosaire crosswords","url":"/crosswords-puzzles/"},{"display_name":"Subscriber Rewards;Discover a selection of rewards just for you","url":"/subscriber-rewards/"},{"display_name":"Newsletters;Sign up to get the stories you want delivered to your inbox","url":"/newsletters/"},{"display_name":"Subscriber Tour;Explore the features of your subscription","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/your-subscription/subscription-tour"},{"display_name":"Newspaper Archive;150 years of Irish Times journalism","url":"https://www.irishtimes.com/premium/loginpage"},{"display_name":"Mobile app;Our Apple and Android apps to read on the go","url":"/apps/"}],"_id":"/"},"expires":1740925260519,"lastModified":1740924960476},"{\"hierarchy\":\"section-page-subnavs\",\"sectionId\":\"/culture/stage\"}":{"data":{"_id":"/culture/stage","navigation":{"nav_title":"Stage"},"metadata":{"metadata_description":"Theatre news, reviews, interviews and more from the definitive brand of quality journalism. Read The Irish Times.","metadata_title":"Stage | The Irish Times"},"Paywall":{"paywall-status":"free"},"_website":"irishtimes","name":"Stage","inactive":false,"node_type":"section","children":[{"_id":"link-TBS7FEEBVZE2BOPHY6YEIJNZZY","_website":"irishtimes","display_name":"Stage Reviews","url":"/culture/stage/stage-reviews/","parent":{"section-page-subnavs":"/culture/stage"},"order":{"section-page-subnavs":-1},"node_type":"link","children":[]},{"_id":"link-2ENJGKFY3H52Z2271K8ZBP7V94","_website":"irishtimes","display_name":"Irish Theatre Awards","url":"/tags/irish-theatre-awards/","parent":{"section-page-subnavs":"/culture/stage"},"order":{"section-page-subnavs":0},"node_type":"link","children":[]}],"Newsletter":{"newsletterid":"Book Club [17]","headline":"Book Club","description":"Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more","imagetop":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png","imageside":"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/t1B3oP9mDm5T_WnwFGB0XcR3GaQ=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/OACS3AMXAZAU5IJWIED4LGZP6U.jpg","newsletterpremium":"false","signingResponseTop":"da79116e886b06f984d64a26ff33e5a486859d0f04b208ceca44b81890df342f","signingResponseSide":"6fc1d850008f0e704a038fd1cdf92a35e538d80cad1cad9ef70f1ab3cb6eaa16"},"Page":null,"Operator":"Section"},"expires":1740925318598,"lastModified":1740925018356},"{\"feature\":\"links-bar\",\"hierarchy\":\"our-partners\",\"sectionId\":\"\"}":{"data":{"children":[{"_id":"link-RZ2ANKYPEH3D10YNR9JVH7VNMC","display_name":"MyHome.ie","node_type":"link","url":"https://www.myhome.ie"},{"_id":"link-B11GV8GN694GF8VF4DABJK72P4","display_name":"The Gloss","node_type":"link","url":"https://www.thegloss.ie"},{"_id":"link-TW1E9G03UX64TE4GX1KT8AC2U8","display_name":"Recruit Ireland","node_type":"link","url":"https://recruitireland.com/"},{"_id":"link-H2ZDK285TX65VCFVDB90GEG8K0","display_name":"Irish Times Training","node_type":"link","url":"https://www.irishtimestraining.com/"},{"_id":"link-LTCTRPJE2FGBLF7UZ2SSX7NBME","display_name":"RIP.ie","node_type":"link","url":"https://rip.ie/"}],"_id":"/"},"expires":1740925232775,"lastModified":1740924932716}},"alert-bar-collections":{"{\"from\":0,\"site\":\"irishtimes\",\"size\":1}":{"data":{"_id":"DL4WZLD3QVA55FOFBOQ3ZET6TY","version":"0.10.6","created_date":"2022-02-02T13:23:38.460Z","headlines":{"basic":"Breaking News Alert"},"last_updated_date":"2025-02-28T20:15:32.636Z","type":"collection","canonical_website":"irishtimes","websites":{"irishtimes":{}},"content_elements":[],"description":{"basic":"This collection powers the Alert Bar block on the website"},"content_aliases":["alert-bar"],"owner":{"id":"irishtimes"},"revision":{"branch":"default","published":true},"canonical_url":null,"publishing":{"scheduled_operations":{"publish_edition":[],"unpublish_edition":[]}},"website":"irishtimes"},"expires":1740925044919,"lastModified":1740924924788}},"story-feed-sections":{"{\"excludeSections\":\"\",\"feedOffset\":0,\"feedSize\":50,\"includeSections\":\"/culture/stage\"}":{"data":{"content_elements":[{"_id":"ZSMV5JMZ25DF5K6XULNEVHVZ6Q","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":299,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/094f0d65-f0de-456a-83ef-d8e1905ecacf/versions/1740670351/media/6b563c5e32dbd9b4ec23adb584b07b29_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/","content_elements":[{"_id":"PN2YQBQCKFDDVOCNWZN3ATKHJM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Des Bishop: Lately","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZSKOCI7FLRGE5ACDHGOMFOHA6I","additional_properties":{},"content":"Olympia Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"5GSUGZOO6FE2HNMBDXFEJNN33Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"EOFW5VMQ7JCHHMSAUPAYI275YI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178111},"content":"Dressed dapperly all in black, like a priest without the dog collar, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/des-bishop/\" target=\"_blank\">Des Bishop</a> is preaching to the choir on Wednesday night, orchestrating an impromptu Catholic karaoke session by persuading a large part of the audience to sing along to eternal bangers such as Here I Am, Lord and Be Not Afraid.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GK2PZ2WIIFFT3BNBLVTFFBYFUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178112},"content":"Think Fr Buzz Cagney of Beverly Hills parish, Fr Ralph de Bricassart of The Thorn Birds or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/andrew-scott\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Scott</a>’s Hot Priest from Fleabag. Bishop doesn’t have an audience so much as a congregation of the faithful. Even the hecklers are compared to those annoying crying babies at Mass.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LSCRHM4BGFBWTIJCNAOSF7YCFY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169000},"content":"He admits that this material requires a critical mass of audience members who’ve been forced to go to church for years. When he performed it in New York City nobody sang, whereas in Ireland it’s been more a case of “One more tune!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ACMJ26OD2JHGJJZTVDMIUZ54VU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169001},"content":"Unlike previous shows, Lately lacks a strong theme or focus, being more of a status update. The Irish-American comic recalls buying a place in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rialto/\" target=\"_blank\">Rialto</a> in Dublin in 2005, having been told it was up and coming. “Like sex on ecstasy, it took a long time to come.” When Covid loomed he swapped Dolphin’s Barn for Long Island, fearing that an inner-city lockdown might tempt him to seek the wrong sort of injections.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MRMBB2A4WRHEFLAQOJCHLPP3DA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169002},"content":"He lucked out, meeting and marrying the US comedian and reality-TV star Hannah Berner, 16 years his junior. When a few women boo he responds, “I was 47, and I was a dirty whore, so you had your chance.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4PTFYGDJZFBM5IGLM2G73L35SI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169003},"content":"Lucky you finding love, you might think, until you remember that previous shows have been inspired by his father’s terminal illness, his mother’s death and his testicular cancer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZK4BTLYGO5HBLPKLFJ3X6H4TTE","additional_properties":{"_id":"YCTWWG66DFGWDIRIQW4HQC3KBQ"},"content":"Des Bishop: 'I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"WSPNW5K3M5C5VBVCBJPIGV4CXA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169004},"content":"How many people here are over 40, he asks. The resulting cheers confirm his suspicion that he and his audience are growing old together. He recounts recently being stopped in the street in Dublin and asked for a selfie by a young woman, and thinking “I‘ve still got it”, until she tells him it’s for her mother. “She loves you.” It’s funny, just as it waswhen it happened to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-martin/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Martin</a>’s character Charles-Haden Savage in the TV series <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2023/08/09/only-murders-in-the-building-meryl-streep-steals-the-show-riffing-off-steve-martin-and-martin-short/\" target=\"_blank\">Only Murders in the Building</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2RLTPQZKJJFVVDQZ6AWTQKPN6E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169005},"content":"Perhaps it’s his relationship’s age gap that makes him dwell on generational differences. His young relative Bella lives for free in his Rialto flat, he says, but shows more attitude than gratitude. He has little sympathy for teenagers complaining of parents using their phones to monitor them. At least they are no longer physically assaulted as a rule. “Tracked or smacked – take your pick.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPZVUXYDQJBUTJYCQROO2XPGKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"P7T64V6EPJHJBDVTHHTOPNZQNE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"UCJ3COZRIBCDFF4V4TNPLVZHVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169006},"content":"Young love in his day required patience, a reply to a love letter taking up to a week compared with today’s instant communication. He has fun imagining the practical difficulties of taking a “dick pic” in the predigital age and recalls making do for erotic inspiration with Mills & Boon and Danielle Steele.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CLHZ5P44PJDKTJPC5SFUQWBHHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178120},"content":"Bishop doesn’t dwell too much on the Donald Trump presidency other than to say he is finished with rebutting Irish people for saying that Americans are “tick” (as in thick).","type":"text"},{"_id":"A4IYGWBUFRFZXELBQIBT6FY65M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178173},"content":"He recalls his father’s relationship advice, when asked whether he should hold out for the hot girl he fancied or go with the less-attractive girl who fancied him. “Take your points and the goals will come.” It gets a laugh, but interrogating such a toxic male outlook would make for a sharper set.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AWJOQSYD2ZDC5CUV74QUMFR3HU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178143},"content":"Bishop is good on class, imagining an Irish reality-TV show set on a middle-class estate based on neighbours’ objections when a planning application goes up. He is great with accents, too, not just the usual posh and working-class Dublin and the addict’s nasal delivery but the more off-piste Wexford accent, good enough to play the lead in a Billy Roche play.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NQANQ5MSVNC7VK3I5QNBY4XFGE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178146},"content":"One advantage of ageing is that he has become a silver fox while his Italian-American contemporaries, whom he once envied for hitting puberty years before him, have grown fat and bald. Their other advantage that he once jealously eyed was the way their mothers loved them. “I’m not saying mine didn’t, she just never told me.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SWS3VU4SYZE3HG5OO6CCNKFQ5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178201},"content":"This reminds me of his father Michael’s line from Bishop’s memoir, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, about having children – “It’s not your life any more, it’s their life” – and if you begrudge handing it over they will know.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KY4BF5SU25EPXCJVZAVIRAIOXU","additional_properties":{"_id":"J7N55ODEKZEUVKRRUE7CLWOLCE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"XCX6GHF5H5GPPLM4HKEZPCOEKM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178192},"content":"He ponders whether he might become a father himself, joking a little lamely that needing a knee brace after a skiing accident suggests he might not be fit to actually raise one.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3HX7R2EQ7BC7ZPNZJCASPWZGOA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178202},"content":"New material is obviously not the best reason to have a child, but Bishop’s Love Child has a certain ring to it – and is a bit of an Irish-American tradition.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Martin Doyle"}},"name":"Martin Doyle"}]},"description":{"basic":"Irish-American comedian’s latest set lacks a strong theme, providing more of a status update on his life"},"display_date":"2025-02-27T15:22:54.812Z","headlines":{"basic":"Des Bishop preaches to the faithful in show packed with family, relationships and Catholic karaoke","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44","auth":{"1":"67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"ZB5AHNZFENAEVE55XOYKTQI6M4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":208,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/203738dd-eb07-45f4-92e5-c30d2dae760d/versions/1740645797/media/39187aa98feda789c2feb4a9a7e7a5a7_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/27/king-lear-at-the-gate-review-propulsive-production-doesnt-quite-solve-this-tragedys-age-old-problems/","content_elements":[{"_id":"NCBY2HGHJBALJNKA34QRCA7XNE","additional_properties":{},"content":"King Lear","type":"header"},{"_id":"J77T7MM4PVGFFLBLUPVJBBCEDI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Gate Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"SYEKQPTAURH65HUQ43NQ7IBKFM","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"N6FKKBPYT5D4VMTJUMZYPYA5FE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616624058},"content":"For the past 400 years or so, cultural critics have been declaring Shakespeare’s windiest play close to unstageable. The despair is too exhausting. The spiritual tumults too sudden and too irrational. None of this has stopped King Lear remaining among the most quotable and psychologically dense of his tragedies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"72L3PY3ZZNHU5ET4PY7A6XSQDM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616624059},"content":"Roxana Silbert hasn’t quite solved the age-old problems in her propulsive new production for the Gate. As you would expect from this venue, the staging is smooth and attractive. Ti Green’s production design, featuring hanging fabric constructions that sometimes suggest shrouds, sometimes cocoons, pitches the show between the earthbound and the fantastic. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"SAPMNKJMSVHIZBD4Z64JLVH3F4","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"T5HI2ZAK5JEKLL22V3ATZKUSHU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The costumes, inheriting the look Star Wars inherited from Akira Kurosawa, have the virtue of consistency. Paul Keogan’s lighting – making good use of a background that allows silhouetted groupings – is up to that professional’s high standards.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EUDRH7JXDJGZ5I676FNBANL2UM","additional_properties":{},"content":"But this take on Lear, short on big ideas, has a few too many shallows among its satisfactory heights. As the king, Conleth Hill, hitting the right age after decades of varied work on stage and screen, is at his best when the storm is up and the brain is befuddled. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"4VHGIIR43NAD5AY2P2D5PR5BYM","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"HNULYPIGHRFR7K3XQ2XMXALOGY","additional_properties":{},"content":"If you were the wind you’d do what you were told as, during the famous storm scene, he suggests the cracking of cheeks and the drenching of steeples. He is better still, bedecked with flowers, as madness brings him oblique wisdom. There is a particular poignancy to seeing a burly man mumble the sweet sadnesses this wronged despot has uncovered. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"5T7QD53N7NBRJMJ5FG2X5GJFPA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Elsewhere, a few of the greatest hits are flubbed. It may be infantile to expect video-nasty relish in the gouging of Gloucester’s eyes, but something more than the perfunctory scuffle here would be nice – or gratifyingly horrible, anyway.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6OPBOO2VWREQXMSGUMOMWRUTBQ","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"VZTIIN6I5JALHIT3P5BNCPYGSU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The opening sections do good work with awkward normality. Northern voices – some from southern actors – add a satisfactory abrasiveness to the familial disharmony. (Kudos to Eavan Gaffney, as Regan, for her “let him smaiaiail his way to Dover!”) ","type":"text"},{"_id":"OKEPWGPGNVBHBPLV633UL7PQ3M","additional_properties":{},"content":"We all know the story. Lear asks his three daughters to butter him up in exchange for land. The ballsy Goneril and Regan (Jolly Abraham is smoother than the abrasive Gaffney) oblige. The always insufferable Cordelia – no blame attaches to an intelligent turn from Emma Dargan-Reid – does not and is driven from the fireplace. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"SXG55OVWNNHOBKPP2Y6KIA67BU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"JBAWPZL5GVFWBLQKFTDBPNSYSQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The poor old fool is then shifted from sister to sister like the sort of inconvenient elder who insists on making everyone watch Antiques Roadshow. He is eventually flung on to the heath and the whole world sets to shaking itself to pieces.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TDTYHYGNVRGCFHTP6VFVPGU7N4","additional_properties":{},"content":"The actors find a few new directions. Aidan Moriarty’s faux-deranged Edgar is a little more robust than is usually the case. Michael Glenn Murphy’s Fool has the weary sadness of a music-hall player past his time. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"7UHMB3BPXNB6PP4W6XYH23OSH4","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"2ALPX4NREBBU7EH643VZ6MEQYU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The standout of the satellite cast is surely Ryan Hunter as the charismatic, Scottish Edmund. The man relishes the word “bastard” as if it had been served with chips and gravy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PHLAFA6AJNDVDKI4YOBC6YRGXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616624063},"content":"And yet. Everyone is up to scratch. Some, like Hunter, positively excel. But one does not leave the theatre with any great revelations buzzing through the blasted mind.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZIV3P3ELE5HU3J2MNKS3V3HPZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616310085},"content":"<i>King Lear is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gate Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Sunday, April 27th</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"UUQRUVN6PZC4FNIJRHSAPRPWMQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill: ‘I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards’","type":"interstitial_link"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"As Shakespeare’s king, Conleth Hill is at his best when the storm is up and the brain befuddled. But this staging is short on big ideas"},"display_date":"2025-02-27T08:38:11.778Z","headlines":{"basic":"King Lear at the Gate review: Propulsive production doesn’t quite solve this tragedy’s age-old problems","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4","auth":{"1":"3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41"},"focal_point":{"x":2450,"y":1767},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/27/king-lear-at-the-gate-review-propulsive-production-doesnt-quite-solve-this-tragedys-age-old-problems/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"H3KF3AXMERGVBMSMWPEZYTFB4I","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":566,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/45de054a-a499-4304-90af-15372463496a/versions/1739871733/media/50fb28903808254a4a3f8e48bb799c91_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/26/what-ireland-could-learn-from-canada-about-how-to-enhance-its-cities/","content_elements":[{"_id":"FNHJOWBPWJFQPO3E5NI7ZWRKEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684193},"content":"Hugh Cochlin is in his office on the west coast of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/canada/\" target=\"_blank\">Canada</a>, listening to a complex tale about a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a> arts centre that has vanished. At the end he leans in with a knowing expression. “The story you just described is basically Vancouver 20 years ago,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RD2QXCEZTBAVXBVORCLI5KQQT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684194},"content":"His city’s skyline, with its high-rise condominium and office towers, may be dramatically different from Dublin’s, but both places encountered similar issues with the availability of cultural venues and workspace. As construction in each boomed, local government began to require new mixed-use developments to include cultural space in their designs.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RI6C2M3YFZCZLJAFUWC6CL5DIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684195},"content":"In Dublin, an early project of the kind was to be a performance and arts centre as part of the redevelopment of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tivoli-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Tivoli Theatre</a>, on Francis Street in the Liberties, which was demolished in 2019 to make way for what is now an aparthotel. The original planning application had envisaged using that section of the new building for a gym; the proposal changed after <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-city-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin City Council</a> expressed concern about “the loss of the Tivoli Theatre without the provision of a replacement or alternative cultural facility”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SAEXHYKCYNBITDTNFC6LPD5U7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684196},"content":"The council approved the new plan, which allowed “for the Tivoli to be reborn on this site as a flexible performance and arts space for use by the wider arts and performance community”. Anthony Byrne, the theatre’s owner, told the planning department in April 2017: “We confirm that we undertake to continue to provide a cultural facility as described in the drawings and documentation submitted.” (He also proposed that the development’s courtyard host performances and film screenings.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"DTPSLLPPR5A6XP3LF2CUNDKJGY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684198},"content":"The proposed centre appears to be ambitiously adaptable. Architectural drawings show it as capable of transforming from a 160-seat auditorium to a white-cube visual arts gallery. It was built to shell-and-core stage, a common construction practice that essentially means providing an empty space with bare breeze-block walls; features such as ceilings, partition walls, lighting and furnishing are decided on and paid for later, by the landlord or tenant.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IMOVCM2LGFA3FC2MHE6TE3G77M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684199},"content":"When the time came to hand over the Francis Street space for this fit-out stage, Byrne seemed no longer to be involved in the project.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DUXMDP42DNGC7FFPA26AJWZMNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684200},"content":"That put an onus on <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/staycity/\" target=\"_blank\">Staycity</a>, owner of the aparthotel on the redeveloped Tivoli site, to come up with a new plan for the arts centre. In October 2020 a company connected to Staycity, named Cantarini, outlined a proposal involving the Winding Stair hospitality group. According to reporting by Michael Lanigan in the Dublin Inquirer, Winding Stair (the owner of which, Brian Montague, is a former chairman of the Complex arts centre) would manage the hosting of exhibitions, performances, installations and indoor and outdoor concerts. But by mid-2023 the hospitality group was no longer involved in the project, according to Staycity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XBUHAP3JJBAFDOH7GW6TXFQ6BE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684201},"content":"What happened to Byrne’s plan to operate a space where the Tivoli would be reborn as a cultural venue? <a href=\"https://www.scaplanning.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">SCA Planning</a>, which acted as his agent in his planning application, has not responded to several queries about the project.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HXZCFJD7GJFZJGSEUJLLUJ7BCM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684197},"type":"image"},{"_id":"22UKOVUIGNGI5L3TUSZ3G45GLU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684203},"content":"Cochlin is principal of <a href=\"https://proscenium.ca/\" target=\"_blank\">Proscenium Architecture + Interiors</a>, a well-regarded Canadian firm founded 29 years ago by theatre-loving architects who split off from a larger firm that, he says, was less interested in cultural projects. In Vancouver, Cochlin explains, local and national government jointly developed a planning policy that would match the developer of a big construction scheme with a cultural organisation. “The department will say, ‘Okay, this arts group is going to be part of this project too. We’ll give you a bonus density,’” he says, referring to the fact that developers are allowed to fit more into their schemes in return for providing cultural space.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YZXECH6PONEGLF3LWSPMSJUPTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684204},"content":"Cochlin is currently working on a new theatre as the podium – which is to say an adjoining lower-level element – of an apartment tower. Vancouver’s French-culture organisation <a href=\"https://lamaison.bc.ca/?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\">La Maison de la Francophonie</a> needs a home, so the city council mandated the developer of the new complex to build a theatre and offices for it to shell-and-core stage. La Maison de la Francophonie will then pay for the fit-out. As the organisation’s representative, Proscenium liaises with the apartment block’s architect.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7YEGGQCTTVDSZEZTETJZ4PJOZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":"4MT2KP2GDNGU5O6RP4JPZ57WGE"},"content":"As more hotels and office blocks rise up, where are Dublin’s promised cultural spaces?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"EHRHB5BTOVBYRC7I2X7NZIBMVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684205},"content":"Cochlin’s firm also designed the BMO Theatre Centre, which houses two Vancouver stage companies, the <a href=\"https://artsclub.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Club</a> and <a href=\"https://bardonthebeach.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Bard on the Beach</a>. That project involved turning a shell space into a 250-seat theatre, rehearsal rooms, costume workshops and offices for the two organisations.","type":"text"},{"_id":"76WRDY776NAVDMQ6ZQRGROBT64","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684206},"content":"He says commercial and residential architects are often surprised by some of the requirements for cultural space. A theatre needs to be acoustically isolated, for example. “They say, ‘What do you mean it has to have full-block walls, and there has to be an air space, and a stud wall has to have drywall each side of it?’ They thought they could just build a standard wall,” Cochlin says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U2CGEUOP45GIXCRNZOKVPHXPFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684207},"content":"“The big one is height in the room. You have to calculate your sightlines to the playing surface from the riser system [of banked seating]. You have to calculate the height of the hang from the lighting grid. You have to have the space and the acoustic isolation, with a slab up above that pushes the height of the room up. Normally, we want to get 25-27ft” – about 7.5-8m, or roughly twice the <a href=\"https://www.dublincity.ie/dublin-city-development-plan-2016-2022/16-development-standards/167-building-height-sustainable-city/1672-height-limits-and-areas-low-rise-midrise\" target=\"_blank\">normal ceiling height</a> – “depending on the size of the theatre. And, of course, it has to be structure-free.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RLGITRJSEJAU3HMLTWIJOZZRJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684208},"content":"In Dublin, there is already some scepticism about how successful the city council’s planning guidelines, which require 5 per cent of a big development to be earmarked for cultural use, will be. Not far from Francis Street, at Newmarket, once home to much-loved Sunday markets, the owners of a new office building whose planning permission required it to provide an indoor market have applied for change of use, arguing that the finished construction is unviable for this.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3LIHAAXILZGLBPVBKJQPRFANKY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684209},"content":"Last year the visual artist Eve Woods <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025/01/08/as-more-hotels-and-office-blocks-rise-up-where-are-dublins-promised-cultural-spaces/\" target=\"_blank\">held an exhibition</a> in the empty Tivoli space. “There’s pillars down the centre, which in their plan is where the stage and tiered seating is supposed to be,” she says. (“If someone’s putting columns on the stage, they’ve made a mistake,” Cochlin says.) Dublin City Council inspected the arts-centre space after complaints about the site, but it says that “the positioning of columns and ceiling height did not form part of the planning enforcement officer’s investigation, as such a complaint was not brought to our attention at the time of investigation”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IEZD5B7B2FCIVMTHHSZAENJ47Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684210},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5MDDFMQXXZCO3E3ZFLJARU6CMQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684211},"content":"It may be difficult to imagine the compact new space hosting the big club nights, wrestling events and pantomimes associated with the old Tivoli Theatre, but small venues have always played a role in our cultural life. Four years ago the owners of the <a href=\"https://www.bestsellerdublin.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Bestseller</a> cafe, on Dawson Street in Dublin, heard that Rex Ryan was looking for a home for his <a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Glass Mask</a> theatre company. So they agreed that he could create a 60-seat theatre configuration there, erecting and then dismantling a set each night, and delivering programmes that subvert assumptions about dinner theatre. (Last month you could catch the tense relationship drama Men’s Business; this month Glass Mask is staging the adopted-siblings psychological thriller Little One.) “It was all hustling,” Ryan says, pointing to a recently built stage and lighting rig that he raised funds for.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HHTNK5CKZVCPVIL4IKY6BWTSOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684212},"content":"David Doyle is the Irish executive producer of <a href=\"https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">Jermyn Street Theatre</a>, a 70-seat studio venue in the West End of London that used to be restaurant changingrooms. “Improbability charges theatre as a whole, but I think it’s particularly evident in small spaces. There’s an improbability that they exist, and because of that people are really attracted to them,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I2K443I37NDHFJBWEJVDLZYXOM","additional_properties":{"_id":"FBI4HWI7KJBBFOMU64HAYWWICQ"},"content":"Dublin’s disappearing venues: A promised 500-seat theatre is shrouded in mystery","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LCLIFL762ZFPVKIWOG5LUUJVQM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684214},"content":"Jermyn Street Theatre’s programming savvily alternates between unexpected spins on familiar material (a three-handed Pride and Prejudice), unfamiliar offerings (the Windrush epic The Lonely Londoners) and chances to rediscover neglected plays (an upcoming revival of Micheál Mac Liammóir’s The Importance of Being Oscar). The theatre has no government subsidy, leaving Doyle to sell as many tickets as he can, find alternative funding and, if possible, secure transfers to larger London houses.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VQNIWKSQJRBRJOJOSJ4U4G3I54","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684215},"content":"“We as an artistic community need to be vocal in understanding how planning is happening in Dublin and then get ourselves involved in it,” Doyle says. “I wouldn’t expect an architect designing a hotel to understand the needs of ceiling height or soundproofing. We can’t let others do the translating of our [requirements] to other people.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTKGDUGGZBHXZA3HPSFWXEQ7TE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684216},"type":"image"},{"_id":"J5KCTBM7LRA37IMYTGE52N2PLI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684217},"content":"When asked about the future of the Tivoli performance and arts centre, a Staycity spokesperson says: “Planning and consultation with key stakeholders, including <a href=\"https://www.businesstoarts.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Business to Arts</a>, is under way to see it activated and optimised as soon as possible. Layout and fit-out plans will be finalised in line with current discussions, based on the original usage granted.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"B6U2C7YIM5FQ3LG6ACUKEBK3TU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684218},"content":"After decades of cultural entrepreneurs repurposing old buildings, Dublin City Council has granted permission to several developments that incorporate artist workplaces – the Newmarket office building; the “innovation hub” on the former Irish Glass Bottle site; another Staycity aparthotel, on Little Mary Street; a hotel development on New Row South; Irish Life Assurance’s offices on Albert Terrace; a residential development at Phibsborough’s Old Bakery site – but none of these council decisions identifies an end user of those workspaces. If an artist or cultural organisation isn’t at the table, they can’t voice what the design of those spaces needs.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Dublin still has no replacement for the demolished Tivoli Theatre. Vancouver can show it a way forward"},"display_date":"2025-02-26T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"What Ireland could learn from Canada about how to enhance its cities","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4","auth":{"1":"1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Property"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/26/what-ireland-could-learn-from-canada-about-how-to-enhance-its-cities/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"JSGDXLAMTFD57D2MJB7OFZQOWQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":879,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/9f6937a6-e3c8-4596-a60d-dc1e2af4e684/versions/1739872392/media/7f09f5ac4b3ab14b2afc526be298b7fc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/24/lynne-parker-the-abbey-does-so-much-but-ireland-needs-a-national-theatre-for-the-21st-century/","content_elements":[{"_id":"GMHEMCGYQJHE3ODXLS6OK7I3V4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092481},"content":"This time last year, as a part our 40th-anniversary celebrations at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rough-magic-theatre-company/\" target=\"_blank\">Rough Magic</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/author/diarmaid-ferriter/\" target=\"_blank\">Diarmaid Ferriter</a> hosted a conversation between founding members of four theatre companies that started life between 1983 and 1985.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZF62J3HWJJAZJBTRJJCBTLHS5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092482},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paul-mercier/\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Mercier</a>, of the Passion Machine, in Dublin, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/jim-nolan/\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Nolan</a>, of Red Kettle, in Waterford, and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/eleanor-methven/\" target=\"_blank\">Eleanor Methven</a>, of Charabanc, in Belfast, joined me at Rough Magic’s base at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/project-arts-centre/\" target=\"_blank\">Project Arts Centre</a> for a brilliant session full of spiky, funny observation and unmistakable energy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WT7RYFKB2RFIPIGUYBETX5FL4I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092483},"content":"When Diarmaid described the bleak hinterland of 1980s Ireland, and the deep recession that prevailed, we agreed to a person that we were thankful not to have been aware of how dreadful everything was. For us the time was characterised by purpose, momentum and fun.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SSZUN3NKMNF4VKYSZEHUY4CDN4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092484},"content":"It makes me want to ask why there was such an explosion of creativity at such a grim time – and why conditions for the theatre industry in our newly wealthy, apparently progressive country are now so much less favourable.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AP3SKK7GRZGL3NGHNOQDEIXAD4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092485},"content":"Because they are really not good. Seven hundred and seventy people have now signed a letter, initiated by theatre practitioners and supported by the <a href=\"https://performingartsforum.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Performing Arts Forum</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtheatreinstitute.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Theatre Institute</a>, urging the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/arts-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Council</a> to focus on the sector’s ongoing challenges.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NQ4ZPZ5APNFSHL5LPFA5R2GK7A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092486},"content":"The key issue is financial: council funding has gone up since the Covid pandemic, but the proportion of that money spent on theatre has gone down by about 9 per cent.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DI2R27Z2EBBPNCJFHC76E2WWUI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092487},"content":"People are surprised when you point this out. Theatre gets a sizeable chunk of the budget, they say, and they’re not wrong. But when you look at how it’s distributed, how many people it needs to serve and how much civic, social and artistic interaction depends on the infrastructure provided by the theatre industry throughout the country, the picture becomes more complex.","type":"text"},{"_id":"62A5KX2NFZEZHIJLPIIUZLONH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092488},"content":"It fluctuates from year to year, but nearly half of the Arts Council’s theatre spending goes to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey</a>; another quarter goes to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/druid-theatre-company/\" target=\"_blank\">Druid</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-theatre-festival/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Theatre Festival</a>. These are all important organisations, and not one is overfunded, but it leaves the rest of us – including long-established companies – financially hobbled. Emerging companies can only look on in perplexed despair.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S3WABXB6EZG4DLOVZCRHCAMY5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092500},"type":"image"},{"_id":"T433EX6HZRDP5DFT7F5KDSZKUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092490},"content":"There are significant areas where the difficulties are particularly acute.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZUDHAXPYJVAB7EUKY3I2VHVKZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092491},"content":"For many decades the Abbey has been funded as Ireland’s national theatre – and has borne that title and responsibility. Some regard its funding – <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/\" target=\"_blank\">€9.5 million for 2025</a>, up €1 million from last year – as disproportionate. I would argue that the responsibility it has been asked to take on is equally so.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NHHE5NW4FVBFFKLTK3V5GM4ZTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092492},"content":"The Abbey attempts, through its institutional infrastructure, to fulfil a leadership role, be custodian of the canon, support artists and new work, stimulate audiences, drive production models, form outreach initiatives – and on and on. The list is long and, I believe, overwhelming. I admire the Abbey’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/abbey-theatre-co-directors-we-want-our-artists-to-have-a-hand-on-the-steering-wheel-1.4778806\" target=\"_blank\">current management</a> greatly, but their job is staggeringly difficult.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5LPSP5BAOFBCDLG7AATQKL44UQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092493},"content":"Abbey Theatre co-directors: ‘We want our artists to have a hand on the steering wheel’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"5WG6DROKYZFC3HGM2BDPSCQ5FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092494},"content":"Institutions have a vital role in supporting and sustaining art and artists. But the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/national-library-of-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\">National Library</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/national-gallery-of-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\">National Gallery of Ireland</a> do not make art: they exhibit, curate, disemminate and support it. The Abbey is additionally tasked with the generation and production of theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3QQZC4KGFVFMJO67RYBZAMJDBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092495},"content":"It has for some time been hard pressed to make work that can claim automatic superiority over the activities and work produced by companies that manage on a fraction of the Abbey’s budget. I believe the answer to this is not to reduce its funding but to deploy it more efficiently and to raise the State’s support for theatremakers across the country, to create a more level playing field.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XU5KBNWUHFBFFJMU3CIRNMGN5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092496},"content":"Like most theatre companies – like many national theatres – the Abbey was <a href=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/about/history/\" target=\"_blank\">set up</a> by a couple of mavericks in partnership with an enlightened patron. It became a national theatre in response to the formation of a new republic and the need to assert a cultural identity. That great ambition was essential in forming the nascent State, but in the intervening century, particularly in the past two decades, the country has changed fundamentally.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NH4NIXKTAVFUZGKYKMIKV3KXU4","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"CGMJIMGRDJD6ZFNS4DOJ4ETODE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092498},"content":"We need a national theatre for a 21st-century Ireland. No organisation can deliver this alone. The “single-vision ethos” once quoted in relation to the Abbey cannot serve the spectrum of activity across Ireland. A new generation wants to make theatre for a new audience and must be supported to do so on its own terms. A more generous, inclusive and – crucially – nationwide structure can help reignite the energy and creativity that have been sapped in recent decades.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PQV3UAKDRRDV3MHTTX4OK534NQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092499},"content":"The hugely cheering boom in TV and film production in Ireland, and the habits formed around screen consumption during Covid, have created new challenges for theatremakers. So I think it’s worth reminding ourselves that theatre and the spoken word are the bedrock of our cultural identity; Irish dramatists and actors invented the language of theatre in the English-speaking world, from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/richard-brinsley-sheridan/\" target=\"_blank\">Richard Brinsley Sheridan</a> to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/eugene-o-neill/\" target=\"_blank\">Eugene O’Neill</a>, from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/peg-woffington-the-best-irish-actress-of-the-18th-century-1.3633218\" target=\"_blank\">Peg Woffington</a> to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fiona-shaw/\" target=\"_blank\">Fiona Shaw</a>. Narrative theatre is a form in which we are world leaders, and our film industry consistently stands on that legacy. Film is a vibrant evolution of theatre, growing from its foundational roots.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HMT7VI7XYVDSVFZ665UX3ELRPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092501},"content":"The explosion of work that began in the 1980s was one of the great successes of Irish theatre. I was working in Glasgow and Edinburgh around the time that the <a href=\"https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/\" target=\"_blank\">National Theatre of Scotland</a> was being set up. Irish theatre was then the envy of Scotland – and it wasn’t so much the institutions that excited admiration as the energy and diversity of the work coming to <a href=\"https://www.edfringe.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a> from the independent companies that had mushroomed from the 1980s onwards.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AROI3UJZOFEWNEMHLUIGE3LXAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092502},"content":"But the economic crash forced the State to rein in spending – and the arts, seen as low-hanging fruit, were devastated. Successive funding cuts have resulted in the demise of more than 30 independent companies, to the great impoverishment of our theatre culture.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6M5J3LZWSZGO5EDFLGP4GYHXKI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092503},"content":"An idea took root that the profusion of administrative structures around small companies was wasteful, that the funding should go directly to artists. This sounds like good thinking, but what it really meant was that a very successful ecosystem that supported an astonishing amount of work, including by emerging artists, was dismantled in favour of rescuing the big institutions. That included perpetuating sluggish systems and patching up a series of high-level mishaps. This policy created a continuing divide in Irish theatremaking.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U6UPVLZA3NGDDLPEXFACYLHWHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092504},"content":"The Abbey’s €1m controversy: What went wrong?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"2CHGYFIR7VEZHESKOVJK5XD6LU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092505},"content":"For the remaining independent companies, partnerships with relatively well-funded producing houses are a means of survival. They are (puzzlingly) frowned on by the Arts Council, but, given the paucity of funding and its inefficient application, these arrangements are the only way work can be made. As a result the pathway to production is blocked by more and more barriers that in turn are guarded by fewer and fewer – and so disproportionately empowered – individuals.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2RWLOWBG5VHVXJQKKY3UOI4AHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092506},"content":"And, at entry level, structures intended to increase access for artists offer totally inadequate sums that enable dreaming but not making. Given the lack of producers and administrative support, artists now have to self-produce, adding marketing and accountancy to their skill set when they should be focused on the rigorous process required for the creative act.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4OQFVOOIQBKQHO4CFV6MVB63HA","additional_properties":{"_id":"QT3TPQSJBVHNPJDDKU4VIJMTBM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"4ZBLZPMIU5HD5OGCINFZ7UO46A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092508},"content":"Make no mistake, business acumen is as necessary as artistic vision, but none of these skills can be fully practised part-time. Overload and burnout are inevitable, and diminution of the result increasingly evident. Some excellent producing hubs have been set up to support individual projects, but even they are overwhelmed. More are needed, but it’s worth observing that, when properly funded, independent companies such as Rough Magic are able to support emerging collectives at the same time as producing first-class professional shows with a mix of senior and emerging artists that frequently leads to intergenerational learning.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M32D3ZOAKNGRHKOJXCQZLTVWBI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092509},"content":"The opportunities to make and present work are now in the gift of a small number of people who are themselves under extreme pressure, from Dublin Theatre Festival to the Arts Council itself. This is a criticism not of individuals but of the chain of events that has created a hierarchy when what is needed is a self-sustaining, artist-led, democratic ecosystem.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OX6MUPLCTZGHPHBWXTBXULQ5DU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092510},"content":"A further pressure on the production of independent work concerns arts festivals. The problem, as far as theatre companies and artists are concerned, boils down to bottlenecks – but that’s another day’s work.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TLMJABXR4NCEDPPENWG67VE7ZI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092511},"content":"So how do we address this pickle?","type":"text"},{"_id":"WOUNJPHWM5HSPJFFQPLDOAIFY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092512},"content":"A new structure could be formed around the diverse entities that make live theatre. This could mean a federation or consortium of theatre artists, managements and collectives, representing all regions and constituencies on the island of Ireland. Diversity is key, pluralism essential. Autonomous hubs across the country can determine the work they make and host, and the artists they support. This is already happening in centres such as Waterford and Limerick.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4YNINQLSRGTFGVECLJKPUZRVE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092513},"content":"The Abbey Theatre would now become a linchpin in a new network that responds to and supports a 21st-century ecosystem. The Abbey must retain its funding and its production muscle, with a renewed remit to focus on its primary nature as a literary theatre and to support the development of playwriting – by playwrights – across Ireland.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A6YSJAIUOBGMBH4F2ATNM3AYQY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092514},"content":"Losses widen at Abbey Theatre even as revenue increases","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"2EWRRZB3SNDWBINSZGWMEM6BCM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092515},"content":"In terms of the burgeoning new forms and huge advances in scenography and design, the independent companies are already leaders. Project Arts Centre should be recognised as the national-theatre studio, by whatever title, and the spaces around the country that do similar work should be accorded the same status. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-fringe-festival/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Fringe Festival</a>, originally run, like Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as a retort to the senior festival, has become a vital platform for new work and was our partner in setting up Rough Magic’s <a href=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/artist-development/seeds/\" target=\"_blank\">Seeds programme</a> for emerging artists. Collaborations like these are the key.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VO2OQ5FQOVGILNOXYNELVT65MY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092489},"type":"image"},{"_id":"ZGUDJTZ3OJBIFKU3IJNIWUHCOI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092516},"content":"The historical legacy of Irish theatre is that of its actors and playwrights, many of whom predate the Abbey. The more recent movement towards European models of production does not diminish this: we remain a culture characterised by mastery of the written word. Our writers are globally recognised, but their early work has frequently been championed outside this country – by new-writing houses in Britain, for example.","type":"text"},{"_id":"32NQDG5OQBCI5A3J7KSPIGE7WA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092517},"content":"We need to refocus on making work for a national audience, honed within Ireland, before moving to international platforms. The Abbey can support this – it is already uniquely funded to do so – while remaining an anchor custodian of the classic canon from the Irish, anglophone and world theatre traditions. International exchange will be part of this remit, but it can be shared: <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pan-pan/\" target=\"_blank\">Pan Pan</a> has been covering this area for decades, supported by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/culture-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\">Culture Ireland</a>. The skills and structures exist across the sector. Let’s make use of them.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PCZ3EATFX5HTXAXJL5757IIZWM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092518},"content":"To generate, fully develop and produce new or even canonical works will need co-production arrangements with artists and the companies who support them across Ireland. Work should frequently premiere outside Dublin. (Rough Magic’s <a href=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/artist-development/\" target=\"_blank\">Compass strategy</a> of producing with partners in other cities has been one of our most successful recent initiatives.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"2ONPQ2NDYJDRFCG3YNGOKEWR7I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092519},"content":"A significant development in the past few years is the number of artists who have moved out of Dublin, largely but not exclusively for economic reasons. A coherent plan for making, touring and sharing of work, built around artists and audiences in all parts of the country, must be part of a national endeavour by festivals and venues of every scale and nature, and in locations across Ireland, north and south.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KRRN672X6FE4PEEPOAIYSKRTTA","additional_properties":{"_id":"XBISEIPRRJHG5DPNDCYCXBWGMU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"JFE6WRRQCRD5XLNL6H5SLEYTPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092521},"content":"And, yes, all this will need extra cash.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SVZBCAYE3JGELKC3OZVXPGI7AU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092522},"content":"The funding of theatre as an art form must continue to be the responsibility of the Arts Council, but, if the sector is to be properly supported, some of the infrastructure cost will have to be borne by other bodies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"J2DNA4NNWZCABA4NS5MLKQS6FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092523},"content":"Given that two of the major buildings – and their accompanying costs – are in Dublin, the city’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-city-council/\" target=\"_blank\">council</a> should contribute to the houses that offer some of its most iconic cultural experiences, both for tourists and for the home crowd. Around the country, the support for such buildings, and the staffing they need, is often the concern of the local authorities whose citizens they serve; there is no reason why that cannot apply to Dublin. But whatever the result of those conversations, the final responsibility must rest with the Department of Arts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I33F2MDH2BGQFHODBXXWFM2J2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092524},"content":"For too long the State has assumed that Irish theatre will just happen – because it kind of did. But we live in a harsher world than that of the 1980s. If the Government is serious about creating a cohesive, diverse and representative culture for all its citizens, and for sustaining an industry that is a major employer as well as a world-class cultural force, it must free up funding for the Arts Council to channel towards the creative artists and ensembles (including producers and technicians) who make possible the one experience left that cannot – cannot – be replicated by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/artificial-intelligence/\" target=\"_blank\">artificial intelligence</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GUID6MQYKVH47MGUBJ77R4CPN4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092525},"content":"This will all need to be researched, modelled and piloted. The pause in theatre production offered by the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/covid-19/\" target=\"_blank\">Covid-19 crisis</a> was a useful period of reflection, but now is the time to arrest the deflation of a defining creative industry so long taken for granted.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YEWAAMQ7EZFZ7L7YLXHVEFVQ3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092526},"content":"I suspect that this movement will take place organically, but it would be very exciting to see the current national theatre help to lay the foundations for the new one. The key to this is to share the responsibility for the future strategy of theatre across the sector, by treating artists and collectives as a resource and not a problem, and by recognising that an adult conversation between the funding bodies that exist to promote art and the people who make it happen can be a fruitful endeavour.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WRUSLW6BEJHCHCIKHV3JR3SDCY","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Lynne Parker is artistic director of </i><a href=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/\"><i>Rough Magic Theatre Company</i></a>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Lynne Parker"}]},"description":{"basic":"The future of Irish theatre looks bleak. It’s time to overhaul the way the sector works – including where the money goes, says Rough Magic’s artistic director"},"display_date":"2025-02-24T05:23:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Lynne Parker: The Abbey does so much. But Ireland needs a national theatre for the 21st century ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34","auth":{"1":"9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752"},"focal_point":{"x":3572,"y":1215},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg"},"lead_art":{"_id":"7SL74HXSGFEAZLXNETG5TCCPRM","type":"image"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/24/lynne-parker-the-abbey-does-so-much-but-ireland-needs-a-national-theatre-for-the-21st-century/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"XJHVR2AJLBDO7HCK5E3BFQ2CHU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":202,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/96438bfc-3c19-46f0-9af5-f761c568f1be/versions/1740140182/media/5e464a49e7350c42e4cd97dfab20022f_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/21/milk-spectacle-is-tinged-with-tragedy-in-the-abbeys-palestinian-dance-play/","content_elements":[{"_id":"IUFHNYJ6BNA3TM3E4HES2APV7U","additional_properties":{},"content":"Milk","type":"header"},{"_id":"2UEHO2X5YVAS5PXPWEJOSO4M64","additional_properties":{},"content":"Abbey Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"N6CAGHSDNVEAHPCYKPQDLQOSXI","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"TRTXHR7YFZFRTA7RGLDDNJMEAA","additional_properties":{},"content":"In an era of ceaseless reports from a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/israel-hamas-conflict/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/israel-hamas-conflict/\">horrifying conflict</a>, when a nation is voicing its grief, how can an audience – no less than a society – be made to take notice?","type":"text"},{"_id":"4KAWGE3DGFGJXOOHAM42357I2A","additional_properties":{},"content":"The dance play Milk, by the Haifa-based <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/palestine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/palestine/\">Palestinian</a> company <a href=\"https://www.khashabi.org/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.khashabi.org/about\">Khashabi</a>, uses the tools of contemporary theatre to portray despair in new ways. Here, a group of mothers surviving disaster are seen in an abstract wasteland, their shuddering bodies carrying a mannequin, rocking and shushing it as if it were a child, until collapsing into Pietà-style poses.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVSR5QCAWVE77OSLVW7T6CWR2A","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.basharmurkus.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.basharmurkus.org/\">Bashar Murkus</a>, its director, has previously found arch methods to address violence, pairing a prisoner with an executioner as an absurdist double act in New Middle East, from 2013, and transmuting the tragedy of child refugees drowned at sea into the underwater nightmare of The Salty Road, from 2019.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IHG2QIMZR5B3JPC3SOYUWMG5OE","additional_properties":{},"content":"In Milk – which premiered in 2022, since when it has gained extra resonance – he seeks out the splashy spectacle of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pina-bausch/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pina-bausch/\">Pina Bausch</a>’s water dances, though tinged with tragedy: in Majdala Khoury’s extraordinary scenography, the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\">Abbey</a> stage becomes a pool of grieving mothers’ breast milk.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7BY3PBL5INBFJI2J6OFVMISY2Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Murkus depicts complex navigations of grief through considered movement sequences. In the eclipsing sadness of one scene, a woman (a superb Salwa Nakkara) fussily rearranges a group portrait to try to include the mannequins, but the final composition blocks the women from view.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NBOCPPWPRBEELMUISCDEIRX5PU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Two young mothers (Samaa Wakim and Shaden Kanboura, both nimble) are paired with lifeless partners in repeated combinations, in a throwback to Bausch’s 1978 masterpiece Café Müller. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMCM7M4PSVFPZCL54C2CH7YU4Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Later, solace is suggested by the sight of inanimate bodies lying among pretty flowers while the women finally erupt with happiness, making each other laugh at a picnic.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TUQA53OZ65FWVFE7JLSLFJS2O4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Murkus, assisted by the dramaturge <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/khuloodbasel/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.instagram.com/khuloodbasel/\">Khulood Basel</a> (a regular and essential collaborator), has an eye for references. When the cast are assembled into a still pose, surrounding a mother holding her lifeless son (Reem Talhami, giving a picture of devastation), it seems in re-creation of Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ. (Speaking of chiaroscuro, check out the accomplishment of Muaz Al Jubeh’s incredible lighting).","type":"text"},{"_id":"UBECT4P7VBE4XO7WU6IC5IQIEI","additional_properties":{},"content":"That combination of splashing movement and religious art evokes the Greek choreographer <a href=\"https://www.dimitrispapaioannou.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.dimitrispapaioannou.com/\">Dimitris Papaioannou</a> and boundary-pushing work usually presented at the prestigious <a href=\"https://festival-avignon.com/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://festival-avignon.com/en\">Avignon Festival</a>, in France, rather than at our own national theatre. (Abbey, please stage this kind of production more often.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"SL3EF3HILZGYBBRGJVOUE2QHVY","additional_properties":{},"content":"In the second half Murkus introduces a son grieving the loss of his mother (Eddie Dow, whose movement dazzles with the spray of the wet stage), making for a complex sequence of mourners craving affection, resentful of others’ happiness and, ultimately, incapable of replacing what they’ve lost.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OE7LLWEM5ZEYRAIBZNOGZ5OMWY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The drama isn’t quite sustained through the lengthy assembly of Milk’s elaborate stage images, or in insistently repeated movements that struggle to acquire variation. Maybe that’s because no one knows where this will all end. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"OT4LO6JA7NDN7HRFX2QGST6PQQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Those who saw Milk when it premiered must look back on the final image of bodies among rubble as ominously prophetic. If it can’t quite find a way out, that’s perhaps because the real-life horror it portrays continues.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BRME4XND3NDF3DGVNWK7HBLMRA","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Milk is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/\"><i>Abbey Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, March 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Bashar Murkus and Khashabi use the tools of contemporary theatre to portray despair in new ways"},"display_date":"2025-02-21T12:16:08.749Z","headlines":{"basic":"Milk: Spectacle is tinged with tragedy in the Abbey’s Palestinian dance play","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU","auth":{"1":"f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3"},"focal_point":{"x":1281,"y":773},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/21/milk-spectacle-is-tinged-with-tragedy-in-the-abbeys-palestinian-dance-play/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"67MUVSG4QZA4ZPNBBG2HXNH6PY","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":501,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/8ef67221-b5bd-4ca1-a90f-e176e5f1b3f4/versions/1738851557/media/a14c81333117e2a84cde7424019140ad_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/16/from-game-of-thrones-to-king-lear-northern-actor-conleth-hill-on-creativity-wizards-and-the-benefit-of-not-having-a-plan/","content_elements":[{"_id":"CZOUYWMXWBGN3MXNCRJRLJ4AUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924828},"content":"Towards the turn of the millennium, Conleth Hill, then a theatre actor in his mid-30s, found himself at a juncture. After a decade working regularly in Belfast, he had finished ticking off a list of roles he had had in mind since leaving drama school.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RWKHO4FRSZH4XLTLWHO4F6IPEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924829},"content":"It was a period when, against the extraordinary promise of IRA ceasefires, many members of the city’s vibrant theatre community lived on Sunnyside Street, which has the Errigle Inn, a popular actors’ haunt, at one end and the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lyric-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Lyric Theatre</a> at the other.","type":"text"},{"_id":"66SFQCMQPFFABDLBMMMWLSJVEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924830},"content":"Hill had been seen on the venue’s stage a lot. In one 12-month period he appeared as the patricidal impostor of JM Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World and as the top-buttoned florist in Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical Little Shop of Horrors. (Both had been on his list of roles to play.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"R4L4CCVZGBAWZPOAG5E2TVEL2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924831},"content":"“I got to do them all, but I was also excited to not have a plan,” Hill says backstage at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate Theatre</a>, in Dublin, where he is in rehearsals to play King Lear.","type":"text"},{"_id":"242SO37NSZAVHAEGXS66ACLCWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924832},"content":"When the Lyric asked him what he’d like to do next, there was one play he wanted to revisit. A few years earlier, in 1996, he starred in Stones in His Pockets, a new comedy by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2024/04/07/playwright-marie-jones-my-mother-told-me-there-was-no-such-thing-as-menopause-in-her-day/\" target=\"_blank\">Marie Jones</a>. Hill played an aspiring screenwriter who signs up as a film extra when his Kerry village is overrun by a Hollywood production crew whose glitterati presence has a strange influence on locals, even driving one poor man to suicide.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HDB7KCV7RBFFDHKA35NR7QPECA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924833},"content":"The Lyric’s revival of Jones’s play was expected to run only a couple of weeks. It seemed unfeasible to fly home Hill’s original stage partner, Timothy V Murphy, who had relocated to the United States (and is now a real-life Hollywood regular), so he was replaced by the very capable Sean Campion.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7PN4ZWMMWFFWPI24YQHBEMYQKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924834},"content":"The play became a sensation over the next two years, filling a smaller London playhouse before transferring to the West End, and eventually to Broadway, where it clocked up $1 million in ticket sales before it even arrived in New York.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7I3TM3DIDFB4PAUE45724E3BJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924835},"content":"“I think it was word of mouth. It wasn’t critics. It wasn’t money being thrown to market it. It was just people going to other people, ‘Do you want to see that?’” Hill says. He liked that the play made for a kind of counterpoint to a film released earlier that decade, Ron Howard’s epic romance Far and Away, featuring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman with questionable Irish accents.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OQRAQBSBOBBF7BQOF3CEZ7BJAE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924836},"content":"“Where Hollywood is concerned, it’s a case of, why would you let reality get in the way of a good story?” Hill says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OGGA6ULYP5DLNDKYM6V4FQASZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924837},"content":"Crucial to the play’s appeal seemed to be how, as a multiple-role comedy, it turned its virtuosity into a buzzy attraction. The production’s minimalist set was limited to a line-up of villagers’ footwear stretching across the back of the stage, as if set up as a dare: can just two actors fill all these shoes?","type":"text"},{"_id":"VJFMEXH6TBFIZOSGRKZW2XOFWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924838},"content":"“It’s amazing how, because of budget and other restraints, creativity can really be something.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4MY4DSB3VRCVLLIIXBCWLTPX5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924839},"content":"The format wasn’t anything new; this was around the time that John Godber’s relentless, character-shifting workplace comedies were making him one of the most performed playwrights in the UK.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZJLTCLO5BVBUTJY3P33TEVFZHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924840},"content":"What seemed to hit differently were the performances. Hill shape-shifted from a hopeful Kerry screenwriter to a Hollywood diva, breathily lusting over local men, and then, with a suddenly straightened spine, became an intimidating, bolt-upright security guard. Each character seemed to receive a detailed, full-body portrait.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y6DW7FVWYZELJFUZHV3ZIKIXOI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924841},"content":"Stones in His Pockets opened doors. “I certainly had no problems afterwards with people going, ’Do you think you could do it?’, whatever the part was, because I think the play proved I could be that versatile,” Hill says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y2IVIIMMT5AA5EOTMDA7NSX2HA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924842},"content":"When The Producers, Mel Brooks’s comedy about Broadway schemers, opened in the West End of London, Hill played a glamorously sociopathic director, acting opposite Nathan Lane.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NRK2UQKS55CXVAQ6DR3RVE7LLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924843},"content":"In Jennifer Saunders’s unsettling, short-lived sitcom The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle, a satire of exploitative tabloid talkshows (the title is a barely veiled reference to Jeremy Kyle), Hill was an absurdly groomed metrosexual husband to Saunders’s monstrous TV host. (“She was brilliant. And that ego she portrayed!”)","type":"text"},{"_id":"VOD3OLQFC5B3ZC6B6AK2KU4R6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924844},"type":"image"},{"_id":"23HVJXO2PBGHJKY2PVZKL5RXPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924845},"content":"Of course, it was HBO’s fantasy series <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/game-of-thrones/\" target=\"_blank\">Game of Thrones</a> that introduced him to a wider audience. Hill stepped into that mercilessly cruel and graphic epic about rival royal families as Lord Varys, an elegantly refined spy with scathing wit. He was in no rush to take the part. “I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SOARLX3WGJCRDEMDJK42IACYFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924846},"content":"He was swayed when he read a scene in which the show’s hero, the salty dwarf Tyrion Lannister, searches for revenge after surviving an attempt to murder him. Prying open a crate delivered to his quarters, he tells Tyrion that as a child he was abused by a sorcerer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YQG2ENOJBVEYBOLY65R2S5YC44","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924847},"content":"The scene ends with the opened crate revealing that it contains the trembling abuser, sent overseas by one of the spy’s informants. “I soon learned that the contents of a man’s letters are more valuable than the contents of his purse,” Varys says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PJW322KXWRAVPHDBXA3G46CDRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924848},"content":"Being part of a bigger-than-life show, the kind that attracts swarms of devotees to Comic-Con, can define an actor in a way they dislike (as on the cult film Galaxy Quest, in which Alan Rickman plays a theatre actor made miserable after appearing as an alien scientist on TV).","type":"text"},{"_id":"XBZCOLBXMNGLJIKM3YMXYKGVOE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924849},"content":"Hill seems fond of Game of Thrones. The role complemented the rest of his CV rather than obliterate it. “I don’t think it was a typical casting call. They wanted people who could handle the language, who had done Shakespeare,” he says. (Hill had starred in a production of All’s Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre in London.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"GZDHFVCOQ5BFTOCOB4E2VBTINA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924850},"content":"Game of Thrones soon attracted comparisons with Shakespeare in its plotting and colour – and there was certainly something of a parallel between the atmosphere of productions such as the Abbey’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/rock-pop/king-lear-1.1252021\" target=\"_blank\">2013 revival</a> of King Lear and the TV show’s wind-beaten version of medieval Europe. (Game of Thrones, with its echoes of the Wars of the Roses, also featured gruesomely creative acts of cruelty, aggrieved offspring bent on power, and goading, bloodthirsty spouses.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"FDNJ2ULXRBFQTJSGDQWL3XR47A","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924851},"content":"Hill himself seemed to have a mixed history with the playwright. He related early on to All’s Well That Ends Well, with its teenager stung by unrequited love, but by the time he was studying in London he was running in the opposite direction. (“I was never a fan of the Royal Shakespeare Company voice,” he says.) Playing Macbeth opposite Frances McDormand in the United States in 2016 signalled that he may have changed his mind.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T2LTHZQJT5GGDL2OHFD7C6DIEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924852},"type":"image"},{"_id":"56CKTA3DQNGBJH2COBC7EPQHEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924853},"content":"Then, a few years ago, Hill reconnected with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/05/21/gate-theatre-director-roisin-mcbrinn-a-big-part-of-what-im-trying-to-do-is-ensure-as-many-voices-as-possible-are-given-space-and-power/\" target=\"_blank\">Róisín McBrinn</a>, the Gate’s artistic director. The two worked together 20 years ago, on the London premiere of Owen McCafferty’s heist play Shoot the Crow. The offer came for Hill to direct a play at the theatre: Arthur Miller’s 1967 classic <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2023/04/19/the-price-simon-delaney-balances-restraint-with-rage-in-the-gates-assured-staging-of-arthur-millers-play/\">The Price</a>. During that run McBrinn asked Hill what he thought about playing Lear.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4SGXOQT5Q5EKHIKUVXYMPA75PM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924854},"content":"Shakespeare’s play begins with a crass spectacle. The king, preparing for old age, summons his three daughters and asks them, as if they’re pageant contestants before an audience, to answer a question: “Which of you shall we say doth love us most?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DDA3B3B55RCVFOFARDFODQEE7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924855},"content":"“I’d stand up for him,” Hill says. “You give one-third of a kingdom to a daughter and they feel hard done by?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FGZNDH6TQ5AVJPUWT5EVZLLZNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924856},"content":"The play soon recedes into the turmoil of Lear’s mind, while a catastrophic transfer of power shakes the kingdom, separating men and women from their fathers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AER3O6JY3BBWBAZQNNDPWIHS2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924857},"content":"“During the course of it he realises how wrong he was, but then he also realises how wrong his life was,” Hill says. “All this pomp, all these large effects that go with majesty, have nothing to do with how people live their lives day to day. He goes, ‘I have taken too little care of this.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5S7LACFDCFBAPDHA52OUP5IVHM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924858},"content":"Hill is sympathetic about Lear’s crisis. “The anger, the frustration and – I speak from experience – the invisibility of ageing,” he says. “You identify as you grow older: ‘Oh, I’m invisible now.’ That’s dealt with in the play. Four hundred years ago he’s writing about it. That’s why it’s so good.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OQMHZIKOVZFE5LJQDCKD5MMTPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924859},"content":"<i>King Lear opens at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gate Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, on Wednesday, February 26th, with previews from Saturday, February 21st. It runs until Sunday, April 27th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"The `Shakespearean' HBO fantasy brought the Northern actor to a wider audience, and he's not complaining"},"display_date":"2025-02-16T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill: ‘I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE","auth":{"1":"83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2"},"focal_point":{"x":2439,"y":2896},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/16/from-game-of-thrones-to-king-lear-northern-actor-conleth-hill-on-creativity-wizards-and-the-benefit-of-not-having-a-plan/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"UCWINA23SNDDXCROMHV24BU53I","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":764,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/9d3d3bf3-e4d3-4e10-a5ba-a8b9cfbc1821/versions/1739291561/media/d4da86fb6d21e74a1a6a7da5fc291618_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/15/playwright-simon-stephens-our-sense-of-self-is-defined-by-the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-my-family-told-themselves-we-were-irish/","content_elements":[{"_id":"76C5UXFDYZFITETWZKIP62X23M","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240332},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/simon-stephens/\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Stephens</a> is just home from a funeral. He’s still jacketed as he joins the videocall from London, where he’s in his deliciously busy, book-lined office. The exceedingly prolific and awarded British-Irish playwright is considering things. The funeral was of a close friend of 25 years, the artist Alastair Mackinven, who died from cancer at the age of 53.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SZ3TKKR4MFGCRPBQV2BHYWNH4Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240333},"content":"Years ago they were in an art-punk band together, Country Teasers, which “achieved more legacy than it had resonance in its actual life”. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/franz-ferdinand/\" target=\"_blank\">Franz Ferdinand</a> and Pavement “talk about how important we were”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4RYILECC3BBWJA4ANYW5BGST3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240334},"content":"“These things are often healing, aren’t they, funerals?” Stephens says. Mackinven’s death was òne of the first among his peers. “We’ve reached this moment. It’s like, oh, it’s us now, is it? It’s nice to see old friends, though, and remember some of the things we did. That was good.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KTXO7CBK5JHP7PHLAFNWFO2OC4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240335},"content":"We’re here to talk Men’s Business. Stephens’s new play is an English-language version of Männersache, by the German playwright <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/franz-xaver-kroetz/\" target=\"_blank\">Franz Xaver Kroetz</a>, that is having its world premiere at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/glass-mask-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Glass Mask</a>, in Dublin; the company is a small fish making a significant splash in Irish theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MICENARRGZFJXNUZR7N4CZOK5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240336},"content":"Stephens loves Kroetz, who was also an actor (“he’s described as the German <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/sam-shepard/\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Shepard</a>”), for his “startlingly flinty naturalism” and the “extraordinary toughness to his writing”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UYSNOWUV6NA7FKLUSDXQPTHCKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240337},"content":"His play Through the Leaves “resonated with audiences in the more hipster corners of European theatre. I was fascinated by it.” So Stephens asked a friend, an academic named Bettina Auerswald, for a literal translation, so he could make a new version.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NDFEFAR43VFOHGNI4YBZO6DJT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240338},"type":"image"},{"_id":"2M35EYZAAFGS3HZ5KYLYMIPQ7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240339},"content":"“And she found this play Männersache, an earlier version of what became Through the Leaves, which is even tougher and less sentimental and has an almost psychotic brutality to it. I just loved it for its nuance, its toughness, the strangeness of its ending. There’s a kind of deranged musicality to it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"LEUAIK3NNREYJFYZWSVYPOTZVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240340},"content":"It’s hard to produce now. “English theatre in the pandemic aftermath has become more gentle, more populist, built more around celebrity casting and uplifting stories. The type of work that always excited me about theatre as an art form – that asks difficult questions, creates a liveness that has an intensity – is disappearing from English theatre.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"F2LHFFNK5BA7XHEO4WHXAEJDUA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240341},"content":"Last year Stephens saw Glass Mask’s production of his play Country Music in Dublin and thought, “These guys are doing what I’ve always wanted to do. <i>This</i> is why I make theatre. I never really wanted to make theatre to win Tony awards. I’m proud of Curious Incident,” he says, referring to his hit stage adaptation of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mark-haddon/\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Haddon</a>’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which won Tony and Olivier best-play awards, but prizes weren’t why he wrote it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SFQD73TB2JG3DLI5GLIW7XD3IY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240342},"content":"‘It was a novel that was read by everyone’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"REPT4P55MRB4DG7D2DHKQGWJ3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240343},"content":"“I wanted to make the kind of theatre Glass Mask were making. They’re at the start of their work, and they’re punk, they’re flinty, they’re unapologetic. They’ve got this space, and it’s not a gargantuan Broadway house, but there’s a realness to the space.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JAWWK56L5RCOXKTI4AB7UHFHT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240344},"content":"Glass Mask is an intimate cafe venue. “I thought their production of Country Music was really brilliant and rigorous and honest. I was excited by that fearlessness. I wanted to give them Men’s Business because I think they’d get the spirit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JWDCVXT5JNFGBEUGUTXC6WZUKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240345},"content":"“It’s the same world <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wim-wenders/\" target=\"_blank\">Wim Wenders</a> was born out of, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rainer-werner-fassbinder/\" target=\"_blank\">Fassbinder</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/werner-herzog/\" target=\"_blank\">Werner Herzog</a>. For me, artists in Germany in the late 1960s were using art to make sense of the catastrophe of their parents’ generation, and the Third Reich. The work didn’t necessarily directly address that. It was in the metabolism of the work.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UBSO3ZOIFFCA5EWVX4Y4M6JCFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240346},"content":"“You have to ask yourself, what is theatre for? I think the function of theatre is different in Germany to anywhere else in Europe, and it resonates. You can historicise it back several centuries to the unification of Germany, or the nature of the federal state, but I go back to that 1968 generation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5PEVZE5LC5A2VLJVONW6OMUCQM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240347},"content":"“For me the function of theatre in Germany is rooted there. It’s Peter Handke, it’s [Peter] Stein, all these guys using theatre to ask difficult questions.","type":"text"},{"_id":"URW3G6QZR5EKTIHJLUYSEGODF4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240348},"content":"“I don’t know about the historical nature of theatre in Ireland, but in England after the second World War, theatre was a place for celebration and entertainment. I’m not knocking that. I love a great night out. But I also think it can be a place where difficult questions are asked.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QKSR3YEYHBFE5KCVRBAYHNL66A","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240349},"content":"“My favourite type of music is difficult music. There was an edge to the work [Country Teasers] made. We were doing something very different from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/oasis/\" target=\"_blank\">Oasis</a> or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pulp/\" target=\"_blank\">Pulp</a>. There’s an edge to the type of theatre I’ve always cherished. And I find that edge more in Germany than in other places.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"74LPWVDOMJEOBKI3LJJOEHHF2M","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"AUE3BW6PPNDKHDXG4AK76AUA5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240351},"content":"It’s no surprise that Stephens is one of the most-performed English-language writers in Germany.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B72BC3QKUFDM5KDAPLNHPFAJ7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240352},"content":"“I was 54 yesterday, and I never thought I’d live in a time when Germany would move back towards fascism. But that’s what’s happening, in Germany, in America. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/elon-musk/\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk</a>, I think there’s something unapologetically fascist about his thinking, and he’s encroaching into English politics with his advocacy of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/nigel-farage/\" target=\"_blank\">Nigel Farage</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QBNRG7ELHZEULBLXAKKRDESXV4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240353},"content":"“It’s not a time for theatre to reach into sentimentality and celebrity casting. It’s a time for theatre to get difficult and gnarly and fearless, and Glass Mask are as exciting makers of theatre of that form as I’ve come across anywhere in Europe. I’m a big champion.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HTLCFR6XLFHB7B5YUTBFDUEZXA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240354},"content":"Men’s Business is billed as “a love story set in the back room of a butcher’s job with a brutal bastard of a dog howling in the yard next door”. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rex-ryan/\" target=\"_blank\">Rex Ryan</a> – Glass Mask’s founder and artistic director – and Lauren Farrell perform, directed by Ross Gaynor. Stephens says it’s darkly funny, sexy and brutal.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4CDXBMMB2FA7PEAYI2BWN4A7OQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240355},"content":"“The cafe is great. I love the moment they clear the plates, close the curtain, drop the lights. You don’t anticipate acting at that level, or art of that toughness, and the counterpoint between the rather lovely world and then art of the highest calibre is really surprising but really thrilling.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"G4V2VK7PYFGHVMZSEB4PCOHVMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240356},"content":"Stephens will return to Dublin to see Men’s Business after London rehearsals for Vanya, his acclaimed radical spin on Chekhov starring the Irish actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/andrew-scott/\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Scott</a>, which <a href=\"https://vanyaonstage.com/\" target=\"_blank\">opens</a> off Broadway, in New York, in March.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FFUDLXYHXNCLRC2ACXVMI3CDDQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240357},"type":"image"},{"_id":"ABFY4FE4QRDS7MU62M6Y63LNDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240358},"content":"Scott is a reminder of what Stephens jokingly calls his own “questionable Irishness”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IBCOES5O7BD5VKDWYRJ2ERF7PI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240359},"content":"“My mum and uncles were Irish, born and raised in Belfast. I was born in Stockport, south Manchester, but raised with the kind of apocryphal story that I’m from an Irish family and I’ve got Irish blood, and the Irishness is important.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EPJBBV4CRJG2PLLKQKFVYO5PWE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240360},"content":"“Maybe it had the importance of an exile to my mum, and to my grandmother, who lived in England for the last four decades of her life. My grandmother, especially, talked often about going back to Belfast. I don’t know if she ever would have done, but it was a story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"L6QKQTVIVFEZHODPEU7XIGJFJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240361},"content":"“You know, so much of our sense of self is defined by the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. And the story my family told themselves about who they are was definitely that it was an Irish family. And some fragment of myself, sense of self, was part of that.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XKDIQN3O6VFSFPK33SFBLBH2IU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240362},"content":"So Stephens was Irish before he ever came here.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NHJGMEDU2NE6VO6XM2KDF3QKHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240363},"content":"“My uncle sent me an amazing photograph from 1923 of my grandmother as a child, outside this house with her sisters. It’s a terraced house, and there was seven of them raised there. There’s something very moving about it. Just to see all these girls.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UKHXKDETM5GB5HDPFB3X2G2I2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240364},"content":"Stephens’s mother, born Carol Porter, died in 2023. She was raised on Sunnyside Street. His grandmother was Georgina Miller – “the Irish name. Porter was my Cumbrian grandfather’s name.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UPDHL5JTRNHJRD2A77MYWG2NZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240365},"content":"Stephens first went to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/belfast/\" target=\"_blank\">Belfast</a> in 2014, when the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lyric-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Lyric</a> produced his play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-punk-rock-1.1898092\" target=\"_blank\">Punk Rock</a> (“a beautiful production”, he says). “I went to that house where my grandmother was born, and the house where my mother was born. It was a really tender thing, to go into this little regular house in Belfast and imagine my mum born there, growing up there as a child.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JY5FJPDJDRDBZCUY7J3DTSRMKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240366},"content":"“It’s strange. There’s something of a time loop going there as an adult and imagining my mother as a child there. I’ve worked a lot with the wondrous Andrew Scott. When he met my mum, his glee: ‘I <i>knew</i> you were Irish!’” Stephens roars laughing. “But he recognised it somewhere, the soul of the rhythm of my words, I don’t know.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"CSTUKGQZDBBZZC6DS4QUDS7YLA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240367},"content":"He’s still involved in a band, writing lyrics for LiY – it’s short for Live into Yours – “celebrating the possibility of an intergalactic optimism”. They released an album, Songs for Telescope, on Spotify and are developing it into a piece of theatre for <a href=\"https://soundsfromasafeharbour.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Sounds from a Safe Harbour</a>, this September’s festival in Cork curated by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bryce-dessner/\" target=\"_blank\">Bryce</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/aaron-dessner/\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Dessner</a> of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-national/\" target=\"_blank\">The National</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/cillian-murphy/\" target=\"_blank\">Cillian Murphy</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/enda-walsh/\" target=\"_blank\">Enda Walsh</a> and the festival’s director, Mary Hickson.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MN34QYVUEBG5HMX4GOUVC3OIDE","subtype":"spotify","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"24Z6YSXISVEM7F3FXSXF5FZMJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240369},"content":"Stephens is bamboozlingly prolific. He reckons he has written about 50 plays, including versions and adaptations. “I really should stop now,” he says, jokingly. “I don’t think the world needs any more.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"7I5DTJRUL5EZJFLF257445MJ7I","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240370},"content":"He’s also professor of scriptwriting at <a href=\"https://www.mmu.ac.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester Metropolitan University</a> and is married with three children; however, he manages it all.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A5VVMHOTQNHSTG7N2RATZKTJ34","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240371},"content":"“I’m working on 17 things at the moment.” He means it literally. He pulls up his work document and lists some current projects: a television series with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thomas-vinterberg/\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas Vinterberg</a>, an adaptation of an <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/amor-towles/\" target=\"_blank\">Amor Towles</a> novel, a musical adaptation, with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/guy-garvey/\" target=\"_blank\">Guy Garvey</a>, of Kes, about six original plays, a play opening in Tokyo, a version of Three Sisters, an adaptation of Wings of Desire and a collaboration with the choreographer <a href=\"https://imogenknight.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Imogen Knight</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CGYDXXK7WRF6HGEEHJYPFRPRX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240372},"content":"Asked how he fits it all in, he’s almost stumped. “I guess it’s what I do. Writing for me is as elemental as breathing. And it’s, like, when I breathe, Andrew Scott speaks. There is something about his Irishness that articulates part of my soul. It’s not like I’m trying to work really hard. It’s just the work is fundamental to me.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DSIUMDC5DBBZ5J6FFIB42EWJT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240373},"content":"Stephens comes back to his friend Alastair Mackinven. “I was very encouraged by Alastair in how he made his art. I think I make my theatre in the same way. I’m not embarrassed talking about Alastair today, or his legacy or what I learned from him. We might have looked like a couple of 50-year-old punks, but there was something elemental or spiritual to Alastair about the application of paint to canvas. I think there’s similarly something ancient about the application of language to the performing space and theatre.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"V7R2KULPLFBNPP6YNCONVWN6RE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240374},"content":"Only some of these things may come to fruition “but there’s a kind of restless hunger about the possibility of making theatre that helps us make sense of what it is to be alive, and be alive now. It is about the possibility of something wondrous at a time which can feel overwhelmingly difficult for us optimists.","type":"text"},{"_id":"42HZKZSPHNFL7EGVPB35WDLMSY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240375},"content":"“I’m an optimist by nature – as a teacher, as a parent. It’s not been a great month for us optimists. But I keep going. All we can do is keep going. All we can do is keep writing. All we can do is keep making sense of the world through the stories we tell about it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DZKJXYXSZNFQJAQG6BY4BDT6FQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240376},"content":"<i>Men’s Business is at </i><a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Glass Mask Theatre</i></a><i>, at the Bestseller Cafe on Dawson Street, Dublin, until Saturday, March 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Deirdre Falvey"}},"name":"Deirdre Falvey"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Tony and Olivier winner feels a huge affinity with Rex Ryan’s ‘fearless’ Dublin company Glass Mask, which is premiering his play Men’s Business"},"display_date":"2025-02-15T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Playwright Simon Stephens: ‘Our sense of self is defined by the stories we tell ourselves. My family told themselves we were Irish’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E","auth":{"1":"2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f"},"focal_point":{"x":2166,"y":2344},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/15/playwright-simon-stephens-our-sense-of-self-is-defined-by-the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-my-family-told-themselves-we-were-irish/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"WN4SBWV6JBCQTFFRC6WRBPY734","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":200,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/7d6d7a29-eea8-4b8f-86cc-4c610eab3ff0/versions/1739530887/media/3c9af9ac2ca883abcef2e34ea6b2c60b_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/14/mens-business-review-avant-garde-date-night-pregnant-with-commitment-issues/","content_elements":[{"_id":"IYTP3YNZ6FFBNBSV3EI57H6FFI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Men’s Business","type":"header"},{"_id":"NJRUMUAXBRDA3JL2YBQFTU23N4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Glass Mask Theatre at Bestseller, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"NYMMGWREJ5EKRPMPEZABCOL5OA","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"V55GUTHX6ZGWTHRBL22HVHVNIQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Bestseller wine bar, on Dawson Street in Dublin, has undergone a shocking refurbishment. At one end is what appears to be a butcher’s shop, with sharp knives displayed against a wall of white tiles and large cuts of raw meat hanging from a rack. Either someone needs to call a health inspector or the resident theatre company has run amok.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GU6GQS2CS5DP5NKN6A2WT77UEU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Glass Mask has always been a model of economic shrewdness, so it comes as a thrill that its latest play, Men’s Business, by Simon Stephens, of which this is the world premiere, begins with a curtain slowly opening on an impressively built room striking in its sterility, its lights blinking in otherworldly blue against the garage-punk strains of The Hives. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ANGI6MJOMVDDNFCYTBJACNQIBE","additional_properties":{},"content":"We watch as Charlie, a butcher played by Lauren Farrell, cleaves a large piece of meat before, through miracles of set design, her countertop becomes a romantically set table. Talk about a glow-up.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S4ZTZFWDHREOJIEBGAEPUCB74Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"Charlie’s dinner date is Victor, a builder played by Rex Ryan, who first appears like a kind of rock star, wearing a welding mask and using a lit torch. He seems to await being spoken to, and is inflexible while discussing women (he never visits them at home) and sexual education (“Knowing sucks the passion out of everything”). ","type":"text"},{"_id":"CC3EY6MAQFFR3FVHTUBNBFG3TY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Soon after they sleep together, Victor unravels, suspecting that he has a threatening rival for her affections in the form of her dog, a sociable greyhound named Wolfie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YBDJ3N23W5BQBEJO3CC4KCAZKA","additional_properties":{},"content":"The original version of the play, first seen in 1972, was by the German playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz, who has a reputation as a sobering realist. This new translation by Stephens (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-punk-rock-1.1898092\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-punk-rock-1.1898092\">Punk Rock</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-sea-wall-1.2117175\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-sea-wall-1.2117175\">Sea Wall</a>) seems to suspect more absurdist leanings. Victor’s cruelty may make Charlie think less of herself and her business, but the pair seem to be on a mutually agreed path towards oblivion. (“I’m trying to destroy you mentally,” he says. “It’s not that I’m not grateful,” she replies.) ","type":"text"},{"_id":"IO7C7GSEHJH45AYLBNISLSOL2I","additional_properties":{},"content":"That allows Ross Gaynor, the production’s director, to pivot away from an overly extreme depiction of abuse and perhaps towards a more offbeat study of relationships. We see Farrell’s face, smiling amusedly at Victor, drop into a picture of disappointment, dissatisfied with his performance. Ryan’s eyes widen, like those of a deer caught in headlights, as a vicious man listening to his girlfriend’s reasonable requests for respect is able only to exclaim, emptily, “You’re weird.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"WVNIY7MSNFBHJHRNEJA5JJAUC4","additional_properties":{},"content":"That confirms the play as an ingenious satire about commitment issues in a world of warped relationships with sex. (Charlie is too ashamed by her Catholic upbringing to masturbate; Victor refuses to perform oral sex but expects to receive it.) The production can’t quite mask troublesome scene changes or deliver the stylised violence of the play’s conclusion, but it still packs a punch.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JQX43IEFUVCPDM2AG2ZTX7GDDY","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s the silent pauses that speak loudest (Kroetz’s next play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/request-programme-1.596863\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/request-programme-1.596863\">had no words at all</a>), as Charlie smiles over at Victor while he is dressing himself. He stares emotionlessly back. What a void behind those eyes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QVPX3JDBRVGEZDG7S7UM7UGYXE","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Men’s Business is at </i><a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\"><i>Glass Mask</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, March 1st, then runs at </i><a href=\"https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/\"><i>Finborough Theatre</i></a><i>, London, from March 18th until April 12th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Rex Ryan and Lauren Farrell star in Glass Mask’s world premiere of Simon Stephens’s new play"},"display_date":"2025-02-14T10:56:21.322Z","headlines":{"basic":"Men’s Business review: Avant-garde date night pregnant with commitment issues ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI","auth":{"1":"2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106"},"focal_point":{"x":2126,"y":1634},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/14/mens-business-review-avant-garde-date-night-pregnant-with-commitment-issues/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"HVXCCVRY6BG5XAW7QQTGM6XT6Q","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":61,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/a8fe9b54-bb11-4d64-99e7-a54ed3425707/versions/1739520383/media/d26c9987fe7f7198573134b4715b286e_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/14/steve-coogan-pulls-out-of-performance-of-dr-strangelove-in-dublin/","content_elements":[{"_id":"JFIVIEGQ7VAZ5LDNF5FUVGBZ5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739517889428},"content":"Actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\">Steve Coogan</a> had to pull out of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/\">Dr Strangelove</a> at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bord-gais-energy-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bord-gais-energy-theatre/\">Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</a> last night with laryngitis. It is not known yet if he will be back for Friday night’s performance. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"LAJ54AWLEBACTIJEI47JQRLDJA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Coogan plays four parts in the production which is based on the original 1964 Stanley Kubrick classic film of the same name. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"IMZPX4ETHFENPKSRG3ONJZWVVE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Ticket holders received a text message on Thursday evening to inform them that the actor “is recovering from laryngitis and will not perform 13 Feb 2025 19.30 @BGET”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3RBUBZBLMFDTDHFI2PYYJ2EXTQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The show runs until February 22nd. It is brought to the stage by film-maker Armando Iannucci and Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"2MBCEVADYFEURKZKEFANPEW33Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Actor Ben Deery, who is known for And Then There Were None, A Street Cat Named Bob and Baldur’s Gate III, replaced Coogan on stage for last night’s show.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HCIMDTS3VJHTPB6K52HNQXOIJM","additional_properties":{},"content":"The theatre has been contacted for comment. ","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ronan McGreevy"}},"name":"Ronan McGreevy"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatregoers were told the actor has laryngitis "},"display_date":"2025-02-14T08:01:16.991Z","headlines":{"basic":"Steve Coogan pulls out of performance of Dr Strangelove in Dublin","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU","auth":{"1":"101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709"},"focal_point":{"x":1791,"y":960},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Ireland"},{"name":"Dublin"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/14/steve-coogan-pulls-out-of-performance-of-dr-strangelove-in-dublin/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"3CDUKYYRMVECTHE34MCAIK2PVE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":207,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/6da0a708-a6cd-4047-93ef-f388ff22e4a7/versions/1739181922/media/07b64dd273b7d893e8a13aa43252c3ae_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/art/review/2025/02/11/oscar-fouz-lopez-tenets-of-growing-review-watercolour-tableaux-seek-to-rejuvenate-their-subjects-through-a-nurturing-ecosystem/","content_elements":[{"_id":"Z4I4PZEDPJDGNP3WHFUQFKKJ7A","additional_properties":{},"content":"Oscar Fouz Lopez: Tenets of Growing","type":"header"},{"_id":"AKIVV3OWRBACHMLK6PXIUHWYU4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Molesworth Gallery, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"77DJMLGCCNDH5MI4EDXLRWYE2I","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"FLZYGZOFUVGZLDM5UBO2D545IY","additional_properties":{},"content":"When you think of figurative painters, portraiture often comes to mind. If your taste leans towards classical art, then you may think of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mona-lisa/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mona-lisa/\">Mona Lisa</a> or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/johannes-vermeer/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/johannes-vermeer/\">Vermeer</a>’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. If you have cultivated an interest in the artworks of the last century, then perhaps you recall <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/frida-kahlo/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/frida-kahlo/\">Frida Kahlo</a>’s self-portraits or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lucian-freud/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lucian-freud/\">Lucian Freud</a>’s studies in corpulent excess. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"XWXHVTV7QJA7TAJR2MSQY4DM74","additional_properties":{},"content":"But there is another tradition in figurative painting, one that doesn’t so much focus on the personality of its subject as render a moment of human drama tangible. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"RE4H2WBRSFDJBJDAT3WMLKO6UQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Such scenes have captured the visual imagination of painters since time immemorial, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that the Enlightenment thinker and art critic Denis Diderot coined the term “tableaux” to describe them. These paintings situate people in a dynamic environment. They imbue their subjects with narrative propulsion, creating the impression of an episode or chapter in an ongoing story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P36V7KIWIVAIJKEEWRMRIH3ECQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Oscar Fouz Lopez’s work sits comfortably in this tradition. For contemporary audiences, his work might be compared with that of David Hockney, who is undoubtedly an influence: Lopez’s painting style has a similar glow, using colour and ambient landscape in a manner that recalls the English artist.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EWDBQQ55JRGSVGGHZ6G7IIUXZU","additional_properties":{},"content":"This new exhibition is Lopez’s third for the Molesworth Gallery, a firm demonstration of the organisation’s belief in the integrity of his work. Originally from Spain, Lopez moved to Dublin in the late 2000s to study, completing a BFA and MFA here. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHZLOMEONBDZXEMJJJMGGBCU74","additional_properties":{},"content":"‘Young men aren’t just b****rds running around on their bikes ... everyone has their own dreams’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"RF7EFF46FVE6DIKX7X62SXLW5A","additional_properties":{},"content":"Though his years in Dublin were formative – he now lives in Vienna – the artist is clearly still under the spell of his homeland’s climate: all of his works are bathed in the radiant, orange-grove warmth of Mediterranean summer. In his first Molesworth exhibition, Light Catchers, his focus was night-time revelry: the artist conjured snapshots of a sprawling bacchanalia taking place at the boundary between forest and ocean. People sway and dance around flickering firepits, indifferent to the surreal apparitions of death that circle their innocent play. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"STVCQ2N6KVE7DB474CY52CIAT4","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"EOKRLJKVXNFHXAFN2FCF7MECGM","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"MYEMQ6R3PZAWDG7CUVFYJDW7DE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Lopez’s new work in Tenets of Growing both develops and relinquishes some of the formal features of his earlier output: for the most part he abandons the touches of magical realism, and he has replaced oil paints with watercolours. Nor are the paintings visual fragments of a wider, unfolding event; instead they are individual affairs, discrete moments trapped in time. They appear more mature, as though the artist has grown in confidence; his style is looser, more spontaneous. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFNGHMI7XJAEHP44A4HIFJDTVU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Lopez’s works nonetheless exhibit similar themes: a focus on joy and rejuvenation, epitomised here in the ample swatches of vegetation and flora that envelop his subjects. As the show’s title implies, the natural environment plays an important role in these tableaux. Lopez’s scenes are wonderfully low-key, as though the tranquillity of the plant life has rendered the people in the frame equally, dreamily calm. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EXG3LSTLXJHUVBP4KHJCOCPWOI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Those few paintings that retain a surrealist acidity stage these elements to amplify the sense of a nurturing ecosystem; a particularly compelling composition, The Pull, depicts a stroll through a kingdom of sculptural outgrowths that is reminiscent of a thriving coral reef.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7G6MI7TUVRDPPP5K5WGUFDGM6A","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Tenets of Growing is at the </i><a href=\"https://molesworthgallery.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://molesworthgallery.com/\"><i>Molesworth Gallery</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Thursday, March 6th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Spanish artist’s paintings both develop and relinquish some of the formal elements of his earlier work"},"display_date":"2025-02-11T09:19:40.64Z","headlines":{"basic":"Oscar Fouz Lopez: Tenets of Growing review – Watercolour tableaux seek to rejuvenate their subjects through a nurturing ecosystem","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY","auth":{"1":"3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92"},"focal_point":{"x":1115,"y":1187},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Art"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/art/review/2025/02/11/oscar-fouz-lopez-tenets-of-growing-review-watercolour-tableaux-seek-to-rejuvenate-their-subjects-through-a-nurturing-ecosystem/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/art","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Art"}}}},{"_id":"SHXXG4KVW5BG3M6TZDBR5VIULA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":433,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/cbb3652a-4e1a-4078-8ed9-544064a634a1/versions/1738753265/media/0f3a9b9a322b3cd62339408b646743ba_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/music/2025/02/10/celebrating-the-voice-expert-paul-kwak-i-live-and-breathe-singing-and-voices-all-day-long/","content_elements":[{"_id":"GSS5FABRH5BZBKGPI2FILTPLOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313818},"content":"The tip of the iceberg is an old image. But it certainly applies to singers and opera. There are long lists of credits for opera productions. But even those lists don’t tell the whole story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PIDXVVWCZVFSVDC72RHE45NP4I","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313819},"content":"The repetiteur – the pianist who plays during rehearsals – will get mentioned. But the ones who prepare the singers even before that won’t. Fitness trainers won’t, either, not even those people whose job is to ensure the health and wellness of the vocal cords, those complex, fragile skeins of tissue without which singing is just not possible.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GY3UQ6W4BVABRFSS4ADZPSMW2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313820},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tara-erraught\">Tara Erraught</a> performs at opera houses around the world. But the Irish mezzo-soprano, who is from Dundalk, Co Louth, hasn’t forgotten her roots, and she’s on a mission to fill some of the gaps she herself had to deal with through her project Celebrating the Voice, which is billed as a professional development programme for singers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BUEFLDXXC5AOBO6C2CCAB2SWB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313821},"content":"She ran it for the first time in Drogheda in 2020, just before the Covid clampdown; this year she’s bringing it to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/national-concert-hall\">National Concert Hall</a>, in Dublin, where she is an artist-in-residence.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5CNFTDLB6BDX7AF7MQCCSEO4GU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313822},"content":"She’s as interested in reaching the support networks of families and friends as the singers themselves, and she has lined up a number of experts to make presentations, including the director of <a href=\"https://www.operadeparis.fr/en\" target=\"_blank\">Paris Opera</a>, a financial and tax consultant with special experience of the arts, and a leading artist manager.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5CNFTDLB6BDX7AF7MQCCSEO4GU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313824},"content":"Two of the experts have professional profiles that are not quite as high or well understood: Paul Kwak, who is an American vocal-health and ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist, and Morgane Fauchois-Prado, a French pianist.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PLJJKGMJEBGIDEVMKCGSN5KDQE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313825},"content":"Kwak, it turns out, trained at the <a href=\"https://www.juilliard.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Juilliard School</a>, in New York, as what he calls a “collaborative pianist”, with a “kind of a view to pursuing a career in medicine, but I didn’t know quite how it would come together.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CTSML2WLA5DPXN7NTBPLDVQ32Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313826},"content":"“But that’s where I fell in love with the voice and where I fell in love with opera. And then I pursued the path of becoming a doctor and then a voice doctor. So I live and breathe singing and voices now all day long.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OHPPCOGGMFEV5BH64A3Y5T6AHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313827},"content":"It’s a good time for his kind of work. “I think in the 21st century the advance of scientific research when it comes to the anatomy and physiology of the voice is making for some increasingly multidisciplinary and fascinating conversations about singing: how we take care of singers and then by extension the culture of performance schedules down to things as minute as rehearsal schedules, the breaks people should have, how you take care of a house, how you ventilate an opera house, things like that.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TOJZPMURQNGTHAZXQAWUGUOWUU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313823},"type":"image"},{"_id":"54LHLJ3RFFFEJNJVKT47XRZMLM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313829},"content":"The big challenge, he says, “distils to the truism that every singer is as different as the body in which they come. My job would be much easier if I could look at a pair of vocal cords and make a determination about what to do, or determine that by what role the singer is singing. Or how old the singer is. Or what race the singer is.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WP3TM6RPFRELDDR5YEQ5QE7RKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313830},"content":"“You could take five sopranos who are singing Mimì in La Bohème. You could give them the same food. You could have them sleep the same amount. Keep them on the same medication regimen. Have them study with the same teacher. Do the same exercise regimen. And their vocal cords may look completely different.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZNTGKSUGBC2HG4PGAUALSHPTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313831},"content":"“And that is because the way that the vocal cords respond to challenge, to inflammation, to stress, the ways that they recover, is very much rooted in the individual inflammatory pathways and wound-healing pathways of each body.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GLPIHVJFEVHQVC6OKHUZSUHMXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313832},"content":"“What that boils down to is that my work is ultimately as much art as science, if not more art than science. Because I’m making decisions that have to incorporate not just the pathology but the schedule. What are we trying to get to? Is the performance that’s three days away most important or is it the performance that’s 14 days away? What are we going to tell the house? Each clinical encounter is about much more than just the sum of the vocal parts.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RQLCOAHGAFG6BFQOSAEKXIFAKY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313833},"content":"There are things about the profession that Kwak would like to alter. “I would change perhaps back to a de-emphasis of the physical appearance of the singer and emphasise the primacy of the voice and the vocalism.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IERJMRMUFZHAVPXKTJTPGALYR4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313834},"content":"“The advent of live and HD cinema transmissions has caused a bit of a skew toward people who look the part rather than sound the part. I hear what people say about not believing that a Mimì who has tuberculosis and on her deathbed is going to be 400lb and can’t move around the stage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RSSCDJWB7ZAVLALPGP6CY43AYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313835},"content":"“But I do think we’ve gone a little far in the other direction and perhaps showcased voices before they were ready, voices that weren’t necessarily right for the vocal role just because they looked a certain way.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2CUIJ3KO6JESBGXZNVB2F4ZKAU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313836},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"LDUGFCLNAZD3ZP7NFXQRUY77DI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313837},"content":"Fauchois-Prado started piano at the age of seven and, like Finghin Collins, ended up studying with Dominique Merlet in Geneva. “I like the piano,” she says, “because you can do anything on it. You don’t depend on anyone. And then I realised that, while I was self-sufficient on the piano, it wasn’t enough. I was already playing with fellow singer students, and I enjoyed it immensely.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"GLWVRX2UW5EPNDLT6HQNMOOEDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313838},"content":"So she did the vocal-accompaniment class at the <a href=\"https://www.conservatoiredeparis.fr/en\" target=\"_blank\">Paris Conservatoire</a>, “and my main teacher there told me, ‘I think you have a thing with opera, so you should try the opera studio at the best opera.’ And I got in as a trainee repetiteur.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YWUHGZK23VCQ3IVUTH34RN7FFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313839},"content":"“But before that I used to make a living playing in the restaurant called the <a href=\"https://lebelcanto.com/en/\" target=\"_blank\">Bel Canto</a> with singers disguised as waitresses. So I read through a lot of repertoire there, and then I got into the opera studio. It was like a calling. I finally felt at home. I’m a team person.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"U4WRYRC5BZCF7KJOFFCCWNMGFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313840},"content":"Her best advice for anyone pursuing a musical career in opera? “Choose the repertoire wisely. I think that’s the most important. It’s like being true to yourself. So I was being true to myself when I chose to work with singers. For singers it has to do with knowing your abilities and your limits, and it has everything to do with the repertoire choice.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"WTTGX5EGEVCZJFLG3YN4UT4GCI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313841},"content":"A hard call if you’re young and the role you’re offered is not one you’re comfortable with.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UFQZPUQMXZCFNFORPSRSZOLJZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313842},"content":"Fauchois-Prado talks with great passion about working on Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Debussy’s Pélleas et Mélisande, and is hugely fired up about bringing younger audiences to opera. “I’m a strong believer in everything that has to do with presenting operas in schools, having schools come to rehearsals and talk to the artists.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZNVO74BHQNCXRM3BKQPCMX7S7U","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313843},"content":"She is frank about the worst of the challenges she faces as a vocal coach and repetiteur. “I guess having to work with people that you don’t feel a connection with. When you work in the field of arts and living arts, it’s all about the people. So if you have to build a shield to protect yourself from malevolent people, someone that you have no artistic connection whatsoever with ... that’s the most challenging. Because you have to do it. You have to work and you have to rehearse and you have to coach singers even if they don’t want to.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"EM4SZ5OYOZC3NGNLJGFAVDQ5WY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313844},"content":"She talks about working with a singer “who spent more time telling me about her love affairs and misadventures than actually working”, and about a conductor who was “a complete asshole. Sorry, excuse my French. There’s no other word. It was really hard.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4NTUXKATRRDLDMWBX2VZH5MZQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313845},"content":"<i>Celebrating the Voice, with masterclasses, presentations and concerts, is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.nch.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>National Concert Hall</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Monday, February 10th, to Friday, February 14th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Michael Dervan"}},"name":"Michael Dervan"}]},"description":{"basic":"With her National Concert Hall programme, the mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught is on a mission to fill gaps in the way singers are trained and cared for"},"display_date":"2025-02-10T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Celebrating the Voice expert Paul Kwak: ‘I live and breathe singing and voices all day long’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q","auth":{"1":"0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/music/2025/02/10/celebrating-the-voice-expert-paul-kwak-i-live-and-breathe-singing-and-voices-all-day-long/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/music","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Music"}}}},{"_id":"DDV2LKHGIZAIJJQFPPEFYPUBUE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":277,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/29970a8d-6592-4fa3-b11e-5ac0156fca63/versions/1739017162/media/9c2a37153c47b9b094b731bdb7cf4203_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/actor-tony-roberts-who-often-worked-with-woody-allen-dies-aged-85/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ZHO2H4QXNNBEDAYYLBJH67PJEE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297507},"content":"Tony Roberts, a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tony-awards/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Award</a>-nominated theatre performer who appeared in several <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/woody-allen/\" target=\"_blank\">Woody Allen</a> movies, has died aged 85.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FWXGB2F2QRF7JKVKFA26KPZHIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297508},"content":"Roberts’ death was announced to the New York Times by his daughter, Nicole Burley.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5LOI6ZXJNG3DMVMRRFTKU5BYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297509},"content":"Roberts had a genial stage personality perfect for musical comedy and he originated roles in such diverse Broadway musicals as How Now, Dow Jones; Sugar, an adaptation of the movie Some Like It Hot, and Victor/Victoria, in which he co-starred with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/julie-andrews/\" target=\"_blank\">Julie Andrews</a> when she returned to Broadway in the stage version of her popular film.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2ZE7JUZGIJCVNK3GRM3KCOHJGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297510},"content":"He was also in the campy, roller-disco Xanadu in 2007 and The Royal Family in 2009.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D7MS7OWYG5BRXCQKZJEWHQ2XBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297512},"content":"“I’ve never been particularly lucky at card games. I’ve never hit a jackpot. But I have been extremely lucky in life,” he wrote in his memoir, Do You Know Me?.","type":"text"},{"_id":"J275GVOWSFAADA5FTZ7YT3DF54","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297513},"content":"“Unlike many of my pals, who didn’t know what they wanted to become when they grew up, I knew I wanted to be an actor before I got to high school.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IYVC73TV5NGMJL6EOCSRVSR3UE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297514},"content":"Roberts also appeared on Broadway in the 1966 Woody Allen comedy Don’t Drink The Water, repeating his role in the film version, and in Allen’s Play It Again, Sam, for which he also made the movie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CXPLQVEJXFDZDPOEZLEFYMMBJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297515},"content":"Other Allen films in which Roberts appeared were Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Hannah And Her Sisters and Radio Days.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QH3S2N5HIRFIPH4PPSIZC7GU5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297516},"content":"“Roberts’ confident on-screen presence – not to mention his tall frame, broad shoulders and brown curly mane – was the perfect foil for Allen’s various neurotic characters, making them more funny and enjoyable to watch,” The Jewish Daily Forward wrote in 2016.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PXQVPKJUGMDYYHUB4PWMC452OU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297511},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5QEUN755WNHHDCTF2M4BXB5PEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297517},"content":"In Eric Lax’s book Woody Allen: A Biography, Roberts recalled a complicated scene in A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy that Allen shot over and over – even after the film had been edited – to get his intended effect.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ESB6PUYYDZDYDHCDSHCFTWJ74Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297518},"content":"“When you go back to see [Allen’s work] two, three, four times, you begin to see the amazing amount of art in it, that nothing is accidental,” Roberts said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KE5ZM5UFTZC6NCAGGRLYMYFJTQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297519},"content":"Among his other movies were Serpico and The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6U5TQV4F3VHLTEEE7MEH36TU3Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297520},"content":"He was nominated twice for a Tony Award – for How Now, Dow Jones and Play It Again, Sam, when he was billed as Anthony Roberts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YNGUCCVD5BHAJCZSGWBIDTXWQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297521},"content":"Roberts, who made his Broadway debut in 1962 in the short-lived Something About A Soldier, also was a replacement in some of its longest-running hits including Barefoot In The Park, Promises, Promises, They’re Playing Our Song, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, The Sisters Rosensweig and the 1998 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Cabaret.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QVJVYRZZMFFTDJHJBNWP4ZNWBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297522},"content":"“I was lucky enough to get in on the last years of the Golden Age of Broadway. In that era there was a lot more going on that seemed to have high quality about it and great conviction,” he told Broadway World in 2015.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LAQWJU7SPFCGBDNIT2I33O77V4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297523},"content":"In London, he starred with Betty Buckley in the West End production of Promises, Promises, playing the Jack Lemmon role in this stage version of The Apartment.","type":"text"},{"_id":"54BXHN2CQZDFPO5HPKBTGBEX44","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297524},"content":"Roberts’ television credits include the short-lived series The Four Seasons and The Lucie Arnaz Show as well as guest spots on such well-known shows as Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5BC27C5OXJHDROOZXJ2DDQMXHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297525},"content":"Roberts was born in New York on October 22nd, 1939, the son of radio and television announcer Ken Roberts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DELC77QI4BFXVIQ36ZSAH7UFOQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297526},"content":"“I was raised in the middle of a lot of actor talk,” he told the AP in 1985. “My cousin was Everett Sloane, who was a very fine actor. My father’s friends were mostly actors. I’m sure that in some way I needed to prove myself in their eyes.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"LHATXCZRJNGZJFMNR72QLCJH6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297527},"content":"He attended the High School of Music and Art in New York and graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BVQCFCY4RRE53FMXJV24FI6DUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297528},"content":"His marriage to Jennifer Lyons ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughter, the actor Nicole Burley.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4PATG2UQJBB6NPRP2AK3BX74AU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297529},"content":"He first met Allen backstage when he was starring in Barefoot In The Park, having replaced Robert Redford.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BBEZQCBBIJALPJUO4EIEPQYC7E","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297530},"content":"Roberts had unsuccessfully auditioned four times for Allen’s first Broadway play, Don’t Drink The Water.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OYCYZ6AAVBEEFO2Y3WSDRLNLPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297531},"content":"Seeing Roberts perform in Barefoot In The Park convinced Allen that Roberts was worth casting.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6RUDK3ULMJGMFFLEZC7UJVV5M4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297532},"content":"According to his memoir, Allen told him, “You were great. How come you’re such a lousy auditioner?” – PA","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"name":"Mark Kennedy, Associated Press"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Tony Award-nominated theatre performer made his Broadway debut in 1962"},"display_date":"2025-02-08T12:14:13.021Z","headlines":{"basic":"Actor Tony Roberts, who often worked with Woody Allen, dies aged 85","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U","auth":{"1":"4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/actor-tony-roberts-who-often-worked-with-woody-allen-dies-aged-85/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"QS3Q2S3FNZE6RJYMTC5JDE3FYI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":525,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/af926f7a-dae2-4288-a9ac-55b451750758/versions/1738621702/media/afe3b6c8c3d5e2a86ea52264f8b0f8ad_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/begin-anywhere-its-like-your-daughter-was-told-her-dress-wouldnt-arrive-until-the-day-of-the-wedding-but-its-a-dior/","content_elements":[{"_id":"DPZWAZS5WJA35HNGNWSMTFA5KM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Close collaborators in the past, the composer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mel-mercier/\" target=\"_blank\">Mel Mercier</a> and the choreographer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-scott/\" target=\"_blank\">John Scott</a> have parted ways for their latest project, Begin Anywhere. Not because of any disagreement, but because they are honouring their personal and artistic connections with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-cage/\" target=\"_blank\">John Cage</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/merce-cunningham/\" target=\"_blank\">Merce Cunningham</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C32VG62OP5DBHIX6N2DDYHCZOY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The late American pair famously worked independently when collaborating: composer Cage and choreographer Cunningham did not discuss their artistic ideas before or during the act of creation. Cunningham’s dancers would often hear the music for the first time on opening night.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WLZ2QB76FNFWFEXRMRXX75EPWM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In this way Cage’s music and other theatrical elements would not follow the dance, but would coexist on the stage at the same time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5NIYJNCGC5BWZEOYHGC7XKJVRI","additional_properties":{},"content":"No single art form would be subservient to the other; instead, all would receive equal attention.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RU43AQ4SSVHJ5K6GEXDREDRYEM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Cunningham knew that, working with composers such as Cage and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/morton-feldman/\" target=\"_blank\">Morton Feldman</a> and artists such as <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/andy-warhol/\" target=\"_blank\">Andy Warhol</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/robert-rauschenberg/\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Rauschenberg</a>, each artist’s contribution would stand on its own terms. Speaking to The Irish Times in 2002, Cunningham quoted <a href=\"https://epaper.irishtimes.com/titles/irishtimes/5088/publications/26577/pages/12\" target=\"_blank\">Feldman’s justification</a> of this working process: “It’s like your daughter was getting married and was told that her wedding dress wouldn’t arrive until the day of the wedding ... but it’s a Dior!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YKLMSFJ2OND7RKETXL6KZXNS4Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mercier has first-hand experience of seeing this process in action. In 1979 his father, Peadar, who had played bodhrán with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-chieftains/\" target=\"_blank\">The Chieftains</a>, received a phone call from Cage, “who asked my father if he would come into the Radio Centre in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rte/\" target=\"_blank\">RTÉ</a>, where he was recording some traditional musicians for a new piece called Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake”, Mercier says. His father asked if Mercier could also come along, and Cage agreed.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QW5JZKOTRBFC7LCPP2YJEAZJOQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“When we arrived we expected to see other musicians, but it was just me, my father, John Cage and his sound engineer, John Fullemann. Cage simply asked us to play. So we sat down and played jig rhythms and reel rhythms on the bodhráns, which they recorded.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4VZ4BZFWFNHYPIBW3OJEAKD2B4","additional_properties":{"_id":"NB3GONIMK5FQPF57AHKAHYKAFY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"E5UQNOZURRGU3M3YR5RUIQAGHQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Some months later they got another call. This time they were asked to go to the Pompidou Centre, Paris, with the singer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-heaney/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Heaney</a>, the uilleann piper <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/seamus-ennis/\" target=\"_blank\">Séamus Ennis</a> and the fiddler <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paddy-glackin/\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Glackin</a> for the first live performance of the piece. (It had originally been commissioned for German radio.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"FPUOL76TSFEDRCSQVMZBCRPTIQ","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"GUOQFU6FXVFJHPLLRXR23A76AI","additional_properties":{},"content":"It was the first time the Merciers heard the entire piece of music.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IHJ7EYUSMBESBJSH6UMZXZUBIQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“We had read a little about it, so we knew that Cage had recorded around 3,000 or 4,000 different sounds, all connected to Finnegans Wake. He had travelled around Ireland, collecting sounds with Fullemann, while also gathering recordings from archives worldwide,” Mercier says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HALDZRGIEVB2TJK5AVMGMP63VA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“He also had created his own vocal score, which he recited in an intoned style. Sometimes his voice would come through clearly, and at other times it was drowned out by the layered sounds. At moments the soundscape was chaotic, but then it would quieten down to something as simple as a blackbird’s song.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UZMHBQEJMNEQVPV6V7QCR3EP5Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"“For me this turned everything on its head. The biggest revelation was the idea that anything could be music: a motorbike crossing a bridge, a blackbird’s call, Paddy Glackin playing a reel on the fiddle, or John Cage’s voice, sometimes audible, sometimes lost in the layers of sound, but always elusive in meaning. It was all part of the same sonic world.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YKVHCKVM45CYPJ3NFER7PDOKOE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“That realisation completely opened my ears. It changed the way I understood sound, not just as music but as colour, as texture, as composition. I still carry that with me today.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OKUHW6FSDFD5XGOSEXL753QSQU","additional_properties":{"_id":"G4EHSHJU6FAC7CE4IKSPEOUWI4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"HSTQLZDIFBDSJHMKG7RMJEFMAY","additional_properties":{},"content":"This sonic democracy, where every sound had equal importance, also applied to the five musicians who were asked to play in bursts of two to three minutes, but never at the same time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6S3PLMS3ZJEGVPXZ2UD2EJGDZ4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Everything I knew about music was rooted in playing together<i>. </i>As a bodhrán player I was used to accompanying others, responding to melodies, fitting into a shared rhythm. But now I had to resist that pull. I had to create an independent, autonomous space within the soundscape and not be drawn into anyone else’s rhythms.","type":"text"},{"_id":"R65NTBV4ONG4PEEK36P5TCIWSU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“For the first time the bodhrán had a place of equal importance among all the other instruments. There was a kind of parity of esteem across the entire soundscape that was both liberating and exhilarating.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BWTM2SHQJ5G4VHWDIT2DFN2WTI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Cunningham has had a similar influence on Scott, who first saw the Merce Cunningham Dance Company live in 1997, when they performed a piece called Ocean at the newly opened Waterfront Hall in Belfast.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MUXP2JMED5DP7GV3WKXAK4LUEU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Rather than seeing a work by an old choreographer at the end of their career, I saw dance that was vital and exciting,” Scott says. He then travelled to see the company whenever possible, attending rehearsals and meeting Cunningham. “I couldn’t say that I was a friend. He was approachable-slash-unapproachable. But sometimes after a performance you would be told that Merce wanted to see you, and he would say a few words to you.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"G5ZXYZUWGBGFLKH2MSQO3YWYCQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Scott developed a working relationship with two members of the company, Ashley Chen and Cheryl Therrien, who had a strong influence on Scott’s own choreography as well as easing the way for his company to perform some of Cunningham’s works, which are usually difficult to license from the <a href=\"https://www.mercecunningham.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Merce Cunningham Trust</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TNOW7SWG4FBC5PJ2G2YYC2PMY4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Scott and Mercier have collaborated on original works before, but a few years ago they decided to further explore the worlds of Cage and Cunningham.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2MHVYOONIRFRPALNSKQZOXFZTE","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"7Y47D46ILFCWFONIIH7HNK5FFM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In 2022 an Arts Council award allowed them to travel to the <a href=\"https://irishartscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Arts Center</a> in New York, where Patricia Lent, a director of the trust and, from 1984 to 1993, a member of Cunningham’s company, taught the late choreographer’s methodologies to Scott and five dancers. Meanwhile, Mercier collaborated with some local musicians.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DFSYI6GUDRECHBIZ7OP3V3FISE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“On the final Friday we held an informal showing,” Scott says. “Initially we thought this project might be a way to explore an evocation of Roaratorio, but by the end we realised something different was emerging.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IFAJXV6KE5DRFCEBBIDQUKSP2Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"What materialised was a new work, Begin Anywhere, commissioned by the Irish Arts Center and based on the Cunningham and Cage collaborations. Lent has also curated and arranged four Cunningham solos into a cohesive event. “They are from RainForest, Travelogue and Changeling, which has an almost surreal quality, and a solo Merce created after visiting the zoo, filled with strange, animalistic movements,” Scott says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VFS64ITDLZGCJLTTFAV4BQSIHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"7H767SR36BD37N37RLJC664JKQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CFD2UT7MP5DJ5GRCZNC2EJKN4E","additional_properties":{},"content":"The music for these solos has been written – independently, of course – by the New York composer <a href=\"https://www.johnkingmusic.com/\" target=\"_blank\">John King</a>. “He has composed 19 minutes of music, but the dance is about 16 minutes, so we’ll just fade the music down when the dance is over,” Scott says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5RPQ5IMWCRGZTGPLOSYDSCUKVQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"For Begin Anywhere, Mercier is working with diverse Irish-based musicians Kevin McNally, Mick O’Shea and Claudia Schwab as well as the Cork sound artist Danny McCarthy, who has created a cassette-tape audio piece.","type":"text"},{"_id":"L3RS273SCJDG5CKFWXBRGPJWJ4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“All three musicians are great improvisers, and that’s at the heart of the project,” Mercier says. “While we’re not relying on chance procedures like those sometimes used by Cage or Cunningham, or traditional methods like the I Ching, the improvisational nature of the collaboration will naturally lead to a level of chance in the music. The performance will differ each time, shaped by the shared improvisation between the musicians.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UB5GKA2LXNFMRCSTRL6NOBTU4Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"For the premiere in New York, Scott is working with the Irish and New York-based dancers Vinícius Martins Araújo, Morgan Amirah Burns, Boris Charrion, Magdalena Hylak, François Malbranque and Ryan O’Neill. In addition Mercier has interviewed eight former members of the Merce Cunningham Company, whose voices feature in the soundscape.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SD3SMW4ZWRHY5EEJ5ESK6F2AKU","additional_properties":{},"content":"As Mercier and Scott have been working independently, the only common structure for their music and dance is the duration of the performance. Both believe that this working process is as valid today as when Cage and Cunningham worked together, more than 40 years ago. And both leave a personal artistic legacy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"US53SX5V45GDNIMPTODCL3EMMU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“What inspires me about Merce is how he kept going,” Scott says. “He had no money in the 1960s, but kept turning up to the studio every day. That was what was important. Keep going on.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TZ4WYOB27BHA7JBFIYFJRYVZIY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mercier says: “I think of John Cage and how he lived his life. The courage he had and the resilience he must have needed to be able to challenge the way he did. That requires a kind of passion for life and for discovery. But also courage. And I think that is a source of inspiration just as much today as it was 50 years ago.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FKEUHW6DEFBEDCA4FCJ3JQQZK4","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Begin Anywhere and Four Solos is at the </i><a href=\"https://irishartscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Irish Arts Center</i></a><i>, New York, from </i><i>February 12th to </i><i> </i><i>16th; then tours to </i><a href=\"https://tht.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Black Box</i></a><i>, Galway, on </i><i>February 25th; </i><a href=\"https://dancelimerick.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Dance Limerick</i></a><i>, </i><i>March 8th and </i><i> 9th; </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, </i><i>from March 11th to </i><i> 15th; and </i><a href=\"https://www.civictheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Civic Theatre</i></a><i>, Tallaght, Co Dublin, on </i><i>March 18th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Michael Seaver"}},"name":"Michael Seaver"}]},"description":{"basic":"Choreographer John Scott and composer Mel Mercier have adopted techniques of Merce Cunningham and John Cage for new collaboration"},"display_date":"2025-02-08T05:17:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Begin Anywhere: ‘It’s like your daughter was told her dress wouldn’t arrive until the day of the wedding – but it’s a Dior!’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ","auth":{"1":"e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b"},"focal_point":{"x":2325,"y":2262},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/begin-anywhere-its-like-your-daughter-was-told-her-dress-wouldnt-arrive-until-the-day-of-the-wedding-but-its-a-dior/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"24ZAJJFY7ZCO7BDRAUYPLM7J6E","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":197,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/8b2920bd-15ca-4ec6-afc3-1ae8765c30e8/versions/1738927463/media/ece80141db4e92953282f41091e52395_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/aurora-a-modern-myth-review-an-ecoaware-play-with-a-surprising-amount-of-sass/","content_elements":[{"_id":"66X72RRPWNALDG3ZSIJYNN3DVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066600},"content":"Aurora: A Modern Myth","type":"header"},{"_id":"P7HOWOJNSRFA3L4AZZOAPEI6BM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066601},"content":"Space Upstairs, Project Arts Centre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"5LGYDSLEIJHTLBLJR3POR6SLPU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066602},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"674UHSGDSRHNNOANOGSH5LPJVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066603},"content":"In the transition from childhood to adulthood, when the sensible morals of children’s books recede to reveal a complicated world exploited for profit, an obvious question might be: who wouldn’t grow up angry?","type":"text"},{"_id":"PNTFUO3ZARESVHWVS7JTZEEWG4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066604},"content":"Someone who’s irate is Cass, the woman at the centre of Aurora,<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/prime-cut-productions/\" target=\"_blank\"> Prime Cut’s</a> new production, who at one point describes the end of her childhood, a period when the events of her favourite storybooks had seemed to come to life while she was playing carefree in village fields. “It was our turn in the world … at a time when we thought we had a turn,” she says (jaded with age, in Meghan Tyler’s performance).","type":"text"},{"_id":"LE2UNPG4G5ALZI4S5L75OQZP7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066605},"content":"One of the beloved children’s books Cass believed were real was The Lonely Tree, a fable about a tree that learns how to use its root system to connect with a larger forest. She tries to hold on to its reassuring moral – “When you ask for help, it always comes” – as the real-life tree becomes endangered, standing in the path of a new gold mine outside the village.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E2SRVL2TWZDXDNXTQPSCOY3K6I","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066606},"content":"Cass may have grown up, but playwright Dominic Montague and director Emma Jordan insist on the fancies of children’s fantasy, like a fairy-tale that has grown into dubious adulthood. The tree, in the video design of animation students from Ulster University’s school of art, glows unnaturally between snow-white and neon purple, as if viewed through an acid trip. There’s also a talking badger with an attitude (“What’s with yer man calling me shifty?”).","type":"text"},{"_id":"VFSPDYTGNNBVVEXN3UKGRYAMDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066607},"content":"The plot jumps back and forth in time, between scenes in a police interrogation room, where Cass pluckily resists questioning about the disappearance of gold worth a king’s ransom, and her preceding camp-out at the tree, where she’s determined to stay day and night, protecting it from destruction. “This journey is not about activism, about protest. It’s about friendship,” she says. “It’s not about you having a breakdown?” asks her assistant, Drew (nicely played by Thomas Finnegan).","type":"text"},{"_id":"3FCUZNH52FDIREX2AXMM7HY4IM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066608},"content":"Such sass papers over a lot of cracks. Drew’s role is as barely more than a messenger, bringing back reports from the village to explain how the demonstration is finding supporters. Similarly, Cass’s brother, Conn (a man indifferent to the town, who escaped to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\">United States</a>, played by Connor O’Donnell), arrives, ultimately, as an expositional device, eliciting her personal history: her grief about losing their parents; and her hopelessness as a young person with no future in a country where she can’t get a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mortgages/\" target=\"_blank\">mortgage</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WCBYEOCEDRHJTK4YXSP2UUMJ4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066609},"content":"As Cass grows in confidence as a folk hero, Montague’s script becomes an uneven mix of capitalist critique and environmental philosophy, turning to astronomical observations for solace: everything’s just atoms on the same journey through the universe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N2FN7GQIMJF5DCTVHWICCSUWO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066610},"content":"The intended impact doesn’t land, but Montague has an almost admirable disregard for playwriting rules. “Do you know what they call what you’re doing?” Conn tells his sister. “Hubris.” “Do you know what they call what you’re doing?” Cass replies. “Eating a bag of d*cks!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TPOPYAHTIBGUZKLN2MFXDTGMBU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066611},"content":"Seeing Aurora is certainly not a boring way to spend time on this planet.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3B2KTZCYP5FQVNUPMQMH3JFDMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066612},"content":"<i>Aurora is at </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, February 8th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Prime Cut’s production of Dominic Montague’s play doesn’t always work, but it’s definitely not dull"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T11:19:08.612Z","headlines":{"basic":"Aurora: A Modern Myth review – An ecoaware play with a surprising amount of sass","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI","auth":{"1":"c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/aurora-a-modern-myth-review-an-ecoaware-play-with-a-surprising-amount-of-sass/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"P4RGF33R7RC3RBBNXDZRTMVWX4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":222,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/62f66bb7-8225-4fc4-8333-3d56e95aa876/versions/1738926213/media/e242e79bf38de4508d50a5cb4b2057d3_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/","content_elements":[{"_id":"QUV7PDKRRNB6VAZIBEHRHGIJBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131305},"content":"Dr Strangelove","type":"header"},{"_id":"KCN6IUUIFVBFRAGPT7XQ4OUUVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131306},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"4OUPIE7CONAR7NR25D2DD6JU3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131307},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"5KZAPW5LMVHRNHKTXB5536E654","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131308},"content":"An unpredictable <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/russia/\" target=\"_blank\">Russian</a> leader. An ineffectual <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/\" target=\"_blank\">US</a> president. An adviser who can’t restrain himself from doing a one-armed Nazi salute. Another convinced fluoridation is poisoning the world...","type":"text"},{"_id":"YSUDDDBDCBAHTFRWDOIUJE63CQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131309},"content":"The far-fetched scenario of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stanley-kubrick/\" target=\"_blank\">Stanley Kubrick’s</a> cold-war satire Dr Strangelove is so familiar to the current political moment that it has the potential to be not very funny at all. But where Kubrick’s film was po-faced in its approach, allowing American terror of potential nuclear war to reach absurdist heights, this stage adaptation by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/armando-iannucci/\" target=\"_blank\">Armando Iannucci</a> and Seán Foley (who also directs) leans into broad physical comedy instead. What can one do in the face of the current global political reality, the writers suggest, but laugh?","type":"text"},{"_id":"HVNPAAISYVDENAGFLJSMUYERDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131310},"content":"Kubrick’s 1964 feature was a tightly constructed 90 minutes; the pair’s script keeps things taut, although they also indulge their love of wordplay and doublespeak, providing a rich vein of verbal humour throughout the pacy drama: General Ripper’s strategies for annihilating the communist threat posed by Russia include “pretaliation”; when faced with certain sudden death, Dr Strangelove, the president’s scientific adviser, who has defected from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/germany/\" target=\"_blank\">Germany</a>, urges the Americans to stop being defeatist and channel can-do vibes instead.","type":"text"},{"_id":"625YDXDT6ZGFFFLP4YLBHYW3DA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131311},"content":"Where the play does elaborate on the source material, it’s not because of unnecessary plot twists but to facilitate the transformation of the production’s star, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Coogan</a>, who betters <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/peter-sellers/\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Sellers</a> by performing four roles against the three of his screen predecessor.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EEIBVOM2AFBGRNMSLUK4F4FV2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131312},"content":"Coogan needs no introduction here (nor to a predominantly male audience, who whoop and cheer as soon as he steps on the stage), and the range of roles allows him to showcase the breadth of his comic capacity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GNEKGNKUEJAPPL2KFMB2HWGE4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131313},"content":"As Captain Mandrake he is stiff-upper-lipped and stiff-limbed, terrified of every tremor as the battle rages outside Camp Burpelson. As Major Kong, riding his torpedo like a rodeo bull, he is the archetypal military hero, pumped up on testosterone and thoughts of his future glory.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MMQOH425CBHYHNEG7KF4AI4ZYE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131314},"content":"As the weak President Muffley he makes less of an impact, perhaps because that character spends so much time in the wings, yielding the floor to Coogan’s Dr Strangelove, the most memorable of his characterisations. Despite his titular status, Strangelove is a shadowy figure in Kubrick’s film. Here he is the star of the show: bespectacled and silver-wigged, nimbly navigating the stage in his wheelchair.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3YGZDGPJMVHPZFDEP6NNTIO2A4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131315},"content":"Coogan’s bravura, shape-shifting performance is facilitated by an excellent supporting cast, including Giles Terera as General Turgidson and Tony Jayawardena as the Russian ambassador, Bakov, as well as by Hildegard Bechtler’s set and costumes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TEXGCZYSK5AE5AR5B2KJYJOMGE","additional_properties":{"_id":"AMU3GNXRPFE3FO3KTA7WL6XFFA"},"content":"‘Watch your step’: Steve Coogan takes Patrick Freyne backstage at Dr Strangelove","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"E63UB5YDMJFH3EPPAELR5RARA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131316},"content":"It is unfortunate that the net effect of Iannucci and Foley’s adaptation is so flat. Although the political backdrop of the story needs no update, there was an opportunity to do something more with it, such as interrogate the hypermasculinity of the military world on which the imagined future of humanity depends.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MRFCALUF6FBWVHO7OIZFY6VBBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131317},"content":"Iannucci and Foley make a small acknowledgment of the grossly gendered world that they have brought to life on stage – and that the characters aspire to in their bunkered future – but they seem happy enough to just entertain the audience rather than challenge it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JIC7KVRM7FEPHH3KXWPHGAUUEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131318},"content":"<i>Dr Strangelove is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, February 22nd</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Armando Iannucci and Seán Foley’s production of Stanley Kubrick’s political satire leans into broad physical comedy"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T10:58:27.988Z","headlines":{"basic":"Dr Strangelove in Dublin review: Steve Coogan gives a bravura performance, but the play around him falls a little flat","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU","auth":{"1":"101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"B73N3OHHBVAMBI3T7JD4FOQ5HQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":293,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/896424dc-cb29-4818-b34b-f5daeff91cd1/versions/1738850405/media/7877135aa55269a83419aa40f3da6789_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/","content_elements":[{"_id":"5UDGHCJ2SZBCVIKGSSIXB6TB7I","additional_properties":{},"content":"On Monday the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, launched an attack on the “insane priorities” of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-biden/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Biden’s</a> administration when it came to spending American money overseas through USAid, a federal agency that <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-f-kennedy/\" target=\"_blank\">John F Kennedy</a> established when he was president.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IOMUX3SIURD37AUQBLJJKPIGTE","additional_properties":{},"content":"USAid, aka the United States Agency for International Development, has attracted the attention of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/elon-musk/\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk</a>, whose “department of government efficiency” claims to be aiming to cut the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\">United States’</a> federal budget by a third.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LEDGQG5CLJBHJG5BE4676R3RSQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"To do this he will have to take on more than USAid, whose overall expenditure of $50 billion a year is a puny fraction of the trillions spent by the US government. But USAid presents an attractive target that appeals to voters who are less than keen on giving money to foreigners.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B6BRHT2IM5B2VHBKAFALJIX4AE","additional_properties":{},"content":"While the bulk of the agency’s budget goes toward health, education and anti-poverty programmes in poor countries, it also makes cultural grants – which are what attracted Leavitt’s scorn this week: “$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces,” she read out, referring to one of several diversity, equity and inclusion projects; “$70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZKVRYYACTJBHTKSFINOOCM2HIE","subtype":"twitter","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"4SFJKW7EF5CWDFKA2YL6BYG5QM","additional_properties":{},"content":"She also said: “If you look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAid in the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that that organisation has been spending money on.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPVKZ4WB35E3RAYOXGGIEJDVBM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Noses twitched immediately in Ireland at the second item on her list. The transgender Colombian opera singers could look after themselves, but what was this about a DEI Irish musical? It wasn’t long before our old friends the internet sleuths had established that the €67,500 or so in question had gone to a production company associated with the Other Voices festival.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZCEXYJQCKNGJHAYZWPBGSTZ6OI","additional_properties":{"_id":"ZWRQHQVOKJCYXHGHYX5JVSGJUU"},"content":"Are we at the beginning of Donald Trump’s global trade war?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"PG4IE4ULLBA63KIJVM3RVQHOGA","additional_properties":{},"content":"By this stage Irish racist Twitter was fully aroused and pointing the finger at any production that didn’t have an all-white cast. And lunatic Catholic Twitter was doing the same for any show that had dared to mention <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mother-baby-homes/\" target=\"_blank\">mother and baby homes</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GY6LCD7XI5ECNKWSCYVSSOZ2SY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The woke extravaganza in question was actually something called Dignity, a live-streamed set of performances from the US ambassador’s residence in the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/phoenix-park/\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix Park</a> in September 2022 that featured, among others, the American folk musician <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rhiannon-giddens/\" target=\"_blank\">Rhiannon Giddens</a>, the Italian instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, the singer-songwriter <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mick-flannery/\" target=\"_blank\">Mick Flannery</a> and the fiddler <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/martin-hayes/\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Hayes</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KK5ENXSNYFC5BHWLPFGYSKQHKU","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"V5EJJZZXYZBTZJZMTRG7C7EQ2I","additional_properties":{},"content":"Having examined the evidence on YouTube, I regret to inform you that there is nothing about white fragility, queer theory or any of the other progressive shibboleths that have attained the same status in this White House that the dictatorship of the proletariat had for the un-American activities committee of the US House of Representatives in the late 1940s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ALHTO7D34BFD5HWWEQYI6EIZZA","additional_properties":{},"content":"It is certainly true that the accompanying <a href=\"https://www.othervoices.ie/events/other-voices-dignity-live-from-the-u-s-ambassadors-residence-dublin\" target=\"_blank\">promotional bumf</a> for the gig (which was sponsored by the well-known radical agitators <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/coca-cola/\" target=\"_blank\">Coca-Cola</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pwc/\" target=\"_blank\">PwC</a>, among others) was full of the sort of platitudes that were so in vogue in the faraway days of the early 2020s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6G26MI565NCQXCVXK2JRXA3ESQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“The Biden administration is committed to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access,” we were informed. “With this event we aim to highlight and celebrate the work that the embassy, the Irish Government and our partners are doing to advance DEI throughout Irish society. These ideals have long underpinned the strong relationship between both countries.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"E2AWO3XILNHDPKM34YMZTS63MM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Not any more.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DBMPAIXPVJGWDEDY7NODFU3RNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"It has already become a truism, but the United States’ 180-degree turn over the past three weeks is more akin to regime change in a dictatorship than the peaceful transfer of power in a democracy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PQI53ETUHVDUDAC56EEEQCNYYM","additional_properties":{},"content":"That poses a challenge for everyone. It is not surprising that the businesses that were happy to incorporate DEI into their corporate strategies, along with some of the more dubious internal policies that accompanied them, are now competing to see who can ditch those policies fastest.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U6Z7IT3S6ZHLZIQMZ6MQZWL6SM","additional_properties":{"_id":"D4LXIACYQFHNNPR7C7Z6H2VXPQ"},"content":"While Democrats sleep, Donald Trump is tearing up America’s rule book","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OVJXGGOM5JDI5GUJ2VZ7CKSMHI","additional_properties":{},"content":"What might be more interesting is to keep an eye on whether the Department of Foreign Affairs and Culture Ireland do something similar, at least in their dealings with the US.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EM77MF3HARBOLPY42LEOMCQ3FQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The scorched-earth tactics being implemented by Musk will be a test of how intellectually robust and how well supported these ideas really are. But even those sceptical of them should beware the far more intolerant backlash being promoted by the likes of the neoreactionary academic Patrick Deneen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EYDKCI2YF5D4VAWHYYCA6AWHVU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The analyst Tyler Cowen offers a<a href=\"https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/trumpian-policy-as-cultural-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\"> perceptive insight into Trumpian thinking</a>. “You will not win all of these cultural debates, but you will control the ideological agenda,” he wrote this week. “Your opponents will be dispirited and disorganised ... Then just keep on going. In the long run, you may end up ‘owning’ far more of the culture than you suspected was possible.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"U5A3CDBNGNCPROKJIOJPGK6HVM","additional_properties":{},"content":"The next gig at the ambassador’s residence is going to look a little different.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Hugh Linehan"}},"name":"Hugh Linehan"}]},"description":{"basic":"‘As an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap,’ Donald Trump’s press secretary told reporters"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T05:20:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Irish musical slammed by the White House as an ‘insane’ waste of $70,000 ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4","auth":{"1":"ce43ae09dc58ff1af90388d17d10ebbee91e1a5150fbab4026afbfffc16154dc"},"focal_point":{"x":4059,"y":1393},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4.jpg"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"UKBPN4XAXFBDJFWBSWFUROTPCI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":249,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/1fb7b28a-f852-4318-a2f3-0e1941ad5d62/versions/1738580461/media/0ca8b9d6d3000567c611b0f87677d172_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/","content_elements":[{"_id":"I2BZBV325NF5LJYK65CSTC6MUM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Fledermaus","type":"header"},{"_id":"A7H4XILE3FDI5FOLK3P6UQRFUU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, Co Kerry","type":"header"},{"_id":"NSFDMDTUF5AOBF6LLKV7DNNSNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"BTJE5XOIFVCA3O5MECKKZPYPDY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Irish National Opera opens 2025 with a touring production of Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss II. It’s a delight from start to finish.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3ID6TZGQ7RCG5K3YQZMPTI3LFA","additional_properties":{},"content":"That start – the Overture – enjoys a wide familiarity well beyond the rest of the operetta. Wonderfully carefree and good-humoured, it previews the famously infectious, earwigging dance tunes that punctuate the story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y5GUDKLDEZEJVE757WTULT74CM","additional_properties":{},"content":"If the genius of Strauss is that he sustains that lighthearted spirit for the two hours it takes the ridiculous plot to unfold, then INO’s success comes from producing a staging that constantly matches that spirit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZYE6LLTVDBC3BIJ76W57KXQIKM","additional_properties":{},"content":"You have to leave certain expectations at the door. Starting with location. Forget Strauss the waltz king’s sumptuous 19th-century Viennese backdrop. Instead the designers Paul O’Mahony (sets) and Catherine Fay (costumes) re-create the interwar era, featuring art deco and judiciously cherry-picked allusions to early Hollywood, Weimar cabaret and the English drawingrooms of Noël Coward. German is gone also, the libretto delivered – often hilariously – in rhyming English.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KBOZSHPHV5CV3JROH342VZLEEI","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"USBY3HFX3FFS3PXST43ZSFJZIA","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s a touring production, so something else that goes is scale: no vast ballroom filled with swirling waltzers. And it doesn’t matter. Under Stephanie Dufresne, the production’s movement director, the dancing – including much funny dancing, notably by men – and the movement and animation of the cast and chorus – just 13 in total – are among the most enjoyable features of the production.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ED3Y3HL5XNA63GXVBD6CGKW6BQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Instead of a lavish, Straussian orchestra there are just nine players, including Richard Peirson, who directs from the piano, having condensed the original score into an inventive and faithful arrangement for chamber ensemble. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"UU6JWRQ7HNFSHCTQW5VEDQFUFQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Peirson also periodically appears among the revellers to snatch a dance and a swig of champagne. He can easily do this because his players are situated not in a pit but in a small bandstand upstage, in full view. This not only integrates the musicians into the scenery but also adds to the intimate cabaret vibe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7FCBKZGZXVGWBHXHG3DBFTWEBY","additional_properties":{},"content":"So it’s the same story but, to both eye and ear, a different world, one concocted and brought to life by Davey Kelleher. The director’s vision embraces complexity in small spaces, including his enhanced role for the musicians, plus plenty of farcical melodramatics and laugh-out-loud physical humour. But, like Peirson, he remains faithful to the spirit of the original.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WAUHMBPL45DBZO4OLJPND6PJXU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TDCWFXGM5ZCT3PC4WP7CMANAH4","additional_properties":{},"content":"The cast must fire on all cylinders for any of this to come off. They do, and not only vocally. It’s a story where the women triumph and the men do silly things, and the excellent portrayals by Ben McAteer of the vengeful Falke, Aaron O’Hare as the ludicrously amorous Alfred and Seán Boylan as the jovial prison governor Frank are all shot through with expertly executed silliness. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FWWB6AP66FGKDBEPWIUWFJMCI4","additional_properties":{},"content":"In this they are led by the tenor Alex McKissick, as Eisenstein, Falke’s deserving victim, whose silliness is hilariously at odds with his matinee-idol looks and obvious accomplishment as a dancer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VXOO7YVMXNGN3BUXHI6K76YOJI","additional_properties":{},"content":"The women have nearly all the best tunes. The musical highlights belong to Jade Phoenix as Rosalinde – Eisenstein’s wife – and Sarah Shine as her maid. Sharon Carty is clearly having a blast as the bored and androgynous Prince Orlofsky. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"IEY75YTSABCVZGVH6LVZ3HWUW4","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\"><i>Irish National Opera</i></a><i>’s production of Fledermaus is also at </i><a href=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/\"><i>Cork Opera House</i></a><i> on Tuesday, February 4th; </i><a href=\"https://www.watergatetheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.watergatetheatre.com/\"><i>Watergate Theatre</i></a><i>, Kilkenny, on Thursday, February 6th; </i><a href=\"https://limetreebelltable.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://limetreebelltable.ie/\"><i>Lime Tree Theatre</i></a><i>, Limerick, on Saturday, February 8th; </i><a href=\"https://tht.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://tht.ie/\"><i>Town Hall Theatre</i></a><i>, Galway, on Tuesday, February 11th; </i><a href=\"https://www.hawkswell.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.hawkswell.com/\"><i>Hawk’s Well Theatre</i></a><i>, Sligo, on Thursday, February 13th; </i><a href=\"https://angrianan.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://angrianan.com/\"><i>An Grianán</i></a><i>, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Saturday, February 15th; </i><a href=\"https://solsticeartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://solsticeartscentre.ie/\"><i>Solstice Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Navan, Co Meath, on Tuesday, February 18th; </i><a href=\"https://www.antain.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.antain.ie/\"><i>An Táin Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dundalk, Co Louth, on Thursday, February 20th; and </i><a href=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\"><i>Pavilion Theatre</i></a><i>, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on Saturday, February 22nd, and Sunday, February 23rd</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[]},"description":{"basic":"Opera: INO’s staging maintains the light-heartedness the Strauss needs for the two hours its enjoyably ridiculous plot takes to unfold"},"display_date":"2025-02-03T10:55:47.887Z","headlines":{"basic":"Fledermaus review: Irish National Opera’s touring production is a delight from start to finish","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY","auth":{"1":"b5df2d04040a5d4cabe5d48edfb982578e4cb4926bf4c20713e813d4e93c7353"},"focal_point":{"x":1736,"y":809},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"JCUBGHCTZVDIDF5UEKB5WOZKRM","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":909,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/5d82f4a7-0280-4845-b925-f2428684be19/versions/1738144116/media/0ff1841f5b269056db9aae2deca6d2dd_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/","content_elements":[{"_id":"HZWL5NFZXRFB5OM6W4H7YPUL6U","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/des-bishop/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/des-bishop/\">Des Bishop</a> spends more time in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/new-york-city/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/new-york-city/\">New York</a> than in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\">Dublin</a> these days, but he wants us to know he is still an Irish comic. It’s only since the pandemic that he’s really been spending more time in the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\">United States</a>, he says as we chat over Zoom. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFQLWPM2DJEBTJFRG5OGOXGLRA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Because I have an American accent, people are immediately, like, ‘Oh, he’s not an Irish comic any more ... Now you’re an American comic.’ That really bugs me. Guys. I’ve been here since 1997. It’s quite funny how quickly then people are just, like, ‘Oh, he’s over there now.’” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"KASVM3DNHVFDTMUO5SJQFFW7MQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop never intended to fully move to New York, he says. He had been “bicoastal” for some time, spending much of his year in the US, touring and spending time with family. When the pandemic broke out he chose to spend it in the United States, because he has a house by the ocean there and the weather was better, “but I never made a decision to leave. The pandemic happened and then life happened during the pandemic, and then suddenly I’m, like, ‘Oh s**t, I live more in New York now.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QQODZUA2DFFI3ORW3HXGHXQJQM","additional_properties":{},"content":"When he says that “life happened during the pandemic” he means that he met and married the US comedian and reality-TV star Hannah Berner. We’ll get back to that in a bit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JLMX2HSSSNBDLK75YQT26PRMYA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop is warm, engaged and engaging. He has always been a comedian who is interested in identity. An Irish American who was shipped off to an Irish boarding school in his troubled teens, he mined, in his early comedy, being a fish-out-of-water American grappling with Irish culture. Now, in the context of living more in the US, he’s very conscious of how Irish he is. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPZVUXYDQJBUTJYCQROO2XPGKQ","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"WKL3FFBSVJFD3OKGHCYNSKUQWE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Since I started doing comedy all the people that helped me, they’re all Irish. I was an integral part of the comedy scene. I ran the International [Comedy Club, in Dublin] for years. My core group of people that I’ve been with from the beginning are all Irish. I’m an Irish comic with a New York accent.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"23D6SPCVEZEG3MJKKXUTE3LS24","additional_properties":{},"content":"It was with the drama society at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-cork-ucc/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-cork-ucc/\">University College Cork</a>, where he studied English and history, that he got his first stage experience, but it was thanks to the comedian (and former Bosco presenter) <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2023/12/23/frank-twomey-obituary-much-loved-actor-comedian-and-musician/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2023/12/23/frank-twomey-obituary-much-loved-actor-comedian-and-musician/\">Frank Twomey</a>, who hosted nights at Gorbys, a club in the city, that he started to do stand-up. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"O3JBXOX5RVAP3HEDIUHFUGO4Y4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“God rest him. He died last year,” Bishop says. “He pushed me into it. He was just, like, ‘You’ve got to try it.’ I used to get up for the joke competition ... I got up one time, but before I told my joke I was improvving on something that just happened to me in the toilet, and when I got off stage he was, like, ‘That’s it. You’re doing a show in two weeks.’ Honestly, whether I would have got into it or not without him I can never say. Life is random.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"T75VXDU5UVHLXMHIZESPO5PHYE","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"3VJYVCUUPRHGBAYQH6SKT2ZP44","additional_properties":{},"content":"What was doing his first comedy set like? “Absolutely terrifying,” Bishop says. “I’d done plenty of drama-society shows, and I loved being on stage ... But what the f**k was I doing up there? I was clueless. I literally turned to my friend Ian and said, ‘I truly understand the expression “sh**ting yourself” now,’ because I literally was on the precipice. I viscerally understood the term.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"7HLGVJHPYNAGZPACJKSRTS6GQA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop thinks he was lucky. Ireland was undergoing a bit of a comedy boom in the wake of Father Ted, and he had a built-in shtick. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FH7QBEUP3BEVDAL2EAUIYNHNIY","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I was one of the first guys doing the fish-out-of-water stuff. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tiktok/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tiktok/\">TikTok</a> now is riddled with American students that come to Ireland and they’re making similar observations to what I was making back in the 1990s and the 2000s. I’m not diminishing them and I’m not diminishing myself ... But there were some easy laughs to be had.","type":"text"},{"_id":"R7R2SP2KFNBL5LZLMLDZV6Y7GA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“My early stand-up, it was very Irish observational, but it was virtually useless outside of Ireland. So I had that sort of dichotomy of really doing well in Ireland and then having no idea what I wanted to say outside of Ireland in those early years ... 9/11 was the first time where I started to talk about more international stuff, and I did Edinburgh. That gave me a bit of confidence to be, like, ‘Okay, I’m not just talking about Ireland here.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NOWDP66SZRH6BKGDRIXYYNKGMU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop began making TV series that involved embedding himself in different communities. In The Des Bishop Work Experience he took on minimum-wage jobs. In Joy in the Hood he encouraged nascent comedians from marginalised communities. On In the Name of the Fada he learned Irish in the Gaeltacht. “That format of turning an experience into stand-up was the beginning of something,” he says. “It kind of guided me into a different way of thinking about stand-up.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RMO7AO2RLJHVPIXVYTAAJXMFPE","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5YWVYETPSVH5TPR7YIIZ5PQDV4","additional_properties":{},"content":"He was always open about his personal life, about being a recovering alcoholic (he drank throughout his teens) and about dealing with testicular cancer, but it was with a show called My Dad Was Nearly James Bond that he broke ground. It was about his father giving up on his acting dreams.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KOXI5K4RUZEMZA5K7X47RU55RI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop wrote it while his father was sick and dying. He created it with the input of the theatre director <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/conall-morrison/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/conall-morrison/\">Conall Morrison</a>, who gave him “the confidence to sit with moments that need to be sat with ... That show definitely comes from watching [the actor and memoirist] Spalding Gray and going, ‘I can do something like that.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"O43QH2KV2BBQND7K6JZRMZUWZQ","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"VBPEDSKUOJBIDDBHNIIDHJQTCU","additional_properties":{},"content":"He thinks there’s something useful in shows that use comedy to explore serious issues. “I’ve been through two parental deaths now,” Bishop says. “I know about the grief of losing a parent. I don’t know about the grief of losing a spouse. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child. There’s a lot of essential human experience I haven’t experienced, but I know about those two things, and when I hear someone talk about that in a way that’s interesting, I just f**king love it and I appreciate it. I think, Oh God, I needed that today. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"TEJF4SQDR5FBLMT55HEXOKM77M","additional_properties":{},"content":"“So I’m very happy when I finish a show like My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, and people feel it and they’re entertained and they’re part of it. It is so satisfying. You think, Why do we do this if it’s f**king pointless? This isn’t pointless.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"M736QEPMSVBIXEPI24GVG6GQPQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop wasn’t sure he’d do that sort of show again, but after his mother died, in 2019, he put together one called Mia Mamma. “I remember in the early stages thinking, How the f**k am I back here again, with the trial and error of when it’s too dark or when it’s too light? I was basically understanding grief while trying to joke about understanding grief. So I was learning on the fly there, which was also part of that show.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"QHR5B3JIYBGKXEBCJXBB7WFJHU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Is it cathartic to work on something so personal? “There’s probably something slightly psychologically unhealthy about needing to work through your s**t with an audience.” He laughs. “But I will say one thing. I was on my way to the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire [and] I had to pull over because I was overwhelmed with a mixture of sadness, grief and anxiety. And I had to acknowledge at that moment, ‘F**k, man, this is a lot.’ ","type":"text"},{"_id":"KY4BF5SU25EPXCJVZAVIRAIOXU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"BKRSZBHFIZEC7E6YIUQK3CJKLE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother. I was literally, like, ‘Can I handle this right now?’ I was close to losing it. I got a little sick to my stomach ... I don’t know how much catharsis there is, but I know that it was intense.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OQKH6YA6GJFMPIBURSSLU3KMMQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"And then, just as that show was starting, the pandemic happened and everything stopped. “A couple of months into the pandemic I was, like, ‘Man, I needed this.’ The pandemic wasn’t easy for me, but it was quite transformative to have that enforced solitude, being put into this modern monastery, to just be with myself. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"Q3DEWRRGVJEYPLCVE2PZ7X2OGQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Des Bishop: ‘The last time my mother spoke was to say sorry’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LBTBAMBCEVES3LZXLCQUHRCHEQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“After having had the intensity of the experience of touring Mia Mamma quite soon after my mom died, I was forced to literally, really be with it. All in all, I would say maybe there was some catharsis [in the show] but, actually, the better catharsis is to just feel.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EW7YX7HTSBGMXBV636RHOVJMLM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In the midst of all that he met Berner, who is 33. It’s a very modern love story. They followed each other on Instagram. “I thought, Well, I’ll shoot my shot. So I was, like, ‘Hey, you’re out east ... You want to meet for coffee?’” Bishop says. “It was about a 10-minute drive to Sag Harbor, where we were going to get a bite to eat. And I knew by the time we parked that car – I didn’t know I was going to marry her but I knew that she was a winner.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KGQHIUP6ONDBVJTOR5WAQLE7TQ","subtype":"instagram","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"GKP4CGIAL5DPPLDXH7PXLNXN3M","additional_properties":{},"content":"They married a year and a half later because, as Bishop, who’ll turn 50 this year, says, “I’m not a spring chicken.” They’d connected instantly. “For me it was actually overwhelming. It’s hard to describe. It was just a transformative experience, my mom dying and then the pandemic and the solitude, so I was open to it in a way that maybe I hadn’t been before.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"U5TSLYLYUBGJPILOD3FTE2ZYJQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Berner appeared on three seasons of the American reality show <a href=\"https://www.bravotv.com/summer-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.bravotv.com/summer-house\">Summer House</a>, on Bravo. Did he know about her TV career? “I remember from following her [on Instagram] she just started posting these clips,” he says. “‘Oh, is this some sort of MTV show?’ I wasn’t even aware of Bravo as the institution that it is. I didn’t know that that was the reality channel.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HB4DAQO4NZCXVKU65JBXXHPDE4","additional_properties":{},"content":"She now concentrates on comedy; the couple also host a podcast together, <a href=\"https://hannahberner.com/podcasts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://hannahberner.com/podcasts\">Berner Phone</a>. Bishop says Berner has been a big influence on him, particularly around how to operate online. “I still had a pain in my hole with the way the industry had changed, so I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era ... She was a huge motivator. She was on my ass all the time. ‘You’ve got to post clips.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JAFD42KUKBE5VEURFX7XVJKUSM","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"BNWAIP3Q4NETJGC7SS3VTY7N7E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Why was he resistant? Bishop laughs. “I got into stand-up for live performance,” he says. “I did TV, but the TV was always really to gain popularity so that more people came to my stand-up. I wanted to sell tickets. I wanted people to see my shows. I never wanted to edit, and I never wanted to set up a camera and I never wanted to think in the way that you have to think as a content creator ... I just didn’t expect the industry to shift the way that it did.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"Z4QEEQRCEZBH7B2TAZQGXMU324","additional_properties":{},"content":"Years of gigging in the United States and of people responding to his online material mean Bishop’s audience in the US is growing steadily, but he’s looking forward to his upcoming Irish gigs and the familiar “warmth” of Irish audiences. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"NKGTQ6WNTZFGTNQ3HM5XFQKEGY","additional_properties":{},"content":"What are the differences? Irish comics and audiences value storytelling, Bishop says; Americans prefer speed. “I watch my stuff from back in the day and I’m, like, ‘Wow, I am really taking my time getting to a punchline.’” He laughs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"UA7YUQU4M5AKNOZFTZ26AGKBPM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Another thing Bishop doesn’t have to think about in Ireland, he says, is being divisive. “I have no problem speaking openly about my dislike and lack of understanding for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\">Trump</a>’s popularity, but I’m also aware that people can have these overly emotional responses if they find out that you’re one side or the other. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"4ZHKMF4CWBEBDKHMUM6EEDD5VQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I don’t hide it. I make the right amount of jokes. I don’t shove it down their throats, because I know that they’re not in the mood for that ... What was great about [the late comedian] Bill Hicks was that he told American people things that they’d never heard before, and that was challenging. Whereas now the world is so divided that they’re not going to hear me. They’re just going to shut off.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FH4K4ESF7ZCJFAH6E5MFAZEVYY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bihsop is surprised at the size of the backlash against progressive issues. “Imagine the audacity of traditionally marginalised groups just trying to grab a touch of power for themselves, just a f**king hint of power, and the slapback it got,” he says. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"H7VHQ5P2ZREGHHAHI7W4D3NXPI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“It’s really taken me by surprise, actually, how quickly things have shifted. And it’s frightening ... Online and in the media, it feels insanely divisive. The way Maga talks about liberals online, it really feels like the type of division that creates the worst moments in history ... ","type":"text"},{"_id":"B536PFULTRFGFJRXTW7HLRNVB4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Nobody wants the normal way that we used to have discourse about issues. It just doesn’t sell. They want to hear in strong terms what reaffirms what they believe. I’m just a classic centre. I’m a classic 49-year-old dude. I have my biases, but I also can understand – even if I disagree – aspects of people on the other side of my centrist beliefs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"6KBULOKT5JG3DLRXV2RZ22NMGI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I can’t live on the extremes. I’m not going to pander to [the extremes]. But really, commercially, that’s not the way to go. Commercially it’s really a time to pander.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"27IUX5SGZVGYNEK76ATC4SHUZU","additional_properties":{},"content":"We talk a little about hugely popular American online comedians such as <a href=\"https://www.theovon.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.theovon.com/\">Theo Von</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-rogan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-rogan/\">Joe Rogan</a>, who’ve embraced right-wing talking points and been embraced by Maga in return. “There was probably a moment in time where you could almost understand people’s complaints about censorship and free speech,” Bishop says. “I think they were exaggerating, but there were moments where I could admit that there was probably a tight atmosphere around what you could say ...","type":"text"},{"_id":"ORH2PSKCV5AUZF6X5TFT276R54","additional_properties":{},"content":"“But then it got this influx of Maga energy – people saying, ‘You can’t f**king say anything any more,’ and all these people are in their comments saying, ‘You’re the one that says stuff that nobody’s allowed to say,’ and they believed it. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"JSV4TR5ZNRDBLIFAHE4GND647A","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I don’t have a problem with their popularity. What I have a problem with is that if you really were a comic that’s not afraid to say the things you can’t say, you would challenge your audience at least a bit about some of the Maga stuff,” Bishop says. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"Q444DELFXFGBZDVZBOWZNVYQCI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“But they don’t challenge. They pander. They went from a moment of challenging an element of the status quo to pandering 100 per cent ... There’s so much money in picking a side.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EGFLW42PFZFDXDUG2HWXIOCNCM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Does Bishop get many of Berner’s fans at his gigs? “I would say 10 per cent of the crowd,” he says. “When the Hannah fans cheer, the pitch is three octaves higher ... It’s good to have a diversity in the crowd. I don’t just want it to be 40-year-old white people at my shows. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZZI3EY7JW5CNPH6F2J7PGQML34","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Every now and then, if Hannah goes to a cool city, I’ll open up for her, and when I perform to her crowd it’s very different. It’s mostly women. Most of the men are gay except a couple of boyfriends that were dragged along, and so you have to know that you’re playing to a specific audience. That’s fun too. You know that you’re in the middle of a niche.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"CFWNP4XVS5APTL4CTPRGU5PFP4","additional_properties":{},"content":"There’s nothing wrong with a good niche, Bishop says. His American audience is much more diverse these days, but in the past he had predominantly Irish audiences at his American gigs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"6IOSONLLDVF67LHX77WB35MLOE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I’d do Boston and I’d have some random Boston guy opening for me, and he’d come off and he’d be, like, ‘I found it hard to get them.’ I was, like, ‘Bro, you’re not in Boston, you’re [basically] in Dublin. Don’t feel bad. They don’t even know what you’re talking about.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2F3DLTLSIBCGPEY4LZ3VUBDGJY","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.desbishop.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.desbishop.net/\"><i>Des Bishop</i></a><i> is touring Ireland until March 15th; dates include the </i><a href=\"https://www.3olympia.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.3olympia.ie/\"><i>3Olympia Theatre</i></a><i>, in Dublin, February 26th-28th, plus shows in Limerick, Cork, Belfast and Galway</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Patrick Freyne"}},"name":"Patrick Freyne"}]},"description":{"basic":"For the Irish-American comedian, lockdown was preceded by his mother’s death. The impact was profound – but it opened the way to a new life"},"display_date":"2025-02-01T05:30:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Des Bishop: ‘I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ","auth":{"1":"d40553702e377f77026cb1bcd174f9c528b14c3caf51f43dc042946f1f725969"},"focal_point":{"x":2618,"y":1760},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"NYL3AMTKUJAK5GHHMMMXTJ5KAQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":214,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/9260e977-d6f1-4de5-8a4d-8697e6a44331/versions/1738241356/media/ec52235bbffa6b6cf1998469c73d9639_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/","content_elements":[{"_id":"SQ7ZCWTCEJCT3JBUTJGFQHLGFY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087172},"content":"The Ferryman","type":"header"},{"_id":"4LC73ERMKRE3FCLZILWW3DQFB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087173},"content":"Gaiety Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"QM2RVDGFQNFGVCTZOOSNV6EMKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087174},"content":"★★☆☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"B2UJ735RGRDEVHB4TDRO3SI3MU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087175},"content":"It’s courageous of the director Andrew Flynn and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gaiety-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gaiety Productions</a> to import The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth’s blockbuster from 2017, to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a>. Since premiering in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/london/\" target=\"_blank\">London</a>, and running on Broadway, the play has resembled an explainer about the Troubles for people outside the island. Will an Irish audience find its report overly familiar?","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZVSQPMA3VFAN3AJ35YEQ36DJWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087176},"content":"Set in 1980s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/armagh/\" target=\"_blank\">Armagh</a>, the drama has its centre in Caitlin (a well-judged <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/charlene-mckenna/\" target=\"_blank\">Charlene McKenna</a>), who, since her husband went missing 10 years ago, has taken shelter in the farmhouse of her brother-in-law Quinn (a built protector, played by Aaron McCusker) and his extended family of aunts and children.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WVL7PZW35FE6FJESCDQEOFJMMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087177},"content":"A discovery that her husband is one of the Disappeared – those abducted and buried – invites a visit from an image-conscious republican criminal (Laurence Kinlan, making every casual observation sound like a threat). Nationalist politics has gone mainstream since the 1981 hunger strikes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"O4OHYFX4K5EITP4IB572VWJAVU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087178},"content":"Butterworth has not only read up on the era; he seems intent on performing the plot points of an actual Irish play. With the family swept up in an annual harvest festival, anticipating the escape of ritual, the play echoes <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/18/dancing-at-lughnasa-review-gates-triumphant-breathtakingly-beautiful-revival-deserves-groaning-houses/\" target=\"_blank\">Dancing at Lughnasa</a>, with one scene of all-out dancing even getting interrupted by a lost radio signal. In such moments Butterworth seems to be tipping his hat to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brian-friel/\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Friel</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPL2OMA3RZB2RI5YYZ3PPGXVCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087179},"content":"Everything is impossibly lively in early scenes, as each member of the near-infinite family (a huge cast of 23), and some of their farm animals (including a real goose), makes their entrance. A national reputation for clerical hypocrisy and outrageous vulgarity comes from obtuse angles: a corruptible priest is introduced by a rhyming republican henchman; a nine-year-old exclaims in shock: “F**k me blue!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UDYNB4TBCJH2DP7DAT34AGLAWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087180},"content":"Then, when the family’s own history of republican violence is revealed, the play begins to resemble a series of Wikipedia searches. As a distantly senile aunt played by Brid Ní Neachtain (given the woeful name Aunt Faraway) becomes lucid to recount scenes from the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/history/1916/\" target=\"_blank\">1916 Rising</a>, Butterworth drops in an insistent roll-call of revolutionaries, a list of Irish counties and a roundabout reference to banshees, as if intent on including all the fruits of his research.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SKUA5Z7NG5CWXCUTQLTDHWMIWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087181},"content":"With scenes increasingly interrupted by random singsongs, including belting renditions of tunes by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-dubliners/\" target=\"_blank\">The Dubliners</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wolfe-tones/\" target=\"_blank\">The Wolfe Tones</a>, it verges on the Micksploitation of being here just for the sake of doing something Irish.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZRFATTFRZGDNGK4B64ESXRPPM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087182},"content":"Most unforgivable is the final act. (The cast is not to blame: please get everyone here to work together again.) Butterworth has Caitlin flip-flop on her secret desire for Quinn, who himself seems to extend the horrors of the Disappeared into an uneasy metaphor about his own cooled-off marriage, claiming that his wife (Sarah Morris, deserving much better) has “vanished”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"72PNFVAU6NESPBF5M6TK6UKGXU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087183},"content":"It all ends somewhere that seems cynically bleak and contrivedly mythical. Friel was a misdirection for Butterworth; Stewart Parker’s 1987 masterpiece <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/modern-ireland-in-100-artworks-1987-pentecost-by-stewart-parker-1.2590843\">Pentecost</a> is the definitive statement about this era. There, a grieving antiques dealer caught in riots, and seeking refuge in the untouched home of a dead loyalist woman who would likely hate their guts, has a profound moment with their grief. It ends not surrounded by the squawk of banshees but with the throwing open of windows, an awesome beam of sunlight: “I want to live. We owe it to our innocent dead.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BC6QTEV5ZREU5NY6HXWNWDPOHA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087184},"content":"<i>The Ferryman is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gaietytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gaiety Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, March 15th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Jez Butterworth seems intent on showing all his research with a list of Irish counties and reference to banshees"},"display_date":"2025-01-30T12:44:05.565Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Ferryman at the Gaiety review: This British play about the Troubles sounds as if it was written using Wikipedia","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM","auth":{"1":"e7d099af7c5ffd5274cd0756443d9b12685e554ef6ae0ae032c8bdf1198e9b1d"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"MHRL4BCRR5EVVEVBJ7T7LC3VFE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":481,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/c2d03df9-24b4-4672-9e56-1ba8da87b50a/versions/1734356992/media/0c0b61ca81a16855c2e73aece2fb56dc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/","content_elements":[{"_id":"J23BOMAFXFGSJCPYNJS7N2YGUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609496},"content":"When <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/david-west-read/\" target=\"_blank\">David West Read</a> was in his early 20s he moved from his home in suburban Toronto to New York City, to pursue what he hoped would be a long career in writing. He enrolled at the <a href=\"https://www.juilliard.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Juilliard</a> school of performing arts as a “TV concentrate” but surprised himself in the first few weeks of his studies by “crossing the floor into the playwriting department”. Despite the fact that his initial creative instincts were televisual, living in New York he had fallen in love at first sight with the theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JV47V2FDQZHU5P5UNPAXKPMXBE","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609497},"content":"“Growing up in Toronto,” West Read explains from a desk in his Los Angeles office, where he is running a writer’s room for a new Apple TV+ drama starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/matthew-mcconaughey/\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew McConaughey</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/woody-harrelson/\" target=\"_blank\">Woody Harrelson</a>, “I hadn’t really seen any live theatre before.” But in New York, “instantly, there were so many opportunities. There were free tickets, there were jobs and perks for [theatre students], and I took every single one of them. I must have seen hundreds of performances,” he says of that heady time, “and I really came to appreciate what is so special about live performance.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QLTD25KR35ERVLT23FQ7STWAUI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486104},"content":"West Read’s first professional opportunity came soon after graduation. He credits his playwriting teacher, Daniel Goldfarb, for his big break. “I volunteered as assistant on his plays,” he says, “helping him with rewrites, sitting in on rehearsals, and he had such a passion for theatre that it seemed like a pretty great career.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NLVU5ENOL5DR7PVI75OWU3ZGYI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486105},"content":"When West Read presented him with the draft of a script he had been working on, Goldfarb introduced him to his agent, and the young writer’s debut play, The Dream of the Burning Boy, was produced at the <a href=\"https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Roundabout Theatre</a> in 2011. Off the back of that success, Broadway came calling, and the following year The Performers debuted at the <a href=\"https://shubert.nyc/theatres/longacre/\" target=\"_blank\">Longacre Theatre</a> in a starry production featuring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/henry-winkler/\" target=\"_blank\">Henry Winkler</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/alicia-silverstone/\" target=\"_blank\">Alicia Silverstone</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4IZXROKRGFBMFPY2OCTK35BTZA","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486106},"content":"The celebrity casting couldn’t save the production from the ruthless reality of lukewarm reviews, and it closed less than a week after opening night. West Read’s star had risen and fallen in a year, and he was heartbroken. “I was very aware of how fortunate I was and I got completely swept up in the excitement of it all. Then to crash down so quickly, and in such a public way, I really struggled. People in the theatre world backed away from me. They didn’t want to be associated with this flop.” West Read himself “didn’t want to be associated with the theatre any more”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P6DVQYGOKZHUJABVCFVQKKUPP4","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"W4XFZIUY4JDPFJIJCYIXLUB2WY","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609499},"content":"But his luck soon changed: when he submitted a sample to the makers of a new Canadian sitcom that was looking for writers, he landed a junior role – and soon worked his way up to executive producer. The sitcom was Schitt’s Creek, starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, and it ran for six seasons. Its final season broke records when it won seven <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/emmy-awards/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmy Awards</a>, taking top spot in every category for comedy drama, including an Emmy for West Read himself.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DMLUAIKQBVGK5JCMIWSK3JUU2Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609500},"content":"Despite his success in TV, which also includes two seasons of The Big Door Prize, starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/chris-o-dowd/\" target=\"_blank\">Chris O’Dowd</a>, West Read says live theatre remains his true passion. So when he was approached to write a musical for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/max-martin/\" target=\"_blank\">Max Martin</a>, the Swedish songwriter and producer behind hits by many of the biggest pop stars of the past 25 years, including <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/britney-spears/\" target=\"_blank\">Britney Spears</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-weeknd/\" target=\"_blank\">the Weeknd</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/taylor-swift/\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Swift</a>, he tried to forget about his Broadway bruises and pitched an outlandish rewrite of Romeo and Juliet in which the heroine decides to forgo suicide for adventure, heading to Paris after Romeo’s death in the hope of finding new love.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2J4BPHAJ3NF5FHGVFVG6VQGK2E","additional_properties":{"_id":"54II7SGSQZGGTN6LJF5U7RBCQA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"MXGT447FCBB6RPMKOSUUALYSQI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609501},"content":"West Read had known almost nothing about Martin or the artists he worked with, but once he started researching which of Martin’s songs would suit the jukebox musical he quickly realised it was impossible not to know Martin’s music. “It is everywhere you go, especially in America.” But Martin was far from a household name. What the project needed, West Read decided, was a recognisable figure, someone who “could be a poster person for the show. I also thought it would be really fun to reinvent a classic story at the same time. To shake up perceptions of something canonical as well as the perception of the songs.” The seeds for & Juliet were sown.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MFPKFRSB65ER3KRXK22LVSBRYU","additional_properties":{"_id":"7KNIIOBF55CULB2TBRV5FBULWQ"},"content":"From the archive: Inside the song machine – the secrets behind pop music's biggest hits","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"X4AVS2VCE5BLJLS773YUGFRWM4","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609502},"content":"Set in the immediate aftermath of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/william-shakespeare/\" target=\"_blank\">Shakespeare</a>’s most iconic tragedy, & Juliet is actually more than a reimagination of the classic heroine’s fate. It is set in a very contemporary-looking Elizabethan England and places Shakespeare himself front and centre. Struggling to finish his new play about the young star-cross’d lovers, Will, as he is known in West Read’s drama, is also struggling with marriage problems of his own. His wife, Anne, sick of playing second fiddle to his ambition, thinks she might know a bit more about the challenges of a relationship and is determined to put her tuppence into the unfolding play.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TFPFAJNIHBHZNDQ45QVCLVMKUM","additional_properties":{"_id":"PWVZMNQISRFPJOKP77HKJJUDTM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CTS7YPNE5FHPNPX2R6XW226VL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609503},"content":"While the story West Read sketched out for the producers wasn’t a hard sell – “they took to it immediately” – the writer himself was a bit unsure about how it might translate for a mainstream-musical audience. In North America, he says “Shakespeare is something you learn in school. It’s considered highbrow and inaccessible, so the challenge for me was to demonstrate how Shakespeare was the pop artist of his day, because he really was ... He wasn’t writing just for the elite or the educated class but for everyone.” And theatre, like pop, is a hugely collaborative medium, West Read adds.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EMOIJUIYAVGSDKWJOR3MTENMEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609504},"content":"& Juliet opened on Broadway in 2022 after a stunning few years wowing critics and audiences in England. (The production won three Olivier Awards, including best actress in a musical for the first Juliet, Miriam Teak-Lee.) The cross-generational musical offers three love stories unfolding in parallel: Juliet’s opportunistic pining is set against Will and Anne’s middle-aged marital crisis, while Juliet’s nurse is given a late-in-life opportunity for romance when, following Juliet across continents as her protector, she reunites with an old lover in France. The love stories coalesce at Romeo’s funeral to a rendition of Backstreet Boys’ Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely. (Yes, really.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"XSGO7LFHEJGMLANG5MULILYPHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609505},"content":"West Read also gives Shakespeare’s standard comic gender-bending trope a distinct contemporary flavour, in the shape of Juliet’s best friend, the nonbinary Mai, who, in a stunning solo, brings poignant meaning to Britney Spears’s I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman. It may sound cliched, but when you see it on stage it feels organic and authentically representative.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RFFLFP7W6RGD3JOJABTNQFOENQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609506},"content":"In a coincidence worthy of a Shakespearean comedy, when the North American production was first announced, West Read was told that the previews would take place in his old stamping ground of Toronto. Midway through dress rehearsals, one of the cast caught Covid-19, and West Read found himself corralled into their place for the opening performance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IGGJJYC3UNCKBKFWNCRVZXY4CU","additional_properties":{"_id":"55IXYDYAIVHX3KN43D74ZREH2Q"},"content":"Like Romeo and Juliet, it’s hard not to fall in love in Verona","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UZJLVJ6DFVBWFIBBT52CXBCPJI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486115},"content":"“Thankfully, there was very little singing – and I turned down the mic a lot – but it was absolutely terrifying,” he says. “It was the first time I had been on stage since college, and it definitely gave me deeper appreciation for what actors have to do every night.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IVZGJHKBTJDLRGQWUPWWDSD7E4","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486116},"content":"If he ever had to step into an actor’s shoes again for the show, West Read says, he would hope to play Will. “Anne is the best character, I think,” he says, the wounding memories of his early Broadway failure firmly banished. “The metatheatrical aspect of a writer playing a writer would be too good to resist.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MXH22VFJWVALLJL6FOI4LGI6UM","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609507},"content":"<i>& Juliet is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Tuesday, February 25th, to Saturday, March 8th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"& Juliet creator David West Read’s TV credits include Schitt’s Creek but his passion for theatre propelled him to rewrite a Shakespeare classic featuring the music of one of pop’s top hit makers"},"display_date":"2025-01-26T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Britney Spears meets Shakespeare: How & Juliet puts a pop twist on star-cross’d lovers","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4","auth":{"1":"0100ee4836c4703e0a5542b8b74b09a6a48df503fd4b6e46e5d56f21f4a5670c"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"HNEQVDM4RZBWXJHBBMOP47RIU4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":435,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/b4a726df-2b1f-4166-a51d-967d12f12a34/versions/1737124759/media/ddbd989eb5ba9d8a16c2d9148f62aab0_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/","content_elements":[{"_id":"5OHO5RTM4JCA7HY5TDVJM33V3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919251},"content":"The actor Joan Plowright, who was celebrated for her long career in theatre and film, has died at the age of 95, her family have announced.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E4T7TQZTXRDITK4TXWYDHVB224","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919252},"content":"Plowright won acclaim for performances during the early years of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and the National Theatre when it was based at the Old Vic and led by her second husband, Laurence Olivier.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SILFK5O6XBF5VAPA3BHW6WADPA","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919253},"content":"She and Olivier appeared together in the West End and on Broadway in John Osborne’s The Entertainer, as well as starring in the screen version. At the National, she played Portia to Olivier’s Shylock in The Merchant of Venice as well as roles including Masha in Three Sisters, Sonya in Uncle Vanya and the eponymous heroine of Shaw’s Saint Joan.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VYTLSXH5YRCBDP3DRXTRYA36YA","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919254},"content":"A statement from her family said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on 16 January 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KFDZS55GOBCP5MQ2Q7VR352QBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919255},"content":"“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZRFRWPK46JFSNPUXMHJCMGY5VE","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919256},"content":"“She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories. The family are deeply grateful to Jean Wilson and all those involved in her personal care over many years.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MSGKQWGQ4BFFXN74VJVHJ52SDI","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919257},"content":"The Society of London Theatre announced that playhouses across London’s West End will dim their lights for two minutes in remembrance at 7pm on Tuesday. The organisation’s co-CEO, Hannah Essex, said: “Dame Joan Plowright was an iconic and deeply respected figure in the world of theatre, leaving an indelible mark on the industry she shaped with her talent and dedication.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"WM54BJF5GNBBVC56OV42FNEUVY","additional_properties":{"_id":"WHAL7EYWUBE6TG6CNDOARVFWJM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"65657AM6RVGEFG5JOZQYMD4DGE","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919258},"content":"The US film director Paul Feig was among those paying tribute. He said that working with Plowright on his first feature film, I Am David (2003), had been an “unbelievable” honour. “I was in over my head directing such a legend but she made it all so easy,” he said in a post on X. “I marvelled at every take she did and learned so much from her.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FODE6UQPHJGLNOI5RQVW6UFSLU","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919259},"content":"Plowright was born on 28 October 1929 in Brigg, Lincolnshire, and attended Scunthorpe grammar school on a scholarship. She was the second of three children of Daisy Margaret Burton and William Ernest Plowright. Her mother was an amateur actor and opera singer who taught dancing; her father was a journalist with a passion for am-dram. She always wanted to be an actor and won a drama trophy at a local theatre festival aged 15. After leaving school at 17 she worked briefly as a supply teacher before training at the Old Vic theatre school in London.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EOID67A3H5FYBE2J6IQMFBWT4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919260},"content":"After appearing in a late-night revue in London she made her stage debut in 1948 in Croydon in a show called If Four Walls Told and then joined the Old Vic theatre company, where she met the actor Roger Gage, whom she later married. She auditioned unsuccessfully to play Bianca in Orson Welles’s stage production of Othello. Welles remembered her and cast Plowright as Pip the cabin boy in his West End version of Moby Dick in 1955.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WUR4FY57D7T7MXMTEJ4SPJ5XA4","additional_properties":{"_id":"7L62JHD4KJE4RDMWZFM3MPJLNY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"UPCLS5CKQZBLJGJJKQFE37NYVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919261},"content":"The following year, arriving at George Devine’s English Stage Company, she “felt for the first time totally at home in a theatre” as she wrote in her memoir And That’s Not All. “I was in touch with people who cared, as I cared, about creating a theatre which was to do with the 20th century. I found my own voice as an actress, and an exhilarating sense of purpose.” William Wycherley’s The Country Wife was her first success at the Royal Court and, over several years, she starred in plays as diverse as Arnold Wesker’s Roots, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara (in the title role) and Eugène Ionesco’s The Chairs and The Lesson, which both transferred to the Phoenix theatre in New York, where her costar in The Chairs was Eli Wallach.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2S4ASSLJMNDZTLZMTAQYEHKXHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919262},"content":"In 1957, Plowright took over from Dorothy Tutin in the Royal Court production of John Osborne’s The Entertainer when it transferred to the West End. It introduced her to Olivier, who was playing the faded music-hall star Archie Rice, the father of her character. He had been impressed by Plowright’s performance in The Country Wife and jokily renamed her “Miss Wheelshare”. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"DJTKXPL6RJAYBMGN5UF27SPNLQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Entertainer also became a film and Plowright would later choose a recording of Olivier singing Why Should I Care? as Archie Rice for one of her selections on Desert Island Discs. She went with the play to Broadway and later earned a Tony award playing Jo, the pregnant teenager in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, with Angela Lansbury in the role of her mother.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TNXQP7JA4ZGXDJDEFLLLYLQ2MM","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919263},"content":"In 1960, Olivier and Plowright starred in a stage production of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros directed by Orson Welles at the Royal Court. That year, Plowright divorced Gage. In 1961, Plowright married Olivier after sustained media coverage of their relationship and the end of his marriage to Vivien Leigh.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7A55FLQPZ7CZTY2U2QR26ON5QQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"CDVWS4VKCVAMBBG6FVWNJPS4BM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"OW2OSUUG5VBQZFJHENYPU62LNM","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919264},"content":"During Olivier’s directorship of the National, Plowright’s roles included Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder. In 1973, Franco Zeffirelli directed her in Eduardo de Filippo’s family drama Saturday, Sunday, Monday, where, she told the Observer: “I had to cook a ragout live on stage. The delicious smell sent people out at the interval looking happy but very hungry and the sale of sandwiches rocketed.” Zeffirelli directed her again in 1977 in De Filippo’s Filumena Marturano and again in 2003 in the Pirandello adaptation Absolutely! (Perhaps), both in London.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6XWIGZRTZNBQJGNY3UKYWZMOYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919265},"content":"In 1988, Plowright directed a play about Marie Stopes, Married Love, and in 1990 she acted with her two daughters, Julie-Kate and Tamsin Olivier, in a production of Time and the Conways directed by her son, Richard Olivier. By that time her film career had gathered pace. In Peter Greenaway’s Drowning By Numbers she played the mother of Joely Richardson and Juliet Stevenson. There followed roles in an adaptation of Beryl Bainbridge’s The Dressmaker, the offbeat comedy I Love You to Death and Enchanted April, which was filmed in Portofino on the Italian Riviera and brought her an Oscar nomination for her performance as an imperious widow. The popular film Tea With Mussolini brought her back to Italy and back to Zeffirelli, casting her alongside fellow dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. She played the surrogate mother of a boy modelled on Zeffirelli.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFVT7PDVUVGTXKXRVZAHIGQHLM","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919267},"content":"In 2013, Plowright reprised her role as Saint Joan for a speech used at the 50th birthday celebration of the National Theatre. In 2018, she reminisced on her career alongside Dench, Smith and Eileen Atkins in Roger Michell’s film Nothing Like a Dame. – Guardian","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"name":"Chris Wiegand Stage editor"}]},"description":{"basic":"Actor Joan Plowright helped shape British postwar theatre through her performances at the Royal Court, National Theatre and in Lodon's West End"},"display_date":"2025-01-17T14:39:17.54Z","headlines":{"basic":"Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q","auth":{"1":"c91e4f8e7c0508fc48b1836e49b8fa96977043097312d6766c153609f4345513"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"NQQBKSBVCZAWNDPFKE4AVWSYMY","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":219,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/576b0066-90be-485b-85ea-bab9cd0f0c97/versions/1737110931/media/c5e66adef64e68889a6dc976f82b0467_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/","content_elements":[{"_id":"LKOZMWAPBJBP3JGCNNIQUYZDCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1655456089120},"content":"Accents","type":"header"},{"_id":"BPM3RL3VEFGWJL2NQLMWORXK5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1736788422164},"content":"Ambassador Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"FMTNH4YLUZECJMKWCGQBIK7D3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1737107833655},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"FV3WKJ7W5VBNVE2VWDJF2VZDPY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The obvious question if you’re seeing Accents, a poetic drama by Emmet Kirwan and Eoin French, for the first time might be: where’s the party? The last time you saw Kirwan pouncing onstage and speaking in verse it was probably during <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-dublin-oldschool-1.1924247\">Dublin Oldschool</a>, his breakout play turned phenomenon, from 2014, in which he played an on-the-run DJ who escaped into a haze of Dublin Bacchanalia. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"JFUDFS34MRGNDGKZJKVHR4477U","additional_properties":{},"content":"This time he’s playing himself, in autobiographical comings and goings to and from the National Maternity Hospital while his partner expects their son. (It’s a pivot Kirwan seems intent on. “If anybody came here expecting poems about doing yokes: psych!” he says.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"K5DOTVJ3KFG2BDSX5M7QCDPG2A","additional_properties":{},"content":"First seen in 2022, Accents returns tinged with grief. French, who released music as the indie-electronic artist Talos, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2024/08/13/cork-musician-eoin-french-known-as-talos-dies-aged-36/#:~:text=Cork%20musician%20Eoin%20French%2C%20known,aged%2036%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Irish%20Times\">died last year</a>. This play goes on tour shortly after French’s wife, Steph, and friends such as Ólafur Arnalds and Dermot Kennedy gave a stirring tribute performance of We Didn’t Know We Were Ready, a song he cowrote, on The Tommy Tiernan Show.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KNP7OBMCSRCLDCWDIUVGA5KXJM","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"JWLUXZK3PFHZ5L6ISATQ7RWCEA","additional_properties":{},"content":"French showed in his music a preference for spaciousness that can easily smother a nimble voice like Kirwan’s. The score quickly narrows to meet the performer, however. While describing surreal anticipation in the maternity ward, Kirwan conjures absurdly hallucinatory images of belligerent babies. He imagines his son speaking his first words as soon as he is born: “Where’s the bleedin’ bass?” French obliges, introducing a dance beat for Kirwan’s verse to ping against.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T5UXGNIWYRDTNJ667Y6SAC4W6Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"As the play sends Kirwan home from the hospital, the plot becomes another Dublin odyssey, showing him on a profound search for parenthood. He visits the city-centre street where his mother used to live and, touchingly, allows for her own sweeping urban quests through mid-century Dublin. French’s gauzy effects recede for a childhood piano as she is depicted walking carefree down O’Connell Street, standing up a date she has changed her mind about.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3AN2U3G3BRAULCVGOEP4UBKHXI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Accents is proof that such Dublin promenades needn’t be populated by gangsters and cops to have friction. We see Kirwan visit his parents in Tallaght before returning to the hospital; they conjure a woeful history of State neglect: the new working-class suburb has no amenities. That leaves a legacy Kirwan worries about passing on, having navigated a place fraught with desperation and fear, and having been assaulted as a teenager. “They tried to change me / And they did / But this won’t be the inheritance of the kid,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WFKBIFXPNNBWVFIGNWAMSGFDNI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Kirwan turns his anger on classist myths (“If you come from violence, you become violence”) while skewering politicians for failing to provide public housing (“You can get away with anything with a gentle whisper,” he purrs). In an affectionate promise towards the play’s conclusion, after journeying from shame to pride, he is joyful at the prospect of passing his family history to his son.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6QGGLN3SZVCQ3F55ASYUWIGZBU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Alongside such resolute declarations, Accents isn’t short on swooning sonic metaphors. At one point he describes how he and his partner will be transformed by their son’s arrival: “Like a tuning fork bringing us into key.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"LTYR5SVCKRGPHIZZLVHBFBOARU","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Accents is at the </i><a href=\"https://mcd.ie/artists/emmet-kirwan\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Ambassador Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, January 18th. It then tours to the </i><a href=\"https://www.civictheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Civic Theatre</i></a><i>, Tallaght, January 31st and February 1st; </i><a href=\"https://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Mermaid Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Bray, Co Wicklow, February 5th-7th; </i><a href=\"https://limetreebelltable.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Belltable</i></a><i>, Limerick, February 13th and 14th; </i><a href=\"https://everymancork.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Everyman</i></a><i>, Cork, February 18th and 19th; and </i><a href=\"https://tht.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Town Hall Theatre</i></a><i>, Galway, February 21st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"The musician’s death adds a layer of grief to this autobiographical drama, in which Kirwan is an expectant father exploring what it means to be a parent"},"display_date":"2025-01-17T10:43:47.73Z","headlines":{"basic":"Accents review: The late Eoin French’s remarkable music accompanies Emmet Kirwan’s fatherhood search","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI","auth":{"1":"918e31587c685d0bced3de5571c487096c8691f4af9588140e0ad34f7321eb14"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"YZ5J6X2LRJDVFPH4M4G4I3UKRU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":388,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/47bd3953-404f-4734-9285-78393201f116/versions/1736876286/media/e047b11531be894934fe5f82ff5514f0_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ZIAMSCCP3VHSTMU7266UL2W4OA","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037126},"content":"Comedian <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tony-slattery/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Slattery</a> has died aged 65 following a heart attack, his partner announced.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TWIBVX3E7VAVVOFYDDKZEILYF4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736865126209},"content":"Slattery appeared on the Channel 4 comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and comedy shows Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7MBNJJBKTRHOZMQSOOQ4FNJ5IE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037128},"content":"A statement on behalf of his partner of more than three decades Mark Michael Hutchinson said: “It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MXXBQ7563ZCDNEWD4ISOA5KLHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595191},"content":"Tributes have been paid by comedians <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stephen-fry/\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Fry</a>, Sandi Toksvig, Richard K Herring and Al Murray, along with radio DJ Mike Read.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6MU3LZUEIJFSJNSPGDAYEAR4VU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952967},"content":"Fry, who worked with Slattery on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, hailed him as “the gentlest, sweetest soul”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T5GSZM5EXJBRHCZYRM7A57DO3I","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952968},"content":"In a post on Instagram, Fry said: “So very sad to have lost the wonderful Tony Slattery, just about the gentlest, sweetest soul I ever knew. Not to mention a screamingly funny and deeply talented wit and clown. A cruel irony that fate should snatch him from us just as he had really begun to emerge from his lifelong battle with so many dark demons.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ELEA7ZX5UVCKJHIKY4KJM7VNIY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952969},"content":"“He had started live ‘evenings with’ and his own podcast series. Lovely, at least, this past year for him to have found to his joyous surprise that he was still remembered and held in great affection.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YZBE5VBNPJD2FCOTIXXAGBJ7EU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952970},"content":"“Love and condolences to Mark [Hutchinson], his staunch, devoted life partner of almost 40 years.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"POS7TMEF4NBIJOZXFXYPA534TI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Toksvig said: “I don’t think I ever met a more beautiful man than Tony Slattery. I was 19 when we met and thought he was astonishing. Stunning to look at, glorious smile, infectious laugh and a streak of kindness a mile wide. I loved him. We all did. In a crowded room of talent, he was the brightest and the best.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"G5JAM5IPAFCBVNI6HDS5BREPRY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037129},"content":"Born November 9th, 1959, Slattery was the contemporary of Fry, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/emma-thompson/\" target=\"_blank\">Emma Thompson</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hugh-laurie/\" target=\"_blank\">Hugh Laurie</a> at the University of Cambridge. He was the former president of the improvisation group Cambridge Footlights, and had recently been touring a comedy show in England and launched a podcast, <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LZUvrgw639GviWjCL2e74\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club</a>, in October.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FZJITI2SNBERJNYUAB2WYEUZY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037131},"content":"Outside of stand-up, Slattery appeared in 1980s and 1990s films including Neil Jordan’s crime thriller The Crying Game, Peter’s Friends with Laurie, Fry and Thompson, and black comedy How To Get Ahead In Advertising with Richard E Grant.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2LMGT7AG2TNHCZZOCWPSRTO5BU","additional_properties":{"_id":"C3JKBZGS55EATMLYXH7SOVKH7I"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"I43ORFIPOBDCTNRG7KHUWE7E7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736866042877},"content":"He also had prominent roles in the theatre, which including receiving a 1995 Olivier Award nod for best comedy performance for the Tim Firth play Neville’s Island, which was later made into a film starring Timothy Spall, and starring in second World War-set production Privates On Parade, based on the film of the same name, as ace impersonator Captain Terri Dennis.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7NOENOTFAFATPNFSW5MXXHLAPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736866042878},"content":"His West End debut was in the 1930s-style musical Radio Times, and on TV he also played a detective in Tiger Bastable, a gentlemen comedy spoof, and the title character in sitcom Just A Gigolo.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MZY6V5A6QFC7JFYCQFUTPKECTQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"But he will be most remembered for his work on the Channel 4 flagship comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which saw performers conduct a series of short improvisation games with suggestions from the host or the audience.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CHC2UTAP6FEGFFQ4QKRDHSXDE4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Slattery appeared in 48 episodes from 1988 to 1995, becoming one of the show’s most popular performers. His departure in series seven affected the show’s ratings.","type":"text"},{"_id":"G5Y23MV4D5B6VKYE7KVBVPH7IU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868121559},"content":"In 2020, Slattery – who regularly spoke <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/tony-slattery-the-abuse-still-weighs-on-me-after-all-this-time-1.4251386\" target=\"_blank\">openly about his bipolar disorder</a> – revealed he went bankrupt following a battle with substance abuse and mental health issues.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DD77MZYXP5B4TB5IQBPGU3CRNY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037133},"content":"He told the Radio Times that his “fiscal illiteracy and general innumeracy” as well as his “misplaced trust in people” had also contributed to his money problems.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TENWVNI4R4JEGJI444BGEIRQ2I","additional_properties":{"_id":"4J4VWGYE6JG57O7H4XOCDIC2VY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"DP63EYOJQZDIZFMOQWUS3AUZHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037134},"content":"Slattery released the BBC Two Horizon documentary What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? in the same year, which saw him and Hutchinson visit leading experts on mood disorders and addiction.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IILHEXOVTBFXVHFZFTZW7A3ICU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686021},"content":"He had previously appeared in 2006 BBC Two programme The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive to speak about his condition.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EOCGDHPF2RE4FCQXRQJZFABXT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686022},"content":"He said: “I rented a huge warehouse by the river Thames. I just stayed in there on my own, didn’t open the mail or answer the phone for months and months and months. I was just in a pool of despair and mania.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"C3RYI3HPWZEV3BTBUIJMJRSZL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686024},"content":"Slattery also made appearances in the final Carry On film Carry On Columbus, Robin Hood, Red Dwarf, The English Harem, Cold Blood, The Royal and Coronation Street.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HT6YAY4AAZHRHBRF6TGE3C56XI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686025},"content":"He won the first Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe along with Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, was one of the original patrons of Leicester Comedy Festival with Norman Wisdom and Irish comedian Sean Hughes, and had been a rector at the University of Dundee.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZAUSWQ6FOVHWROC7EUAFQKV5HQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595205},"content":"Read, who appeared with Slattery on Classic FM quizshow A Question Of Classics alongside late TV host Barry Took, wrote on X: “Very sad news about Tony Slattery ... we had fun. What fun & Tony & Barry were always on top form.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IWRCYA3L4BGO5D4NJIP5LKE5Q4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595207},"content":"Murray wrote: “Really sad news about Tony Slattery. Such a dazzling talent,” while Herring posted: “Oh, Tony.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"EUJZQSBPN5GH5IJODEWL6HNOQE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595208},"content":"Tom Walker, best known as the satirical journalist personality Jonathan Pie, called the news “absolutely heartbreaking”, and referred to Slattery as a “genius”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7YX3QH6GWFHS7OHZW3HDGG7DPE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595209},"content":"Absolutely Fabulous actor and comedian Helen Lederer paid tribute to her “best friend” Tony Slattery on social media. “My best friend in laughter, wit, love, absurdity, being my best man (twice), we adored you – what will we do now.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BSXHU7W7GZEZVFOCPZVP6INOZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736870015543},"content":"Comedian and actor Les Dennis said Slattery was “wonderful talent” as he paid tribute to the comedian. “So very sad to hear Tony Slattery has died. A wonderful talent and a nice man. You will be missed Tony,” Dennis wrote on X, formerly Twitter. – PA, Guardian","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5KC5NJPHBHMTACRYGQ2O5SO2Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037135},"content":"","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[]},"description":{"basic":"Slattery was a regular on comedy shows Whose Line Is It Anyway? Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You"},"display_date":"2025-01-14T14:28:03.695Z","headlines":{"basic":"Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM","auth":{"1":"6550cea46f079be9b8f557d87bddbee2e452460932c18345a7b2fb82a40f2a6a"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"TV & Radio"}}}},{"_id":"4WPIXFQH4VEQTORA2XCK66F3QU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":213,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/4c67e30a-5add-44bb-959c-340e0c600c54/versions/1736765529/media/990ca7c882b3c340f1d1427736060d54_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/","content_elements":[{"_id":"2TNFTHYD4NHVZK2H4ZGR66LLOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488337},"content":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters","type":"header"},{"_id":"5T77ZVMAW5AO7JTVNIZFCPLW4M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488338},"content":"Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"IROBKJJRMBBRTJGZGTOV46TXSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488339},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"WXGS4WVIJVHO3JO7QQNXWXZLMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488340},"content":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters, by Michael J Harnett, is a small, homespun three-act play focusing on the relationships between two pairs of sisters who meet for coffee with a sense of routine obligation only for truths left unsaid for decades to come to light unexpectedly.","type":"text"},{"_id":"22VLFH54N5H2VPRQOWVAVOYDBE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488341},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/geraldine-plunkett/\" target=\"_blank\">Geraldine Plunkett</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/deirdre-monaghan/\" target=\"_blank\">Deirdre Monaghan</a> open the show in the roles of Angela and Betty. Though their ages are left indeterminate, they are likely to be in their 70s, with a background in Ireland’s Protestant ascendancy; albeit that their family suffered financial setbacks later on, the women’s reminiscences involve a large family home, replete with domestic servants. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"MW44IQTF3NE53ETYDUKDRXIJX4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Taking their seats in the cafe, Angela is well dressed, fashionable even, while Betty looks more subdued. These superficial indicators belie the dynamic set in motion as soon as they sit down: Betty begins to unravel the convenient half-truths about their parents that the sisters have maintained. Her more combative, honest persona stems from a change in her circumstances: as Betty reveals, she has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HZSNXPKJ4NATREKSGEBILZLGMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488342},"content":"Following Angela and Betty are Mona and Lu, played by Brenda Brooks and, in a bold move by Vinnie McCabe, the production’s director, Deirdre Monaghan once again. Despite the duplication of one half of the casting, this pair of sisters are, on the face of things, utterly at odds with the previous duo. Mona and Lu are younger by at least two decades, and they speak with very different accents, having grown up in a working-class household in north Dublin. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FZQLF5KOXVFVNEDRGU4MWHSZDY","additional_properties":{"_id":"EDYOGDM4VNEDZCGW63YFYTD6H4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"P4WUAOC25FFHLL4ZCNCFXXXSQA","additional_properties":{},"content":"As before, however, a moment of reflective clarity visits the sisters during their conversation, this time elicited by Mona’s recent separation and stint in counselling. Mona’s newfound insights give her the tools to penetrate her sister’s emotional barriers, prompting the release of a secret trauma that Lu buried years ago. With this confession the pair discover a new intimacy, and they examine the inadequacies of their married lives with an almost giddy sense of freedom.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WO4YEXB2DZBZHFQP6653R2BYRE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488343},"content":"The relationships dovetail in the third act, when Angela and Mona spend a moment together in the play’s final scene. United after a momentary interaction reveals that one of the cleaners employed in Angela and Betty’s well-to-do home was none other than Mona and Lu’s mother, Angela – now bereaved – and Mona discuss their sisters, migrating into a conversation about themselves and their struggles to feel entitled to happiness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DNPXGRRTEFGH5NDFO4CBIEV23U","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488344},"content":"A madeira, if you don’t know, is a dense English sponge cake, originally meant to be dipped in Madeira wine, that has been a staple of afternoon tea – in other words, it connotes a sense of orthodoxy, of lifeless bourgeois rules, not to mention blandness. A madeira is a boring desert, Betty exclaims in the first act. But, she notes, it is also a place: a Portuguese island, off the coast of Morocco, that is shaped by volcanic activity, rife with verdant cliffs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"MDXVCHMKCZHGPMXEXWBMLH6DDE","additional_properties":{},"content":"This duality is the heart of the play: while our personal, domestic lives can feel dull and uninspired, another world is always possible. All one need do is realise that it has been there all along.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QZETDHJCLFGZJHFOFY6INCWTSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488346},"content":"Though the writing is occasionally quagmired by cliche, the production is executed without misstep and features some excellent acting. At 60 minutes, the time flies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"G62QFXQLVFDJZG74XIPPVX55SI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488347},"content":"<i>Madeira: Secrets of Sisters continues at </i><a href=\"https://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bewley’s Cafe Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, February 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Two pairs of sisters visited by a moment of reflective clarity gain a new understanding of family"},"display_date":"2025-01-13T10:44:02.327Z","headlines":{"basic":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters review – Four siblings, three actors and a tale that penetrates emotional barriers","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU","auth":{"1":"7777f19931fac85275857c5b81ab599014d82f2c32ee3076d33b3082a909a2c3"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"BYLD6USTNJEBZFKTQI42G3RWVA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":169,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/3090bbac-b336-4e9b-bca2-f50b28b5fd4c/versions/1736432324/media/bdedf1e021a4d5bc674b82f0221833bb_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/","content_elements":[{"_id":"BDOMPTGP4NCYDISQDHWWBSSHVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564108},"content":"The <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey Theatre</a> has been awarded €9.5 million in the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/arts-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Council’s</a> first round of direct funding for 2025, €1 million more than it received under the same strand last year.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CEUWQWJGRBHCBJS3GRSUFBIE7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564110},"content":"The National Theatre was previously the subject of a critical Arts Council-commissioned review that cited “unclear” governance in relation to tax procedures and financial matters.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZRQNRHM5G5ARPI2NUEDUGTP3FQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564111},"content":"Last August, the board of the theatre accepted the report, and published a list of actions taken or in train, including changes to board records, governance structures and culture, employer liability insurance, as well as its relationship with the Arts Council.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YORU3ZKTT5EF3NIRD3KES6KXZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564112},"content":"At €9.5 million the “strategic funding” for the Abbey in 2025 dwarfs the next highest grant this year, €5,501,130 for the Dublin based Irish National Opera. Both of these are significantly higher than other large strategic grants, including that for Dublin’s Gate Theatre (€2.85 million) and Luail, Ireland’s National Dance Company (€2.2million).","type":"text"},{"_id":"2IHACCP6TJB2DMNPPM4I4DTGTM","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564113},"content":"Among the highest other strategic grants were the Wexford Festival Opera (€1,950,300); the Irish Film Institute (€1.21 million); and the Irish Traditional Archive (€1,067,680).","type":"text"},{"_id":"NPCHPZHQ3BCDTEFTKTJJNKVYAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564114},"content":"Galway’s Druid Theatre was awarded €1.134 million. Overall strategic arts grants to Galway-based organisations totalled more than €4 million.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TGVPH3IELRF3HCWVR4GG4KDP2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564115},"content":"In all, 175 grants were awarded to organisations, art centres and arts studios across the Republic under the funding strand. However, no organisations in Co Offaly were listed as receiving grants.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TPM6BJTPVRHPFKHLEEND34A3IY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564116},"content":"Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council, said grant funding was “vital to the continued growth and development of the arts in Ireland”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LCXEOAWSQRCR7F3LF3EKNJPG3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564117},"content":"She said the money would help ensure that organisations were “empowered to realise compelling visions across all artforms. This financial support will allow people of all ages and backgrounds to engage with and experience the very best of the arts in our country,” she said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NYSDTGJY4JCPDOS7M6HJAN6SMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564118},"content":"In 2025 there are to be 33 direct grant schemes from the Arts Council, all of which are open and competitive, the Arts Council said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EWQX7M5E75GHPGJJYUVGPGAYOU","additional_properties":{"_id":"UQQU4GQZBVFAPIZUGCRGJN37BM"},"content":"<div style=\"min-height:908px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-35jew\"><script type=\"text/javascript\" defer src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/35jew/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" data-target=\"#datawrapper-vis-35jew\"><\/script><noscript><img src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/35jew/full.png\" alt=\"Table showing funding by the Arts Council for arts bodies in 2025\" /></noscript></div>","type":"raw_html"},{"_id":"YCDY6C2IB5FUNMX3YVDX7FFP3I","additional_properties":{},"type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Tim O'Brien"}},"name":"Tim O'Brien"}]},"description":{"basic":"Almost €60 million spread across nationwide arts bodies"},"display_date":"2025-01-09T13:51:59.314Z","headlines":{"basic":"Abbey Theatre gets €9.5m in strategic funding from Arts Council, €1m more than last year","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI","auth":{"1":"96814d1e4ee76298008a890b37c8118deb136aa9f99a5237df4f3907909dfd54"},"focal_point":{"x":3371,"y":504},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Ireland"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"5UQF7KC6UFH7XI4ASVOG34JVS4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":226,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/041dfd82-300f-4674-a034-2b92745061e9/versions/1736255986/media/51816fafc087f9849914983914085d21_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/","content_elements":[{"_id":"GN5LCUEWKZC23BLF4MPQSRGG3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230439},"content":"Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong","type":"header"},{"_id":"B5W57RF6JVG43LFLJMVJLNTBZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230440},"content":"Viking Theatre, Clontarf, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"U3L7YJ7QBZCHJPLWEEDK3WDR2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230441},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"Y7TTQKNK55DV5OE66FFNF6C56E","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970517},"content":"Along with Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon and Carole Richardson, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paddy-armstrong/\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Armstrong</a> was one of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/guildford-four/\" target=\"_blank\">Guildford Four</a>, the group of young people wrongfully imprisoned in Britain for 15 years.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EYSUE2ZFUNHKVK5QRTV7XGO37M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970518},"content":"After the Provisional IRA bombed a pub in the Surrey town of Guildford, in 1974, English police rounded up and then beat and brutalised Armstrong and the others. After several days they obtained a set of false confessions – and before long arrested and then imprisoned another group of innocent citizens, the Maguire Seven, including Conlon’s father, Giuseppe, who subsequently died in prison.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KI4W2DY2DFHKRD3KZLGVLBVSBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970519},"content":"At the time of his incarceration, in 1975, Paddy Armstrong was the oldest of the Guildford Four. He was 25.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6UVNFSI5OJGHBCFK3WFDB66MTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970520},"content":"Jim Sheridan’s film In the Name of the Father raised the four’s profile globally, but the details of Armstrong’s personal experience were not common knowledge until the publication of his acclaimed memoir, Life After Life, in 2017. He wrote it with Mary-Elaine Tynan, a teacher, journalist and documentarymaker. Profoundly affected by Armstrong’s story, she has now taken on the role of producer and director of this sold-out stage adaptation, which is about to go on tour.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GKWU53MAA5DLJFBTZCEXYXJJH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970521},"content":"In the prologue to Life After Life, Armstrong observes that, so incredible were the events that befell him, it sometimes feels as though “I’m remembering someone else’s life”. This idea is given a poetic twist throughout this one-man play, as its central character’s memory is fading, his recall declining: Armstrong remembers the moments of his life out of joint, each narrative episode linked not by chronology but by the intensity of its feeling.","type":"text"},{"_id":"64FAEPOBLRGSTBTI426UO5PN2A","additional_properties":{"_id":"MAOKK3SULBBA5BA4HJP7XQAUOE"},"content":"The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"GFYF4TQNKBC3HOL66VRF2PMQOQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970523},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/don-wycherley/\" target=\"_blank\">Don Wycherley</a>, who wrote the play with Tynan and Niamh Gleeson, is incandescent, delivering a remarkably compelling performance. He glides through characters, emotions, accents, locations and time periods without missing a beat. He conveys the humanity at the core of the character he is portraying, a funny, charming and sometimes confused survivor of the cruellest prejudices of English imperialism.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U72WGRILYVGRVI2S7I2WFL4DRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970524},"content":"Though there is plenty of humour, as well as some precious moments of joy, Wycherley carves space for both wrath and despair. After all, many in the English establishment seem to have thought it likely that the Guildford Four were innocent but did nothing to change their circumstances.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QHMC74CPXZBZBGUOLOQ6GJEK74","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970525},"content":"Nor has anyone been held responsible. Three police officers who were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, Thomas Style, John Donaldson and Vernon Attwell, were found not guilty. Peter Imbert, the officer who oversaw the arrest and interrogation of both the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven, went on to be knighted and, later, made a peer. Mr Justice Donaldson, the judge in the case, who lamented Britain’s abolition of capital punishment as he sentenced Armstrong, Hill and Conlon, later became master of the rolls, the head of England’s civil courts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CFOFTNZ7VZG6TCKZIENZGICILU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970526},"content":"Yet these facts do not ultimately disturb the sanctity of Armstrong’s life. He finds a measure of peace in the suburbs of Dublin. Though he grapples with the memories of so much injustice, he is unbowed: after prison, Armstrong met his wife, Caroline, and had two children, John and Sophie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D3GW62EEQJCN7E3UFSWIIGCJ2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970527},"content":"This devastating story of disaster, oppression and redemption is not to be missed.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GN5LCUEWKZC23BLF4MPQSRGG3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230443},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.lifeandtimesofpaddy.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong</i></a><i> is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.vikingtheatredublin.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Viking Theatre</i></a><i>, Clontarf, Dublin, until Wednesday, January 8th, before beginning a </i><a href=\"https://www.lifeandtimesofpaddy.com/tour-dates\" target=\"_blank\"><i>tour</i></a><i> that starts at the </i><a href=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Pavilion Theatre</i></a><i>, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on January 14th-15th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Play is a devastating retelling of the injustice suffered by Armstrong and the Guildford Four"},"display_date":"2025-01-07T13:07:51.095Z","headlines":{"basic":"Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong review – Don Wycherley is incandescent in this journey from disaster to redemption","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI","auth":{"1":"cc87132abf35b13fe7f46cb8a32ce320d566e588c0e60d8c65eadc8b2bf416c7"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"IRXBHE2DNBFRPHBRW6BDZHQSPE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":445,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/73f3d26e-e1a8-4c7c-8d6e-6da1c0386f71/versions/1734616439/media/9c5476f479a0b7e4ebee7a10aa641dbb_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/","content_elements":[{"_id":"WR5E2U62WVDTRIAEBB42ZD7EGY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972975},"content":"What happens when you read or hear the word “musical”? Do you wince at the memory of an over-amplified <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/\" target=\"_blank\">theatre</a> evening watching <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/cats-just-because-you-can-doesn-t-mean-you-should-1.4123030\" target=\"_blank\">spandex-clad adults pretending to be cats</a>? Were you “changed” for good – and not in a good way – this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/christmas/\" target=\"_blank\">Christmas</a> season by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/11/19/wicked-review-yes-its-a-nightmare-in-digital-wax-but-youll-leave-the-cinema-in-buoyant-mood/\" target=\"_blank\">Wicked</a>, a stage show turned cinematic juggernaut that the New York Times described recently as “cultural bludgeoning”?","type":"text"},{"_id":"3TFPQBB3SZCEDGDKCZM5D6RTE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972977},"content":"The modern musical has a lot to answer for since it swallowed 1980s steroids to bulk up. Entrepreneurs took a century-old theatrical form and turned it into the mega musical: slick, reproduceable, tourable, mass-marketable, candyfloss waterboarding.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GQBMY5CGVZGMTLVW75V35KNR4U","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972978},"content":"Embraced by some, dismissed by others, mega-musical spectacles have long-since eclipsed what the musical once was – and, for some, still is.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YIUAO5YYWNB4ZICAZ7C3J3KBW4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972979},"content":"For many of these musical purists, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stephen-sondheim/\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Sondheim</a>, who died in 2021 aged 91, was their pope.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AKREWHGSLJDTBBF7FVYUQS7WME","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972980},"content":"A lifelong wisecracking <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/new-york-city/\" target=\"_blank\">New Yorker</a>, Sondheim inherited the musical theatre tradition from his mentor, Oscar “Sound of Music” Hammerstein II, and opened up the form’s possibilities to the ambivalence of modern life.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6QYHYKUB4RBSLBMDUHJ3QO4YV4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972981},"content":"One member of the worldwide church of Sondheimites is Richard Schoch, professor of drama at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/queens-university/\" target=\"_blank\">Queen’s University Belfast</a>. Unsatisfied by Sondheim obituaries and tributes, he began writing a book exploring the universality of Sondheim shows. Their themes and lessons are so ingenious, he promises, that they can change your life.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IN2AJ7CU5ZCSPF3LXX7TCVN4HI","additional_properties":{"_id":"3DGVG7DE7FEE7OK4NVIWAXUWKM"},"content":"Stop lying about musicals. We can see your foot tapping","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LDAAHD32BNBN7FORFQCF3RGMKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972982},"content":"“What Sondheim offers us is not life with all its riddles happily solved but life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray,” he argues. “Virginia Woolf once described George Eliot as a novelist for ‘grown-up people’, and the same is true of Stephen Sondheim. His musicals are for grown ups.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LWJ2XZPXFZCQVKOP3TG4VVKCVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972983},"content":"Schoch is so passionate about his subject that he’s kindly agreed to an interview – via satellite – from the Queen Mary 2, halfway across the Atlantic. In between occasional line drops he explains why Sondheim is different from the mega-musicals of big gestures and hummable, repetitive tunes. (Full disclosure: I have been a Sondheim admirer since 1996 when I floated down London’s South Bank after a Royal National Theatre performance of A Little Night Music, a Swedish-set musical farce starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/judi-dench/\" target=\"_blank\">Judi Dench</a> best known for Sondheim’s only pop hit, Send in the Clowns.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"JC5KMTQU3QJWPRQOEAK4UKIOEE","additional_properties":{"_id":"HLBTOSL5TFEMHEHGCTQS5ASPNI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LDJ4BZQQX5CO5MZXEKEXRSCPHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972986},"content":"For Schoch, the Sondheim spark came from seeing <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2022/10/11/angela-lansbury-was-irish-english-scottish-a-tv-superstar-and-a-broadway-demon/\" target=\"_blank\">Angela Lansbury</a> as the cannibal-adjacent pie-maker Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6BZCEZXFDZFXHDUBAZDGBS7WLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972987},"content":"His Sondheim passion has stayed with him in the subsequent four decades: as a theatre director in Washington DC and New York and later at the New York Public Library’s performing arts archives. After teaching for 15 years in London he is a covert recruiter to the Sondheim cult through his over-subscribed Queen’s musical theatre acting class and an advanced module on the composer-lyricist.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MOVWBN2YJFA6BIJ7X4WFT55CTA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972988},"content":"“The students arrive in class thinking musical theatre is one thing – jazz hands and toe-tapping tunes – but end class realising that it can also be proper theatre,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S2S6KKTR4RA6XCI4UYZN4OPB2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972989},"content":"More than that: Schoch’s entertaining and engaging book argues that Sondheim’s works are high art. They explore the human condition with precision, yet remain malleable enough to remain fresh for each new generation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QBERQ4K5NFFWTFNVUS7UPGAHLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972990},"content":"Take the largely plotless Company (1970) about a bachelor with intimacy issues, wondering how best to survive being alive: as a stoic singleton or as a sorry-grateful husband. Revived recently with a female lead, it became a Tinder-era exploration of urban loneliness and the ticking biological clock.","type":"text"},{"_id":"76CH66HDOBD3PG4B4M542M7ZO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972991},"content":"Gypsy, an early work with Sondheim lyrics, is about a pushy stage mother but recent productions highlight the mother-child conflict over unlived lives.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GO357D42NFAV5MRXRYZE5UEL4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972992},"content":"Follies tackles middle-aged people and lies they tell themselves to rationalise poor life choices.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ATKRG6B67VAN5EKFJOI2F6WNTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972993},"content":"Sondheim’s favourite themes – obsession, loss, regret – can be a dark business, just as his music can switch without warning from peppy showtune to restless Ravel.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FTVNMY22S5FWPBWUDUQP4BQ7AE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972994},"content":"For Schoch, Sondheim’s rare talent as a composer-lyricist allowed him go beyond hummable melodies to explore the dramatic possibilities of merging words and music, conflicting emotion and intellect.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A4IVT7IXT5EOFFJXYHK4DB3ESI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972995},"content":"“There are Sondheim dissonances and angularity; you can get quite positive lyrics sitting on music that is troubling,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EXJSTPFBUNGTJKMQ5GCQOYCUHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972996},"content":"With complex music and ambivalent lyrics and stories, Sondheim’s work attracts criticism for favouring a chilly cerebral approach, more clever than kind. Schoch is having none of it, praising Sondheim shows for daring to show “characters who reflect on their situation”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3O57FBG3RJHJPDLKY4DK7LK3BA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972997},"content":"“They are smart enough to step back from their experience to try and understand ... something we all want to do,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FUIWQJOBPBHFLJ2A7RVYYERSHA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972998},"content":"After his last Broadway musical in 1994, Sondheim enjoyed a surge of popularity late in life. Film versions of Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods helped; a third – Merrily We Roll Along – is in the works from Richard Linklater. On stage, meanwhile, actors and comedians from Daniel Radcliffe and Jake Gyllenhaal to Stephen Colbert and Catherine Tate are lining up to appear in Sondheim productions.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WHEBUYQ44FFODOY6ZYX2YMPYDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973000},"content":"A decade ago <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/dec/02/assassins-review-catherine-tate-sondheim\" target=\"_blank\">Tate delivered a standout performance</a> in a London revival of Sondheim’s 1991 show Assassins, about the nine people who – with varying levels of success – set out to kill a US president. Amid jokes, revue numbers and a carnival setting, Assassins mockingly celebrates the American dream as a logic trap: if an American’s self-realisation dream is to kill the president, should they go for it – and should we disapprove or applaud?","type":"text"},{"_id":"VXFMHKMUW5C5JJKLERXR3FXBRM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973002},"content":"How does Schoch view the show, months after two failed attempts on the life of Donald Trump?","type":"text"},{"_id":"UTAS7VJGSJHUTE2YT6H4OB45PQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973003},"content":"“It’s never been more timely,” he says. “Life in America can get so bad that a wayward few will go to horrific extremes to put things right. It’s wrong, but it happens, and it happens for a reason.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RUS3EGE3YVF3DKNDUHAMLW3KOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973004},"content":"Sondheim’s last work, Here We Are, is coming to London in April, while Northern Ireland Opera will present Follies in Belfast next September.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SUKOOEAK3FHZBCJ62HIMNAZPNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973005},"content":"Before his death, Sondheim had passed the musical torch on to a new generation lead by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lin-manuel-miranda/\" target=\"_blank\">Lin-Manuel Miranda</a>, creator of Hamilton. Even if it’s too soon to tell if the grown-up musical form remains creative or is calcifying, Schoch is confident that Sondheim shows will still be playing in a century’s time. Why?","type":"text"},{"_id":"OJABVMJJGREUBMLN2NXLASUZYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973006},"content":"“There’s the harmonic, architectural complexity of the music itself, the cleverness, dexterity and insightfulness of the lyrics,” he says. “His work is about what the music and lyrics make it possible for us to see, hear or feel. The music and lyrics work together to provoke us stir up something.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"24GBZAVDAVEABIHWOV73L7HNCY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973007},"content":"<i>How Sondheim Can Change Your Life by Richard Schoch is available now.</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Derek Scally"}},"name":"Derek Scally"}]},"description":{"basic":"Queen’s University Belfast academic Richard Schoch says the American composer’s works are high art that explore the human condition with precision, and remain fresh for each new generation"},"display_date":"2025-01-05T06:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Musicals for grown ups: Stephen Sondheim presents ‘life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A","auth":{"1":"ce093d3a27d5b1c25c4ef7cb2a1cc0188bf942ec72dfa34ea33c41cf37c9d8d2"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"JTO2EPKGCBDK7C6HTIRQY7GX34","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":295,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/f58b1e05-3c9a-43f9-8a25-d11f12896784/versions/1735816352/media/6ba4249d92a85c64218dd1a6608ef4a4_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/","content_elements":[{"_id":"VBEYOTHP3BAX7CR7CNQIOL27VM","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836864},"content":"Plays by the acclaimed Irish dramatist <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brian-friel/\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Friel</a>, who has been referred to as an “Irish Chekhov”, have been performed in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/london/\" target=\"_blank\">London</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a>, on Broadway and elsewhere. Now an ambitious five-year project is bringing the works home to “the terroir, the communities and the landscapes” that inspired them, culminating in all 29 running across counties <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donegal/\" target=\"_blank\">Donegal</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/derry/\" target=\"_blank\">Derry </a>and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tyrone/\" target=\"_blank\">Tyrone </a>– places that Friel lived – during the centenary of his 1929 birth.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ELQ56PAH5FAVRPIGKELSJ34JFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836866},"content":"The<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/brian-friel/obituary-brian-friel-the-best-known-playwright-of-his-generation-1.2375969\" target=\"_blank\"> late playwright, who died in 2015</a>, was notable in the pantheon of 20th-century Irish writers in that he lived in<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/northern-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\"> Northern Ireland </a>and the Republic of Ireland all his life, rooting his works in both.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4C5JUNMVLBHNRBJ32K27OEZHB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836867},"content":"FrielDays – a Homecoming will feature readings of his notable works, including Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia Here I Come!, as well as those rarely staged, according to Seán Doran, the artistic director of Arts Over Borders, which is organising the huge event.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UO5ZXD26TJGALJFVWKUKAWZXE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836868},"content":"Community halls, churches, schools – “the landscape covered or uncovered” – will be stage and set. “It’s using landscape in a sort of psycho-geography that helps trigger the plays in a more heightened way,” Doran said. A different village or town will be used for each “so it’s county-wide, cross-Border wide”. Each site “has to have the memories and the layering of past and connectivity to the texts you are about to witness”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZZUTJWT7ZBKHG4X6ZWONOCKRU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836869},"content":"The first year, 2025, will include <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/18/dancing-at-lughnasa-review-gates-triumphant-breathtakingly-beautiful-revival-deserves-groaning-houses/\" target=\"_blank\">Dancing at Lughnasa</a> – for which Friel won a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tony-awards/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony award </a>and which was made into a film starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/meryl-streep/2/\" target=\"_blank\">Meryl Streep</a> – Translations, Faith Healer, The Home Place and the lesser-known Volunteers, which “Friel particularly loved”, Doran said, but which was castigated in London and Dublin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4OQSOZOVZA45JBPINWBFK2YWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836870},"content":"So purist is the approach that each performed reading by actors will happen in the season, or month, in which Friel set them. “In presenting them within the terroir they have come out of, you are strengthening that sense of place in time for the audience,” Doran said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MJB6I6QZPVEHJE6KBURUXX546E","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836871},"content":"Some performances will enable the audience to watch in real time. For example, Translations, which is set over several days, will have a small number of tickets for the first act on Wednesday, the second on Friday, and for the third on Saturday.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KQDFTC3JUJFQ3KJU27B22FZD7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836872},"content":"Further symbolism will include a “hedge school” running alongside the plays. Named after the secret schools that operated in the 18th and 19th centuries for Catholics when their education was banned, these will distil themes from the plays. Audiences will be bussed deeper into the countryside to the school, at a secret location.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5ZKBYGFIUFAJ7CCYOVPBJ4D5WQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836873},"content":"Friel’s themes include exile and emigration, but, Doran said, “Irishness is the overarching theme. And re-evaluating the past into the present, that haunts all of us, through playwrighting”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6D3OC4W24BJGPDHR4Z62KDSWUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"KE7UQXK6JZC3ZPF23DV2MQO7IA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"DSPWWTGKUFBVDM6H35AYS2QXAM","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836874},"content":"Written post-internment, Volunteers features prisoners on an archaeological dig, one that did happen at Wood Quay, Dublin, on the river Liffey before developers built a five-star hotel. “We’ll be doing that at Ebrington Square, Derry, the former British army barracks on the water,” Doran said. It will be set up as an archaeological dig site, “so it will really catch the liveness of a real setting”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IRBEVNPRZRGQRM2DRZ3IBA56EI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836875},"content":"During Faith Healer, which follows the main character Frank as he travels around Celtic villages, audiences will be bussed to different venues between the four acts. Starting in Glenties, the town in Co Donegal on which Friel’s fictional Ballybeg is believed to be based, the audience will move up into the Blue Stack mountains, then on to the coast, and finally back to Glenties.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KG3KUAZFGFGLHNYFUG5SQQVKVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836876},"content":"In some cases, the audience will be crossing the Border in between acts, the message being “to see the Border not as a divider but as a binder”, Doran said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U74A3PAVBFDAVDCEZ3COTRUKTA","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836877},"content":"Translations was written in English but features characters who speak Gaeilge, thus the performances will take place in the Gaeltacht – Irish-speaking areas. The audience “will arrive in an environment, be it a pub, where Gaeilge is being spoken, but the play they will see will be in English, so they will be in the milieu of the two languages,” Doran said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ASLQA3FGFNBX5PXLVZSEJYOILU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836878},"content":"Five plays will begin in 2025, and more will be added each year with the aim that, ultimately, all will be running during the year of the centenary.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FULR3XHVRVBYZBZZNZQHYUAKRU","additional_properties":{"_id":"TOFOJQU7ABHIXJFBMYFXQXGCGM"},"content":"Anne Friel on her late husband playwright Brian: ‘I was crazy about him. He was everything’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"HISFFETS4JA5ZIGDR5QSOV37NI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836880},"content":"Arts Over Borders already runs annual Friel festivals. The vision and ambition of this new project was daunting, Doran said. “We evaluate the canon. And it’s only through the seeing and the being with and the living with that this can be done. – Guardian","type":"text"},{"_id":"U6I3NCSOWRDDVF6A4PFXIMNVPU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735812277965},"content":"<i>Tickets are available at </i><a href=\"https://www.artsoverborders.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>artsoverborders.com</i></a>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"name":"Caroline Davies"}]},"description":{"basic":"Five-year project will stage each play in a setting relevant to its theme and in the season it was set"},"display_date":"2025-01-02T11:07:21.44Z","headlines":{"basic":"Brian Friel’s plays to be brought home to cross-Border communities that inspired them","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ","auth":{"1":"1caddb583b9ef0359d08725f47cfb442a8c7c9e951e1a62eb82552f11d912121"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"2CJCFHR3DNHHVPNWTJ43CU4OYA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":485,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/07495b28-c4b9-446b-b653-78c1b761ece7/versions/1733253073/media/7cf25756c86a051082773098776120ec_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/","content_elements":[{"_id":"7CUW3YYVZVFBRJIW2WPZN23KAQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376137},"content":"Up on the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/\" target=\"_blank\">stage</a>, a chestnut colt is nickering nervously, unwilling to be reined. Bred to be a hunting horse, he has been bought to plough the fallow fields of a Devon farm. He whinnies in protest against the leather harness, bucks his forelegs as the bridle is secured. With the bit in his mouth, he rears and kicks his hind hooves, determined to resist. In the end it isn’t physical restraint that calms him but the gentling voice of his new owner, 15-year-old Albert Narracott.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MQ7IZRZNQJD6NMZEA44KAF6QYE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179026},"content":"This inhospitable beginning begets a bond that sustains them both through the violence of domestic and military battles. Boy and beast, man and animal: the relationship is the basis of an authentic kinship.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EAOUAUR4W5HL3CENRCS27O45GQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376138},"content":"If the connection between Albert and his horse, which he names Joey, seems far-fetched, an imaginative stretch, millions of readers, film lovers and theatregoers would disagree. It provides the central plot for War Horse, the beloved 1982 novel by the lauded British author <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/michael-morpurgo/\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Morpurgo</a>. Adapted for the stage in 2007, it has become one of the most celebrated shows in the repertoire of Britain’s National Theatre, as well as the foundation of<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steven-spielberg/\" target=\"_blank\"> Steven Spielberg’s </a>2011 filmed version.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FST37W2EGJHUNEEHSFGO6MNH24","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294104},"content":"This month the production comes to Ireland. Nick Stafford’s script remains unchanged, but a new cast brings a vivid, fresh interpretation to the work where women’s experiences of the first World War are brought out of the shadows and the world of the battlefield is expanded through the possibilities of digital projection of drawings by Rae Smith, the original designer. What the audience will surely remember, however, is the unbridled love between Albert and Joey, whose embodiment on stage is a masterclass in theatrical storytelling.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ADTCDGS4TVEOVLH3V7RJENCWMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376139},"content":"Tom Sturgess, the actor playing Albert, saw the first touring production of War Horse more than a decade ago, on a family visit to his local theatre, the Lowry on Salford Quays in Manchester. Coincidentally, this is where we meet to talk about the new production. Sturgess was only 11 at the time, so he doesn’t remember much about the play itself, he says, but he does recall the scale of it. The production “felt massive, bigger than anything I had seen before. It was in this huge auditorium, and the building itself was so big, so what I remember is this huge sense of grandiosity”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HBVWKBYYZJE5BFINBX627ZAPMY","additional_properties":{"_id":"V4YBDBNVAJFLLAIOXR3SYAOOIY"},"content":"How does War Horse work? A complex design of bungee cord, cane and leather","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"34Z6D3URQNGG3PJMADOSCSYKUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294106},"content":"The experience helped to shape his ambition; after graduating from drama school in 2019, he was immediately cast in the West End, contracted to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which he played in for a year (after the interruption of the pandemic). Getting another gig with such an extensive performance schedule is “a bit of a luxury”, he says. But it also poses the challenge of how to “connect to something artistically that you are going to be doing for so long – eight shows a week for 10 months”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UUFKMCCRMVAPZG2B6ISDSPGAO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179033},"content":"Sturgess’s trick to keep his War Horse performance fresh is “to notice something new in everyone each day, to think less about myself and more about what everyone else is doing”. It also helps, Sturgess says, that most of his scenes are played opposite a puppet, which is operated not by just one cast member but by four teams of three actors.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CSM3HHS5KNBVVCC6SHLRLGUS4Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179034},"content":"“Every team is completely different,” he explains. “So, show by show, you are building a relationship with a different horse. It is the same character, but each Joey has a different personality, based on the group of three, and that definitely helps to keep it alive for me. I can’t go into autopilot. I have to respond to what is being offered.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XEKAAMSPARE7BF6GAYBOWFIMOQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"T223HILJO5C4DJHTXDX3EBFS6U"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"H7QBASJAAZA53IMGJ6IYJ7G3YU","additional_properties":{"_id":"MLII4CY22ZD5DEH5HB5TYSB5FA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"3HKEB777DND5VM3IDTORINE5IM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376140},"content":"Sturgess’s training for working with the equine ensemble began in auditions, when he was “completely star-struck doing the scene”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4M5WH55Q3FBVPMKMDUMSE6KXEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179036},"content":"“But there was this moment when Joey stopped being a puppet: he just became real. And that is what happens for the audience, too: Joey comes on stage and they see the horse and the three puppeteers manipulating him, but then there is a moment – and you don’t even realise – but all of a sudden the horse is real before your eyes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S6NMXJAHRFDYJB6Z7K3UIOFAH4","additional_properties":{"_id":"WLPGBZL2MVHYVATEKHIG5UGTVE"},"content":"A Few Words on Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman – Too close to its subject","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"BK3IUZZRYNE57OJE3L2YYUMODA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294109},"content":"“That happens to me on stage, as well: I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing like a horse, making sounds and moving like a horse would, so you start interacting with them like you would with any horse. But, like any horse would, they also ignore you, and by rooting [Joey’s behaviour] in the reality of how a horse might behave, it becomes more than a device to pull an emotional response out of you. By playing the truth of a horse, it becomes something real.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5LCEBOOMTFCIVMCCALO4H5S7QU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376141},"content":"Tea Poldervaart is one of the actors playing Joey in the two incarnations we see on stage: we meet Joey as a colt, as well as in his fully-grown form. Poldervaart explains the reasoning behind the trebling of actors.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SLJFTRB2AZHMXJI7PKERCMPPKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179040},"content":"“The horses have a lot of weight to them,” he says, “so there’s a very physical workout every time you go on stage. The head” – which Poldervaart plays – “is just under 8kg, and the heart and hind is 44kg in weight – and that doesn’t take into account an actor sitting on top and having to gallop across the stage. And you are carrying that for two hours through every performance, so you really need to be fit and you really need to be comfortable and safe.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QKQOS453EFEQPDJBLEMK4M7L2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179041},"content":"Splitting the role between teams is a way of ensuring that.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T5ZSVY525VGZRPMFCCDMLHAT2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376142},"content":"“With our Joey it feels like we are mirroring Albert’s youth and innocence, his childlike wonder. Our Joey is very interested in the world. So in the first half he is very chirpy and happy, and open to everything. And that has such an impact then when he gets sent over to war: it’s like seeing a child in those environments.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFTEGQUOMJFGRFYQ6QPC6MF2TE","additional_properties":{"_id":"TP3QEG6HAJHSRAYYDQGTN6UVMU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"W6HZ4TE2JBBZJNJTEDWT75GZNI","additional_properties":{"_id":"FI5O6VOK4FF5VE2EF2ZZANYDAU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"W3OJO4267NARZNVAHPGIUNZG7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376143},"content":"He describes the different functions of the different parts of the animal both technically and emotionally. “With each position on the horse we all have roles and emotional indicators. So for me, as the head, I’m giving the gaze and focus of the animal. Heart is really selling the breath, the life‚ of the puppet. Hind is like the engine, the driving force.” Ultimately, “it’s really all about working together”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M74ZPZZQXZGZVD2YHUWTKJD7DM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376144},"content":"This is something that the show’s directors emphasised as they readied the cast for this tour. Katie Henry, who’s directing this revival, and Matthew Forbes, its puppetry director, have long histories with the show: Henry joined for its first West End transfer; Forbes played Joey for three years. Although they have extensive knowledge of the production, they were keen, as Henry explains, “to accommodate the freshness of coming at it again with a whole set of new people”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BGUVTVPAPREILCCRMLBYH364FY","additional_properties":{"_id":"4ZHLER2UFRHDTDHCAJA7A7BMMY"},"content":"Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s son on his parents: ‘Kids were second to their drinking and partying’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UZEG32OJVFFALMCVEUG6UF74ZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294114},"content":"There are more women in this new production, including Sally Swanson, who plays the Singer, and whose rich folk voice brings a distinct feminine frame to the masculine world of war as it was in 1914, reminding the audience “what happened to the women left at home, what happened to the communities ripped apart when the men were sent off to war and didn’t come back”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QDHL4U42EFHURMVWIZN67E35FY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376145},"content":"Forbes sums up the puppets’ ongoing role in enabling our deep engagement with Morpurgo’s story. “By using puppets,” he says, “we are inviting the audience to engage their imaginations in bringing Joey to life.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FXLN5BGJY5E7XGOUQRGPBD2SEI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179048},"content":"If, as the adage goes, the audience is the central character in any piece of theatre, that’s doubly true with War Horse. “The response to Joey’s journey is so strong because the audience have been so invested in helping to create him.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"U3IEUV2AQNHLLEVNSD4ROVGENM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376146},"content":"<i>War Horse is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Wednesday, January 29th, until Saturday, February 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"A new stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel brings the kinship of boy and beast alive in a triumph of theatrical storytelling"},"display_date":"2025-01-02T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"War Horse: ‘I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing, making sounds and moving like a horse would’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA","auth":{"1":"fb19ddcba9834d40834b36ead89c489c6856747d243cca1d64f4291a2b757695"},"focal_point":{"x":3199,"y":2375},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA.JPG"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"L76YR2W3D5BDVATW56RLA2LDSU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":672,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/eaf5478b-ab0c-4cf8-81de-8e4e79a30ecc/versions/1734100479/media/a0de08d15d378916d6087c8a7969ea05_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/","content_elements":[{"_id":"WV2TYVN7G5BKJNM2P7O2SWXDYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475354},"content":"With many announcements still to be made, and several independent companies taking existing productions on the road, it remains to be seen how 2024′s commendably adventurous programming will play out. Will this streak continue? Will some box-office pain influence a return to more familiar material? We choose to be hopeful. The <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey Theatre</a>’s revival of the long-neglected 1931 play Youth’s the Season -? is expected to deliver a rare vision of 1920s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a> as young, arty, partying and campy. The <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate</a>’s production of Lovesong, by Abi Morgan, will present a 40-year marriage onstage. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is intensely romantic. How they warm these cold hearts of ours.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHV4BEWUO5FDZJZUH5FGXLBUDY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475356},"content":"Fledermaus","type":"header"},{"_id":"MCMKO5KYTFDILOP7PC37YGFEIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475357},"content":"Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, February 1st, then touring until February 23rd, visiting Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Letterkenny, Navan, Dundalk and Dún Laoghaire, <a href=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">irishnationalopera.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"W6KMYO5WB5FRPAHDQOZBDQY2GM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475359},"content":"It’s disguised identities at a masquerade ball in 19th-century Vienna as Irish National Opera stages Johann Strauss’s upbeat classic. Next-generation stars Jade Phoenix (La Ciociara) and Sarah Shine (The First Child) play a prisoner’s wife and her maid, their separate schemes leading them towards the biggest party in town. Large-scale debut for director Davey Kelleher.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JSVAFPVK3ND2DK5PE5JRWSRIR4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475360},"content":"Dr Strangelove","type":"header"},{"_id":"3KKPNIUEQVCLFAIEKA2DSYNBRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475361},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, February 5th-22nd, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"R5T4USZYGNHXRJYNC5QPLGLAHM","additional_properties":{"_id":"BH2KL5YRBRCWHLX4ES46CNGIYA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"6OELKF7IJ5HKFCOQ2T4DELDDLQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475363},"content":"Stanley Kubrick’s dark cold-war comedy, about a paranoid US general leading the world towards mutually assured destruction, saw the corridors of power as populated by contrivedly macho, chisel-jawed men smoking cigars, chewing gum and sleeping with their secretaries. That doesn’t sound unlike the toxic worlds portrayed by Armando Iannucci in Veep, The Death of Stalin and more, who is one of the writers of this stage adaptation, swiftly transferring from the West End of London. Steve Coogan takes on the multiple roles made famous in the film by Peter Sellers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DCO6SWGW4FG3HMWSAYPNZACMMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475364},"content":"Men’s Business","type":"header"},{"_id":"J52IARG6Z5BS5FVPID73DEMHIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475365},"content":"Glass Mask Theatre @ Bestseller, Dublin, February 11th-March 1st, <a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">glassmasktheatre.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"WPOEBO2BYBAHRJA7H7FTU7TNJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475367},"content":"Something of a coup for Glass Mask Theatre, which secures Simon Stephens’s new adaptation of this play by Franz Xaver Kroetz, the social realist of 1970s German theatre. A man and a woman (and a dog) all clash within the dangerously sharp confines of a butcher’s shop. Premiering in Dublin before playing in London.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RAY3BQT5TZDRFHJ3IUHWOEJWNU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475368},"content":"King Lear","type":"header"},{"_id":"MAYOASMCERGCFKAHFOC74EOYZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475369},"content":"Gate Theatre, Dublin, February 21st-April 27th, <a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gatetheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"GGQ7EKA52FBEZFB3N5YZJJHFIE","additional_properties":{"_id":"DKQ6I5KERREW7JTWCY3X3AW2OA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CIBWZEAMCRBENMHJMOGDLB7L7I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475371},"content":"A huge television audience may know him from Game of Thrones, but Conleth Hill – catapulted into the mainstream by Marie Jones’s comic 1996 play Stones in his Pockets – is a theatre creature through and through. While appearing in HBO’s fantasy drama he also performed in plays by Chekhov, Edward Albee and Annie Baker. All roads lead, fittingly, to Lear, Shakespeare’s swaggering king, who elicits performances from his daughters that lead to a catastrophic transition of power.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BSNTOTECTRDV7BK775ULAMM4YQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475372},"content":"& Juliet","type":"header"},{"_id":"LWGCILDC2RHDZJIT6BETBDTNIY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475373},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, February 25th-March 8th, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"JASOQ75E3BGSBFCTHVISO2ORWE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475375},"content":"For some, this enthusiastic rewriting of Romeo and Juliet might fist-bump emptily with girlboss feminism. It remains one of the smartest ideas in jukebox-musical history. The playwright David West Read secured the rights to the back catalogue of the Swedish hit-maker Max Martin, so allowing Juliet to wake miraculously from her deathbed to Britney Spears’s …Baby One More Time, escape to Paris accompanied by Robyn’s Show Me Love and reunite angrily with Romeo to Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone. Flashes of brilliance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TQFJMBR4RBA35KQOHRMTKBVOMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475376},"content":"The Velveteen Rabbit","type":"header"},{"_id":"XLWF2WE7BJENPGRD5NSLKPZ4KM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475377},"content":"Lyric Theatre, Belfast, March 14th-30th, <a href=\"https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">lyrictheatre.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXRFHSLBWJHG7GR2JERZL273LM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475379},"content":"Before there was Toy Story there was Margery Williams’s children’s book about a stuffed rabbit, attached to the idea of coming to life, and pushed aside by a new wave of mechanical toys. The industrious Replay Theatre teams up with Belfast’s Lyric Theatre to present this new musical adaptation, with music by Duke Special and a book by the novelist Jan Carson.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DSZ2APUNRFDGTGKYUTM6ZG52SI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475380},"content":"Little One","type":"header"},{"_id":"DH6L6PG2TVBGJHEXALB6RJU64Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475381},"content":"Glass Mask Theatre @ Bestseller, Dublin, March 18th-April 5th, <a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">glassmasktheatre.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"2KHEMUEOQFBH7EA6OCW2CHST74","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475383},"content":"A surprise production of the Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s chilling play in which two adults revisit their childhoods adopted into the same family. Glass Mask Theatre again subverts reassuring ideas of dinner theatre, insisting on serving a psychological drama to go with your Bordeaux.","type":"text"},{"_id":"H6MT2OVSJVBXZD36OWNDEBVHR4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475384},"content":"The Flying Dutchman","type":"header"},{"_id":"ATN7WIOG7NFNRBKCOXDYZJM724","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475385},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, March 23rd-29th, <a href=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">irishnationalopera.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"P6UCXMEBK5G4ZAMIRBU7DMXTOU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475387},"content":"The expanse of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre transforms into the spooky Norwegian harbour town of Wagner’s opera, as a sailor’s daughter is haunted by the captain of a sunken ship. Irish National Opera brings back the horror-opera star Giselle Allen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EAWFFSWNXJEBLM6DB6SCUV32RM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475388},"content":"The Lottery","type":"header"},{"_id":"FANDGEH6JJDSZHZWQ7GH6GXRX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475389},"content":"Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co Kildare, March, <a href=\"https://www.riverbank.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">riverbank.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"IZTGYPYKERENLLWSDGS6ZMSWFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475391},"content":"After his fetching play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/a-very-old-man-with-enormous-wings-review-a-children-s-story-for-a-sceptical-age-1.4012338\" target=\"_blank\">A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings</a>, Dan Colley’s next instalment of South American magical realism is inspired by a short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. Expect strange goings-on in an offbeat town whose inhabitants’ lives are ruled by an omnipresent lottery company.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTK43WNA5RCBJB4HPXLNJ6OCHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475392},"content":"Youth’s The Season -?","type":"header"},{"_id":"JKFJZBROC5GA5ERRLMNWSUD7LM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475393},"content":"Abbey Theatre, Dublin, April 2nd-May 3rd, <a href=\"https://abbeytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">abbeytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"TIOU2KR2FREV7BGSMXK4EHSQE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475395},"content":"“Dammit, it <i>was </i>the 20s and we had to be smarty!” <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dorothy-parker/\" target=\"_blank\">Dorothy Parker</a> said. Dublin’s own version of a 1920s metropolis populated by arty, campy scenesters trying very hard to be funny comes to life in Mary Manning’s long-neglected play. Some might read this story of startlingly literate young things partying and languishing in the new Free State as a veiled portrait of a Bohemian set that included <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/micheal-mac-liammoir/\" target=\"_blank\">Micheál MacLiammóir</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hilton-edwards/\" target=\"_blank\">Hilton Edwards</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/samuel-beckett/\" target=\"_blank\">Samuel Beckett</a>. Manning, a film critic turned playwright, could also camp it up. When MacLiammóir requested on his deathbed that she remove the question mark from the play’s title, she said “No, Micheál. No.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5XYSM4GOYFCI3G3CNYTNAXUKMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475396},"content":"Our New Girl","type":"header"},{"_id":"N5FSLF2ACRENBMZTTOYSE73ZQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475397},"content":"Lyric Theatre, Belfast, April 8th-May 4th, <a href=\"https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">lyrictheatre.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"6OK22TC6IJBRDEUTTONWCE6NGA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475399},"content":"A large-scale debut for director Rhiann Jeffrey, whose productions Distortion and This Sh*t Happens All the Time were slippery accounts of navigating homophobic worlds in Northern Ireland. That makes her a good candidate for Nancy Harris’s excellent play, a sexism satire meets psychological thriller in which an insecure mother is surprised to discover that her husband has hired an enigmatic nanny without consulting her.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C4FXNJQPO5FC7KLXVG63AMAGYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475400},"content":"Chora","type":"header"},{"_id":"HZO7ZJ75HBCNZNUYKGFQYAM3H4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475401},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, May 13th, then touring until May 28th, visiting Wexford, Belfast and Cork, <a href=\"https://luail.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">luail.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"UZNDZP75CRGO7AE4KYVCZM66HI","additional_properties":{"_id":"6BISXEGFG5GPFFKV56XAPGYSAY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"XZ54KN45KNEYTEYZBYNGCIWV74","additional_properties":{"_id":1734080217070},"content":"How is Ireland’s new all-island dance company, led by Liz Roche, shaping up? It makes its debut by opening Dublin Dance Festival with this triple bill choreographed by Maria Campos and Guy Nader, Roche, and Mufutau Yusuf. Performed with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, they’re billed as drawing on themes of home, memory and landscape.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SAZAY5CEAFEZHKZVHDQGU4ZANM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734080217071},"content":"Lovesong","type":"header"},{"_id":"FOS7E4CWEREDPCODUQPIZ2TYAU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475404},"content":"Gate Theatre, Dublin, May 14th-June 15th, <a href=\"https://gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gatetheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"RZN2CHIMPZAO5IOE3BVC7M752E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475406},"content":"How do you present a 40-year marriage on stage? Abi Morgan’s tear-jerker about an older couple at a crossroads is fittingly directed by David Bolger, the CoisCéim choreographer, as the couple’s younger selves are seen drifting into their house and revisiting their regrets and their accomplishments. Lovesong always moved like a dance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"STYLPSQTHBFVDJY7SYF33B3LYI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475407},"content":"L’Elisir d’Amore","type":"header"},{"_id":"22UZRO4XYZFTPO4Q62SFUKY5EE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475408},"content":"Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, May 25th-31st, then touring until June 7th, visiting Wexford and Cork, <a href=\"https://irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">irishnationalopera.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"6L2QJXETDND75BHT3CTLFNMZYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475410},"content":"It’s hard to imagine this 19th-century romcom of an opera standing still for long, as slapstick king Cal McCrystal directs Gaetano Donizetti’s story about a labourer on a country estate who, with the help of a love potion, becomes the most admired man in town.","type":"text"},{"_id":"INR4UUGIZNHQZIFPXO3MM25HKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475411},"content":"Wreckquiem","type":"header"},{"_id":"NTIGB7JIFRETNA5G3NO7D2SIB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475412},"content":"Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, June 26th-July 5th, <a href=\"http://limetreebelltable.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">limetreebelltable.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"YRRWHGV32VFDNNCJPT634NLGNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475414},"content":"In Mike Finn’s new comedy, which riffs on Limerick’s increasing gentrification, a property developer threatens to remove a beloved record store, rallying the city’s impassioned vinyl collectors to its defence. Pat Shortt leads the cast.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VSR35HHFVBHZRDLUEINUWMFS6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475415},"content":"The Black Wolfe Tone","type":"header"},{"_id":"45DZIFRU6BF4TPJNVHOJNWCDCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475416},"content":"Venue to be announced, June, <a href=\"https://www.fishamble.com/\" target=\"_blank\">fishamble.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"3GJT6SULJJFUNJNWE3IHGB5DTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475418},"content":"The often charming Ghanaian-Irish actor Kwaku Fortune, seen as a smouldering romantic in Piaf and Amelia, turns to playwrighting. Fishamble produces this anticipated play about young men struggling with intergenerational trauma.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RTJSNSJGUNEJZCCGCAOV5LYLVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475419},"content":"Amelia","type":"header"},{"_id":"FSNLH7TIBFEEPAYYXUADTAMF5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475420},"content":"Venue to be announced, October, <a href=\"https://www.blueraincoat.com/\" target=\"_blank\">blueraincoat.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"6XZGYU6ANNCXHOBFVP3KOPII2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475422},"content":"For its sixth play about explorers, Sligo’s adventurous Blue Raincoat company looks at Amelia Earhart’s final flight. Director Niall Henry deployed stately puppetry for his plays about seaborne journeys. This one takes to the sky via aerial dance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7IKGWOWXZZG2HOCC6XBJB5CK3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475423},"content":"Connie","type":"header"},{"_id":"FCLEURJEVVAQDK7WEUSOTZQ3TU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475424},"content":"Royal Cinema, Limerick, October, <a href=\"http://joanneryan.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">joanneryan.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"HFZEAQGANRC57B3M3MH37AT334","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475426},"content":"The playwrights Joanne Ryan and Ann Blake throw open Limerick’s 19th-century Royal Cinema – closed for 25 years – for this exciting promenade play about Constance Smith, the Limerick actor who starred in Hollywood films in the 1950s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T3IUAN47BNEO7BT4BFOUOPV2XY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475427},"content":"Deidamia","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZLBFHXH4PFG2NIAZ3XWPQCGDA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475428},"content":"Wexford Festival Opera, October, <a href=\"https://www.wexfordopera.com/\" target=\"_blank\">wexfordopera.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"X34EKLHGC5EKTGQZ3MCGFW3XH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475430},"content":"An audacious attempt at the work that drove Handel to quit opera, which Wexford Festival Opera says is an unfairly neglected work. It certainly isn’t boring, as Greek mythological heroes are disguised in drag (leading Ulysses to unknowingly flirt with his son-in-law, Achilles).","type":"text"},{"_id":"SDFNQXXH35E23KXDEF7SOHEHNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475431},"content":"Moulin Rouge! The Musical","type":"header"},{"_id":"TOAAZQMJ6RGR3EKBYCXNVPAZJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475432},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, November 20th-January 10th, 2026, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"74JOPFEEY5CGVMYFDWL2ZUD3RU","additional_properties":{"_id":"DBQYRZMPDRDDPP3SKVBS4SYZTM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"Q6OHZZ3KBBDWDCKGBVWSHCVRDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475434},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/baz-luhrmann/\" target=\"_blank\">Baz Luhrmann</a>’s near-psychedelic film gets transposed to the nightclub subterrain of Cabaret, though this musical is insistently uplifting. In belle-epoque Paris, Christian, an American composer, falls in love with a French nightclub star. He wants to be the world’s greatest composer of love stories. Touchingly, the musical sets out to go the distance with him, using its jukebox structure to travel through a huge range of love songs, from the 19th-century opera of Jacques Offenbach to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, as well as songs released since the 2001 movie, with numbers by Lorde and Regina Spektor. The stage design is miraculous. Everything’s intensely romantic.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MTRKK2XNWNGSNHVAFKEMCRAG44","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475435},"content":"The Good Luck Club","type":"header"},{"_id":"HULBPW4MARESJGDDTY6NBSXFJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475436},"content":"Venue and dates to be announced, <a href=\"https://anuproductions.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">anuproductions.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"HONN7XH7KVHG7FT7BH5RGGDJA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475438},"content":"The title of this intriguing offering from Anu refers to the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake, the private operation set up during the early years of the State to finance the country’s medical institutions. Collaborating with the National Archives of Ireland, director Louise Lowe is expected to take audiences through the murkier depths of an organisation entangled with wealthy gamblers. There was never an inquiry into the sweepstakes during its 60 years, but Anu’s play sounds as if it may have the critical approach of an investigation.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"From King Lear at the Gate to Dr Strangelove starring Steve Coogan, the coming year’s stage line-up includes jukebox musicals, period romcom and a play that probes the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake"},"display_date":"2024-12-29T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"2025 on stage: 21 plays, operas and dance works to see over the next 12 months","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34","auth":{"1":"688b389e90ff8be367a73ca4d16edb9d2431ea5335d5265c0c234293cbf1a706"},"focal_point":{"x":1795,"y":2455},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"C4J6KFXQPJGAXBZT3EBQL6EVN4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":526,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/cd17a4cc-7bad-4cef-b924-329d6208acde/versions/1733861809/media/160f908133a835b878186201b82d66a1_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/","content_elements":[{"_id":"LCZMB7DYNBGKLNWWHHMCC3RDLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552786},"content":"Theatres often rely on familiar plays. So revivals are nothing new. But when the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate</a>’s handsome, terrifically acted production of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/18/dancing-at-lughnasa-review-gates-triumphant-breathtakingly-beautiful-revival-deserves-groaning-houses/\">Dancing at Lughnasa</a> opened, in July, the year had featured so much new work that it felt as if <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brian-friel/\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Friel</a>’s sensation from 1990 was the first revival we’d encountered for some time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XFVG5O7BWFECZIBZNBSKW3AX2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733240420476},"content":"Brave new world","type":"header"},{"_id":"2VAICZ5XW5E3HLTS4ICQFPIUJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733240420477},"content":"That wasn’t quite the case, of course. The year started with Landmark’s slyly good production of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/01/18/krapps-last-tape-review-stephen-rea-invites-us-to-applaud-the-tape-recorder-but-the-triumph-is-his/\">Krapp’s Last Tape</a>, the Gaiety’s woolly interpretation of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/01/31/sive-review-john-b-keanes-dark-tale-struggles-to-get-past-the-flaw-at-its-heart/\">Sive</a> and the Lyric’s storybook-attractive <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/09/little-women-review-crowd-pleaser-kicks-off-lyrics-2024-spring-season/\">Little Women</a>. After that, however, we entered unfamiliar territory. Who knew what to expect from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/09/the-president-review-olwen-fouere-and-hugo-weaving-give-heroic-performances-in-the-gates-classy-production/\">The President</a>, an Austrian play from 1975, practically unknown in English-language theatre, that follows mouthy political leaders in the aftermath of an assassination attempt? The Gate’s inventive depiction of numbskulls in charge, and the people forced to listen to them, brought over the British-Australian actor Hugo Weaving to play the title role, and allowed Olwen Fouéré to give a masterclass in high camp as his first lady.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GOHCMTVOFFAQ5JCKN6SEHMZCLM","additional_properties":{"_id":"DPPUBNANIBATFBCYSY2PRTHZOA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TNBZZFOU3ZCJFBPKBC7PF3IJ34","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552789},"content":"Over at the Abbey, much also felt different. Marina Carr’s absurdist <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/29/audrey-or-sorrow-review-marina-carr-daringly-wraps-gothic-comedy-around-a-harrowing-core/\">Audrey or Sorrow</a>, showing a crew of ghosts haunt a grieving couple starting a family, certainly wasn’t boring. Adapting a fin-de-siècle Russian family saga can be a superficial route to being regarded as auteurist, but Hilary Fannin’s audacious adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/04/19/children-of-the-sun-review-rough-magic-shakes-up-gorky-with-humour-style-and-sheer-chutzpah/\">Children of the Sun</a> didn’t shy from the playwright’s link to Soviet oppression. Elizabeth Kuti’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/06/19/the-sugar-wife-review-siobhan-cullen-and-chris-walley-star-in-an-elegant-revival-of-a-drama-loaded-with-political-and-moral-quandaries/\">The Sugar Wife</a>, a satire of wealthy philanthropists in 19th-century Dublin eyeing up abolitionists visiting from the United States, hadn’t been seen for two decades.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M3YKKR3NTNEMVFC7FORM6V6WZI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552790},"content":"Ten years ago you wouldn’t have expected any of these to receive big-budget productions. Managements back then cited fiscal austerity and – with new writing long considered a box-office liability – a preference for staging classics. Five years ago programmers cautiously phased in shorter runs for new plays. Now there is greater confidence, and unfamiliar material is staged for longer. Some will perform better than others. At the Abbey, demand for Audrey or Sorrow was strong from the get-go, with an additional week’s performances announced before previews. Unfortunately, the belated Dublin premiere of Augusta Gregory’s complex relationship drama <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/28/grania-lady-gregorys-epic-love-story-takes-on-a-new-lease-of-life-in-its-abbey-debut/\">Grania</a>, which she wrote in 1912, seemed to play to half-full rooms.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4J5EHMNYLZDJRBUCTMEIOCMOGE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552791},"content":"Contemporary class","type":"header"},{"_id":"7E4YU6XC5ZDXBCEN5W63P7C32E","additional_properties":{"_id":"SM4ATA7HFFBWTBZMFWGZSGB5TQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"OQPFWLZDSJBI5GHM75HIZYHPYM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552792},"content":"The standout plays of 2024 were contemporary. Róisín McBrinn’s magnificent staging of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/05/30/circle-mirror-transformation-wonderful-presentation-of-the-before-and-after-of-theatre-at-the-gate/\">Circle Mirror Transformation</a>, Annie Baker’s 2009 work about adrift New Englanders brought together by a community drama class, elicited some of the finest performances of the year: Marty Rea as a frustrated civilian, visibly stirred by classmates performing the story of his life; Niamh Cusack and Ristéard Cooper as a couple stealthily concealing the abuses of their marriage. It also seemed the most potent comment on the medium itself. “Do you ever wonder how many times your life is going to totally change and then start all over again?” a student asks long after class is over. Theatre, we know, can change lives, but rarely have we seen that portrayed.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPUWVNA2RNDFVBBYSZQIQE6TWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552793},"content":"Similarly meticulous in detail, and revelatory with alternative readings, was <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/16/reunion-review-a-zinger-of-a-play-that-does-not-flag-for-a-second/\">Reunion</a>, Mark O’Rowe’s extraordinary mystery, in which a family come together to remember their dead father. Long moved on from the underworlds – criminal or supernatural – of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/howie-the-rookie-1.166292\">Howie the Rookie</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reviews-1.1210558\">Terminus</a>, O’Rowe took the Bergmanian set-up of couples’ shattering late-night confessions and deployed a Chekhovian artist stung by rejection and flirting with ideas of self-destruction. The overall effect was undoubtedly O’Rowe, however, written in remarkably constructed dialogue, woven with subtle power plays between family members, and leaving audiences satisfied to agonise over unconfirmed details (particularly a mother-daughter conflict portrayed with fascinating ambiguity by Cathy Belton and Valene Kane). Who needs a trip to the underworld? Plenty of horrors lurk in unexpected places here on the surface.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WJCJRRDZBJAHZFTFZWFSSMOC3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552794},"content":"Looking to the future","type":"header"},{"_id":"R7H2MBLG7NCWDINP2HQD3PCHUM","additional_properties":{"_id":"YRTCLRV4ZRCTTDSIXHXEC6BWYM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"SJY7MQMIBFFTLFM3S5UO2M4R3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552795},"content":"O’Rowe and Baker’s plays both made a serious case for realism – easily pushed aside by broader, showier forms – as the most impressive mode of 2024, as if the closer we zoomed in, the more there was to unearth. The plot of Dee Roycroft’s excellent comeback play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/29/amelia-a-touching-vision-of-where-we-and-theatre-will-end-up-in-the-climate-crisis/\">Amelia</a> suggested that everything conceivable in our reality has already happened. Set in a later stage of the climate crisis, it takes an adynaton as its plot: a farmer and his teenage child take in a flying pig (nicknamed Amelia Earhart), as if everything once thought impossible has happened.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EXLKORTCVRCELFBZM4PNDHU5V4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552796},"content":"Roycroft’s play ached for acceptance of the unknown. The child – a neurodivergent teenager, seen as touchingly brave in Bláithin Mac Gabhann’s superb performance – yearned to see the world, to the worry of their overprotective father (John Cronin, doing his best work). And the play gently encouraged its audience to be courageous about a future that may have limited resources, as it cut off electricity to the auditorium and showed theatre reverting to the magic of a previous century, with a clanging thunder-sheet and a pedal-powered generator to build the stage lights towards brilliance. Amelia made the future feel like something to still have claim to.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QDUGOAHHVVAMFHAAP6MITXDAMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552797},"content":"What was left behind","type":"header"},{"_id":"2S3N4ZFTCRFDDMUTEKGFRCRG4Y","additional_properties":{"_id":"ZO4ECRQQGFFIDKTAUCSTX3TBKE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"A3YKB6NGTFENLGEBIXMFLKUY7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552798},"content":"The past, on the other hand, occasionally seemed put behind us. CoisCéim’s dance <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/03/16/palimpsest-review-emigration-charvet-shirts-and-the-anglo-tapes-coisceim-powerfully-evokes-irelands-past-and-present/\">Palimpsest</a>, a collision course with the first 100 years of the State, felt like the final product of the Decade of Centenaries, the government programme that has influenced theatre for the past 11 years. It also saw the choreographer David Bolger and the composer Denis Clohessy vigorously interrogate their past approaches, showing the island struggling – but, touchingly, also dancing – through a difficult century.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D3XLNZ6C6ZDMXOUTL7YUDFGNJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733236667087},"content":"Elsewhere, the appointment of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/selina-cartmell/\" target=\"_blank\">Selina Cartmell</a> to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre brought the director’s thrilling career in Ireland – from indie queen to head of the Gate – to an end, at least for now.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RHKCLVCEABEVLEHCJBKGNLBOOU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552799},"content":"At the Abbey, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/09/14/the-abbeys-1m-controversy-what-went-wrong/\">a governance review</a>, relating in part to the investigation of complaints about one of the theatre’s former co-directors, seemed to reach resolution after a costly two-year process. The national theatre committed to new governance structures, though questions around the complainants’ withdrawal from the process, and the board’s decision to issue redundancy payments to the outgoing co-directors when their fixed-term contracts ended, remain unanswered.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A6OZGODTSVGTFCKMYF7YPMIHWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552800},"content":"Thankfully, after <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2024/01/25/toy-show-the-musical-report-four-new-things-we-learned-about-controversial-flop/\">a report that found its projections rather ambitious</a>, there was little mention of Toy Show the Musical.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BXAI6TBS5RENXCGKQ7AJ5IMTHM","additional_properties":{"_id":"BZB6O2AACJBA5IGWOYMAG2XMWM"},"content":"The Abbey’s €1m controversy: What went wrong?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"VKK3OD2OFNFMFNVMVRQJTEB72Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552801},"content":"A year celebrating women?","type":"header"},{"_id":"K4PWR325EJDZ5AMKNKKUECPT5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552802},"content":"It should be said that, in addition to the several already mentioned, 2024 featured an abundance of plays written by women. The Ark presented Anna Carey’s ingenious adaptation of her novel <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/26/the-making-of-mollie-review-anna-careys-book-is-now-a-razor-sharp-suffragette-stage-comedy/\">The Making of Mollie</a>, its bright young activists let loose on a grey, rigid version of presuffrage Ireland. Jody O’Neill’s stirring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/30/grace-a-moving-depiction-of-the-complex-way-a-girl-with-autism-experiences-life/\">Grace</a> saw a non-verbal girl with autism encouraged by the ghost of her father. Sophie Motley’s Winter Journey, a new version of Schubert’s Winterreise, was an existentialist promenade through a Cork neighbourhood. Louise Lowe adapted Seán O’Casey (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/29/starjazzer-affecting-innovative-anu-adaptation-marries-a-put-upon-ocasey-heroine-with-her-equally-abused-granddaughter/\">Starjazzer</a>) and James Joyce (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/\">The Dead</a>).","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y3OYFKTWBZB3TAGUVVME6ZK6DE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552803},"content":"Is this progress? The idea of an all-women’s season has been <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/i-think-the-main-thing-the-abbey-can-do-right-now-is-listen-the-women-s-podcast-1.2422734\">regarded with suspicion</a> since the early days of Waking the Feminists. A third-wave feminist might point out that this wealth of playwrights were all white.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QB7XVNEBYNBEXAEAXKSC4CRDFA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552804},"content":"Industry anger becomes art","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXIG5RUNKZEUVL3EXXVW3QKLHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552805},"content":"At this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival plenty of ire was aimed at the performing arts’ current discourse on inclusion. Most driven was Joy Nesbitt’s dark comedy <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/13/julius-caesar-variety-show-an-anxious-comedy-about-a-theatre-industry-refusing-to-evolve/\">Julius Caesar Variety Show,</a> about a nightmarish actors’ audition. Nesbitt’s points felt new and insightful, as a black actor (a cool-headed Loré Adewusi) was seen dealing with a white bullying director (a compellingly snide Ultan Pringle) who insisted on the one hand that colour-blind casting doesn’t work, because audiences can’t unsee race, and on the other hand that not going along with exploitative expectations of blackness is actually being artistically conservative. How depressingly elaborate these schemes are.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JGLREU7ASBAVVNPZW7ZNU72A5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552806},"content":"How is inspiration supposed to flow in a country where nonwhite playwrights are only considered “early career” artists? There was a poignant moment during I’ve Always Liked the Name Marcus, Matthew Sharpe’s delightful play about a Jamaican-Northern Irish man’s upbringing. Sharpe’s character is on a soul-search, whirling through a series of reinventions – modelling himself on freestyle rappers and NBA players, looking more to the black public figures of the United States than anyone closer to home. “Who was my inspiration supposed to be?” he says, with ache, about a lack of representation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WBK4CZWFNRA2NMJJG76K7BNWCU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552807},"content":"At a time when programmers are taking plenty of risks, what if someone took a chance on trying to answer him?","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Gambling on longer runs of unfamiliar work paid off in a gratifying number of cases. But Irish theatre still isn’t as inclusive as it should be"},"display_date":"2024-12-22T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takers","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA","auth":{"1":"29bb5d4a01612cce0f442811fbd1b6061e0cb8bd91969c63c6c69dae46549f92"},"focal_point":{"x":3745,"y":2335},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"FG2AH6TPTVH53ILSH5TEMM6PA4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":501,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/453874c9-f3b9-43b5-932b-96e47479d727/versions/1734646106/media/c78c3ee8281017e75187ddfbc6e0fdc7_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/","content_elements":[{"_id":"IIMTKHVJ5FAHBMWGMAFXK7B5RI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731574},"content":"Sammy Sausages is a Dublin panto institution. After a quarter of a century of entertaining families at Christmas, Alan Hughes knows well that Sammy’s fame precedes him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZDCZ7ZEVNFH3XATZRE2J7CFJFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731575},"content":"“I get stopped in shopping centres by kids going: ‘Oh my god, it’s Sammy Sausages,’” he said. “It is mad; kids run up to me and ask for pictures.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OUZLF6HHANAJNP4YPXQEEZCPPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731576},"content":"Sausages was created by Hughes’s husband, Karl Broderick, when they were still running the pantomime 20 years ago in St Anthony’s Hall on Merchants Quay.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VMNHK6FDVNBVJLSUWLPJDEFOCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731577},"content":"They wanted a character who could be a recurring fixture in the show, a kind of Dublin version of Buttons, the character in Cinderella who serves as a kind of conduit between the play and the audience.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PP4EVVRX65FTNKJ4PIFBFTLLIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731578},"content":"Initially, he had a different name, Timmy Tiddles, but when that name didn’t quite land with audiences, they employed a name change and the character immediately took off.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5Y4PESDZZFAV7AR2YICL4RRBHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731579},"content":"“Sammy Sausages is the narrator, he brings the kids through the show, making sure they know that difference is sometimes good, and that good always triumphs in the end,” said Hughes, who is known beyond panto audiences as a TV presenter on Virgin Media.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KEUGUOGIEVBHTJQA5TDC4UHQIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731580},"content":"In a world that has changed dramatically — streaming television, live music, video games, social media, and more discerning and demanding audiences — this peculiar form of Victorian music hall entertainment seems only to have become more and more popular.","type":"text"},{"_id":"65C32JGE7NAMBMKUEPV6NIHLFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"WPL47C565FEVRO7Q5J5UNFYOWQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"T7AQXOHILJFBPFHCPKLC6CLFWM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731581},"content":"Why do people love the panto so much? For Donal Shiels, the chief executive and artistic director of the Civic Theatre in Tallaght, it’s the immediacy of the pantomime that makes it so enduring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RJONW62H5VDGFO4JFYSDWRET6A","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731582},"content":"“It’s live, that’s the bottom line. There’s only so much Netflix you can look at, only so much Disney on film, only so much gaming you can do. And sometimes they’re a solitary thing,” he said, compared to the lively interactivity of a good pantomime.","type":"text"},{"_id":"THN2BGVZ3BEQ7LIJ44AYDVJDHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731583},"content":"For Leo McKenna, the line producer of the Gaiety panto, the success is a reflection of the essential nature of the pantomime — word-of-mouth growth from one year to the next, from one generation to the next.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LT7JZYXUWVEPZA33RWRTPJZJC4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731584},"content":"“People will often come and see the panto and walk out and buy a ticket for the following year,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMQLKVU74FDPVL7ZXKQMKTI64I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731585},"content":"“While children are our audience, they’re not our customers. We sell tickets to parents, they come back if the children leave happy,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UGP6ZO4AANDJDEBZLOQJ5ADCMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731586},"content":"“So hopefully in 25 years’ time those children will be buying tickets for their kids based on what we did today. It’s up to us to keep that tradition strong because success breeds success and failure does the same.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4CDCN7SYBHKHJJ3ZBK6ASKWQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731588},"content":"Sourcing firm figures on just how big the pantomime sector has become is trickier than it looks. There are more pantos — amateur and professional — than ever before, but no aggregated figures to show total ticket sales, or revenue, or economic scale, and the various panto companies guard their figures closely.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OW3R4LTH7FEAFKEA3MZM5FWEIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731589},"content":"But the Gaiety Theatre, home to the best-known panto, now into its 151st year, can give some sense of the scale.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5ODQ4J3AFJC6NIPD7IMHMFQQTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731590},"content":"By his calculations, there’s about 60 people daily involved in running the Gaiety show, including 25 performers — actors, dancers, signers — on stage, with six band members and six backup musicians, 17 people backstage in costume and lighting, and 30 front-of-house staff including bar staff, ushers and the box office team.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QBKMLT2E2NEF5BXK3PSUXFFFTU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731591},"content":"“All of that is serious money that we spend to get the show up and running and stays in this country and supports the people of this industry,” said McKenna.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SL276THZUJFVZFHFIDDGJSJRFE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731592},"content":"It’s possible to calculate the revenue generated from a simple calculation. The Gaiety sells about 100,000 tickets for the panto every year, at an average price of about €30 per ticket, meaning it probably makes roughly €3 million overall from ticket sales alone, before anyone calculates the sales of snacks and drinks.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LMGR4WB5ANC4DNY32LM3ZVT7AQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731593},"content":"That revenue is even more important for smaller theatres, according to Donal Shiels. “If we don’t do a panto, we’re in the red, and if we do, we’re in the black.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DK74P5FDW5CM7KZXXDMPTP3CEM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731594},"content":"The costs of putting on such a show are enormous, he said, heading in some instances towards the operatic, with expensive sets, music, sound and lighting all required. It is only getting more expensive, as the old-fashioned pantomimes of generations past are updated with digital screens, high-wire performances and modern special effects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JOR6HCJZNVF2DGUT64SSJKU2ZY","additional_properties":{"_id":"JGX3HLC7QRAOJFE4UTMMEQV2YE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"F27ATDNLCRBMZC73LM3VHI4CCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731595},"content":"When Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick put on their first panto, it cost £22,000 (€27,000) to stage, “and we were terrified”, he said. “This year it will cost us €300,000.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"L6W6DZAOFFDWDK2APWLR7ERD5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731596},"content":"“You’re in it to make a profit. No theatre is putting on a panto to make a loss,” he said. “This is the one time of year you can enter a market and make a profit.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BD5MWKGDKRHU3BO4GQNUYSGIYU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731597},"content":"All that money has wrought very noticeable changes on stage, according to Joe Conlan, the long-standing panto dame of the Gaiety Theatre, who has seen those changes over the course of his life, first as an audience member, then as a cast member.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KHIFZPMOWJFS7OXFRCACPGDPI4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731598},"content":"Conlan still remembers his first panto as a child, watching Danny Cummins and Maureen Potter in Humpty Dumpty.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7WP53LIXFVGINOAKTYARKBR5LA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731599},"content":"“I can still see Thelma Ramsey, the conductor, with her white gloves and white baton,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god, I want to be up there.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NBAA7VUM7FGONND7YK5NJC3F7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731600},"content":"He performed in his first panto alongside Potter and Johnny Logan, but today’s panto is a very different beast in some respects, not least because Conlan will be flying over the audiences’ heads on no less than four occasions thanks to high-wire social effects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3MOAF5MLYJCFZAF6OLGWVWHKZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731601},"content":"For Conlan, the traditional elements of the pantomime remain unchanged, such as the dame, the themes of good and evil, and the resolution in the end, not to mention the centrality of good songs.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XPXOG2ME75CSHN4RDES3P44RRI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731602},"content":"Perhaps the most important thing is the involvement of audience participation, he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E3YCRD4KPFAQBG6TIKBZCM2UUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731603},"content":"“As an actor, if you go on the stage and you can feel they’re not with us, you’ve to pick up the pace. Other nights you go on and there’s rocket fuel in the audience,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TPGVQSHMQ5HJJPP67W4L6DI76I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731604},"content":"There’s a view in the world of pantos that the form doesn’t quite get the recognition or the support it deserves, no matter how popular and profitable it has become.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4T5Z3MIUQRH53J3R2OZ3F3KZQY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731605},"content":"For Shiels, the robustness of Christmas pantomimes illustrates the strength and depth of performing talent in Ireland, even if many of them have to go to the West End in London to make a career of it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N6SQCWH6MNFZDKALXFX3DTNOIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731606},"content":"“We’re a musical country; we’re the only country with a musical instrument as our national symbol. We have a brilliant comedy tradition and a deep tradition of music and writing. And we’ve got good actors who can put depth into comedy or into a good musical,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VDN2A4LW4NHWHHKC7YHP777BQQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731607},"content":"While Dublin will probably never rival the West End or Broadway, he said, it could become a kind of nursery for successful musicals in the future.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YVFFHTTDMNAXVJBUM6U6VDWY3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731608},"content":"“It’s not about producing Hello Dolly or Mary Poppins; we can’t compete with that, but we can make work that is relevant and entertaining or funny,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JNJ2ITYINNB4XAC7CU3RENL3ZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731609},"content":"“I don’t see why it should not be included in something like Arts Council funding.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"K2AWINWST5HGBCDQA2UDVNUX2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731610},"content":"Pantos will continue to anchor the theatrical season for so many actors, theatres, and audiences, and Alan Hughes has no intention of slowing down.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UTAAD2YTQVAGRK2IXAJPQM27QY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731611},"content":"“When people ask me how long I will keep doing Ireland AM, my answer always is as long as I’m enjoying it and healthy and fit enough to do it,” he said, referring to the Virgin Media show he co-presents.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U3JZCEEVEZAORPISTN6J5TELMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731612},"content":"“I’m running around the stage twice a day, and still loving it, loving the interaction with the kids, and loving our new venue,” he said. “So Sammy Sausages will be around for many years to come.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YCDY6C2IB5FUNMX3YVDX7FFP3I","additional_properties":{},"type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Barry J Whyte"}]},"description":{"basic":"The annual pantomime is as popular as ever and keeps smaller theatres going year after year"},"display_date":"2024-12-20T13:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Oh yes it is ... the Christmas panto and how it keeps Ireland’s theatre community going","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4","auth":{"1":"7a6743faa349ac75535eab7282719b6675811567e6af5d9176d31f8d1df194cd"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4.JPG"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Ireland"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Culture"}}}},{"_id":"DSXJWSVPEJEHLAAKJWGXL7TEHI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":184,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/bc2fd0c1-e108-4cbd-abec-c34e52fa658c/versions/1734312527/media/3844839dc8560a203ddb24568f778c85_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/","content_elements":[{"_id":"NNQZHRSPO5DUXLXSCAHOVCMZ2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733934347627},"content":"Beauty & the Beast","type":"header"},{"_id":"VUBUV2GCFFCTPECZ73TFW3MNB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734311460707},"content":"National Stadium, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"JLBXFIMBYJH7BJEPUA3K4FMBAM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734311460708},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"QQ67LUB4MRGP3C2XWAQSWWXL6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705723},"content":"Dublin’s most interactive panto sends (costumed) wolves chasing through the stadium, demands constant participation from its youthful viewers and, in a coup de theatre, pulls all the fathers on to the stage to bust their best Chappell Roan moves. There will be dad dancing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VRNABZFMJVB3JOGK6NFA2WTH6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705727},"content":"The TV presenter <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/alan-hughes/\" target=\"_blank\">Alan Hughes</a> has championed pantomime since the 1990s. For more than a decade his hugely popular Sammy Sausages character, a uniquely Dublin spin on Buttons, has had a perfect scene partner in Rob Murphy’s outrageous, trash-talking dame, Buffy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YLVJ77MJENEP3DOGOZNTYPAEQM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705728},"content":"This Beauty & the Beast is subtitled A Sammy & Buffy Adventure with good cause. This dynamic duo are the shiny Brown Thomas Christmas window of a well-oiled machine that includes the writer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/karl-broderick/\" target=\"_blank\">Karl Broderick</a> (who is also Hughes’ coproducer), the director <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/simon-delaney/\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Delaney</a> and the musical director Ross O’Connor. A nimble chorus proves worthy of Paul Ryder’s ambitious choreography.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UMNXRMADC5DBTN5YS2MTIVZXXM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Using digitised backdrops and recorded songs, the enthusiastic cast power through the story and musical numbers, pausing only for loud exchanges. Kids are summoned to their feet, the audience is divided into competing singalong halves, and raucous cheers jolly every scene along. Kudos to the troupe for the great use of space; the production repeatedly sends characters running through the aisles of delighted and squealing customers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DVXVJFRTMJGCBMCEBIWNL2P2BY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734309729953},"content":"The Fair City actor Johnny Ward has a ball as the preening, gun-kissing Gascon, an unsolicited suitor for Belle, the book-reading heroine, who is played by the newcomer Caoileann Woodcock. The promising young actor beat more than 100 hopefuls to land the role. Her soaring duet with Susan McFadden, the West End and Celtic Woman star, is sensational.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WBWXUT4BHZHWNCUD2G6EC4K35A","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705733},"content":"The perennial panto problem of the drippy central romantic couple is ingeniously circumvented by a script that streamlines the Beast into a series of roars and storm-outs from Niall Sheehy – strops that recall Robert Pattinson’s disappearances in the first Twilight movie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FOBO6T5GCBBXBIB47TMKCCHN5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705734},"content":"For all the wealth of experience on stage, some of the funniest moments come through corpsing, mistimed physical rolls, and wig slippage. This writer feared she would have to call paramedics for the row behind during an off-script sequence between Hughes and Murphy and, again, during banter between Murphy and, as Belle’s father, Will Morgan.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GLBYYWZRR5AEREHAXKTXMGGN7Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705735},"content":"The production and costume design cleverly flirts with Disney’s animated version of the story while asserting its own rowdy identity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MHT437LSNNDMVOIDUZCXRCCDTI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705736},"content":"On the bus ride home, younger audience members passionately re-enact scenes and songs. I can think of no higher recommendation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LISMEVRN6RA5XAH6YOKIPLNIZM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733505374670},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.panto.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Beauty & the Beast</i></a><i> is at the National Stadium, Dublin 8, until Sunday, January 5th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Tara Brady"}},"name":"Tara Brady"}]},"description":{"basic":"Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick’s interactive pantomime, directed by Simon Delaney, features the promising Caoileann Woodcock as Belle"},"display_date":"2024-12-16T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendation","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ","auth":{"1":"9f1bdde6ef90ff6fd721946ecf5924296262bb1170a878d85613e20c48e807ef"},"focal_point":{"x":1425,"y":1475},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"CFBXH3ECKJFD7FNTKPZRPSJFRA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":189,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/f3df287c-b11a-4585-88fc-1cf0f95033d9/versions/1734298884/media/8a93635b12267f2b5ef6094e05afb83f_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/","content_elements":[{"_id":"QTC3JG5B3FFR7NPCC4S52L3FLQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275366},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ralph-fiennes/\" target=\"_blank\">Ralph Fiennes</a> is in fluent, fluty form for a reading and discussion of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ts-eliot/\" target=\"_blank\">TS Eliot</a>’s Four Quartets – arguably the poet’s last great work – at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey</a> on Sunday evening, for the 2024 instalment of the national theatre’s annual TS Eliot Lecture, conceived in memory of Eliot delivering a talk on <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wb-yeats/\" target=\"_blank\">WB Yeats</a> at the old Abbey space in 1940. It also coincides with the 80th anniversary of The Four Quartets’ first publication in a single volume.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4NLJWHAFRVFOLDNCLMJEY4DYSI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275367},"content":"Fiennes, in conversation with the actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ingrid-craigie/\" target=\"_blank\">Ingrid Craigie</a>, explains that he first heard Four Quartets read “with very little inflection” by the poet on a vinyl album and that he later decided, when preparing an acclaimed stage interpretation, that the verse “had to be inside you like a piece of music”. For that one-man-show, developed during the lockdown period, he memorised the entire poem – about 100 lines.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RXHZ3TDI2NBT7ONSAY2NLFZH44","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275368},"content":"Billing Sunday’s event as a “lecture” is not entirely misleading. It could also fairly be described as a performance. Large parts of the electrifying reading – afterwards he jokes that, some time out from the memorised show, he now needs the text for reassurance – suggest a sermon as Eliot, through his 21st-century interpreter, puzzles again and again over the quandary of living poised between “time present and time past”. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"CJFLNFH7JFDAJMOIQBVPQUSNYI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Elsewhere, Fiennes the actor takes over. Describing apparent pagan rites in the East Coker section – “Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth” – he appears on the point of stamping out his own prehistoric dance. Elsewhere there is a sense of him incanting in the manner of a possessed acolyte. But the piece, sometimes spoken at a lectern, sometimes delivered while pacing, always returns to a pedagogical style that suggests the speaker has a clear and plain idea to impart.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVMLDBEJWVBCVDDTNMOH6F6E5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275369},"content":"Few readers have, however, found the dense, convoluted Four Quartets, parts of which relate Eliot’s impressions of the Blitz, in the least bit clear or plain. After the reading, the actor, who was raised partly in Ireland, discusses how the poem – like so many great poems – can engage the reader even before he or she grasps the meaning. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"7QLV3FVEU5GGDD2HLBMFKDYHT4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Fiennes had, he explains, “time on my hands” during lockdown and set to engaging with the tetralogy’s “many corners and complicated arguments”. What he ended up with in the stage production – and with the reading at the Abbey – is a subjective interpretation. “When you play Hamlet you have to make it yours,” he explains. The result is moving even if you aren’t always certain which emotions are being evoked and why.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PGZ4YGAB6ZFCBGFCKXIYPL54ME","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275370},"content":"Fiennes, acclaimed among the best actors of his generation, looks likely to receive his third Oscar nomination for his turn as a cardinal supervising a papal election in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/edward-berger/\" target=\"_blank\">Edward Berger</a>’s gripping <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/11/28/conclave-ralph-fiennes-is-flawless-in-robert-harriss-preposterously-gripping-drama-of-papal-electioneering/\" target=\"_blank\">Conclave</a>. Prompted by Craigie, he sees some connection between Four Quartets, much concerned with the author’s Christian faith, and “the speech in Conclave about doubt and certainty being the enemy”. He smiles wryly as he continues that this today “resonates with a lot of leaders being very certain”. Too many potential candidates spring to mind.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ICJLTQCXPFCD5AD5VOT6ZKCLKA","additional_properties":{"_id":"2CQE4KWA7BHOBCMULNQKOZAONM"},"content":"Conclave: Ralph Fiennes is flawless in Robert Harris’s preposterously gripping drama of papal electioneering","type":"interstitial_link"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"The likely triple Oscar nominee, star of Conclave, is in fluent form at the national theatre’s TS Eliot Lecture for 2024"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T21:34:49.149Z","headlines":{"basic":"Ralph Fiennes at the Abbey Theatre: An electrifying, moving reading of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM","auth":{"1":"6bc5626b070f43e2f6bb1b9110db1343634dee75bc65c5b5a930ca1e9b8d1ac4"},"focal_point":{"x":1525,"y":957},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"OJREXLKG6VAY5BSYNFCDHW2AAU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":618,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/cc106022-e9f4-4f1d-a6b8-8b451b72555e/versions/1733928166/media/1dab43184458eaf51f31d2b79b03f429_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/","content_elements":[{"_id":"JFIVIEGQ7VAZ5LDNF5FUVGBZ5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834326064},"content":"At the age of 25, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/guildford-four/\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Armstrong</a> was one of four people falsely convicted of the Guildford pub bombings. He was arrested 50 years ago and spent 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. After a long campaign for justice, the convictions were finally overturned in 1989.","type":"text"},{"_id":"37MZL7HUZZBZBBLW3IWPC7T6PY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437863},"content":"The group of people who became known as the Guildford Four also included Armstrong’s first love, an English girl called Carole Richardson (then 17), and fellow <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/belfast/\" target=\"_blank\">Belfast</a> men <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gerry-conlon/\" target=\"_blank\">Gerry Conlon</a> (21) and Paul Hill (21). Richardson died in 2012, Conlon in 2014.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HPHVE5KB2NFGTOAKQP4JMFQ6BM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507444},"content":"The actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/daniel-day-lewis/\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Day-Lewis</a> consulted Armstrong and Conlon to perfect his accent and prepare for his Oscar-nominated role in In the Name of the Father, the 1993 film based on the Guildford Four’s story, in which he played Conlon and Pete Postlethwaite played his father, Giuseppe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MJCDEU427VHO3ETZ4WUAGOHYWM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733848651291},"content":"Armstrong’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/life-after-life-review-paddy-armstrong-s-painful-guildford-four-memoir-1.3007265\" target=\"_blank\">2017 memoir – Life after Life</a> – written with the journalist Mary-Elaine Tynan, has recently been adapted into a play starring Don Wycherley. A new documentary shown this week on TG4, Ceathrar Guildford: 50 Bliain na mBréag, which delves into the miscarriages of justice, features Armstrong and never-before-seen footage of his late friend, Conlon.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VKDPTDTHNZC4PII5WLXRZRZFKM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437865},"content":"At the time of his December 1974 arrest Armstrong was living in a London squat with Richardson. The couple were engaged to be married. He’d had several sleepless nights, on “a three-day speed and Tuinal [a barbiturate] party,” as he describes it in the book. Drugged and weak with exhaustion, Armstrong was taken into custody and coerced into admitting to a crime he didn’t commit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Q6KFEUUANNGPLLWRNKKZLFNK7M","additional_properties":{"_id":"PE6BCISCQVFZ5AZVK2YWMSNW5Y"},"content":"Memorial service remembers victims on 50th anniversary of Guildford pub bombings","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LIZVKPQJMNBLJIAJBGH3MDM2IA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507447},"content":"Four British soldiers, Caroline Slater (18), William Forsyth (18), John Hunter (17) and Ann Hamilton (19), and a civilian, Paul Craig (21), had been killed and 65 people injured in the IRA attack on October 5th, 1974, in which bombs were detonated in two pubs in the town of Guildford, in Surrey.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P6N2BBYLOJGURCSXC5KDN7FZMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507448},"content":"While in police custody he endured intense questioning and threats were made against his family and his life. He recalls being hung out of a window at one point and a “snarling mutt” being brought into the room if he paused for thought.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XIH3YTS42FFHBEYT2LY2OJJA3Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437867},"content":"Speaking in his home in Dublin, he recalls now that the questions were “rapid fire”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C3R2TFU5ENCAVGNJS3CXOALKOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733932507295},"content":"“I couldn’t keep up with them,” he says. “There were no breaks in between. I was barely able to keep my eyes open.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OAFJASXGOZETTCCEJ2WGEKYXDI","additional_properties":{"_id":"OYRXLMNO6FDW3OCH5HE3I4PXSM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"OFN6FD5NSJH7ZPH7JFXFZJBD2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437868},"content":"Eventually Armstrong signed papers confessing to the crimes he was accused of. By October 1975 he had stood trial, along with the other three accused. They were convicted just over a year after the bombings.","type":"text"},{"_id":"STXSYBBR75HWXBZDQVJLLYXUDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437869},"content":"After serving 15 years as a Category-A prisoner, sometimes living in solitary confinement, Armstrong was released on October 19th, 1989, after his conviction and those of the other three were finally acknowledged to have been a miscarriage of justice and quashed. He finds it difficult to talk about life behind bars today, but recalls the emotional reunion afterwards with his family.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PMV4UCJ25FFHVFL724ZPQFEVC4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733932507299},"content":"One moment shared with his younger sister Josephine, who he had not seen in several years, is particularly poignant. He remembers, trying to hold his emotions together after his release, looking at her in astonishment. She must be in her 20s now, he guessed aloud. “No, Paddy, you’ve been in 15 years. I turned 30 in August, two months ago,” was Josephine’s response.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W4VFVPRARJCPNFGVX2CS7LXC5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437871},"content":"After his release Armstrong spent six months living with his British solicitor, Alastair Logan, in Guildford. “That was strange, living in Guildford,” he reflects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"63FJLL2MQVH53JURICW2DXFESU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437872},"content":"“Alastair was a great person, the way he fought for me and all. He said, come on and stay with me for a bit.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"6YELZHHTJ5HDPGMVAQVVT7XQOE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437873},"content":"He had become institutionalised, he recalls. “The first morning I got up, he came up and he said, ‘What’s the problem?’ I said I was waiting on the screw to open the door for me so I could get out.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UH2DNHV6TFCZTDFIHX6QQKUN6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":"XHV5B6I2TBED7ELWLSH55KY5TE"},"content":"In the Name of Gerry Conlon: Horrifying revelations about Britain’s treatment of the Guildford Four","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"N2Y4SKISKRGT5DIP6WX3PHV4UQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437874},"content":"Adjusting to how much the world had changed in the 15 years he had been in prison took some getting used to. Things were strange and new. Armstrong says the concept of traffic lights at pedestrian crossings was entirely new to him. This took a while to grasp and more than once, Logan had to grab him as he tried to cross a busy road.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KSLLINL74VH4XBKACRRKGJU2CE","additional_properties":{"_id":"GK3HCHUSUREERNWVXB3CZ3T22Y"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"SFWPCNEB6JH5JK5AQ6IHVSCCL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437875},"content":"“Before I went into prison you didn’t have to worry about rushing to cross the road. When I got out he said, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘to cross the road’. He said, ‘No you can’t, you eejit you. It’s different from what you’re used to.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JU5X3JFBT5CQ5OUGOBLA6RYP5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437876},"content":"Inflation was another thing that struck Armstrong forcefully in those first few months. Getting a new wardrobe was fairly high on his agenda, he says, recalling his horror at being charged £50 for a new pair of jeans. He remembers saying to the shopkeeper: “What? The last time I bought them they were a fiver.” To which they replied: “Where have you been living, in a time warp?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KR4XBSF2CFH5XOMNWHZRYX5HQ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437877},"content":"Armstrong recalls the huge media attention he inititially received as having been difficult to deal with, and says he has chosen to live a mostly private life since his release.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D5HYSW5PBBBMPPRYBHDD7ER2FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437878},"content":"Through it all, he has maintained a remarkably positive outlook on life after prison.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YY2W6SEXINDH3EFJSB5CDFAK6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437879},"content":"Speaking fondly of Day-Lewis, he recalls the actor saying: “‘Paddy that was the greatest time I’ve had, going around with you in pubs and all the talk and listening to you,’ ... ‘You’re a gas person, after what you have went through.’ He said, ‘You’re amazing, the way you are.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SRM25MX3NRB2BIWZZBENMYRYOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437880},"content":"“I think people were amazed,” he reflects now. “People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out. When I was in prison I said to myself, if I ever get out I’ll get out and enjoy myself. Who am I going to be bitter and twisted against, only the [British] government?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2KXEAHBORZFXXLEQWZ5KECKCBY","additional_properties":{"_id":"DQ33QXDEJVB2BNHQFZP5NY3XMU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"QP42CNY5DFHDHFKEO2YU7DBOO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437881},"content":"After some travelling, including a trip to Goa in India and a road trip with Conlon travelling across the United States, Armstrong settled back into a routine in Dublin, and was a frequent visitor to Lillie’s nightclub. The first time he met his now-wife Caroline, a schoolteacher, at a gig in The International Bar in the summer of 1996, he cut straight to the chase.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YXDF6I5OGJEAJJUW2WPMSXEE7A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437882},"content":"“I’m Paddy Armstrong. Of the Guildford Four,” he said, as he lit her cigarette.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FOY2EN5FVRAP7KVYWLSLCNGHL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507465},"content":"Caroline joins the interview in the couple’s home at this point. She agrees she was intrigued, but her brother was a garda who knew Armstrong socially and urged caution at first. However, Armstrong made it his mission to meet Caroline again. Her family ended up welcoming him with open arms. The couple have two children.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6XVGVL2G35HGRNUNPTFK7HAB7U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437883},"content":"Armstrong says he couldn’t have imagined being able to live such a “normal” life post-release.","type":"text"},{"_id":"X6DMFZTZFNB6VGQIJ6IAHZ64UE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733848651311},"content":"“When you’re in prison you don’t think of things like that, because you’re saying to yourself, ‘No less than 35 years’; when you’re 24 going in and the judge tells you: ‘Armstrong, life imprisonment. Serve no less than 35 years.’ I would have been maybe 59. You wouldn’t be thinking about getting married.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"CZ542F74JFCY3KJQHZYSULGG4E","additional_properties":{"_id":"RLSEPZ2IYVEEVG32ATYGESVZYY"},"content":"Guildford pub bombings among first cases to be examined by commission into Troubles-era crimes","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"PVAGGSOPQVHKXD7TB4VIYAHVQY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437884},"content":"Having already seen the theatre adaptation of his memoir three times, Armstrong has nothing but praise for Wycherley’s depiction of him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WMXWLHU3SNGP7GPDFLUI3A56BQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437885},"content":"“It was very, very good. The way he played the part of me was very good, because that’s the way I went on. That’s the way I done things. He was absolutely amazing.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MK4RPBXRWZFVZNG3OVVWNT3GJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437886},"content":"The songs featured in the play hold special significance for Armstrong. He recalls listening to music in prison and hearing one song in particular which reminded him of Richardson.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PTXKIWSW5ZHYPIQBOHOJ4C7B5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437887},"content":"He gives an impromtu rendition of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, warbling: “We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year ... The same old fears, wish you were here.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HIER36SMY5FBBHQBLPCJOSJ2CI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437888},"content":"Wycherley, speaking about bringing Armstrong to life on stage, says capturing his unique character and sense of humour was central to this.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PPAUGNHGMJASLB4LOZX7CHXZOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437889},"content":"“I suppose I would bring that knowledge of what is required on stage to make it interesting or watchable or dramatic, so there has to be a little bit of a struggle and there has to be humour. And that humour is what just bounces off Paddy, and so I was going to have to access that. Some of the jokes you’d hear him coming out with – and we’ve got to get those kind of gaggy bits – he’s quick with a line.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"M7O5Z3DBCFCYTJMUY3SFZYLQP4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437891},"content":"While conscious not to impersonate Armstrong, Wycherley says “there’s certainly aspects of him [in the performance], and the life is there. And hopefully, when I say the life is there, the life he has, the energy that is Paddy, some of that is there, as well as some of the pain that’s kind of hidden by him at times. That’s underneath, but you don’t really see that from Paddy. Sometimes he might go into it, you know, but he generally tends to lighten it, to get away from it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"S3YTIVMDMZH7NN7GPEDVVRD5UQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733848651320},"content":"<i>After a sold-out run at the </i><a href=\"https://www.vikingtheatredublin.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Viking Theatre</i></a><i> in Clontarf in Dublin, </i><a href=\"https://www.lifeandtimesofpaddy.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong</i></a><i> will be touring Ireland in 2025, starting at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on January 14th-15th and 20th-22nd</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVDRNP6CMBD3XCTAWDQIR23WHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507478},"content":"<i>Sign up for </i><a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2023/11/07/stay-informed-with-push-alerts-from-the-irish-times-delivered-straight-to-your-phone/\"><i>push alerts</i></a><i> and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"YCDY6C2IB5FUNMX3YVDX7FFP3I","additional_properties":{},"type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ella Sloane"}},"name":"Ella Sloane"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Belfast native had to rebuild his life, which is now the subject of a stage play, after wrongly spending 15 years in jail for an IRA bomb attack"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T06:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU","auth":{"1":"04741a907bed2db54f3d5be95d23715f3abeb27d012736547b080f528671b8ee"},"focal_point":{"x":3963,"y":2680},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Life & Style"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Culture"}}}},{"_id":"PGORPX3MDJAOBGR45ECUU7UV3Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":788,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/93e054d8-59ec-4130-ad78-aa8e2bba2ec0/versions/1733927062/media/6f2ffe333439336ca3ebd2d7748392c5_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2024/12/15/irish-wwe-star-lyra-valkyria-at-its-core-were-storytellers-everything-comes-down-to-good-versus-evil/","content_elements":[{"_id":"BPHUPFCH4JCA5IGJFACX2B4JRM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397563},"content":"Gladiator II and its healthy <a href=\"https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt9218128/\">box office receipts</a> have taught us two things. First, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paul-mescal/\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Mescal</a> is now huge. Like, physically. It’s nuts. And, second, despite the film’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/11/11/gladiator-ii-review-dont-blame-paul-mescal-but-theres-no-good-reason-for-this-jumbled-sequel-to-exist/\" target=\"_blank\">gladiatorial combat</a> being set nearly 2,000 years ago, audiences still flock to the spectacle of muscle-bound men (and women) knocking seven bells out of each other.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6CBAXGKSC5HQBLTHTVGKVKX6DQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420638},"content":"Outside Hollywood, one of the biggest outfits to capitalise on our craving for this ancient sense of adventure is World Wrestling Entertainment, aka <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wwe/\" target=\"_blank\">WWE</a>, some of whose stars, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hulk-hogan/\" target=\"_blank\">Hulk Hogan</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dwayne-johnson/\" target=\"_blank\">Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson</a> among them, have become household names. Its brand of wrestling is pure show business, its fighters’ tightly choreographed moves furthering an all-important plot that plays out from week to week at arenas across the United States and, increasingly, around the world.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I3Z45734KFDMTHZ7KLQWQ45POM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420639},"content":"This is big business. WWE’s popularity has helped to make Johnson and his fellow wrestler <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-cena/\" target=\"_blank\">John Cena</a> among the highest-paid actors in Hollywood; in the ring, the likes of Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Trish Stratus and Mark “the Undertaker” Calaway have become legends among the fans who flock to the live shows or tune in to watch them on television, drawn by the drama at the heart of what the companies behind it refer to as sports entertainment.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YTAHWXED25AR7PI45K76TIDSCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420640},"content":"With its imminent multibillion-dollar move to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/netflix/\" target=\"_blank\">Netflix</a>, WWE – which claims to already have 1.2 billion fans in 180 countries – looks set to keep growing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHGQTE2BE5A6HJVRZIPTV7SD2M","additional_properties":{"_id":"23YHT4BVLRAQXNKNY4KNCQVCPA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"NP4FQWSRW5FHDLRYPLBC456LIY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420641},"content":"<a href=\"https://aikenpromotions.com/events/wwe-live-3/\">WWE Live!</a>, the recent sold-out show at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/3arena/\" target=\"_blank\">3Arena</a> in Dublin, gives a sense of its appeal. As fans queue outside, a line of bouncing children, cocky teenagers and dutiful parents snakes around Point Square. Street sellers are out in force with light-up swords.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SZ6ENW7TLNCLTHL4UIQYAJAP2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420642},"content":"Sam Fitzgerald, who is nine, has travelled from Cork with his family. “I like the way that people are always throwing it around and flexing and stuff,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KECIRCZ4FRAPVIIFNF3UEXNWVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703651},"content":"“Tell him how many wrestling figures you have at home,” his father, Brian, chimes in.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5ULKONVV7FCFXGVFFUL3ECZTVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703652},"content":"“I have about 73,” Sam says with pride.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6NL23HW34JGVVHT44GKY7VWMWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397574},"content":"His six-year-old sister, Lucy, is just as much of a devotee. According to their father, they’ve been huge fans since they were about five, much as he was growing up – “old school”, as he calls it, brandishing a wrestling T-shirt of his own. (”This is probably the last year [Sam] will get out of it,” Brian adds. “It’s more soccer with him now.”)","type":"text"},{"_id":"7QE67ZHXGNFENNFGSAEPLL2YQU","additional_properties":{"_id":"I6VQKBXDDNCHJEBW46IYSMDS3A"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"74ERGNCWWFHEXD4OYAFF3TWKJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397575},"content":"Nostalgia is a powerful draw. Eight-year-old James Lawless is also on his way in with his father, who is just as excited.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EYIMCBV43ZAUHFGICDLCT6EEOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703655},"content":"“It brings back the memories,” James snr says. “I’m a fan from back in the Hogan days,” in the 1980s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NDQTOEJBAVG45IFVKYFSSZLYK4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703656},"content":"His son is a huge fan of Cody Rhodes, one of tonight’s stars. What does the wrestler mean to him?","type":"text"},{"_id":"BIOO5KUYABG5ZFGVEF5WDUXJSU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703657},"content":"“Everything,” James jnr says shyly.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PJIVATLYT5FHNBX526EFU2MZFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420645},"content":"When the show starts it’s easy to see the attraction of WWE. One moment there’s some overacted brawling with wooden sticks, fold-up chairs and a table that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t stay intact for too long; the next, performers are reaching into the crowd and hugging children who have come along dressed in mini versions of their costumes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OKKJXSBMUVEOPDFXBKWCWPME74","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703659},"content":"It’s an eclectic mix of faux rage thrown around the ring and genuine connection with fans – something perhaps not hard to generate amid the collective effervescence of the 10,000 or so devotees who make up the crowd.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZGYTC4Z4VFBXF4N5DLI3U5YBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"64RIOKY73BBLJIQW5R7PJUZU3Y"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"CYSFZYUZFJAQRBISILCOA6UKDI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397584},"content":"The audience are anything but bystanders at WWE events, cheering, booing and becoming an additional character in this live soap opera. Fans stick their fingers in the air for the fighters’ entrance songs – every wrestler has their own theme song – and invariably wear or carry WWE merchandise.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KSBWGBGCQVEWTODRQJVCAU4KQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703661},"content":"“Hit him in the head!” one boy shouts nearby. It’s not clear if the wrestler is responding specifically to his direction, but, of course, he hits him in the head.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GKMF73YSDZGYFFJCSLNLJG2HHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397586},"content":"A few rows behind is a boy whose hoodie and sunglasses both read “Yeet”, a long-memed retort that’s also the catchphrase of Jey Uso, one of the menacing hulks on stage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"67U25YWRTFCYXH73XXKOHDMKGI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397577},"content":"Netflix sees these larger-than-life performances as an opportunity to cement its appeal as a one-stop shop for home entertainment. <a href=\"https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/wwe-raw-netflix-release-date-news#:~:text=Beginning%20in%20January%202025%2C%20Netflix,and%20regions%20added%20over%20time.\">From January 2025</a> the streaming giant will air WWE’s flagship weekly show live, having <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/01/23/netflix-strikes-5bn-deal-to-livestream-wwes-raw-show/\">agreed to pay</a> $5 billion, or about €4.8 billion, over the next decade to screen Monday Night Raw, which is currently watched live by 1.7 million people a week.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BSICHVEJHBADZO2J2XP75AIYPQ","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"KKMWBZOAWFDDDO5XQIMINCND6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397580},"content":"The move will “dramatically expand the reach” of the organisation, according to Mark Shapiro, president of WWE’s parent company, TKO. TKO was created to facilitate WWE’s merger with Ultimate Fighting Championship – the Las Vegas-based mixed-martial-arts promoter owned by Endeavor, the American media company that began as a Hollywood talent agency.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IDCKBMRW7VBUVFSJBXI3RIWIYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420651},"content":"The Netflix deal, which also includes streaming rights to all other WWE programming, including the fan favourites SmackDown and WrestleMania, helps confirm that Netflix has won the streaming wars over its rivals <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/amazon/\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/disney/\" target=\"_blank\">Disney</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/apple/\" target=\"_blank\">Apple</a>. It has found a winning formula in what <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ted-sarandos/\" target=\"_blank\">Ted Sarandos</a>, its head, calls “sports-adjacent drama” – the type of programming exemplified by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2024/02/29/patrick-freyne-on-drive-to-survive-nyck-de-vries-is-failing-to-make-his-car-go-faster-unlike-me-he-hasnt-thought-of-leaving-the-house-earlier/\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1: Drive to Survive</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WSENWHUGTZHIJPBPNECM4TBGKE","additional_properties":{"_id":"7AZ3S4PLEZBY7HGO7C52PHUF7U"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"NHXQT6X5CVGULIYSORHO6LKB2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733851761709},"content":"That series’ appeal to Gen Z fans is credited with boosting the popularity of the motorsport, particularly in the US. (In another sign of the commercial draw of sports entertainment, Formula 1 is now owned by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/liberty-media/\" target=\"_blank\">Liberty Media</a>, which is also the largest shareholder in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/live-nation/\" target=\"_blank\">Live Nation Entertainment</a>, parent company of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ticketmaster/\" target=\"_blank\">Ticketmaster</a> and, ultimately, of 3Arena.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"JSOD4GBTRJA3HPM2ZXLQYDEDJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703666},"content":"The characters in Drive to Survive are real racing drivers and team principals, of course. WWE is strictly fantasy: even though their outlandish moves can injure its wrestlers, its bouts and the equally scripted feuds surrounding them are pure entertainment – as the company has <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/10/nyregion/now-it-can-be-told-those-pro-wrestlers-are-just-having-fun.html\" target=\"_blank\">testified</a> in the United States in order to avoid the regulations that apply to boxing and other combat sports.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FQ7DX5ZG35DZJE62DUDXGBQ43E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703667},"content":"It’s “extreme storytelling”, according to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/aoife-cusack/\">Aoife Cusack</a>, aka Lyra Valkyria, who is Ireland’s latest WWE star.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M5Z4SKR5ERAO5ITZXWGB24JKYU","additional_properties":{"_id":"IKZYNX6RRBCPPGXOYUJY727GTI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"FB3WIS3NJBEHRONEC3WBAORBGA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703668},"content":"The Dubliner is not at 3Arena tonight, but the 28-year-old accepts a video call from Orlando, in Florida, where she has lived for the past several years.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TJTUU3CRKZCV7EQTTQM6BDUHAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397588},"content":"She started out on mats at <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/FFPWIreland/\" target=\"_blank\">Fight Factory</a>, Ireland’s largest wrestling school, when it was based in Bray, Co Wicklow. I tell her about a touching moment at 3Arena when a performer beckoned over a little girl from the crowd who was holding a handmade sign and gave her a hug. “That’s honestly the whole point of what you do,” Cusack says. “It’s easy to get caught up in the ... wild lifestyle, and sometimes it takes seeing a little girl coming up to you with her poster to really draw you back out and remind you of why you do it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NOOZ6AY7JNGA7EAUOP7GYWYILU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397589},"content":"Inspired by the likes of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rebecca-quin/\" target=\"_blank\">Rebecca Quin</a>, the Limerick WWE star better known in the ring as Becky Lynch, Cusack has worked her way to the top. Earlier this year she was called up from <a href=\"https://www.wwe.com/shows/WWENXT\" target=\"_blank\">NXT</a>, WWE’s development league, to star in Raw.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZJBTBIXWRDY5LWO2CTOHSBFAY","additional_properties":{"_id":"S4SEDTNYK5CQ7KQRFCKRB5NYGA"},"content":"Lyra Valkyria: The wrestler from Clarehall taking the WWE world by storm","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"CXEZDFFJNFDOTLUQ5LRMJDURZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397590},"content":"WWE once relegated women to the status of sexualised sideshow. The company’s recognition of them has come far since the early 2000s, when fans voted on a babe of the year – and even since 2016, when women were referred to as divas. “Fans started this hashtag called <a href=\"https://x.com/givedivaachance\" target=\"_blank\">#GiveDivasAChance</a>,” Cusack says, “and I think that carried an awful lot of weight in actually getting women more time to showcase what they were able to do.” Now, she says, they’re an equal draw.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OLXJH2MFEFDTTOCY2BAH3A5DPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397591},"content":"Fan-driven change is a theme in and out of the ring. Revelations about a toxic workplace culture and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/2024/01/27/wwe-founder-vince-mcmahon-resigns-after-sexual-assault-claims-by-former-employee/\">allegations of sexual assault and trafficking</a> against WWE’s former chief executive <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/vince-mcmahon/\" target=\"_blank\">Vince McMahon</a> resulted in his resignation after audience backlash; a US <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5532725/2024/05/31/vince-mcmahon-lawsuit-paused/\" target=\"_blank\">federal investigation</a> is under way.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JLL2R4WWCVA6VGOIQL3BMGIC5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397592},"content":"Although Netflix’s Raw programming is unlikely to come with a caveat about the WWE’s scandal-ridden history, the streamer released a documentary series last September chronicling the rise of “Mr McMahon’s” wrestling empire and the fall of the man himself. McMahon, who created WWE by taking over the company that his father founded in 1953, and has strongly denied all the claims against him, ended his association with it earlier this year, selling <a href=\"https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/vince-mcmahon-tko-stock-sale-endeavor-1235963815/\">more than $2.3 billion (€2.1 billion) of TKO stock</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D4LJ5VEDAFCWRET34AKGKB3P34","additional_properties":{"_id":"73DMCGASL5GO5JXGEJIT55WDLE"},"content":"WWE: A global success story where the villains are in plain sight","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"RE4NNN5XUBHGJGIPU3XFIHOGEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397593},"content":"Cusack says she hasn’t witnessed a toxic culture at WWE. “I think I started at a very good time,” she says. “I think it’s very, very different now. In the locker room, everything I see is extremely positive. A lot of changes have been made positively. I think all of the incidents that needed to be dealt with are being dealt with or have been, and I don’t see any of that kind of thing in this current locker room.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"7DGRKBF3HRDAXDKJSCMMMC6B7Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397594},"content":"Some may find it hard to divorce elements of McMahon’s wrestling empire from watching WWE on Netflix, even if it’s a legacy that TKO would like to leave behind – especially now that Donald Trump has nominated McMahon’s wife, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/linda-mcmahon/\" target=\"_blank\">Linda</a>, a former WWE chief executive, to become education secretary in his second US presidential administration. (She is also the subject of legal allegations, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/us/linda-mcmahon-sexual-abuse-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\">accused of failing to act</a> on credible claims that a late WWE employee had sexually abused “ring boys” who worked at wrestling matches; she and her husband emphatically deny the allegations.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"63BRKFBY3ZDQJOAYP722PPU37U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733992873186},"content":"Trump and Vince McMahon, who have long publicised their friendship, once toughed it out in the ring together, for the so-called Battle of the Billionaires. As victor, Trump then got to shave off McMahon’s hair in front of the crowd.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MKXKOSVTKJAQ7G3TF3QTUNAKH4","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"FIOMS6IHA5CVXPFRGE3GPHJDKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397595},"content":"The goodies and baddies are at least universally agreed upon within the ring. “Wrestling, at its core, we’re storytellers,” Cusack says. “Everything comes down to good versus evil, so I feel like it’s such a great form of escapism and excitement. Ultimately, whether good or evil triumph, you’re going to have your favourites, and you’re going to lean on them and think about them when times get tough.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QTULJZ5HWNBXZNJ5KB5NMYBRLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397596},"content":"Should it be a concern that children hold up these muscly stooges as role models? For John Francis Leader, of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-dublin-ucd/\" target=\"_blank\">University College Dublin</a>’s media and entertainment psychology lab, it’s all about balance. “I think it’s important to be conscious of your media diet and to manage it intentionally,” he says. “That is particularly important when something like this comes to Netflix.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RJBECLMQK5F25KJBCAO7DMNEP4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397598},"content":"He believes that wrestlers can be perfectly acceptable role models for children, as long as they’re not their only ones. “How can I make sure I have 20 or 30 other representations [of masculinity] so I don’t fall into this trap of thinking, ‘Here’s what it means to be male,’ in a very narrow way?” he says. “Let me see somebody laugh <i>and</i> cry; somebody strong <i>and</i> somebody struggle. Then I think you’re safe, even if you’re consuming some fairly strong stuff.","type":"text"},{"_id":"O6PIGP26XBGNNJJB2IDOWU7F3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397599},"content":"“What’s been an interesting trend – which WWE falls into – has been ‘reality’ television, where it’s not quite clear where the boundaries are. When you look at the WWE approach, you’ll often hear it described as performance theatre,” he says. “This is caricatured, curated, and that’s okay. You classify it in your mind, [and] that allows you to enjoy it very much in the world of fiction.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YE7W5ONCMVCALO26X435MPORTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420667},"content":"It can become problematic if a viewer regards it as real, and glamorises toxic traits displayed by some of the wrestlers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QDX4BCKRONGJRMWEE4FOYTJDPE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397600},"content":"This year the BBC revived Gladiators, the combat gameshow from the early 1990s, which, like WWE, stars caricatured heroes and villains battling it out. It’s so popular that the BBC has commissioned a spin-off children’s series, Gladiators: Epic Pranks, to give young viewers “an insight into the world of the much-loved superhumans”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N6PFCTKGYVAMFCIBAENQAHY5II","additional_properties":{"_id":"H2GUC53BTFC75DPQ5WUXCCRA5M"},"content":"If I was on Gladiators my name would be Lump or Wheeze, and my ‘little dance’ would be falling over with a grunt","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OQ4JQMZWQFAMZCCFXXX2TRTFAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733851761729},"content":"What does this resurgence of screen strongmen – and strongwomen – say about the type of content that audiences are craving?","type":"text"},{"_id":"PC5EC5J4A5HLHKL3YD2OGFCQQI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397601},"content":"“We live in a strange world today compared to our ancestors, and for the most part we’re not getting attacked constantly,” Francis Leader says. “We’re sat at desks, thinking about things rather than hunting or being chased. However, those biological systems are still in there, and this is the argument as to why we like things like horror movies. Things like Halloween are important traditions because they give that somewhere to go ... Certain needs, if they’re not given space in the media or other places, they need to be met sometimes in a caricatured form.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"VYLKLGMDWNGI5ODPPIXSPGDWUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397602},"content":"Wrestlers’ slapstick physicality tells a story anyone can understand, with villains, scoundrels, chancers and charmers. It’s all about twists, tribalism and age-old instincts. One might hope, then, that this string of Irish success continues in the ring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6H6ZSM46TNEMHAQF2BCGG77KVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397604},"content":"Paul “Gladiator” Mescal vs Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, anyone?","type":"text"},{"_id":"4SDCOLCJINEMNHVYSOWHLFTD6I","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397605},"content":"<i>Monday Night Raw begins on Netflix at 1am on January 6th, 2025</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Conor Capplis"}},"name":"Conor Capplis"}]},"description":{"basic":"With its mix of larger-than-life faux rage in the ring and genuine connection with fans, it’s not hard to understand the huge popularity of WWE – and it means big business, too, for Netflix"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Irish WWE star Lyra Valkyria: ‘At its core, we’re storytellers. Everything comes down to good versus evil’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GGV3MX4X45DG3INFBWPVA4YVUI","auth":{"1":"ecb992dd1c27a696cd40db0feefe9436fa783ae1658eb6678e8c3f8c44919ba1"},"focal_point":{"x":2520,"y":1650},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GGV3MX4X45DG3INFBWPVA4YVUI.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Sport"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2024/12/15/irish-wwe-star-lyra-valkyria-at-its-core-were-storytellers-everything-comes-down-to-good-versus-evil/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"TV & Radio"}}}},{"_id":"BPCFPM3QB5GEDBZ7QBCJVI6XOU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":155,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/f76cb0ca-915e-4b31-bef9-8d77dc04fc90/versions/1734177779/media/4c5af89fd1f9ed50058a1507d35ace72_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/14/mary-poppins-a-practically-perfect-masterclass-in-storytelling-for-the-stage/","content_elements":[{"_id":"VSS2CKLYFNA6TJGSOYMA463Q7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478497},"content":"Mary Poppins","type":"header"},{"_id":"USX7QA3D6RGWDCT4WNAB5FKSNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478498},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"25TDPZLMJFBTPM7VPAIYQFUVBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478499},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"XZ27HFJVFNDKZLB66ZXKKBN7U4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973841},"content":"It would be easy to be cynical about a stage version of Mary Poppins. Disney’s musical film has been a seasonal staple since its premiere, in 1964, and the “practically perfect” nanny already had a long-awaited second coming in Mary Poppins Returns.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U3DOCWJURFC2RGDZTACZE7U4WA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520747},"content":"But this theatrical offering from Cameron Mackintosh and Disney, which debuted in 2004, is a thrilling and original version of the well-known story, which has so much more to offer than its celluloid incarnations.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2MUN5NPIQRCM7I3NKHXODEMOLI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520748},"content":"Led by a stellar team of creatives, it is not a version of the iconic film but a masterclass in storytelling for the stage, exploiting all the unique features of live performance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WEMFFCWBURH55C5KAJTKR5I67Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973842},"content":"Julian Fellowes’ tightly scripted book leans into the considerable source material of PL Travers’s original book series, crafting a plot that will surprise anyone for whom the films are their only touchstone.","type":"text"},{"_id":"H25AXKKXRNB6FFW434DTJIDZ2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520750},"content":"With the help of the orchestrator William David Brohn, new songs and lyrics from George Stiles and Anthony Drewe reinterpret film favourites from the Sherman brothers while adding memorable musical numbers to flesh out the exciting new episodes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2GVWWFO3GNE6FJJCS4L54MAZMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520751},"content":"The choreography from Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear combines classical elegance in ensemble numbers such as Jolly Holiday with a playfully percussive tap-dancing scene on the London rooftops for Step in Time that concludes with an awe-inspiring upside-down solo.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YTYNCIUMNRDSZMNS3AZS3HVTHM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520752},"content":"Hugh Vanstone’s lighting design aids subtle theatrical trickery that will have children scratching their heads in wonder.","type":"text"},{"_id":"43WR2JF2GZAEXCNXMZXMKSJIUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"33KZEQ5QYFBMXB5JD2M46L6RCY"},"content":"Mary Poppins in Dublin: Behind the scenes of the all-singing, all-dancing Christmas show","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"3RRCCAUBYBADXE5V6T6EF26EXI","additional_properties":{"_id":"5IVQ3RY3TRBS5PZXUX4Q5H4TVY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"EKVGTZ3SUNDKTN4NCY7Z7HEKVE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973843},"content":"Richard Eyre, whose original direction is aided by James Powell for this latest production, confidently steers our gaze as the omniscient shape-shifting narrator, Bert (Jack Chambers), guides us through the sliding layers of Bob Crowley’s spit-spot pop-up-picture-book set.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMN2XCYCNVA3RBPTUBNMPDXSHM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520754},"content":"Stefanie Jones’ welcomely vulnerable Mary Poppins glides on and off stage and up and down stairs with a graceful, understated magic that makes sure to take nothing away from the breathtaking finale.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E7VA35X7BNBCFGMYV33SW7GGYA","additional_properties":{"_id":"XA37T35I45HKPJMBQZHESV6IRE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"DEZP76WKIVETRJC3CKDJN2LKZM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973844},"content":"In those closing moments, the excellent ensemble raise their voices in a full-throated chorus and young and old crane their necks to wave goodbye to the impossible, confounding nanny who has offered us the proof of her own motto: “Anything can happen/ raise the curtain! Things you thought impossible/ will soon seem certain/ Anything can happen if you let it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"434QQAGSBRFZBIWSPFIMYVNHJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478501},"content":"<i>Mary Poppins is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin 2, until Saturday, January 11th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: This thrilling Cameron Mackintosh-Disney show capitalises on PL Travers’s original story, which has so much more to offer than the films"},"display_date":"2024-12-14T11:55:54.863Z","headlines":{"basic":"Mary Poppins review: A practically perfect masterclass in storytelling for the stage","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"L6KOA56DRNH3LNV4NFE2L4ILTU","auth":{"1":"fe191cedd976d01b3369a56f474727e919e9e53869069bfa95a425fa5ace6be7"},"focal_point":{"x":545,"y":330},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/L6KOA56DRNH3LNV4NFE2L4ILTU.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/14/mary-poppins-a-practically-perfect-masterclass-in-storytelling-for-the-stage/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"RCK5M5U74JFM5N6LZR6HXM2VVI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":925,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/c689f81b-c0b7-4324-930e-1ac12891fc1c/versions/1733499996/media/0535650aed84543145b61a067d42cea4_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/14/watch-your-step-steve-coogan-takes-patrick-freyne-backstage-at-dr-strangelove/","content_elements":[{"_id":"YVNO3F4WAFCZ7BOISQQRRZHQ2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580218},"content":"I am making small talk with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Coogan</a> in a small reception room at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. We’re talking about Coogan playing <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mick-mccarthy/\" target=\"_blank\">Mick McCarthy</a> in the forthcoming film Saipan – “He’s from Barnsley, up the road from me” – when someone starts loudly drilling into a nearby wall.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZR5ACWSD5VAARLQIORW4IJ73ZA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580219},"content":"“This is a really bad choice of room,” Coogan says, staring at the wall. “Can they stop?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UXUUF2C35NB6LPTVYNUCXYRG7A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580220},"content":"“I don’t think so at this stage,” the friendly press person says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KVJEZ3SJ45CTJIREGU6VFEED2Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580221},"content":"It’s just before the tech rehearsal for the West End run of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/\" target=\"_blank\">Dr Strangelove</a>, Sean Foley and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/armando-iannucci/\" target=\"_blank\">Armando Iannucci</a>’s stage adaptation of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stanley-kubrick/\" target=\"_blank\">Stanley Kubrick</a>’s dark satire, which moves to Dublin in the new year. Coogan is playing four distinct parts, so he’s understandably a little distracted.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GTKTMWAKWVD6JCUMRUMS3WZUAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580222},"content":"He stands up. “Come to my dressingroom.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ILUEQAGASFC6PPXVGLTD3UJPHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580223},"content":"He pauses. “That sounds a bit weird.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"EPM4VUQVY5FRDH7F3UEV32T4KI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580224},"content":"But then the drill goes off again, and he starts walking. “Seriously, it’s going to be way better than this.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"J4YV6SEYYNEONIASEBNGV26Z5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580225},"content":"And so I follow comedy legend Steve Coogan around a warren of ancient corridors. “Where are we?” he says as we pass plasterwork and thick carpets.","type":"text"},{"_id":"F5EJTVZFUVAQTDEW2I3MWSBASI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580226},"content":"“I’m trying to get away from the noise,” he says to one woman as we pass.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3AJI2WHLSJDFZJWN7M7CYGSJ74","additional_properties":{"_id":"CETU2QA6R5FYZE52RLI75WQLBU"},"content":"Dr Strangelove in Dublin review: Steve Coogan gives a bravura performance, but the play around him falls a little flat","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"SHTQEUAC45DFHBSUXMW2YMPTKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580227},"content":"He opens a door. It’s not backstage. It’s the stalls of the theatre. Comedy legend Armando Iannucci is sitting in one of the rows.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AXFDCK6J3RA2RJDPQMNXHDAQZQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580228},"content":"“Oh, hi,” comedy legend Armando Iannucci says happily.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HMRJXQVBMFE4JJWEPMLOOYPOEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580229},"content":"“I’m doing an interview,” comedy legend Steve Coogan says distractedly, gesturing at me.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KDWH3UD43BA4JALBU36Q4OBXIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580230},"content":"Comedy legend Armando Iannucci turns to me. “We actually hate each other,” he says, but Coogan is already heading towards another door.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7VC4Y3AYC5B7PCUCMZVCTM4BJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580231},"content":"“Okay, we go this way,” he says, finally finding a door to the backstage area. More warrens, darker ones. We wander under ladders and over wires. Coogan narrates: “Watch your step here. Watch these little lines. Watch all this debris and come through here.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QA4WA7MSDZCSZJLJOBNOT7QIBU","additional_properties":{"_id":"UI5SPJIZC5GN3LV4JVHXI2K5Y4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5D3DXB5PPRFRZBBR46CY7GAFAQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"DEHBXPKK5JA4VDIBWM622GDFFA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"VO37VUZSPZAG7KPYFJ42QCZNY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580232},"content":"Having Steve Coogan take me on an epic if distracted trek through a theatre to his dressingroom is the most fun I’ve had in ages. It is, in fact, vaguely <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/peter-sellers/\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Sellers</a>-esque.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UQUZGAUIXFEELMD4EDYH6BN2JM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580233},"content":"Kubrick’s original Dr Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb came out in 1964, two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s a brilliantly funny, dark and disturbing film, featuring amazing performances from Sellers in three of the main parts. It’s about a rogue American general who’s instigating a third World War and the president and his former-Nazi adviser, the eponymous Dr Strangelove, who are trying to strategise their way out of the situation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P3XQ3YNHQBB37KY76MR3WGQDMM","additional_properties":{"_id":"BFAKQYKI5NFD3O4A7SKZEXRMOU"},"content":"Armageddon time: how Stanley Kubrick made us laugh at the annihilation of the human race","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LXIVFYUCURAZPBVEWRNL4Q6EWQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"OLR4QV5PZ5BBXHAXVBPIB25LAI"},"content":"First-look at Éanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane and Steve Coogan as Mick McCarthy","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"TTLNVFLDGBBIXOLPGF3MPH74JI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580234},"content":"David Luff and Patrick Myles, the stage version’s lead producers, first sought permission for the adaptation from the Kubrick estate about seven years ago. None of Kubrick’s work had been adapted for theatre at that point. “It was a hard sell,” Myles says. What sold the idea, in the end, was Luff and Myles’s successful adaptation of another classic satire, Sidney Lumet’s Network, featuring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bryan-cranston/\" target=\"_blank\">Bryan Cranston</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C2YE3VCH3FETRA6PKHVSIXRLVU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580235},"content":"If anything, a Dr Strangelove adaptation is even more appropriate now than it was when they set out to acquire the rights. Since then Russia has <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/ukraine-war/\" target=\"_blank\">invaded Ukraine</a> and Russia’s president has made threats against Nato. Israel has been <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/israel-hamas-conflict/\" target=\"_blank\">attacking</a> the people of Gaza and is at war with Lebanon, unsettling the whole of the Middle East. And the unpredictable <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump</a> will soon, once again, be president of the United States. “The <a href=\"https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/\" target=\"_blank\">Doomsday Clock</a>, which is this thing that a group of international scientists use to measure how close we are to a nuclear war, is set at 90 seconds,” Luff says. “It’s closer now than during the Cuban Missile Crisis.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KQF2IRBLBNEDVELS64SKSZDLSE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580236},"content":"“One gallows-humour joke between Armando and I is that, the worse the world gets, the better it is for the play,” Foley, the play’s director and cowriter, says. “Incredibly, JFK 2, or whatever he’s called” – he means <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/robert-f-kennedy-jr/\" target=\"_blank\">Robert F Kennedy jnr</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2024/11/14/donald-trump-selects-robert-f-kennedy-jnr-to-lead-top-us-health-agency/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump’s pick</a> to run the US department of health – “says, literally, exactly what General Ripper says in the show, which is, ‘We’ve got to stop all this fluoridisation business,’ and he sees weird plots in vaccination.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YKPTWFMA55HR3FHXBQ73AL4J5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580237},"content":"Was Foley intimidated by the idea of taking on a beloved film such as Dr Strangelove? “Obviously not intimidated enough,” he says. “But, yes, absolutely.” He asked Iannucci to cowrite, he says, so that he wouldn’t get “all the blame”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CXYVGAWZMJDEVPBPD75LYXZ3I4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580238},"content":"“The key thing for me was thinking, well, it <i>could</i> be done on stage. It wasn’t a crazy idea in that sense. And therefore, if it could be done, it seemed to me, it was something that we could relish. Once you’ve freed yourself from the idea that people are going to hate you for ruining a masterpiece, then you have to concentrate on what you feel you can bring to it and how you can make a great evening at a theatre.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5NRRR3VF25G3BGMOGVKMXXKUPU","additional_properties":{"_id":"RETA5ASFMRH4TBD7RQUESUB7EE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"UD5BVSA4NVAHJP735IRZRXVBBI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580239},"content":"Foley also saw something unique in what theatre could do with the concept. “Sellers plays three characters,” he says. “That’s extraordinary. It’s brilliant to see in the film. But some part of you knows damn well that they’ve gone, ‘Cut!’ and he’s gone off and got makeup and a wig and time has passed. On the stage we can’t do that. You’re literally seeing it live, going on right in front of you: Steve Coogan doing four characters. Immediately the bravura quality is already theatrical.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"X6MSXSSAYRBZTAVEQPNBUVOJ5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580240},"content":"Do a group of people jump on Coogan and dress him between scenes? He laughs. “I can’t reveal what’s happening, but something like that.” Later he says, “The costumes are tricked and the shirts are sewn together ... It is like a pit stop: you’re literally ripping stuff off, putting stuff on, and then you’re back on stage, wigged.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UAVNS6WH3RFJROYK6D7QNSU324","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580241},"content":"Giles Terera, who plays General Turgidson, the part once played by George C Scott, thinks it’s important to consider how changing the medium changes the material. On any given day a theatrical performance lands differently, he says. “When you do it from one week to the next, the world shifts around it, and there are more resonances that may or may not have been there before. It’s a living, responding thing. Movies have that, but the response only goes one way. Whereas in the theatre, as storytellers, you are receptive to the same thing as the audience.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"GKKGKGESGBBEXAXQZ26CRD7GNU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580242},"content":"I sit up in the balcony of the Noël Coward Theatre and watch actors dressed as airmen gather in the seats below before the rehearsal begins. Crew members in black T-shirts move heavy pieces of set about. Foley sits talking to Iannucci in the stalls. “Let’s have it!” one of the airman says as the show commences across three amazing-looking sets: General Ripper’s office, the war room and the cockpit of a huge B52 bomber flying against a huge video screen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6A3D4QUGIRAUXEQKFQHDROL73A","additional_properties":{"_id":"CFOEKP4235BQHK2JG7GLFIP2YA"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"SETVGJ3UYRFXBIEKIYQZU3QT74","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580243},"content":"“It’s basically an office comedy,” Foley says later. “In the war room, Ripper’s office or the cockpit of a B52 you’ve got three different kinds of workplace settings. Unlike a lot of films, you don’t have to go to 20 different locations.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TZUZOYZR2FETHC7RKSRDMR4BZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580244},"content":"It’s an entertaining and impressive production. Because Coogan plays four distinctly different characters, the moments when one of them appears to leave the stage and another enters are like a graceful special effect. But it’s the tech rehearsal today, so there are occasional bugs. At one point Coogan emerges breathlessly as Captain Mandrake but is not fully in costume. These hiccups get worked out as I watch.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Z4U7TWFGDZDKNF7UBUD7STKGEU","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"62H5PQUC4ZHM3DVTIYHVDY7WYE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580245},"content":"Before the rehearsal, in his dressingroom, I ask Coogan why he chose to play four parts instead of Sellers’s three. “He was supposed to do four, but he pulled out of one of them,” he says. “I thought if I was going to do it, I want to go the extra yard and not just mimic what he did. Sellers did define character comedy for a couple of generations, so you want to pay homage to what he did, but I had to own it in some way creatively.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"P7LN2TPXBZCYNPTYPL4GSXMJUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580246},"content":"If Sellers defined British comedy in the 1960s, Coogan and Iannucci have defined it since the 1990s, when they created the news-satirising programmes On the Hour and The Day Today. It was on those shows that Coogan first developed <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/steve-coogan-why-i-m-bringing-back-alan-partridge-1.3797645\" target=\"_blank\">Alan Partridge</a>, who went on to be the focus of several TV series, a film, a podcast and two books across the following decades.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UCMQBJRPMBCVTOTHGNKRS2N6D4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085922},"content":"Coogan also went on to do <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-trip-to-spain-review-steve-coogan-and-rob-brydon-get-stuck-into-food-and-death-1.3038836\" target=\"_blank\">The Trip</a>, 24 Hour Party People and, crucially, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review-philomena-1.1579466\" target=\"_blank\">Philomena</a>, Stephen Frears’s film about the Magdalene laundries. “Philomena got me my get-out-of-jail-free card,” he says. “No one ever offered me a role like that. I love the idea of being funny and of moving people. I like comedy as a tool. I like daft comedy. I like traditional comedy. I love Porridge and Steptoe and Son, but they had poignancy. They were about flawed individuals, flawed humanity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZWM4GFTKZJH3XBYJ3FIYEUXPFM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085923},"content":"“Comedy has always been seen as lowbrow by intellectuals, wrongly, because the best art straddles those two things. Comedy within a drama sugars the pill of difficult subject matter and requires great skill. It’s <i>hard</i>. I like to do things that are difficult. Catholic self-flagellation.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"VG53XP2ZWVAW7KVELDJY6T5R4A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580247},"content":"Coogan and Iannucci, also a Catholic, haven’t worked together since Iannucci’s film <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/in-the-loop-1.747255\" target=\"_blank\">In the Loop</a>, in 2009. Coogan says that working together in the 1990s was his comedy schooling. “I was doing impersonations, and even though I was good at them I always found them a bit like a party trick,” he says. “I was trying to weave my impersonations into subject matter that had some substance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VCJW33TKH5AVLLCLIUXAUGP2M4","additional_properties":{"_id":"3JNR6GXKAFAQFKCPOGVBRLKUCY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"SAAP6NTC5RB6VEDDSAEBY7MAPM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085925},"content":"“Armando saw me do my stand-up in 1990, or something like that, and thought, ‘Oh, he’s good,’ and basically offered me a job on On the Hour ... I wanted to do something a bit unusual, but I was also probably a bit more populist in my tastes. I was more intuitive and less intellectual. And Armando was as much intellectual as he was intuitive. He was the grown-up in the room ... Armando cast the die in terms of being confident, being unusual and being a bit avant-garde and not worried about being strange. I learned a new language from Armando.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"X3VGVKA4FZCNNBDNIA35JMXZFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580248},"content":"I meet Iannucci up in another strange little anteroom in the theatre. He tells me about how Dr Strangelove, along with The Great Dictator, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/terry-gilliam/\" target=\"_blank\">Terry Gilliam</a>’s Brazil and The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy had an impact on him as a young man. “I was, like, ‘Oh, you can do comedy <i>of ideas</i>. It doesn’t have to just be jokes or sketches. It can be <i>about</i> things.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HJGN6OAKDNHW7GDO6BS7OV6H4M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580249},"content":"Iannucci accessed a wealth of material at the <a href=\"https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/library-services/special-collections-and-archives/archives-and-special-collections-centre/the-stanley-kubrick-archive\" target=\"_blank\">Stanley Kubrick Archive</a>, at the University of the Arts in London. Initially Kubrick was working on Dr Strangelove as a serious drama. Then, Iannucci says, “they realised that the only way to tell this story is through the absurdity”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"F73NDNW4F5EF7LVHUSGMJSSZ2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580250},"content":"Reality is absurd, he says. The film version of Dr Strangelove opens with a sign at a military base that says, “Peace is our profession.” “I always thought it was a joke, but you go to the Kubrick archives and find that was what was on the military base. He’s got a photo of it. ‘Peace is our profession.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FUV4YTUBUBCJHLZUI444MNZMQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580251},"content":"You can really see the power of humour in autocracies, Iannucci says. “When we were doing <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-death-of-stalin-mortal-panic-with-a-ghastly-conclusion-1.3259594\" target=\"_blank\">The Death of Stalin</a> I saw the Stalin joke books that were circulated [in Soviet Russia]. You could be killed if you told a Stalin joke, but people felt the need [to joke]. ‘If I can make fun of him, he hasn’t got me.’ Autocrats hate jokes about themselves. I think it’s because then they can’t control the response to a joke.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4UV6KZNBYBGNVOV2QLAMOZ23X4","additional_properties":{"_id":"2LSNMY6MPFCJFJ6E5OGJLRF2SY"},"content":"Grand Theft Hamlet: Slings, arrows and outrageous fortune as Shakespeare meets gameplay","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"KCHXRHUPZ5C6PBPTO7IP7T2ULQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580252},"content":"Foley is also a staunch defender of the idea that silly comedy can coexist with serious ideas. He quotes the poet Patrick Kavanagh: “‘There is only one muse, the comic muse. In tragedy there is always something of a lie. Comedy is the abundance of life.’ I always think that in tragedy they’re leaving something out. No matter how dark things are, there is always something that is absurd. Tragedy excludes that, but comedy doesn’t exclude tragedy. Shakespeare wrote a lot more comedies than tragedies, and even the tragedies have a lot of comedy. He knew what he was doing.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XNJBQ3WZKZGYNJECCBTNZ7HPRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580253},"content":"He has previously been involved in stage adaptations of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pg-wodehouse/\" target=\"_blank\">PG Wodehouse</a>’s Jeeves and Wooster stories, the Ealing comedy The Ladykillers and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ben-elton/\" target=\"_blank\">Ben Elton</a>’s TV show Upstart Crow. Why does he think turning films and TV programmes and books into plays has become so popular?","type":"text"},{"_id":"XYUP364L5JDPRKVNBYZMF7F2IU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734076403191},"content":"“In one sense there’s a financial side to it,” he says. “Why mustn’t you say ‘Macbeth’ in a theatre? The real answer is not to do with ghosts and ghoulies. The real answer is because when the management said, ‘We’re putting on Macbeth,’ you knew they were financially in trouble. Why? Because Macbeth is one of the greatest-selling shows of all time.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FDLFAKTTKZGXNGYDUOJAOIOCPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580254},"content":"But retelling old stories is not a new phenomenon, he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YPWBOOCIJRDVDOM7VL434OZ5UU","additional_properties":{"_id":"SQIL6HZWPNBOTG2EOVSUJBHDTI"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"6PAMAACHEBHMTHF3MYTMRW4RRA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734076403194},"content":"“If you go back to Shakespeare, again, he was nicking plots off everybody. He’s ‘inspired by’ or he ‘borrows from’. The fact is that we now have cinema in the mix as well as books and theatre and paintings and short stories. Mary Poppins was a children’s story, and then it was made into a big film, and then it was made into a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/11/16/mary-poppins-comes-to-dublin-behind-the-scenes-of-the-all-singing-all-dancing-christmas-show/\" target=\"_blank\">big stage show</a>. Certain stories are very powerful, and people want to do them [again].”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DLNOBLB6DFFMVNR4VBZ7YDG7OI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580255},"content":"Foley sees some sort of cathartic purpose in art. Giles Terera, who played Aaron Burr in the initial London run of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/21/hamilton-in-dublin-the-action-barely-pauses-long-enough-to-let-an-ecstatic-audience-applaud/\" target=\"_blank\">Hamilton</a>, is more optimistic about theatre’s capacity to change the world. Hamilton’s racially diverse casting directly changed how open casting directors were to black actors, Terera says, so it <i>can</i> have an impact. “People rose up and rioted because of [JM Synge’s] The Playboy of the Western World.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZCWXLPZLBBDIPCBJW4NHTHDBJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085934},"content":"Terera also starred in Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/dublin-theatre-festival-review-1.969810\" target=\"_blank\">version of that play</a> at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey Theatre</a> in Dublin in 2007. “Theatre has the potential to allow people a space to think. That’s dangerous, because people being allowed to think for themselves is when things happen ... The really important thing about theatre is that you have two hours where you have your phone off and you sit with your own feelings ... ‘Think about this subject. Don’t turn away from it.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SVPYREJYYRBJZCN6TKHGQYQAUU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580256},"content":"Foley is less confident about art’s capacity to change anything. “People say, ‘Oh my God, isn’t it wonderful that <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/taylor-swift/\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Swift</a> supported <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/kamala-harris/\" target=\"_blank\">Kamala Harris</a>?’ Is that going to swing the election?” he says. “It didn’t. Art is for something else. In this case, specifically, it’s to make people laugh.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"M22LNQ5QVJD4FJ4WLGIGDCY2FE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580257},"content":"On the other hand, he believes there’s something quite profound about making people laugh. “Clowns are the greatest form of satire, because they’re about satirising humans – because we’re idiots,” he says. “It’s always useful to be reminded of that. The best philosophical statement in the world is somebody walking on stage and slipping on a banana skin on to their arse.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"3PA2JTUEWJEABARTGENODETI2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580258},"content":"<a href=\"https://drstrangelove.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Dr Strangelove</i></a><i> is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Wednesday, February 5th, to Saturday, February 22nd</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Patrick Freyne"}},"name":"Patrick Freyne"}]},"description":{"basic":"The comic actor is playing four parts in the new stage version of Stanley Kubrick’s film, which comes to Ireland in 2025"},"display_date":"2024-12-14T05:30:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘Watch your step’: Steve Coogan takes Patrick Freyne backstage at Dr Strangelove","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"3SH4AQKYH5ADXM3V5WB4TSO5VA","auth":{"1":"d6bfb73d984df5bd2781bc18972eba9b95e2817049f028c33a21910c05208937"},"focal_point":{"x":2208,"y":2358},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/3SH4AQKYH5ADXM3V5WB4TSO5VA.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/14/watch-your-step-steve-coogan-takes-patrick-freyne-backstage-at-dr-strangelove/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"SB2Y7KW6IVB55NVC2DWJROF6AU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":198,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/282f7ded-ce4d-4b6d-a54e-3939a1abae20/versions/1733739815/media/65558fa8219cf002415feacd86d4bebc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/a-streetcar-named-desire-review-hot-and-bothered-in-new-orleans/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ADI6J2VSAFGZRONPHIBWMDEC5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733737551999},"content":"A Streetcar Named Desire","type":"header"},{"_id":"NTL4R6DBA5EGDJUEBMGPAXIQNA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733737552000},"content":"Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"NZIW57XKPJECVPEQMSQL5IZZ4Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733737552001},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"S2SHMCNFR5AG5BM3GPMELP4WVQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"There’s a scene in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tennessee-williams/\" target=\"_blank\">Tennessee Williams</a>’s sweltering play from 1947 when Blanche DuBois, a visitor who has arrived in New Orleans with a suitcase of costume dresses and love poems, is driven to explanation. Asked about her concealed past, she says: “You know what ‘played out’ is? My youth was suddenly gone up the water spout.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DUE2H5B6CVHHZFHUKPJ62CHLQU","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s a line that has possibly held the play back. Among standout performances in Dublin, audiences will recall <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/frances-mcdormand/\" target=\"_blank\">Frances McDormand</a> giving a tightly controlled, fraught turn in 1998. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lia-williams/\" target=\"_blank\">Lia Williams</a> was luminous as an impossibly refined Blanche in 2013. Both actors were cast in their 40s despite the script describing the character as 30. Within the strict society of the United States in the 1940s, perhaps a woman was made to feel past her prime, but the role has always been tinged with youthful vim.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P56DAHNVWZA2FAQJKCSLPWUFLE","additional_properties":{},"content":"For this lucid Smock Alley production, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/cathal-cleary/\" target=\"_blank\">Cathal Cleary</a>, its director, has recruited a pleasingly young cast. Eavan Gaffney’s Blanche, after a tumultuous first decade of adulthood, steps inside her sister’s modest apartment, which is far from the high-class comfort of their ancestral home. Stella (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/sade-malone/\" target=\"_blank\">Sade Malone</a>) smiles with girlish admiration for her alpha husband, Stanley (Jack Meade) – a couple in their late 20s making a start on a problematic life together.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GOQJXZFT75B45DCGYYTND3DI7E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Where older Blanches hit the rigid poses of high-society women – Williams’s silhouette extended into the pointed shoulders of puff sleeves; in a London production in 2020, Gillian Anderson leaned into the drama of a wide-sleeved but confining kaftan – Gaffney is impressively fluid. “You talk to your mother about me?” she says, suddenly turning on her heel to sit next to an admirer (a wonderfully well-judged Kristian Phillips).","type":"text"},{"_id":"O7HSH4TXRBFZTJF2OTCPG25RHQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Gaffney can give unlikely lines propulsion. “Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets!” she says with a snap when Meade’s watchful Stanley threatens to have a lawyer look over the sale contract for the family home (which he would have a legal claim to as Stella’s husband).","type":"text"},{"_id":"6YDVVGAWCJHWBDD2QL7WCN2LDM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Cleary’s production is fascinatingly exposed, the cramped apartment represented by a minimalist stage surveilled by characters lurking on the edges. The jazz of the Blue Piano saloon becomes replaced by the composer Jack Baxter’s haunting song (“Some hypnotic dream / To lift us”) as Blanche is greeted by smiling, unblinking locals. Such ominous signs foreshadow a cry for help later on: “Caught in a trap!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RFLQ5RULW5HOJF4LPOBNRXWIY4","additional_properties":{},"content":"This is the production’s preferred tone as Blanche’s mind begins to spiral. As well played as the material is, the promise of a fresh perspective seems overshadowed by productions past, as vocal intonations and costuming veer towards older impersonation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TMIF5IQANFBMPNIZWMMDI3DL3Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"This isn’t quite a Blanche finally making a start on life after a lost first decade of adulthood (“Death ... the opposite is desire!”), a twentysomething Stella nosediving into experience without a clear safety net (“I was sort of thrilled by it,” she says of her husband’s aggression) or a Stanley making a shocking transition from military to family life. The old streetcar occasionally clatters with life, though.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VQ3NOUT37JG4RCJJNQFGQGGK4M","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>A Streetcar Named Desire is at </i><a href=\"https://smockalley.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Smock Alley Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, December 21st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Cathal Cleary’s lucid production features a pleasingly young cast, including an impressively fluid Eavan Gaffney as Blanche DuBois"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T10:18:28.944Z","headlines":{"basic":"A Streetcar Named Desire review: Hot and bothered in New Orleans","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"LSIEETWZNZFHXO5GUWW6XIXJX4","auth":{"1":"62b1e4277372a06c2afd3e8ad1280bb9070301eaffefe71fbeb1f7686a44b732"},"focal_point":{"x":960,"y":1030},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/LSIEETWZNZFHXO5GUWW6XIXJX4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/a-streetcar-named-desire-review-hot-and-bothered-in-new-orleans/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"5UEIJQKKRJEKFOTTTL5UP6XYAI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":199,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/b1aa92bc-595b-48f3-b675-8918b26043bd/versions/1733734123/media/3a5e64674e34dae3f3f044fb2a7af3d9_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/red-riding-hood-everymans-warm-hearted-panto-sparkles-with-exuberance/","content_elements":[{"_id":"TDMOLA3Q7JEF5PKLOMVYKSHJGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005457},"content":"Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"L3I4J6AOBBCUNEAAGT3ZL4UXEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005458},"content":"Everyman, Cork","type":"header"},{"_id":"FTSQALBSS5EL5KEVDDDEZJB7PE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005459},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"K24CDDJXHVDPHCMTUWQUN52IEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005460},"content":"Sparkling with exuberance and spangled with laughter, Everyman’s version of the ancient fairy tale of Red Riding Hood appears to be aimed not so much at audience participation as at audience integration. This is present in gleeful abundance, expressed in full-throated response to recurring invitations from the stage, where stallholder Peggy Twomey is definitely in the house. As Granny to little Red, Fionula Linehan’s Peggy fuels her remarkable physique with appropriate vocal energy, especially when encouraging tribal declarations of loyalty to the rebels.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S2B2KNYH5ZAURNXVBU5XGU5DHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005461},"content":"These strident Corkonian assertions could distort what might kindly be termed the plot, were there not so many other elements in this warm-hearted production. At its core the story concerns little Red Riding Hood, and here at its core is Grace O’Halloran, a practical heroine whose calm rationality keeps the thin thread of coherence alive. It also helps that she is a sweet-voiced and confident singer even at 11 years old and that her rapport with this young audience is unforced and immediate.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MZCPDNLJSBASFAKGA54WJBRLCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005462},"content":"All the ensemble singers and dancers keep the action lively and often charming, especially in their costumes from Daniel Stones, who also provides a wolf leathered from beard to boot. This usually voracious animal is announced as an acquisitive entrepreneur with his goggles set on taking over Peggy’s trade in breakfast cereals. Despite this indication of the creative challenge posed by converting an admonitory fable into contemporary relevance, it may be that writer Karl Harpur has latched on to the essence of the story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BR6VQC3DMNA3DAWJT4FVAODYJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005463},"content":"Modernised in his day by Charles Perrault and analysed much later by the psychotherapist Bruno Bettelheim, it has at its moral centre the transition from childhood to adolescence. This rite of passage is revealed in a captivating exchange between Pip (a stalwart Aoife Hosford) and Red. It is a poignant moment given here with the truthfulness and innocence that lie at the heart of the folk tale and that does much to redeem an episodic script.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GQST4YJUVNGBXKSWLXBI24BUUA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005464},"content":"Redemption also comes from the committed performances of other members of the cast, not least those of Pádraic Di Fusco as the woodcutter and Andrew Lane as the imaginary friend pleading for inclusion in diversity. These reflect the talents gathered in this production by director Catherine Mahon-Buckley, but a question arises as to the moderate use of technical resources and imaginative visual innovation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MR4HRG5VMJBYFCNW6UWCPBDY7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005465},"content":"The theatre itself, in its rare evocative glamour, provides a link of historical consistency. Instead the linkage is a mantra of “belief” applied at random during a variety of vivacious encounters at a bolting pace set by the band, powerfully visible as well as audible under Anth Kaley. A little like that early marriage feast, and noting that Red’s hood isn’t much in evidence, the best costumes are kept to the end in a glory of sequins.","type":"text"},{"_id":"POUQ57CDCFANNALZDRNSHZVIAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005466},"content":"In a presentation veering so dizzily from scene to scene, however, it is disappointing that there could be no better competitive audience anthem than being made “hot to go”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IO3Q35JZ4FGKRNQSV2QHGKK4MA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005467},"content":"<i>Red Riding Hood is at the Everyman, Cork, until Sunday, January 12th, 2025</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Grace O’Halloran, the production’s 11-year-old star, has an immediate, unforced rapport with the young audience"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T08:43:28.204Z","headlines":{"basic":"Red Riding Hood: Everyman’s warm-hearted panto sparkles with exuberance","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"M4JAMRQKSBC33GY3MYZ55VEGJM","auth":{"1":"ef5775c091b9092dccab6dd863a788c9078618e4153874805b949941dfc8d735"},"focal_point":{"x":2670,"y":1820},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/M4JAMRQKSBC33GY3MYZ55VEGJM.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/red-riding-hood-everymans-warm-hearted-panto-sparkles-with-exuberance/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"F74Q6IIQG5DYFLWHBWKSLZAHZQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":377,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/fe541ab4-693e-4681-aa6c-906ef9a99441/versions/1733354571/media/e48f463eea388de814b44f8c1fdac0c1_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/2024/12/09/terra-dance-artist-alessandra-azeviche-what-i-connect-with-in-ireland-is-the-oppression-from-the-church-within-our-bodies/","content_elements":[{"_id":"NQQMAPHSBZGNPLHVRXQHPHDCSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861579},"content":"Back in September, during <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-fringe-festival/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Fringe Festival</a>, there was one buzzed-out number that many theatre-makers were talking about. As the figure climbed into the hundreds, it kept being mentioned: “Have you heard about the Terra wait-list?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YIPVUAZM4FDIZG4SSOWGMWAIBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733320987954},"content":"Although plenty of shows sell out, competition for audiences at the festival is intense. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/09/terra-a-dancer-and-a-planet-trying-to-get-back-to-certain-kind-of-feeling/\" target=\"_blank\">Terra</a>, by the Afro-Brazilian dancer, choreographer, performer and teacher Alessandra Azeviche, was arguably the most in-demand production. Every evening during its five performances, people queued at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/project-arts-centre/\" target=\"_blank\">Project Arts Centre</a> in the hope that they might get lucky and nab a returned ticket.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MQTTMY65QFEGXD73PNAEVBTVJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861581},"content":"“There’s a lot for me to unpack, still,” Azeviche says about staging the piece, which was in part about colonisation and countercolonisation. “There’s that tendency of trying to put your whole life into 45 minutes: all your ideas, plans, beliefs; sometimes trying too hard with yourself. It’s not about trying to please people, it’s just that if, for a long time, you don’t have spaces to share, and then you do, it’s like a subconscious survival mechanism: ‘I have to say this all now! Put everything into one basket!’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"AZGBCWYIMVC37KMMIY63ELVANM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861582},"content":"Why does she think it was so popular? “I think there was a mix of curiosity and wanting a new perspective,” she says. “When you’re bringing the subject of countercolonising to a country that was colonised, on a subconscious level people can relate. But it’s a superficial thing to go, ‘We have been colonised, too: we know.’ My experience of colonisation is different to yours, but we can find common ground for sure. Sometimes people are looking for something they can relate to instead of being open to something new, another perspective to learn from ...","type":"text"},{"_id":"65U42D3K35HF7KWUTOXRW75KXQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733320987957},"content":"“It’s complex. It’s not something to ‘get’, it’s to receive, and to sit with someone else’s experience of colonisation in a different body, time, context. For me, having my ancestors from Africa, and having a historical concept of enslavement that travels through my genes, my lineage, my experience, because I’m a dancer I’m talking about embodying a memory of ancestors. What I connect with here [in Ireland] is the oppression from the church within our bodies.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2HWVJEKQ6NCEJAEHB7YILEFKBY","additional_properties":{"_id":"VADIQ3LVZNH37LQQF5SIEZHRGQ"},"content":"Terra: A dancer – and a planet – trying to get back to certain kind of feeling","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"PWXELSBIKFGJNIKNATXZD53GCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861584},"content":"In Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia in northeastern <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brazil/\" target=\"_blank\">Brazil</a>, Azeviche performed and taught capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian art form, which she began to learn when she was 12. At the time she didn’t necessarily engage with its spiritual depth, she says. As a teenager she “was following the format of how education is introduced. You become part of it, but you can’t add meaning to it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V2HU7FSF3VBT5CHQW6MWWPDCRY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733320987960},"content":"“But when I started to understand it more, and become an adult, I understood how much power capoeira could bring me. In the back of my mind I was being trained to become who I am right now. It wasn’t, like, ‘I want to become a dancer.’ It was more, ‘I am dancing, I am learning.’ My level of consciousness expanded. My critical thinking kicked in: ‘Oh, I’m black. The capoeira was something my ancestors did to protect themselves against the colonisers.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JBJY2BIPDBHITISRZK2QOR3WEM","additional_properties":{"_id":"I4BSBXCIRFHQVNXRXBHSG6KMYQ"},"content":"Beyond bossa nova: São Paulo’s dance ambassadors arrive in Ireland","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UDDPUYUEZ5GGJJKBM4QVYQ25SM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861585},"content":"Azeviche, who plans to take Terra on tour in 2025, is studying to become a mindfulness teacher.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A56CUN4HXVAZXKD5R755XZW3HI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708692},"content":"“I’m going deep into trauma. In my community we have a lot of trauma, so I can’t just be a dance teacher. I need to know about all these triggers I’m bringing to people, because I’m inviting them to dive into things that have been suppressed and oppressed. On the dance floor that can happen at any point,” she says. “I really need to know how to attend to people.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SOVP4JWUGJHPDL7SNRRTJYJAWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861586},"content":"In 2021 Azeviche was selected as a participant in Dublin Fringe Festival’s Weft Studio programme, which, with the support of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/arts-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Council</a>, offers mentorship and development support for emerging and early-career artists of colour. Azeviche also leads <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/quilombo_terra/\" target=\"_blank\">Quilombo Terra</a>, Ireland’s first Afro-Brazilian arts performance group, and has worked with the <a href=\"https://fivelampsarts.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Five Lamps Arts Festival</a> in Dublin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHMVZHNL4RGZZC2VRPOB7AC6O4","additional_properties":{"_id":"UDJBOVRXSZDVBKOT3XMDC3IIHI"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"SOVGPWAODFEVPIYZZG4KDJQLO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708695},"content":"“I’m expanding my vision of starting a movement of countercolonising,” she says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PTXN4WDZRBAQBGUS5NNFD7CKVE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708696},"content":"“I’m very curious about the Irish language. When you dive into it, oh my God, the knowledge, the wisdom. When you’re disconnected from that [language], you have no resources to grow … I’m continuing the process of decolonising myself. Now I’m not even using [the term] ‘decolonising’ … Now you can ‘countercolonise’ by taking actions against the ways the colonisers had. I’m interested in countercolonising by changing me, and trying to express that change through my art.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPEZGUWROZHZZHQKDIUG2EMQEM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861588},"content":"But change takes time, she says. “At the end of the day, most of us are very tired yet not finding ways to rest. It’s interesting even to talk about the housing crisis in Ireland, people working day and night to pay the rent, not even having time to stop and think – ‘How can I find other ways?’ – or to start your f***ing revolution.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WLLZUQGRVRDYLAYYDVGI4TYWS4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708698},"content":"“I’m a power-to-the-people kind of person, so I’m doing what I can with what I have as an artist. It’s about inspiring people by doing.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BVZOUV23GFB7HICZVSGWDW3DRY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861589},"content":"When we speak, Azeviche is at <a href=\"https://www.danceireland.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Dance Ireland</a>’s Dublin studios. “I was teaching, sharing with people, raising conversations. For me, when I talk about a way of living, it’s from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I’m living what I’m saying. It’s not about, ‘I made a piece,’ because the piece will finish, and I will keep living the way I said on stage. So that’s not a piece. It’s real.”","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Una Mullally"}},"name":"Una Mullally"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Afro-Brazilian performer and teacher staged one of the hits of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. It’s part of a cultural journey"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Terra dance artist Alessandra Azeviche: ‘What I connect with in Ireland is the oppression from the church within our bodies’","native":"‘What I connect with in Ireland is the oppression from the church within our bodies’"},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"JQIOD4SGLVB3LMVLTRZNY7H4WI","auth":{"1":"1c9c906da28c38d17260aa17d5284e4d91b772ea0c8fb268626417062da08c69"},"focal_point":{"x":2550,"y":1250},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JQIOD4SGLVB3LMVLTRZNY7H4WI.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Stage"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/2024/12/09/terra-dance-artist-alessandra-azeviche-what-i-connect-with-in-ireland-is-the-oppression-from-the-church-within-our-bodies/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Culture"}}}},{"_id":"FGYAGUB6AZDU7JQBS6CJQ7W76Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":191,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/da6c9bb6-234b-446f-a97a-76174a6725ed/versions/1733399778/media/7d27767651dc04afa5a7cd8ef541130b_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/cinderella-cork-opera-house-puts-on-a-spectacular-enchanting-pantomime/","content_elements":[{"_id":"WBTR4XW655FHHFOWGNX3QPXR4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1731919740506},"content":"Cinderella","type":"header"},{"_id":"7CIJSD7HWBHHFA423TRSDSOLKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731919740507},"content":"Cork Opera House","type":"header"},{"_id":"CWASMY7QPFACPHNKJARCGVLG6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1731919740508},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"K76AUDUZ3RHP5GCNQ2Y6MNQUE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450185},"content":"Spectacular may be an overworked adjective in terms of pantomime, but this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/cork-opera-house\" target=\"_blank\">Cork Opera House</a> presentation of an overworked theme deserves it. The sunbursts of light, colour, music and costumes essential for the captivation of a multigenerational audience are not only here in plenty but are also provided with a professional grace that enhances the impression of impromptu joyousness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"THJPDDAKZBD3XCTFMTR3KNUD6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450186},"content":"Even before the screens lift on an oddly Ruritanian village there is a communal intake of breath as the much-bustled Fairy Godmother, aka Nanny Nellie, descends from a starry sky. Perhaps such glamour and wonderment are only to be expected. What are less usual are the extra production values from Eibhlín Gleeson, Rory Murphy and Brendan Galvin. It’s not just a buffet of pleasantries certain to delight an audience where so many younger members are equipped with enough food and drink for a picnic – and, therefore, who risk being diverted from what is happening on stage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7LNHLV3NUVAHBPO5O6QNGN44GI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450187},"content":"If all these youngsters are open-mouthed it’s not because of the intake of crackling snacks. Between them, director Trevor Ryan and co-writer Frank Mackey have trimmed the fairy tale into a series of brief references. We have a rather well-dressed Cinderella in a busy household of ugly stepmother, ugly stepsisters and several others, but nobody wastes too much time on the script.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZFFGMGC7DNCZZJ4O3ZZLC5C22U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450188},"content":"The basics are common property. A touch of domestic injustice, a Prince Charming (with the charming Paul Wilkins making as much as he can of his chances), a stepmother (from Michael Grennell, stately in a vocal range from tenor to basso-profundo and a hat like a volcano in eruption), a godmother (from Frank Mackey, making much of a bosom and backside of surprising agility, especially when climbing a beehive that really has nothing to do with anything).","type":"text"},{"_id":"O6KL7E5VOJGEHCV623VPYAWU2I","additional_properties":{"_id":"YZTSJOI3AFHLFIF72YCZFFVOC4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"62KVOLPWPNDVREP3KN5MAUUXCE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450189},"content":"Then there is Cinderella. Into this atmosphere of unquestioning acceptance Megan Pottinger brings distinction of style and characterisation. There is also Buttons, always a difficult role, but Brian Ó Muiri bridges Ruritania and Broadway apparently without effort.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7WNZZ22N2ZGPJMQ34SGB3O2RME","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450190},"content":"The glee uniting these different aspects depends not so much on local gags and media references (although those to shows such as Married at First Sight might be beyond the dominant age group here). Instead it is the captivating talent and commitment of the ensemble dancers and the imaginative choreography of Ciaran Connolly that outpace expectation. Connolly in particular revels in opportunity: his coachmen are a Dickensian fantasy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4XS75TPNAVCDVKM2OJOUED5KHU","additional_properties":{"_id":"E6VEO5N4NJFJJMUF2KVPROTRMY"},"content":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 25 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"JDOTB2QHTRDBXOU2Y7OXSGQBDU","additional_properties":{"_id":"KAJ4QF2XVFE4XG2JDACVC4U2YE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"KVCNL2T2Y5GP7H3KQBSIZWDPMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450191},"content":"With exuberant lighting from Mick Hurley, music from the band under Jimmy Brockie hidden under the stage, and with costumes from Muireann Doyle, anything else might seem superfluous. Yet there is more, including an invitation delivered by drone, and a transparent coach like a Ferris wheel cabin based at Cape Canaveral and soaring to bring Cinderella high above 1,000 enchanted heads.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E462U6FBZNC4LKMSUVCU5JFMEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450192},"content":"<i>Cinderella is at </i><a href=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Cork Opera House</i></a><i> until Sunday, January 19th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Megan Pottinger brings distinction of style to tile role"},"display_date":"2024-12-05T11:51:04.281Z","headlines":{"basic":"Cinderella: Cork Opera House puts on a spectacular, enchanting pantomime","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"IKY54E5UGNEFXD2UPEBV64LTGI","auth":{"1":"0092c74fd76eecf263cff878c376a7a1623c2f64a3f24d80d4575a938c2e0b33"},"focal_point":{"x":1550,"y":2810},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IKY54E5UGNEFXD2UPEBV64LTGI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/cinderella-cork-opera-house-puts-on-a-spectacular-enchanting-pantomime/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"4I4PJDFCXRAO3GZZLJHTOF466U","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":192,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/404b9f8f-4f62-4046-8dae-74e4a1fe4f44/versions/1733394778/media/7d33d72ca38b8e6bb68bc57732b6020d_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/its-always-your-bleedin-own-a-swooning-comedy-for-dublin-after-the-riots/","content_elements":[{"_id":"EQTO3IV53RC6VC4YJBK22HPUZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733393539523},"content":"It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own","type":"header"},{"_id":"IFDCTMJ3HJGZZEUBQ7OQMRVTMQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733393539524},"content":"Space Upstairs, Project Arts Centre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"SOQZSNMAV5GSBD2TU6RDHW7C2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733393539525},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"YKX475PBQZBP5P3K34GWZFXABY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145644},"content":"When Kian Harris, the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/london\" target=\"_blank\">London</a> fashion upstart in Breadline’s zingy comedy, receives a phone call from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a>, it presents him with a dilemma. Escaped into a busy career, and keeping a distance from home, he’s in no rush to design a wedding dress for his childhood neighbour from St Mary’s Mansions. “I’m one of your own,” she softly reminds him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4N5TR2GIFGF3PL7JIGPDMIVXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145645},"content":"The tug of home is further complicated by recent history, as <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thommas-kane-byrne/\" target=\"_blank\">Thommas Kane Byrne</a>’s script shows a Dublin community reeling from the riots of 2023. “How do I go back to a city drowning in fear?” says Kian, played by the ferociously good newcomer Cameron Hogan.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N7RBLXVEVFATHKCMQNXATPUAEE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145646},"content":"By contrast, his new client Amber (a note-perfect Ericka Roe) is less concerned with the capital’s tumult than with making a statement. Loathed by many, and accused of being a gold digger marrying an older man, she’s looking to pull off a spectacle that will make her haters salivate – all while having an affair with a besotted man recently tuned into mindfulness and self-reflection to find his place in the world (played by an excellent Lloyd Cooney).","type":"text"},{"_id":"CT7MKSPXKFEFLIENGV24HDQPOA","additional_properties":{"_id":"GPZQTOWD5ZFTHC2RCBEGONQLII"},"content":"‘Dreadful government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces’: Dublin writer Thommas Kane Byrne on his home city","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OUSISCPIHNAUXOYJ543VPA6KWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145648},"content":"This is the latest instalment in Thommas Kane Byrne’s fabulous version of Dublin’s inner city, wherein multiple generations strut like divas from Hollywood’s Golden Age, chasing intense passions for showbusiness and fashion. Kian’s designs are said to be a celebration of his community, in collections lovingly elevating and embracing big jewellery and tacky combinations. Appropriately, Ellen Kirk’s set resembles a runway, bringing added pizazz to the play’s characters as they saunter and pose.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KKQEHHHR3FHFLANO3IEHCNQ3FE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145649},"content":"There is no shortage of attitude, as impressive dialogue often releases vulgar word play (“I worked my Helen Hunt off to get where I am today”). The script seems less attentive to the mechanics of plot, though, as Amber dives into doubt about her marriage (“I’ve more issues than Vogue!”) while Cooney’s admirer and Kian are set on a collision course over a dead peer. Only those attentive to TKB’s previous plays Say Nothin’ to No One and Well That’s What I Heard – now grouped into a trilogy with It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own – will be able to fill in these crucial character notes, making this latest offering less sturdy when standing alone.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JAIKESTRMZD5BNKYGQFTU3RBXY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145650},"content":"Ronan Phelan, the production’s director, neatly separates scenes that require actors to play multiple roles as the plot builds towards a wild, alcohol-drenched night of dancing, allowing us to see characters at their most self-possessed – but also risking derailing the play itself, as an 11th-hour misunderstanding between Roe and Cooney’s lovers serves as a simplistic red herring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"65O6EXSFJFFJXLKAEGTYLUMG54","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145651},"content":"More cogent is Kian’s story, as a designer creatively blocked and unable to deliver the wedding dress, leading him to spar with Amber. Later, when he finally has his vision, he thanks her. “I’ve never met someone so unapologetically themself,” he says, confirming her to be his muse. That’s TKB’s swooning comedy all over, getting its energy from people, from a city. There’s so much around here that’s inspiring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTGKC2LFWJBP3FY6PK4NIFQXSE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145652},"content":"<i>It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own is at </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, December 14th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Ericka Roe is note perfect in Thommas Kane Byrne’s fabulous version of Dublin’s inner city"},"display_date":"2024-12-05T10:27:50.765Z","headlines":{"basic":"It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own: A swooning comedy for Dublin after the riots","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"JKM7P3K37VE27HMD3LBY23625U","auth":{"1":"d57de764d2e8719b9cc885a55e74dcb6c7f1102cd6fc611f2017847c00b8bda5"},"focal_point":{"x":3885,"y":1555},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JKM7P3K37VE27HMD3LBY23625U.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/its-always-your-bleedin-own-a-swooning-comedy-for-dublin-after-the-riots/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"ECYAEPSDWNDX7LZQ4AQ23622Z4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":205,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/b9b365ee-294e-4753-81ce-37ad69666aa5/versions/1733141559/media/fe363442c0c81d5c5b48a47c9f3ade88_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/02/rigoletto-at-the-bord-gais-energy-theatre-excellent-singing-undermined-by-musical-lapses-and-directorial-miscalculations/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ZGSRXSXWNZAKTGQUUW4FQPX3OA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Rigoletto","type":"header"},{"_id":"FB2FYS5GEJGIPJKXIURBQFH57E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"7MEJZMOLIZC37KQS623GCDS3CQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"6P2GB4GGMNEB3BZIB5JIGZWXNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"In 1851, depicting the ruling class as so loathsome and superficial meant Verdi struggled to persuade both Italian and imperial censors to allow Rigoletto to go ahead. In 2024 the challenge is much simpler: persuading an audience to connect with the opera’s unlikable hero.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BWXFCJWJJREC5MDFS2YQ2JLI6M","additional_properties":{},"content":"You can do it if you have the right singer. For <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/irish-national-opera/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish National Opera</a>’s coproduction with <a href=\"https://www.santafeopera.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Santa Fe Opera</a> and <a href=\"https://operazuid.nl/en/\" target=\"_blank\">Opera Zuid</a>, the American baritone Michael Chioldi is that singer. Coupled with a beautiful voice – direct, smooth and expressively flexible – is a stage presence that spans a very wide range of nuance. Chioldi understatedly ensures that we detest Rigoletto, the court jester, who, encouraged by a hideous peanut gallery of baying courtiers, mocks the anguish of men whose daughters or wives have been bedded by the predatory Duke, his employer. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZWLWZB5M3ZAJLH75MOAJGLC6EU","additional_properties":{},"content":"When one of these men curses Rigoletto we agree. Nor do we soften much when Verdi allows him a plaintive soliloquy to deny his agency – Not my fault: the Duke pays me to do it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DV6QVOAXOFHI7BWYYIPEAEDONQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"But Chioldi also invades us with inner conflict when the tables are turned and Rigoletto’s own daughter, Gilda, the sole source of love and meaning in his life, becomes the Duke’s next conquest. Chioldi deploys subtle powers of gesture, movement and facial expression that intensify the jester’s suffering. Once Rigoletto retrieves Gilda and listens to her account of what happened, for instance, the two sit at opposite ends of the stage in the production’s most emotionally powerful moment. We may not love him, but we certainly feel for him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SFH25RWXNBDRFCCAQZFFL55XGA","additional_properties":{"_id":"4G6GLMJXJRHZNE6NIV7PQI72PM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"2MWTEKKQOFGUNEMTQ3OFPDILME","additional_properties":{"_id":"YI7J7XXN3REYRLL3P7SQGIGVBI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"HN4EUJ7XGVDL3GGQXBOQO7FNNQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"As Gilda, the English soprano Soraya Mafi actually exceeds Chioldi in beauty of voice as she scales with incredible comfort and sweetness Verdi’s unforgiving vocal high-wire act. That said, it’s puzzling that Gilda is styled in a way that counters Mafi’s youthfulness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DQMS6XF2RJC5RKYK3CZPSOORKM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In fact this is the least of the issues that badly undermine both the excellent singing – which also comes from the Uzbek tenor Bekhzod Davronov as the Duke – and other successful aspects of the production. What’s at stake is a fairly effective foregrounding of underlying themes such as grotesquerie – via Jean-Jacques Delmotte’s dressing of the courtiers, both in court and at large in the night, and their movement as directed by Nicole Morel – and vulgarity, in Jamie Vartan’s court designs, accentuated by the lighting designer Rick Fisher’s full-stage border of light bulbs, with its gameshow vibe of cheap entertainment. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"UMDJCBGL4ZBWRLOS7V6RVAAZYE","additional_properties":{},"content":"All this works so well in the opening moments until it is interrupted by the first of several messy and disorienting lapses of musical co-ordination when, on the podium, Fergus Sheil, INO’s artistic director, loses control of the connection between chorus and pit and chaos threatens. Not good enough for a dress rehearsal, let alone opening night.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PRMRKTUI2FHGDEYHWE6THRLAEA","additional_properties":{},"content":"More destructive even are miscalculations by Julien Chavaz, the production’s director, that create ambiguity regarding the opera’s tone. There are even instances of misplaced audience laughter, including when the courtiers – styled as a mob of comic villains – pour into Gilda’s house at night to abduct her. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"JJ7PMU5ZJ5FNPHOB77PYNSIANA","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Rigoletto is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, on Tuesday, December 3rd, Thursday, December 5th, and Saturday, December 7th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Michael Dungan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Irish National Opera’s production of Verdi, featuring Michael Chioldi, Soraya Mafi and Bekhzod Davronov, is hampered on opening night"},"display_date":"2024-12-02T12:07:26.605Z","headlines":{"basic":"Rigoletto at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre: Excellent singing undermined by musical lapses and directorial miscalculations","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"RHF2RLQ6R5CSPJRLANLTTJKCOI","auth":{"1":"9a2517a23be64ebe0eb1f843824b0f10d6f007e12337f0b2a105b846a7fbb545"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RHF2RLQ6R5CSPJRLANLTTJKCOI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/02/rigoletto-at-the-bord-gais-energy-theatre-excellent-singing-undermined-by-musical-lapses-and-directorial-miscalculations/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"J3WDZKAXCZCEJDZVR3BEQLHEB4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":196,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/4fb5b505-9429-4a23-9632-4b0617d77dee/versions/1732874718/media/1014bc6382d82c8f58c3866546f7ce3a_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/29/emma-review-agreeably-quirky-take-on-austen-shakes-the-storys-structure-a-little-too-vigorously/","content_elements":[{"_id":"4764EG2HNNFJVLPUTPOCD26KWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732797763658},"content":"Emma","type":"header"},{"_id":"WHNCTMAQKJHMZKT26IXFZBONUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732797763659},"content":"Abbey Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"6GWHIOLLQ5CZ7B4KFFOONB55JY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355126},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"N3VRU2RCG5CHRBQ2DYFC2RUG7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355127},"content":"I had probably been imagining the sense of trepidation as older audience members arrived to sitting-down music in the form of bangers by Charli XCX and Sophie. There is, however, little in the first act of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey</a>’s agreeable take on <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/jane-austen/\" target=\"_blank\">Jane Austen</a>’s longest novel to unnerve even the most fragile temperaments.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QGFHRAEMSZGRTD5LYS4JDWO4WI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732893799867},"content":"Adapted by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/kate-hamill/\" target=\"_blank\">Kate Hamill</a> and directed by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/claire-o-reilly/\" target=\"_blank\">Claire O’Reilly</a>, the piece takes place in a nebulous anytime between the regency period and the present day. Catherine Fay’s lovely costumes honour the empire-line cut but also allow in candied new-romantic frills. There are no phones or motorcars, but there are outbreaks of contemporary language and an electropop soundtrack. Molly O’Cathain’s lush sets have the look of Laura Ashley if Laura Ashley ever worked in peacock blue. Altogether not an unpleasant space in which to spend a winter’s evening.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NS7PMDQTNBABJJEYQVZQOLSKGM","additional_properties":{"_id":"GW53QAWQNNDBPBDRTRQZF4X6HM"},"content":"The Abbey has fun with Jane Austen’s Emma: ‘Our production is curious about her libido’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"5K5TGMJDCRHIFHSI4N77G4EBSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355128},"content":"Into this steps <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/toni-o-rourke/\" target=\"_blank\">Toni O’Rourke</a> as Emma Woodhouse. When Austen talked of “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”, she can never have imagined the phrase would dog adaptations for more than 200 years. There is plenty to abhor. Believing herself to have secured a magnificent match for Mrs Weston, formerly her governess, Emma seeks an equally perfect partner for the nervy Harriet Smith. Her megalomania only brings chaos. Liz FitzGibbon, playing Mrs Weston, gives us a likable realist from a Sharon Horgan series. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hannah-mamalis/\" target=\"_blank\">Hannah Mamalis</a>, the show’s hilarious MVP, makes of Harriet a besotted teen from a boarding-school novel.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D6NSJNVAOZDINPU4J25H2FIE6E","additional_properties":{"_id":"74G5Y7LOSVD6DPUM676J23VQGU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"RQ3H4NTHQVG6ZHYAVNB3XQLISA","additional_properties":{"_id":"5VRACIPLUZCDHLWGW4FWKYJGYY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"4XPSKLOAFRFP5AF6ZRUO7LXKZM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355129},"content":"O’Rourke understands the brief and executes it with some gusto. Austen was wrong about her lead character (and, as a great ironist, surely knew she was wrong). The manipulator is a menace, but her vim and imagination never fail to captivate. The lead here is both helped and hindered by a quirky adaptation that has her in conversation with the audience. This can be amusing when she chides us for not warning her about what is to come. The bigging up of the director by name is, however, the sort of self-congratulatory joke that should have been left in the rehearsal room.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UX4VO2Q4PRE7RD6QEFJKRIFQVU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355130},"content":"Hamill and O’Reilly do a decent job of corralling the novel’s large cast of pinballing characters. O’Rourke sonorously intones the name of Emma’s rival, Jane Fairfax – played with comic dignity by Ciara Berkeley – as the cast of the Mean Girls musical chanted that of fearsome Regina George. It clicks together over a lively opening act that honours the original and savours contemporary pop descendants.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5Y4JZYZNJFQTFMCHZMEVSQ53U","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355131},"content":"After the interval, however, there is a sense of the structure being shaken a little too vigorously. The musical numbers in the ball scene are a blast, but later efforts to justify Emma’s actions are too on the nose. “You don’t remember that from the novel,” the protagonist quips. Well, no. And there are good reasons why those lines weren’t there. At least one revisionary twist is exactly the sort of manoeuvre you’d expect from such a project in 2024.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZKG63CH3LZBAXEZJZDHVHEVBCI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355132},"content":"One nonetheless leaves with a definite buzz on. Which was surely the aim.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I5C4LMQR5FCPXOWDXYVY2HNCEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732797763662},"content":"<i>Emma is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Abbey Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, January 25th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Toni O’Rourke plays Emma with gusto, and Hannah Mamalis is hilarious as Harriet. Despite some narrative overreaching, you’ll probably leave happy"},"display_date":"2024-11-29T10:01:57.673Z","headlines":{"basic":"Emma review: Agreeably quirky take on Austen shakes the story’s structure a little too vigorously","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PGASM7TKUZGX7BBCDPQNAHSNUA","auth":{"1":"a5c4b6da10f064f1ece0437d3b8e5cf440c212ff4f0571210c9082a7008bd973"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PGASM7TKUZGX7BBCDPQNAHSNUA.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/29/emma-review-agreeably-quirky-take-on-austen-shakes-the-storys-structure-a-little-too-vigorously/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"6WVQT5H55JEKVG7ED6OU4P5XUI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":174,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/af1e82e5-1387-4c9d-aaf7-170960109592/versions/1732794533/media/04c2eb3d8f7e021884033080f3a7a43f_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/28/peter-pan-review-gaiety-panto-takes-off-with-dizzying-ensemble-numbers-and-breathtaking-effects/","content_elements":[{"_id":"MHOQ67342FAHZPUOAVSZLI64IQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421507},"content":"Peter Pan","type":"header"},{"_id":"VOUTCJVMSBGTBMUF7UF5YRMHPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421508},"content":"Gaiety Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"FJIMTONUVBGDVIFC7G3Z7EN4VI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421509},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"TRYPXVKVDVFQTJ5R6Y73TPDJG4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200127},"content":"There’s no messing about at this year’s Gaiety pantomime. As the curtain rises we are landed straight in Neverland, where Tinker Bell (Ciara Lyons) has taken charge as storyteller for the evening. After a quick summary of the toxic history between the eponymous hero and his seafaring nemeses, and the first of what will be more than 20 musical numbers, we are transported to the house of the Darling children, where Wendy (Clodagh Kane) has been rudely interrupted in her reading by the mischievous Peter (Colm Quinn) and his pesky shadow.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5VT3IDTZWBFNNCASRUD5Q5B5JA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200128},"content":"Song has become an increasingly key part of the storytelling at the Gaiety panto over the past decade, under the direction of the multitalented Daryn Crosbie, who directs, choreographs and writes the annual extravaganza. The dizzying ensemble numbers are one of its greatest strengths, and musical director Peter Beckett manages to move seamlessly between musical-theatre standards, 1990s pop and rock classics, and contemporary tunes without an audible slip.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B244UNADJBDNRAJFAUO4AJQ5QA","additional_properties":{"_id":"OJMPSZGJ5FE5XALC6HMIFITD5Y"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"VE2OKJW7SNC7ZPBPZOLFCALJKI","additional_properties":{"_id":"4JLXOCNIA5BNHJXIGXLZBQVNPY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"BSLG64WJMNFIDIZBATDPDKQWGQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732801771744},"content":"Crosbie’s adaptation of lyrics to suit the well-known tale is less successful, however. With so much of the storytelling subsumed in song, clarity of vocal delivery is key, and although some of the leads (Quinn and Kane in particular) rise to the challenge, the voices of some of show’s long-standing stalwarts cannot match them, and a good bit of the script’s detail is lost.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W4Y5JWCYSRFAPMS2PZWAP7PQNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732801771745},"content":"Regular panto patrons, however, will know exactly what function Nana (the breathlessly effervescent Joe Conlan) and arch-villain Captain Hook (Nicholas Grennell) are supposed to play, as the danger intensifies and the happy ever after is reversed and then restored.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TC27MXLK6FHM5HTMCD22556YQA","additional_properties":{"_id":"FAVQWQDN3JG6JHZVNWWILAJYOI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"C2NBIBUPTBGKROTIMBJ4HTCBMU","additional_properties":{"_id":"BMULOHBREFBRDOMDPJBDRVIQKU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"N2KH2Y53TZD55PXOZMKWZHVYVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200129},"content":"The design elements of the production are nothing short of spectacular, with a refreshing blend of traditional stagecraft – painted sets and billowing waves of satin for the sea from Ciara Cramer; an elaborate fly system, brilliantly exploited in a variety of contexts – and digital wizardry, from Luis Poveda. When Peter and Wendy take off from the Darling bedroom and travel through the Dublin Portal to Neverland, to their own soundtrack of Rule the World by Take That, the result is breathtaking.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KUSEDYT4NJDJZAI2U5Z5SRPD3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200130},"content":"With terrific ensemble efforts from the Billie Barry corps as the Lost Boys (and Girls!) and Hook’s imaginatively distinctive sea-dogs, who include Donncha O’Dea’s endearing Smee, the visual wizardry is nicely balanced by fun. The biggest cheer at the grand finale is reserved for the final saxophone solo of the TikTok Croc, a highly unlikely anonymous star, who reminds us that the panto’s most important audience is the kids.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SKVCJIVDGFCP7EFYRUSFB7CVUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421511},"content":"<i>Peter Pan is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gaietytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gaiety Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Sunday, January 19th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: The annual extravaganza, written, choreographed and directed by Daryn Crosbie, features terrific performances from the Billie Barry Kids"},"display_date":"2024-11-28T11:41:04.177Z","headlines":{"basic":"Peter Pan review: Gaiety panto takes off with dizzying ensemble numbers and breathtaking effects","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"7P454C47OJE4DNOKS3LGZ545T4","auth":{"1":"d4e548bdc5cf8e1affd6ce5af70ca1e5ef99dd49bfec936e2b170025acf838df"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7P454C47OJE4DNOKS3LGZ545T4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/28/peter-pan-review-gaiety-panto-takes-off-with-dizzying-ensemble-numbers-and-breathtaking-effects/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"AP5EWFBDG5FBTIN6HUZWDAWL4Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":202,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/65b25bd0-4a1e-444c-9c87-0a2dec84ee68/versions/1732665582/media/95a5e3888c41c3c3f51147814ac73d48_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/","content_elements":[{"_id":"W3B3XHMQ7FFYFBMZC7VPIWFBLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732544764972},"content":"The Dead","type":"header"},{"_id":"MWFGN44RHVGCZJLTSKX7Z7Z4UY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732544764973},"content":"Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"JBMJDODRMZBCXD3DOIXAOWOTU4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437326},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"FM6D76LIYZDPZIEE4WEIAZGIBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437327},"content":"The 40 pages of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/james-joyce/\" target=\"_blank\">James Joyce</a>’s The Dead, published 110 years ago as the final short story in Dubliners, have almost as much hold on the Irish psyche as has the paving stone that is Ulysses. So attached are we to its famous last paragraph that it seemed almost insolent when Pedro Almodóvar ended <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/10/24/the-room-next-door-review-almodovars-english-language-debut-is-stuffed-with-good-performances-but-sounds-off-key/\" target=\"_blank\">The Room Next Door</a>, his most recent film, with that snowy drift towards “all the living and the dead”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D2FU6ZU3KFEATLLOLINHOCIZZI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437328},"content":"Now, in a promenade staging in association with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/moli/\" target=\"_blank\">Museum of Literature Ireland</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/landmark-productions/\" target=\"_blank\">Landmark</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/anu-productions/\" target=\"_blank\">Anu</a> have elected to wrap the tragicomedy around attendees and allow them to physically brush up against the beloved characters. As directed by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/louise-lowe/\" target=\"_blank\">Louise Lowe</a>, it is a largely successful enterprise. The audience – sometimes partygoers, eventually just an audience – get a real flavour of Christmas among early-20th-century Dubliners.","type":"text"},{"_id":"44I3HVZWTNDDTEKOZ2XGG5ZZPM","additional_properties":{"_id":"T7GXXYQT2BEZ3IMQCMCC5LHQQU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LDPRYDJ3Z5C47APR65USAY5WIM","additional_properties":{"_id":"45SM7AWEZJCDPPKYESP22QPFNA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TKQ7UX6DCJAMZDSJT55CXVI3A4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732665475605},"content":"Now and then we find ourselves a victim of the logistics – placed, for example, in a holding area for supplementary entertainment while waiting to ascend for the final scene in the Gresham Hotel. At such times Gabriel Conroy’s confusion about his wife Gretta’s unexpected emotional convulsion, the kernel of the story, seems a long way off. All the more so as the site doesn’t allow the image of Gretta poised on the stair, partly visible, listening distraught to Bartell D’Arcy flute his sad ballad. Instead the scene happens in the corner of the diningroom, its focus more diffuse.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3GCWQY2SSVGWJNH27TRSM5QHFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"CZNZH2XLENB4JG4Z2W47EQDNCU"},"content":"The Dead brought to life: how James Joyce’s celebrated short story is being re-created as immersive theatre","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"KSH2QMTMMVHXDCPHABSEWZF3HY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437329},"content":"This remains a hugely engaging and immensely accomplished evening. We arrive at the museum, on St Stephen’s Green, and, attended politely by a maid, await the entry of the principals. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/una-kavanagh/\" target=\"_blank\">Úna Kavanagh</a> bustles in as the abrasive Molly Ivors. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/marie-mullen/\" target=\"_blank\">Marie Mullen</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bairbre-ni-chaoimh/\" target=\"_blank\">Bairbre Ní Chaoimh</a> justify their standing as theatrical royalty with charming performances as the two sisters hosting this annual epiphany event. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/marty-rea/\" target=\"_blank\">Marty Rea</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/maeve-fitzgerald/\" target=\"_blank\">Maeve Fitzgerald</a>, as Gabriel and Gretta, catch a class of gentle bickering that has remained unaltered over a century. Their mutual complaints about preparations for the evening would play just as believably if they’d just piled out of their Volkswagen ID.4 rather than a horse-drawn carriage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HXP3WGEMUBEURIGDUAVF7OMPNA","additional_properties":{"_id":"O3L35SV4GNEYZHKLIDRAOS4WVU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"PZVLIVT2TRAU5GDEXW6F7T6W2E","additional_properties":{"_id":"BLVD6M5ZCJHWLOKKMIZNWSKHKA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"7B5BF3IPCFAMJCNSK6XM3DKJJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437330},"content":"We are then walked next door to Newman House (a building Joyce knew as part of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-dublin-ucd/\" target=\"_blank\">University College Dublin</a>) for chat and dancing in the livingroom, toasts and speeches in the diningroom and, after that peculiar interregnum of song and dance, elevation to a top-floor room standing in for the Gresham.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N5NOCUTSLRFITHIIY7CBJEVHAY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437331},"content":"A gentle warning. Those who, like this writer, dread audience participation as they dread chemical warfare may find themselves forced to engage in the odd nodding exchange with an actor, but there is little here to chill bones of any but the most self-conscious theatregoer. The nature of the staging does, however, emphasise comedy – of which there is much in the source – over the story’s more sinewy emotions. The final confrontation between husband and wife feels like an addendum to the busy production rather than a natural consequence of what has gone before. This is to take nothing away from the sombre sweetness Rea brings to those indestructible closing words.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WRC5TMMXXNGLHMOM5SCB4KPUJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437332},"content":"A singular achievement.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WBUKBRIT4FA2VEOU2KHKQ4M4L4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732661017241},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.thedead.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>The Dead</i></a><i> is at Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin 2, until Sunday, January 12th, 2025</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Marty Rea and Maeve Fitzgerald star as Gabriel and Gretta Conroy in Louise Lowe’s promenade staging of the beloved Dubliners story"},"display_date":"2024-11-26T23:54:31.348Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Dead review: James Joyce’s tragicomedy wraps around the audience in a hugely engaging, immensely accomplished evening","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"QO7YGZTCHZE45CZ6AW7MFLJDWY","auth":{"1":"00b8518c758171f1fc8c5addce823c9fc38a7464ccc57941b7ebcc865b872a38"},"focal_point":{"x":2495,"y":670},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QO7YGZTCHZE45CZ6AW7MFLJDWY.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"DKR45CIFHNFN5LJ5TKGMIHEMJ4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":141,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/75139eb5-0e3d-4350-b68a-22f0e79b67a5/versions/1732547383/media/805bcd1f2111533dacb4c3e6aa9975e3_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/25/rapunzel-at-the-helix-dublin-review-strong-storytelling-and-effortless-inclusivity/","content_elements":[{"_id":"LNBJAJEHMJDNVBAB4SFUBNQLDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1655456089120},"content":"Rapunzel","type":"header"},{"_id":"YTWGXMAYX5DHFCS3SYCYIQ3IYY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131656001},"content":"Helix, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"ABZPODMVNFC5FDIQV2DDCEIDJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732545938432},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"LEG4BZKTGVHL5BP2AUAQOPQJMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949030},"content":"In Rapunzel, TheatreWorx’s latest seasonal offering, three villains are determined to spoil our happy ending. There’s the evil witch Gothel (Rua Barron), who kidnapped the eponymous princess when she was a baby, the international man of mystery Leopold (Michael Kiersey), who has his eyes on the princess’s crown, and the Ticket Master (Kiersey, in doubling mode), who is determined to thwart any progress the goodies make in this original take on the classic fairy-tale, by kicking them out of the queue.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JGFPK72NNNH4LGXWOSBMR5CQLI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949031},"content":"The triple threat posed in Claire Tighe and Karl Harpur’s script emphasises the ensemble sensibility that is the strength of TheatreWorx’s idiosyncratic approach to the pantomime style. While Rapunzel (Caoimhe Garvey) lends her name as its title, there are really no leading roles here. The pantomime’s returning characters, such as dame-of-the-day Lola (Chris Coroon), nice-but-dim Laurel (Aidan Mannion) and the effervescent Buddy (Brian Dalton), have equal stakes in the familiar storyline, which centres on the quest to solve the mystery of Rapunzel’s disappearance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AJOWGYVZNBF4XPED7PHBST4R7A","additional_properties":{"_id":"L7OH4GOM7FDWDLVDEK2PS455SQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"YFO5XWAZJFH5ZFUA7H4PKKNPRA","additional_properties":{"_id":"7FGAJCHLJFDVNPBJ7YGL4LFSF4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5VKUAFACQBE4DFQ7ULBGGFEARA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732545938435},"content":"With the additional help of a fairy (Rachel Gaughan) and an opportunistic hero (Daniel Miles), the triumph of good over evil is actually pretty straightforward. Then a standout Switcheroo scene, achieved with excellent technical timing, provides a last-minute complication.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IJIGOL7FM5EHNN3ATNQZZJKPJY","additional_properties":{"_id":"F5S6AH2UOVHPNFWJTR5YE7HBZE"},"content":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 23 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"T7SZPDIMFZEQBNEFZOUUD7JO6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949032},"content":"The ensemble approach is evident in the musical numbers, too, which are nimbly managed by musical director David Hayes. There are a few standouts (Lola performing Chappell Roan’s Hot to Go, for example), but the strongest musical scenes are shared out among the talented cast before the interval and at the finale, when they invite the audience to join in with a rousing rendition of The Spark.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CX5BJU3RDZD6JJWBEVY2PRRPVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949033},"content":"Indeed, Kabin Crew’s 2024 anthem shares the same sense of warm and wholesome generosity as TheatreWorx’s production, which is defined by strong storytelling and effortless inclusivity. There are no special effects, no grand coup-du-theatre, but there are oodles of old-fashioned charm.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SCHN4KH4KVCJVDOTXKUA6MAD3M","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131656004},"content":"<i>Rapunzel is at the </i><a href=\"https://thehelix.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Helix</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Sunday, January 12th</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"HK62VLJADNBOTMVKYPLBIWL7NY","additional_properties":{"_id":"RLN63XOIMBH2LL5WXCQTSOKMDY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CXWB4MAPRFF7VDPPNHXQXCU7EQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"7GAH3AD7K5B3LNYVTKY22VAWFM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"7YBS3CN6C5H5BF4FBGV6KDP2AQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"OGK7FRWL5RBVDN4R64ZYDYJTZM"},"type":"image"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: There are no special effects, no grand coup-du-theatre, but there are oodles of old-fashioned charm"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T15:04:37.705Z","headlines":{"basic":"Rapunzel at the Helix, Dublin, review: strong storytelling and effortless inclusivity","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OXP6AH5XDZDZHHWYJAJE3FS4W4","auth":{"1":"12a267bd6384ae08fb15d2e3018d87beebb53b71d14618e3c0cc9842c5037fb8"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OXP6AH5XDZDZHHWYJAJE3FS4W4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/25/rapunzel-at-the-helix-dublin-review-strong-storytelling-and-effortless-inclusivity/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"FETJTF7IJZEDLIW6XCQPC3I4PE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":589,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/774ab45e-8f0a-48db-86aa-6ebaf4a4e7d9/versions/1732486946/media/aaf0a74984bd139241ee3d4a0f1dfa9b_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/03/mary-poppins-peter-pan-and-cinderella-25-christmas-pantos-and-shows-to-see-around-ireland-this-festive-season/","content_elements":[{"_id":"2CVADFQIKNG3BFM57M3S42RUZA","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599208},"content":"<mark class=\"hl_yellow\">Pantomimes and theatre</mark>","type":"header"},{"_id":"PTUBPKXZCZEX7JSZDCQAQQZXGQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599209},"content":"Belfast","type":"header"},{"_id":"ERGU6NKFDJDKTLCCNKXLC2X46M","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350829},"content":"Beauty and the Beast","type":"header"},{"_id":"5WIZMBM77RB25OTMLYF7MKUZO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350830},"content":"Waterfront Hall, Nov 22-January 5, £18-£20, 048-90334455, <a href=\"http://waterfront.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">waterfront.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"4IGXV3XXC5FDRAJWMZTWTBBKIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350831},"content":"Can Belle save the day before the last rose petal falls? Join this well-loved heroine as she tries to break the Wicked Fairy’s curse and escape the castle of the “monstrous” Beast ... but is he really as bad as he seems?","type":"text"},{"_id":"BFJBMRTLA5GCLMVSJNUGKGUKUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350832},"content":"The Adventures of Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"GA4FPMRMXVDLVNGQ7PTUJWTSBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350833},"content":"The Mac Live, Nov 27-Jan 1, £12.50-£27.50, 048-90235053, <a href=\"http://themaclive.com/\" target=\"_blank\">themaclive.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"BDB2R7HZFVFN3BNKTAKTFN7IDY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350834},"content":"Starring Naoimh Morgan as little Red, this twist on a timeless story sees our protagonist face off with Goldilocks and the Big (or not so) Bad Wolf in a race to visit Granny Hood with a festive hamper of goodies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"53UBSSEOFRDLXJL57FHNJQH3JE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350835},"content":"The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan","type":"header"},{"_id":"XM42D5FACBCHHDKDIDC4CPQQQQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000925},"content":"Grand Opera House, Nov 30-Jan 12, £21-£40, 048-90241919, <a href=\"https://www.goh.co.uk/whats-on/the-pantomime-adventures-of-peter-pan/\" target=\"_blank\">goh.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"U4SHBYBHJBDGNBY6ML46B2PRJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000926},"content":"With the help of some fairy dust, the Grand Opera House stage will magically transform into Neverland for this seasonal show. Watch Captain Hook battle it out against his biggest opponents – Peter Pan, and the hungry crocodile.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DA24WJBB4FDKFFTGCZEYPTURTQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720622},"content":"A Christmas Carol","type":"header"},{"_id":"J255KKDJPVAKJDNA2UGR6XSCJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000928},"content":"Lyric Theatre, Nov 30-Jan 11, £15-£32, 048-90381081, <a href=\"https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-carol\" target=\"_blank\">lyrictheatre.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"BQM64YTNY5FI5FYZ27P3MD63OE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000929},"content":"This classic tale follows Charles Dickens’ Scrooge as he receives some chilling visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. And don’t forget the jubilant spirit of redemption and goodwill. This reimagining promises to take you on an unforgettable journey through Victorian Belfast.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NCERKVOY6ZFGPPRG3VSWDC3PTM","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599222},"content":"Clare","type":"header"},{"_id":"CXP5YKLVIJH7NBEWCUN6DLS5K4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732180608153},"content":"Cinderella","type":"header"},{"_id":"3CZ32LXZNFFJBPIESQR3H442MA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000938},"content":"Glór, Ennis, Dec 22–23 and Dec 27 – 31, from €17.50, 065-6843103, <a href=\"https://glor.ie/events/the-ennis-panto-presents-cinderella/\" target=\"_blank\">glor.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"KVAQYY7AOJDADIV3PQFF5TDXJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000939},"content":"Bullied by her horrible ugly sisters, Dottie and Lottie, Cinderella lives a life of drudgery. But all that is about to change after a fateful night at Prince Charming’s ball. Find out if her Fairy Godmother manages to swoop in and save the day.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GGYVLRPHVBFO3NL6MZMEBCESBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599226},"content":"Cork","type":"header"},{"_id":"3J7YOA3GKVA7BN7CDOCNGG6JV4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720627},"content":"Cinderella","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZWJVDBO6JNCFHNW72BX6PXVOWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000942},"content":"Cork Opera House, Nov 27-Jan 19, from €25, 021-4270022, <a href=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/whats-on/cinderella-2024-the-christmas-panto/\" target=\"_blank\">corkoperahouse.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"MBSZ6OJBDRFHXEDCFMQM4EU3FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000943},"content":"Polish your pumpkin and gather your mice, because Cork Opera House also has its very own rendition of the Cinderella story this Christmas season.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U4DD3DV2TBED3CPPBPZEN74EUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720628},"content":"Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"MRE6VSX6GNHEPI6C7PM74UW7WU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000945},"content":"The Everyman, Nov 30 – Jan 12, from €25, 021-4501673, <a href=\"https://everymancork.com/events/red-riding-hood/\" target=\"_blank\">everymancork.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"7YRF7ILU6RHJBPK6SJLIEPL5O4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000946},"content":"Directed by Catherine Mahon-Buckley, this enchanting panto follows Red, her best friend Pip and Granny Peggy Twomey as they deal with Deco the Wolf from Dublin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SSRTPPWEVRHAXIKDB7E6EZIILY","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599233},"content":"Derry","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZNVGHILOANEJ3GFLIHLZP4QXZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720630},"content":"Aladdin","type":"header"},{"_id":"XZZO4BGZXBA7NPZIO6DDRNVLP4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000949},"content":"Millennium Forum, Nov 29-Dec 31, various prices, 048-71264455, <a href=\"https://www.millenniumforum.co.uk/shows/aladdin/\" target=\"_blank\">millenniumforum.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"XJMJG3GGDNDEPONRVTOQJXYX24","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000950},"content":"Conal Gallen returns as the Forum’s Dame in this all singing, all dancing festive show. The evil sorcerer, Abanazar, seeks the magic lamp to bring him untold wealth and power. Can Aladdin save the day?","type":"text"},{"_id":"TCJCR7H65ZFIRJMTLXKHQGKZKI","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599237},"content":"Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"5UZA3LKMWFD33PYAIAXLFGQE3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350857},"content":"Peter Pan","type":"header"},{"_id":"3JPZAZZ2DBFM5APUJPNGLBSBPE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350858},"content":"The Gaiety Theatre, Nov 24 – Jan 19, from €21.50, 01-6468600, <a href=\"http://gaietytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gaietytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"YLXEK7XU7RF3FACQQWZRJPLLTQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350859},"content":"The Gaiety Theatre has hosted an annual Christmas Panto each year since “Turko the Terrible” in 1873. This year, set sail on a magical journey to Neverland as Peter and the Lost Boys swashbuckle and strive to outwit Captain Hook and his brutal band of pirates.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KP6HWJTNF5ELNCWA36T4HULXQQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"XJCMQMVI25HX5F7QWRQUVBP6BI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"JEXP3EMMEZGHHJQ55A2KDGJY6E","additional_properties":{"_id":1732708777997},"content":"The Borrowers","type":"header"},{"_id":"Q2FSNIQLWZBCJFSABT4I4CTNZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732708777998},"content":"Gate Theatre, until Jan 12, from €16, <a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gatetheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXEP54D56FEK5DH3R63MBCGM44","additional_properties":{"_id":1732708777999},"content":"Based on Mary Norton’s beloved adventure stories, this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/11/18/the-borrowers-review-irish-set-adaptation-is-solid-good-fun-for-the-whole-family/\" target=\"_blank\">stage adaptation</a> follows the fortunes of the tiny Clock family, who live secretly in the walls and floors of a country house and “borrow” from the big people upstairs in order to survive.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DNQDVH7ZW5EJZMHEJWVN2MJALU","additional_properties":{"_id":"3KMMUHVEUNAMZJUATYEQWGX3CE"},"content":"Human beans and under-the-floorboards Borrowers at the Gate this Christmas","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UXOFW5L27ZDAVEMEGXYQKPQX3Q","additional_properties":{"_id":"MMTN6TX5GRB7PHTMWREWTKP73A"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"24AHL722R5G6XJGSWAXQPUYTAE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350860},"content":"The Giggler Treatment","type":"header"},{"_id":"VMDF7SZTV5HH5LIHZEIKAEDZ3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000953},"content":"The Ark, Temple Bar, Dec 1-Jan 12, from €12.50, 01-6707788, <a href=\"http://ark.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">ark.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"4Z2B5RBFMNFRRMEKJMKB555LGA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000954},"content":"This mischievous musical is based on the novel of the same name by<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/roddy-doyle/\" target=\"_blank\"> Roddy Doyle</a>. If adults are mean to children, they get <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2023/12/04/the-giggler-treatment-review-a-glorious-miniature-musical-thats-great-fun-for-children-and-adults-alike/#:~:text=The%20Giggler%20Treatment%20review%3A%20A,adults%20alike%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Irish%20Times\" target=\"_blank\">The Giggler Treatment</a>. It’s smelly. It’s squishy. And it sticks to your shoe. But sometimes the Gigglers make a mistake ... Find out if Robbie, Kayla, Jimmy and Rover the dog come to Mr Mack’s rescue on time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GMBXPZJGKBGT3ORZJITE6377II","additional_properties":{"_id":"LEBSDY4JKJEIPGM4MIDXKK7BGY"},"content":"Fionn Foley on adapting Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment: ‘I did what no person would ever advise you to do’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"5HUPQ3FCAFHEVFLR44B7DYGBCI","additional_properties":{"_id":"6RDJOAJQWVBLXMACMV3QUXEU5U"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"QNVY5NCWHRHZPELIX5XNYZUPSE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732095789117},"content":"Beauty and the Beast, A Sammy and Buffy Adventure","type":"header"},{"_id":"T5UDRJSRLFATLMZOQIM4CO6DNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000956},"content":"The National Stadium, Dec 10–Jan 5, various prices, 01-9060111, <a href=\"https://www.panto.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">panto.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"X5NYA5TNCRCPFOJXEPS6QYYPDQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350865},"content":"A classic fairy-tale ... with a twist, starring Caoileann Woodcock and Johnny Ward.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SEY763EEEBH3PJ4GIJ2BW6J5PA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733243225909},"content":"The Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas Show","type":"header"},{"_id":"JEYG3KGLDBDU5LVQOCBOWTGWDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733243225910},"content":"Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Dec 20-Jan 5, €20, family €68, <a href=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\">paviliontheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"YLVZV3EW5RDPTMZYEKZOPMYZNU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733243225911},"content":"Suitable for all ages, this puppet-based production tells four stories by the author and illustrator Eric Carle: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; 10 Little Rubber Ducks; Dream Snow; and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.","type":"text"},{"_id":"J3MQLXVJQVD37NQCFVYXV24JCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599262},"content":"Galway","type":"header"},{"_id":"6Q67WQ5N45DEHPYQFOUW3UVMKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732095789120},"content":"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs","type":"header"},{"_id":"QDGRMDA5PRH5RB7EVVJ2QYFZUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000962},"content":"Town Hall Theatre, 29 Dec-Jan 12, €19-€22, 091-569777, <a href=\"http://renmorepantomime.com/\" target=\"_blank\">renmorepantomime.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"3KJC5KGZ4FGFVD2WOZXIJDVX3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000963},"content":"This tale unfolds as wicked witch Carabose plans on marrying the handsome Prince Peter of Pantoland, however the arrival of the beautiful Snow White puts a spanner in the works. Directed by award-winning twins Brian and Seán Power, this panto is sure to provide fun for all the family.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IDVNQXLEENAI5JBZY4HXGI6MTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599272},"content":"Kildare","type":"header"},{"_id":"KEM3E3RVKRB5TEP3WI7QCFWXIE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773773},"content":"Little Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"IJRUL7BILJDQXIAAZASPH4JHKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000966},"content":"Moat Theatre, Nov 22 – Dec 14, €18/ €65 family of four deal, 045-883030, <a href=\"http://www.moattheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">moattheatre.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"BD2XJT7AOZDUPF4PJUYQFQZQLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000967},"content":"Little Red’s family have just come into some wealth. However, because of some nasty characters, their happiness and fortune are in danger. Join her gutsy granny, a friendly wolf, and some madcap detectives as they work together to save the day.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DCAQQJIJB5CP7LT73KRYPOF344","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599280},"content":"Limerick","type":"header"},{"_id":"FXTS3ZUM6BE33MXCKZ43FX6EH4","additional_properties":{"_id":"5RHFMFALDRGR5MRXF5GHREQ7NE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LGHSMVVRWJAU3EHFIRK4DF5UJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732095789124},"content":"Mother Goose","type":"header"},{"_id":"W5QNBS2WFBABPMQLVVJDD64ZOI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000970},"content":"University Concert Hall, Dec 16 – Jan 12, €25, 061-331549, <a href=\"http://www.uch.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">uch.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"PAI4DAVFWBHA7OXMXXIMGTL6FA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000971},"content":"Faye Shortt makes her panto debut as Fairy Godmother in this year’s Specsavers Limerick Panto. No stranger to the stage, the star of this show currently tours the country with live comedy show “Kunckle down” which she co-wrote and performs with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/health/your-family/2023/05/09/pat-shortt-my-daughter-didnt-recognise-me-at-the-airport-i-got-very-upset/\" target=\"_blank\">her father Pat Shortt</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"253YNX4YKJEHLB6CLI7QNDNCX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599287},"content":"Longford","type":"header"},{"_id":"AGD7G34QQFC7PBCQXDUVWPO6CI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773777},"content":"Rapunzel and Billy","type":"header"},{"_id":"WTX6TWB2WBAWPARE4PWPDMDCGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004883},"content":"St Mel’s College, Dec 18-31, €20-€23, longfordstraditionalpanto@gmail.com, <a href=\"https://www.gr8events.ie/sales/index.php?event=1706\" target=\"_blank\">gr8events.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"AUOCRKCOMRC3BDVH6EKW5NEIHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004884},"content":"Starring Damien Douglas as the hilarious Billy Doolittle who, alongside Nanny Nonie, is on a mission to rescue the beautiful Princess Rapunzel from the clutches of the evil witch – before it’s too late!","type":"text"},{"_id":"GSTGAD4CORFQNDAJA3WWUOKS6A","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599291},"content":"Louth","type":"header"},{"_id":"Q7BI7VAXG5DI5B3NVT3AGXI4LY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773779},"content":"Beauty and the Beast","type":"header"},{"_id":"OPXQ5TP7FFARNBVY76KIQJ4YKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004887},"content":"Tommy Leddy Theatre, Dec 14-Jan 5, €24, 041-9878560, <a href=\"http://thetlt.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">thetlt.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"2HIW27UYBRETBOJRRFEESFBTUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004888},"content":"Immerse yourself in the classic fairy-tale at the Tommy Leddy Theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MZ5BMEFXPRCEFHKX4CRCYT3B7Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599295},"content":"Sligo","type":"header"},{"_id":"O7NK6E2A5NHHHFEDK2X5MGABHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773781},"content":"Jack and the Beanstalk","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXVFPOU6IZHKVJPYGZSHVIXG2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004891},"content":"Hawk’s Well Theatre, Dec 8-21, €20, 071 9161518, <a href=\"https://www.hawkswell.com/whats-on/shows/panto\" target=\"_blank\">hawkswell.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"223YYIJRS5EGLNWORNI7J6IBN4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004892},"content":"Coolera Dramatic Society return to Sligo’s Hawk’s Well Theatre this year with the magical story of Jack and the Beanstalk, featuring cast members Bobby Jones, Brian and Stephen Devaney, Kieran O’Doherty and Orla McSharry.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JL4GH6V3LFCE5LUQWRMNE3BPX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599299},"content":"Waterford","type":"header"},{"_id":"36ATA5XNRFAV3EZSBCRAPG5X3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599303},"content":"Snow White","type":"header"},{"_id":"QENSIFQNEVGQ5FYCYIU7N2THLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004895},"content":"Modeligo Community Theatre, Dungarvan, Nov 28-Dec 1, €15, <a href=\"https://www.gr8events.ie/sales/index.php?event=1779\" target=\"_blank\">gr8events.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"3GZ7C5MJABGKPPVBNOFFJNJCKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004896},"content":"The much-loved tale of Snow White will be on show in Dungarvan’s Modeligo as we enter the festive season, offering entertainment for all the family.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V6LUBISW5JAR3CJAXT7SAHZZ2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599307},"content":"Westmeath","type":"header"},{"_id":"33YHRT4ZG5FIRNVV7XSEBJUEEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732180608179},"content":"Alice in Wonderland","type":"header"},{"_id":"WYU6Q4WHAJA4XBC3C6NTKD7TNA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004899},"content":"Mullingar Arts Centre, Dec 6-29, €15, 044-9347777, <a href=\"https://mullingarartscentre.ie/index.php/reviews-2/3852\" target=\"_blank\">mullingarartscentre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"IZYVC2YAMBD2DIMRFGNX3ZFK74","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004900},"content":"Join Alice on this surreal quest to Wonderland as she follows the white rabbit, encountering crazy tea parties and the Queen of Hearts along the way.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JOHD7J62NZBXLKXGX7QQ2EPW3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599311},"content":"<mark class=\"hl_yellow\">Musicals, circus, dance</mark>","type":"header"},{"_id":"IF4MPW4R5RBM5IRQZCMM7DVJIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599312},"content":"Belfast","type":"header"},{"_id":"AN4K45RFCFBP5CL6DQ63LL33KE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773787},"content":"Winter Circus","type":"header"},{"_id":"LZRGUT6LLZE2NCFU4W7DOO7EZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004904},"content":"Big Top, Writer’s Square, Dec 13-Jan 1, £10-£16, <a href=\"http://tumblecircus.com/\" target=\"_blank\">tumblecircus.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"RFWAVLUOD5EZVOXKQX4UPZAIHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004905},"content":"Visit Tumble Circus in their heated Big Top to watch a show filled with death-defying aerialists, acrobats, mind-bending jugglers and more.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6PEB5CBVBZDXBLYE4YFZAM6ENA","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599316},"content":"Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"M2IY7KOVUVDJ3L7M7NI7ERFPWI","additional_properties":{"_id":"NVNDCUYABJDGNPPZBQ27PUKRPM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TP66UHBCNZAJBEXGXEWITKURCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773789},"content":"Mary Poppins the Musical","type":"header"},{"_id":"OJSI44VFSZFCVOQEIULPE6ZR7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004908},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dec 11-Jan 11, tickets from €26.50, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/show/mary-poppins/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"DBCGS2Z5LRG6ZEFZD34QLSLPJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004909},"content":"Based on the tales by PL Travers and the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/disney/\" target=\"_blank\">Walt Disney film</a>, the story of everyone’s favourite nanny will feature exciting choreography, effects and unforgettable songs. The musical’s timeless score includes classic songs such as Jolly Holiday, Step in Time, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Feed the Birds, as well as some new ones to look forward to.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WKQ2JKFVJRDYDOZ6C2T7IHZ7RQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"LNAUN4R55ZAXTMZ4D56JMF2Q6Q"},"content":"Mary Poppins comes to Dublin: Behind the scenes of the all-singing, all-dancing Christmas show","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"C4JGITUQ5FDC5JOMAE5R4TUIWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773790},"content":"Limerick","type":"header"},{"_id":"OMLUKMRKQVEGJEGBO6XYXGM7LU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773791},"content":"Fossett’s Circus","type":"header"},{"_id":"3AIMO5YXBFEUXDAF3P2ZZYUNIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004912},"content":"Cleeve’s factory site, Limerick city, Dec 12-22 and Dec 27-Jan 5, €18-€23, <a href=\"http://fossettscircus.com/\" target=\"_blank\">fossettscircus.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"LQAAT4PMEBA4VDD7YTC4L54SJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004913},"content":"Enjoy Fosset’s famous circus extravaganza in Limerick city this winter, with ticket prices ranging from €18-€23.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PIGUDNO4TREMLC7GQ46R2OMFVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599329},"content":"Clare","type":"header"},{"_id":"ADK7UGC2KVA2LB5P6UV3C5MWI4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720652},"content":"Ballet Ireland’s Nutcracker Sweeties","type":"header"},{"_id":"YTEELDJJCVBSZMQZT2OEEY6UG4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004916},"content":"Glór, Ennis, Dec 10-11, tickets from €20, <a href=\"https://glor.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173658316\" target=\"_blank\">glor.ticketsolve.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"XF2ZS44CKNBN7BBVZLKLFO34Y4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004917},"content":"Choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple, this production of the festive ballet performed by a cast of world-class dancers is sure to enchant audiences of all ages with its fairy-tale magic, costumes and reimagined Tchaikovsky score.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ella Sloane"}},"name":"Ella Sloane"}]},"description":{"basic":"Jack and the Beanstalk, Mary Poppins and an adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment are among the highlights"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T05:22:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 25 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"52QAKPMWLRER7P7IC4NDXVPUHY","auth":{"1":"3a4feee977a53384ad3cbd14eb0a69b46660ceb819cc24b67ff19743667adbc5"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/52QAKPMWLRER7P7IC4NDXVPUHY.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/03/mary-poppins-peter-pan-and-cinderella-25-christmas-pantos-and-shows-to-see-around-ireland-this-festive-season/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"OYJSLDIIE5DXZE2URFJZ46SGGU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":393,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/f2704eb0-d6bc-4eef-bfb3-8e48e6ab22d5/versions/1731941503/media/b0a01d389f9ee28b18e32fcb8c139d60_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/11/23/dreadful-government-lack-of-nightlife-lack-of-cultural-spaces-dublin-writer-thommas-kane-byrne-on-his-home-city/","content_elements":[{"_id":"KNRV2T3LDNF7VDIUH54M6KXDFA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686182},"content":"New York theatre audiences needed a salve the week of the<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us-election/\" target=\"_blank\"> US presidential election</a> — and in the Hell’s Kitchen district of the city the young Irish theatre company <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/malaprop-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Malaprop</a> were offering one. Their production <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2023/09/11/hothouse-review-deadly-serious-and-wildly-funny/\" target=\"_blank\">Hothouse</a>, at the <a href=\"https://irishartscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Arts Center</a>, was earning serious plaudits. The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/theater/hothouse-in-the-amazon-warehouse-parking-lot.html\" target=\"_blank\">called it</a> an “alluringly strange and splangly” play, “a lament for the present and an elegy for the past that keeps alight a flame of hope for the future”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TYWR2R7ELNE5HFEFNXWCG3OI6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686183},"content":"Set on a cruise ship taking wealthy tourists to the North Pole “to say goodbye to the ice”, Carys D Coburn’s play stars Peter Corboy, Maeve O’Mahony, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, Ebby O’Toole Acheampong and, in what Vulture called a “subtly devastating” performance, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thommas-kane-byrne/\" target=\"_blank\">Thommas Kane Byrne</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LKFOKER7AFBDHMT3Q3JPWP43CQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686184},"content":"TKB, as the actor and writer is known in the industry, flipped between roles real and surreal, but it was his performance as Barbara — an Irish housewife and link in a chain of generational trauma in a story that maps the process of extracting herself from an abusive relationship on to the existential climate crisis — that was so restrained, so controlled, so loaded with pathos that it became a wonder in a play full of them.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMWYPML3HRDLVHO5IW3T2SADGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686185},"content":"Now TKB is about to bring the final part of his St Mary’s Mansions trilogy to the stage. It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own, which opens shortly at Project Arts Centre in Dublin, follows Say Nothin’ to No One, from 2017, and Well That’s What I Heard, from 2018.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BMIHHD7K5RCLROCUPQ2E5JHI2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686187},"content":"“I never fully intended to be a writer,” TKB says. “I fell into it in a sense. I think I was just quite lucky, in that there was a big space for authentic working-class work.” After all, he asks, who else was doing it “aside from Philly” — the playwright <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/phillip-mcmahon/\" target=\"_blank\">Phillip McMahon</a> (who also runs <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thisispopbaby/\" target=\"_blank\">Thisispopbaby</a> with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/jennifer-jennings/\" target=\"_blank\">Jennifer Jennings</a>). “Pineapple, Town Is Dead,” he says of two of McMahon’s plays, “those are very authentic glimpses into working-class life”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"62ZM4POJBNEAHBNSTLS2Z2ADJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686188},"content":"TKB, who grew up in St Mary’s Mansions, on Seán MacDermott Street in Dublin’s north inner city, was a member of <a href=\"https://www.belvedereyouthclub.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Belvedere Youth Club</a> when he was brought to see <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/roddy-doyle/\" target=\"_blank\">Roddy Doyle</a>’s adaptation of The Playboy of the Western World, starring Hilda Fay, at the Abbey Theatre. He later recalled that it was the first time he had heard his accent represented in such a context.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CAW4GJURU5DHBJPMXVR4CGZDAE","additional_properties":{"_id":1731939014232},"content":"His Dublin 1 postcode, from which tremendous talents frequently emerge, often finds itself the subject of political debate, taskforce reports and top-down conversations. “It further hammers the us-and-them thing home,” TKB says. “Even the distribution of gardaí, they’re never around my area. When there’s a concert on [at Croke Park] they’re everywhere because God forbid something happens to the posh people on their way to a concert.","type":"text"},{"_id":"275MAN7Y55HLLBBZ6WXB4M5EOA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686189},"content":"“I suppose, in all of my stuff, Dublin is a character in and of itself. I feel like my relationship with Dublin has changed since I wrote Say Nothin’ to No One.” How so? “I just don’t love it as much. It’s a strange feeling to be scared in your own city. I’m more comfortable walking around New York. I think there’s an energy, a nervousness in the air in Dublin. Nowhere is open. Everything feels quiet and ghostly. Dreadful Government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces.” He catches himself. “I feel like I’m making [the play] feel sombre, but it’s good craic as well.” He calls this final instalment of the trilogy a final bop.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LMSB33Y3PBCCPB6A5UTHBUANXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686190},"content":"The first time TKB gravitated towards writing was via “Facebook rants years ago”, he says. “I used that as my f**king diary. So embarrassing. Then people said I should write,” he says, almost instantly backtracking. “I’m scarlet I even said that. I literally have no f**king filter. I don’t mean that in a cute way. I meant that in a neurodivergent way.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XOYCMKJE35GWLA4QW6BTCDKVLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686191},"content":"His biggest inspirations are Dublin city and women. “Women are always a huge part of my work. I feel like I owe a lot to women. I feel I’ve been made by them.” As a younger person, he says, he was insufferable. “I was mad into old Hollywood. Anything with Judy Garland, Bette Davis. I was so intense. I got that from my mam’s side of the family. They’d be big into old Hollywood movies. But then, I suppose, in terms of writers that inspired me, [Seán] O’Casey, Tennessee Williams.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4T22FRMGKJF4JMXEPCSCKXXSBI","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686192},"content":"In the RTÉ crime drama <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2023/05/08/kin-season-2-finale-for-an-often-patchy-show-the-conclusion-is-shocking/\" target=\"_blank\">Kin</a>, TKB played Francis “Fudge” Flynn. He has appeared in Derry Girls, The Gone and The Dry. But it was the Virgin Media series Darklands, in which, vocally and physically transformed, he played Butsy, that his chameleon-like capacity and charisma caught the eye. The sinisterly gruff character, who glowered at bar counters and in balaclavas, was a brilliant turn, a universe away from the high-camp character TKB played in the 2021 film <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/deadly-cuts-a-blast-from-irish-cinema-s-past-1.4691768\" target=\"_blank\">Deadly Cuts</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RQS3NZQP7BAZHDZCO53UQLDRXY","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686193},"content":"Another project he has on the go is with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gemma-dunleavy/\" target=\"_blank\">Gemma Dunleavy</a>: they plan to turn He Sits of a Tuesday, the play they created about a local politician who never appears, into a musical. “I just think we come from a very similar place in our approach,” he says of the singer. “Although our work is a love letter to our home and the people in it, it’s not romanticising it in any way. We still are very much unflinching about it all, but focus on the beauty of it while staying true to the shit that goes on.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"GS7SN2YKRJFXNLJ227RGSZIB6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1731939014238},"content":"<i>It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own is at </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Wednesday, December 4th, to Saturday, December 14th, with previews from Monday, December 2nd; the cast will also perform readings of Say Nothin’ to No One and Well That’s What I Heard on the afternoon of Saturday, December 7th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Una Mullally"}},"name":"Una Mullally"}]},"description":{"basic":"What’s Next For?: TKB, whose new play, It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own, completes his St Mary’s Mansions trilogy, on the evolution of Ireland’s capital"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘Dreadful government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces’: Dublin writer Thommas Kane Byrne on his home city ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"NGU3C3XLF5BEFL7XZLQUZX2KF4","auth":{"1":"e8fffb29cd15b72204847089ec5f68d89b6e11f371f70b227d7736faaba01378"},"focal_point":{"x":710,"y":700},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NGU3C3XLF5BEFL7XZLQUZX2KF4.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/11/23/dreadful-government-lack-of-nightlife-lack-of-cultural-spaces-dublin-writer-thommas-kane-byrne-on-his-home-city/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}}],"count":4117,"_id":"f2c72c2da0826a3f5c147ae4619a6fb7ef3420aaea30dd106b7b9f2786d6a197"},"expires":1740925319932,"lastModified":1740925018593},"{\"feedOffset\":0,\"feedSize\":50,\"includeSections\":\"/culture/stage\"}":{"data":{"content_elements":[{"_id":"ZSMV5JMZ25DF5K6XULNEVHVZ6Q","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":299,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/094f0d65-f0de-456a-83ef-d8e1905ecacf/versions/1740670351/media/6b563c5e32dbd9b4ec23adb584b07b29_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/","content_elements":[{"_id":"PN2YQBQCKFDDVOCNWZN3ATKHJM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Des Bishop: Lately","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZSKOCI7FLRGE5ACDHGOMFOHA6I","additional_properties":{},"content":"Olympia Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"5GSUGZOO6FE2HNMBDXFEJNN33Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"EOFW5VMQ7JCHHMSAUPAYI275YI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178111},"content":"Dressed dapperly all in black, like a priest without the dog collar, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/des-bishop/\" target=\"_blank\">Des Bishop</a> is preaching to the choir on Wednesday night, orchestrating an impromptu Catholic karaoke session by persuading a large part of the audience to sing along to eternal bangers such as Here I Am, Lord and Be Not Afraid.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GK2PZ2WIIFFT3BNBLVTFFBYFUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178112},"content":"Think Fr Buzz Cagney of Beverly Hills parish, Fr Ralph de Bricassart of The Thorn Birds or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/andrew-scott\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Scott</a>’s Hot Priest from Fleabag. Bishop doesn’t have an audience so much as a congregation of the faithful. Even the hecklers are compared to those annoying crying babies at Mass.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LSCRHM4BGFBWTIJCNAOSF7YCFY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169000},"content":"He admits that this material requires a critical mass of audience members who’ve been forced to go to church for years. When he performed it in New York City nobody sang, whereas in Ireland it’s been more a case of “One more tune!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ACMJ26OD2JHGJJZTVDMIUZ54VU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169001},"content":"Unlike previous shows, Lately lacks a strong theme or focus, being more of a status update. The Irish-American comic recalls buying a place in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rialto/\" target=\"_blank\">Rialto</a> in Dublin in 2005, having been told it was up and coming. “Like sex on ecstasy, it took a long time to come.” When Covid loomed he swapped Dolphin’s Barn for Long Island, fearing that an inner-city lockdown might tempt him to seek the wrong sort of injections.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MRMBB2A4WRHEFLAQOJCHLPP3DA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169002},"content":"He lucked out, meeting and marrying the US comedian and reality-TV star Hannah Berner, 16 years his junior. When a few women boo he responds, “I was 47, and I was a dirty whore, so you had your chance.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4PTFYGDJZFBM5IGLM2G73L35SI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169003},"content":"Lucky you finding love, you might think, until you remember that previous shows have been inspired by his father’s terminal illness, his mother’s death and his testicular cancer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZK4BTLYGO5HBLPKLFJ3X6H4TTE","additional_properties":{"_id":"YCTWWG66DFGWDIRIQW4HQC3KBQ"},"content":"Des Bishop: 'I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"WSPNW5K3M5C5VBVCBJPIGV4CXA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169004},"content":"How many people here are over 40, he asks. The resulting cheers confirm his suspicion that he and his audience are growing old together. He recounts recently being stopped in the street in Dublin and asked for a selfie by a young woman, and thinking “I‘ve still got it”, until she tells him it’s for her mother. “She loves you.” It’s funny, just as it waswhen it happened to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-martin/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Martin</a>’s character Charles-Haden Savage in the TV series <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2023/08/09/only-murders-in-the-building-meryl-streep-steals-the-show-riffing-off-steve-martin-and-martin-short/\" target=\"_blank\">Only Murders in the Building</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2RLTPQZKJJFVVDQZ6AWTQKPN6E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169005},"content":"Perhaps it’s his relationship’s age gap that makes him dwell on generational differences. His young relative Bella lives for free in his Rialto flat, he says, but shows more attitude than gratitude. He has little sympathy for teenagers complaining of parents using their phones to monitor them. At least they are no longer physically assaulted as a rule. “Tracked or smacked – take your pick.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPZVUXYDQJBUTJYCQROO2XPGKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"P7T64V6EPJHJBDVTHHTOPNZQNE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"UCJ3COZRIBCDFF4V4TNPLVZHVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740662169006},"content":"Young love in his day required patience, a reply to a love letter taking up to a week compared with today’s instant communication. He has fun imagining the practical difficulties of taking a “dick pic” in the predigital age and recalls making do for erotic inspiration with Mills & Boon and Danielle Steele.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CLHZ5P44PJDKTJPC5SFUQWBHHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178120},"content":"Bishop doesn’t dwell too much on the Donald Trump presidency other than to say he is finished with rebutting Irish people for saying that Americans are “tick” (as in thick).","type":"text"},{"_id":"A4IYGWBUFRFZXELBQIBT6FY65M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178173},"content":"He recalls his father’s relationship advice, when asked whether he should hold out for the hot girl he fancied or go with the less-attractive girl who fancied him. “Take your points and the goals will come.” It gets a laugh, but interrogating such a toxic male outlook would make for a sharper set.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AWJOQSYD2ZDC5CUV74QUMFR3HU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178143},"content":"Bishop is good on class, imagining an Irish reality-TV show set on a middle-class estate based on neighbours’ objections when a planning application goes up. He is great with accents, too, not just the usual posh and working-class Dublin and the addict’s nasal delivery but the more off-piste Wexford accent, good enough to play the lead in a Billy Roche play.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NQANQ5MSVNC7VK3I5QNBY4XFGE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178146},"content":"One advantage of ageing is that he has become a silver fox while his Italian-American contemporaries, whom he once envied for hitting puberty years before him, have grown fat and bald. Their other advantage that he once jealously eyed was the way their mothers loved them. “I’m not saying mine didn’t, she just never told me.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SWS3VU4SYZE3HG5OO6CCNKFQ5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178201},"content":"This reminds me of his father Michael’s line from Bishop’s memoir, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, about having children – “It’s not your life any more, it’s their life” – and if you begrudge handing it over they will know.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KY4BF5SU25EPXCJVZAVIRAIOXU","additional_properties":{"_id":"J7N55ODEKZEUVKRRUE7CLWOLCE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"XCX6GHF5H5GPPLM4HKEZPCOEKM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178192},"content":"He ponders whether he might become a father himself, joking a little lamely that needing a knee brace after a skiing accident suggests he might not be fit to actually raise one.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3HX7R2EQ7BC7ZPNZJCASPWZGOA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740658178202},"content":"New material is obviously not the best reason to have a child, but Bishop’s Love Child has a certain ring to it – and is a bit of an Irish-American tradition.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Martin Doyle"}},"name":"Martin Doyle"}]},"description":{"basic":"Irish-American comedian’s latest set lacks a strong theme, providing more of a status update on his life"},"display_date":"2025-02-27T15:22:54.812Z","headlines":{"basic":"Des Bishop preaches to the faithful in show packed with family, relationships and Catholic karaoke","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44","auth":{"1":"67e623a88dd075e0ac83bf24466beb1702f784f6c33c0462dbb99cc125f02f52"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/music/review/2025/02/27/des-bishop-preaches-to-the-faithful-in-show-packed-with-family-relationships-and-catholic-karaoke/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"ZB5AHNZFENAEVE55XOYKTQI6M4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":208,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/203738dd-eb07-45f4-92e5-c30d2dae760d/versions/1740645797/media/39187aa98feda789c2feb4a9a7e7a5a7_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/27/king-lear-at-the-gate-review-propulsive-production-doesnt-quite-solve-this-tragedys-age-old-problems/","content_elements":[{"_id":"NCBY2HGHJBALJNKA34QRCA7XNE","additional_properties":{},"content":"King Lear","type":"header"},{"_id":"J77T7MM4PVGFFLBLUPVJBBCEDI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Gate Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"SYEKQPTAURH65HUQ43NQ7IBKFM","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"N6FKKBPYT5D4VMTJUMZYPYA5FE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616624058},"content":"For the past 400 years or so, cultural critics have been declaring Shakespeare’s windiest play close to unstageable. The despair is too exhausting. The spiritual tumults too sudden and too irrational. None of this has stopped King Lear remaining among the most quotable and psychologically dense of his tragedies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"72L3PY3ZZNHU5ET4PY7A6XSQDM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616624059},"content":"Roxana Silbert hasn’t quite solved the age-old problems in her propulsive new production for the Gate. As you would expect from this venue, the staging is smooth and attractive. Ti Green’s production design, featuring hanging fabric constructions that sometimes suggest shrouds, sometimes cocoons, pitches the show between the earthbound and the fantastic. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"SAPMNKJMSVHIZBD4Z64JLVH3F4","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"T5HI2ZAK5JEKLL22V3ATZKUSHU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The costumes, inheriting the look Star Wars inherited from Akira Kurosawa, have the virtue of consistency. Paul Keogan’s lighting – making good use of a background that allows silhouetted groupings – is up to that professional’s high standards.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EUDRH7JXDJGZ5I676FNBANL2UM","additional_properties":{},"content":"But this take on Lear, short on big ideas, has a few too many shallows among its satisfactory heights. As the king, Conleth Hill, hitting the right age after decades of varied work on stage and screen, is at his best when the storm is up and the brain is befuddled. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"4VHGIIR43NAD5AY2P2D5PR5BYM","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"HNULYPIGHRFR7K3XQ2XMXALOGY","additional_properties":{},"content":"If you were the wind you’d do what you were told as, during the famous storm scene, he suggests the cracking of cheeks and the drenching of steeples. He is better still, bedecked with flowers, as madness brings him oblique wisdom. There is a particular poignancy to seeing a burly man mumble the sweet sadnesses this wronged despot has uncovered. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"5T7QD53N7NBRJMJ5FG2X5GJFPA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Elsewhere, a few of the greatest hits are flubbed. It may be infantile to expect video-nasty relish in the gouging of Gloucester’s eyes, but something more than the perfunctory scuffle here would be nice – or gratifyingly horrible, anyway.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6OPBOO2VWREQXMSGUMOMWRUTBQ","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"VZTIIN6I5JALHIT3P5BNCPYGSU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The opening sections do good work with awkward normality. Northern voices – some from southern actors – add a satisfactory abrasiveness to the familial disharmony. (Kudos to Eavan Gaffney, as Regan, for her “let him smaiaiail his way to Dover!”) ","type":"text"},{"_id":"OKEPWGPGNVBHBPLV633UL7PQ3M","additional_properties":{},"content":"We all know the story. Lear asks his three daughters to butter him up in exchange for land. The ballsy Goneril and Regan (Jolly Abraham is smoother than the abrasive Gaffney) oblige. The always insufferable Cordelia – no blame attaches to an intelligent turn from Emma Dargan-Reid – does not and is driven from the fireplace. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"SXG55OVWNNHOBKPP2Y6KIA67BU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"JBAWPZL5GVFWBLQKFTDBPNSYSQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The poor old fool is then shifted from sister to sister like the sort of inconvenient elder who insists on making everyone watch Antiques Roadshow. He is eventually flung on to the heath and the whole world sets to shaking itself to pieces.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TDTYHYGNVRGCFHTP6VFVPGU7N4","additional_properties":{},"content":"The actors find a few new directions. Aidan Moriarty’s faux-deranged Edgar is a little more robust than is usually the case. Michael Glenn Murphy’s Fool has the weary sadness of a music-hall player past his time. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"7UHMB3BPXNB6PP4W6XYH23OSH4","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"2ALPX4NREBBU7EH643VZ6MEQYU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The standout of the satellite cast is surely Ryan Hunter as the charismatic, Scottish Edmund. The man relishes the word “bastard” as if it had been served with chips and gravy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PHLAFA6AJNDVDKI4YOBC6YRGXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616624063},"content":"And yet. Everyone is up to scratch. Some, like Hunter, positively excel. But one does not leave the theatre with any great revelations buzzing through the blasted mind.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZIV3P3ELE5HU3J2MNKS3V3HPZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740616310085},"content":"<i>King Lear is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gate Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Sunday, April 27th</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"UUQRUVN6PZC4FNIJRHSAPRPWMQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill: ‘I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards’","type":"interstitial_link"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"As Shakespeare’s king, Conleth Hill is at his best when the storm is up and the brain befuddled. But this staging is short on big ideas"},"display_date":"2025-02-27T08:38:11.778Z","headlines":{"basic":"King Lear at the Gate review: Propulsive production doesn’t quite solve this tragedy’s age-old problems","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4","auth":{"1":"3b0ff82062f09ee8863e0b6b7bc08abee17ddec75d89a25b9578d178baabbb41"},"focal_point":{"x":2450,"y":1767},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OLTBY3KYIRGFVCMZFD7N53C7Y4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/27/king-lear-at-the-gate-review-propulsive-production-doesnt-quite-solve-this-tragedys-age-old-problems/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"H3KF3AXMERGVBMSMWPEZYTFB4I","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":566,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/45de054a-a499-4304-90af-15372463496a/versions/1739871733/media/50fb28903808254a4a3f8e48bb799c91_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/26/what-ireland-could-learn-from-canada-about-how-to-enhance-its-cities/","content_elements":[{"_id":"FNHJOWBPWJFQPO3E5NI7ZWRKEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684193},"content":"Hugh Cochlin is in his office on the west coast of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/canada/\" target=\"_blank\">Canada</a>, listening to a complex tale about a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a> arts centre that has vanished. At the end he leans in with a knowing expression. “The story you just described is basically Vancouver 20 years ago,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RD2QXCEZTBAVXBVORCLI5KQQT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684194},"content":"His city’s skyline, with its high-rise condominium and office towers, may be dramatically different from Dublin’s, but both places encountered similar issues with the availability of cultural venues and workspace. As construction in each boomed, local government began to require new mixed-use developments to include cultural space in their designs.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RI6C2M3YFZCZLJAFUWC6CL5DIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684195},"content":"In Dublin, an early project of the kind was to be a performance and arts centre as part of the redevelopment of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tivoli-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Tivoli Theatre</a>, on Francis Street in the Liberties, which was demolished in 2019 to make way for what is now an aparthotel. The original planning application had envisaged using that section of the new building for a gym; the proposal changed after <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-city-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin City Council</a> expressed concern about “the loss of the Tivoli Theatre without the provision of a replacement or alternative cultural facility”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SAEXHYKCYNBITDTNFC6LPD5U7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684196},"content":"The council approved the new plan, which allowed “for the Tivoli to be reborn on this site as a flexible performance and arts space for use by the wider arts and performance community”. Anthony Byrne, the theatre’s owner, told the planning department in April 2017: “We confirm that we undertake to continue to provide a cultural facility as described in the drawings and documentation submitted.” (He also proposed that the development’s courtyard host performances and film screenings.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"DTPSLLPPR5A6XP3LF2CUNDKJGY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684198},"content":"The proposed centre appears to be ambitiously adaptable. Architectural drawings show it as capable of transforming from a 160-seat auditorium to a white-cube visual arts gallery. It was built to shell-and-core stage, a common construction practice that essentially means providing an empty space with bare breeze-block walls; features such as ceilings, partition walls, lighting and furnishing are decided on and paid for later, by the landlord or tenant.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IMOVCM2LGFA3FC2MHE6TE3G77M","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684199},"content":"When the time came to hand over the Francis Street space for this fit-out stage, Byrne seemed no longer to be involved in the project.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DUXMDP42DNGC7FFPA26AJWZMNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684200},"content":"That put an onus on <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/staycity/\" target=\"_blank\">Staycity</a>, owner of the aparthotel on the redeveloped Tivoli site, to come up with a new plan for the arts centre. In October 2020 a company connected to Staycity, named Cantarini, outlined a proposal involving the Winding Stair hospitality group. According to reporting by Michael Lanigan in the Dublin Inquirer, Winding Stair (the owner of which, Brian Montague, is a former chairman of the Complex arts centre) would manage the hosting of exhibitions, performances, installations and indoor and outdoor concerts. But by mid-2023 the hospitality group was no longer involved in the project, according to Staycity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XBUHAP3JJBAFDOH7GW6TXFQ6BE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684201},"content":"What happened to Byrne’s plan to operate a space where the Tivoli would be reborn as a cultural venue? <a href=\"https://www.scaplanning.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">SCA Planning</a>, which acted as his agent in his planning application, has not responded to several queries about the project.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HXZCFJD7GJFZJGSEUJLLUJ7BCM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684197},"type":"image"},{"_id":"22UKOVUIGNGI5L3TUSZ3G45GLU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684203},"content":"Cochlin is principal of <a href=\"https://proscenium.ca/\" target=\"_blank\">Proscenium Architecture + Interiors</a>, a well-regarded Canadian firm founded 29 years ago by theatre-loving architects who split off from a larger firm that, he says, was less interested in cultural projects. In Vancouver, Cochlin explains, local and national government jointly developed a planning policy that would match the developer of a big construction scheme with a cultural organisation. “The department will say, ‘Okay, this arts group is going to be part of this project too. We’ll give you a bonus density,’” he says, referring to the fact that developers are allowed to fit more into their schemes in return for providing cultural space.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YZXECH6PONEGLF3LWSPMSJUPTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684204},"content":"Cochlin is currently working on a new theatre as the podium – which is to say an adjoining lower-level element – of an apartment tower. Vancouver’s French-culture organisation <a href=\"https://lamaison.bc.ca/?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\">La Maison de la Francophonie</a> needs a home, so the city council mandated the developer of the new complex to build a theatre and offices for it to shell-and-core stage. La Maison de la Francophonie will then pay for the fit-out. As the organisation’s representative, Proscenium liaises with the apartment block’s architect.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7YEGGQCTTVDSZEZTETJZ4PJOZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":"4MT2KP2GDNGU5O6RP4JPZ57WGE"},"content":"As more hotels and office blocks rise up, where are Dublin’s promised cultural spaces?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"EHRHB5BTOVBYRC7I2X7NZIBMVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684205},"content":"Cochlin’s firm also designed the BMO Theatre Centre, which houses two Vancouver stage companies, the <a href=\"https://artsclub.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Club</a> and <a href=\"https://bardonthebeach.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Bard on the Beach</a>. That project involved turning a shell space into a 250-seat theatre, rehearsal rooms, costume workshops and offices for the two organisations.","type":"text"},{"_id":"76WRDY776NAVDMQ6ZQRGROBT64","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684206},"content":"He says commercial and residential architects are often surprised by some of the requirements for cultural space. A theatre needs to be acoustically isolated, for example. “They say, ‘What do you mean it has to have full-block walls, and there has to be an air space, and a stud wall has to have drywall each side of it?’ They thought they could just build a standard wall,” Cochlin says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U2CGEUOP45GIXCRNZOKVPHXPFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684207},"content":"“The big one is height in the room. You have to calculate your sightlines to the playing surface from the riser system [of banked seating]. You have to calculate the height of the hang from the lighting grid. You have to have the space and the acoustic isolation, with a slab up above that pushes the height of the room up. Normally, we want to get 25-27ft” – about 7.5-8m, or roughly twice the <a href=\"https://www.dublincity.ie/dublin-city-development-plan-2016-2022/16-development-standards/167-building-height-sustainable-city/1672-height-limits-and-areas-low-rise-midrise\" target=\"_blank\">normal ceiling height</a> – “depending on the size of the theatre. And, of course, it has to be structure-free.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RLGITRJSEJAU3HMLTWIJOZZRJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684208},"content":"In Dublin, there is already some scepticism about how successful the city council’s planning guidelines, which require 5 per cent of a big development to be earmarked for cultural use, will be. Not far from Francis Street, at Newmarket, once home to much-loved Sunday markets, the owners of a new office building whose planning permission required it to provide an indoor market have applied for change of use, arguing that the finished construction is unviable for this.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3LIHAAXILZGLBPVBKJQPRFANKY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684209},"content":"Last year the visual artist Eve Woods <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025/01/08/as-more-hotels-and-office-blocks-rise-up-where-are-dublins-promised-cultural-spaces/\" target=\"_blank\">held an exhibition</a> in the empty Tivoli space. “There’s pillars down the centre, which in their plan is where the stage and tiered seating is supposed to be,” she says. (“If someone’s putting columns on the stage, they’ve made a mistake,” Cochlin says.) Dublin City Council inspected the arts-centre space after complaints about the site, but it says that “the positioning of columns and ceiling height did not form part of the planning enforcement officer’s investigation, as such a complaint was not brought to our attention at the time of investigation”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IEZD5B7B2FCIVMTHHSZAENJ47Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684210},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5MDDFMQXXZCO3E3ZFLJARU6CMQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684211},"content":"It may be difficult to imagine the compact new space hosting the big club nights, wrestling events and pantomimes associated with the old Tivoli Theatre, but small venues have always played a role in our cultural life. Four years ago the owners of the <a href=\"https://www.bestsellerdublin.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Bestseller</a> cafe, on Dawson Street in Dublin, heard that Rex Ryan was looking for a home for his <a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Glass Mask</a> theatre company. So they agreed that he could create a 60-seat theatre configuration there, erecting and then dismantling a set each night, and delivering programmes that subvert assumptions about dinner theatre. (Last month you could catch the tense relationship drama Men’s Business; this month Glass Mask is staging the adopted-siblings psychological thriller Little One.) “It was all hustling,” Ryan says, pointing to a recently built stage and lighting rig that he raised funds for.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HHTNK5CKZVCPVIL4IKY6BWTSOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684212},"content":"David Doyle is the Irish executive producer of <a href=\"https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">Jermyn Street Theatre</a>, a 70-seat studio venue in the West End of London that used to be restaurant changingrooms. “Improbability charges theatre as a whole, but I think it’s particularly evident in small spaces. There’s an improbability that they exist, and because of that people are really attracted to them,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I2K443I37NDHFJBWEJVDLZYXOM","additional_properties":{"_id":"FBI4HWI7KJBBFOMU64HAYWWICQ"},"content":"Dublin’s disappearing venues: A promised 500-seat theatre is shrouded in mystery","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LCLIFL762ZFPVKIWOG5LUUJVQM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684214},"content":"Jermyn Street Theatre’s programming savvily alternates between unexpected spins on familiar material (a three-handed Pride and Prejudice), unfamiliar offerings (the Windrush epic The Lonely Londoners) and chances to rediscover neglected plays (an upcoming revival of Micheál Mac Liammóir’s The Importance of Being Oscar). The theatre has no government subsidy, leaving Doyle to sell as many tickets as he can, find alternative funding and, if possible, secure transfers to larger London houses.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VQNIWKSQJRBRJOJOSJ4U4G3I54","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684215},"content":"“We as an artistic community need to be vocal in understanding how planning is happening in Dublin and then get ourselves involved in it,” Doyle says. “I wouldn’t expect an architect designing a hotel to understand the needs of ceiling height or soundproofing. We can’t let others do the translating of our [requirements] to other people.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTKGDUGGZBHXZA3HPSFWXEQ7TE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684216},"type":"image"},{"_id":"J5KCTBM7LRA37IMYTGE52N2PLI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684217},"content":"When asked about the future of the Tivoli performance and arts centre, a Staycity spokesperson says: “Planning and consultation with key stakeholders, including <a href=\"https://www.businesstoarts.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Business to Arts</a>, is under way to see it activated and optimised as soon as possible. Layout and fit-out plans will be finalised in line with current discussions, based on the original usage granted.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"B6U2C7YIM5FQ3LG6ACUKEBK3TU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740486684218},"content":"After decades of cultural entrepreneurs repurposing old buildings, Dublin City Council has granted permission to several developments that incorporate artist workplaces – the Newmarket office building; the “innovation hub” on the former Irish Glass Bottle site; another Staycity aparthotel, on Little Mary Street; a hotel development on New Row South; Irish Life Assurance’s offices on Albert Terrace; a residential development at Phibsborough’s Old Bakery site – but none of these council decisions identifies an end user of those workspaces. If an artist or cultural organisation isn’t at the table, they can’t voice what the design of those spaces needs.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Dublin still has no replacement for the demolished Tivoli Theatre. Vancouver can show it a way forward"},"display_date":"2025-02-26T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"What Ireland could learn from Canada about how to enhance its cities","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4","auth":{"1":"1ea921c6de64688a7c0ac18f98a8dc88ddc09142a5b7c0a18a1ed878da575353"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/DEM47ZM4KJEH7BENXAKKE4MQD4.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Property"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/26/what-ireland-could-learn-from-canada-about-how-to-enhance-its-cities/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"JSGDXLAMTFD57D2MJB7OFZQOWQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":879,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/9f6937a6-e3c8-4596-a60d-dc1e2af4e684/versions/1739872392/media/7f09f5ac4b3ab14b2afc526be298b7fc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/24/lynne-parker-the-abbey-does-so-much-but-ireland-needs-a-national-theatre-for-the-21st-century/","content_elements":[{"_id":"GMHEMCGYQJHE3ODXLS6OK7I3V4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092481},"content":"This time last year, as a part our 40th-anniversary celebrations at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rough-magic-theatre-company/\" target=\"_blank\">Rough Magic</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/author/diarmaid-ferriter/\" target=\"_blank\">Diarmaid Ferriter</a> hosted a conversation between founding members of four theatre companies that started life between 1983 and 1985.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZF62J3HWJJAZJBTRJJCBTLHS5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092482},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paul-mercier/\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Mercier</a>, of the Passion Machine, in Dublin, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/jim-nolan/\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Nolan</a>, of Red Kettle, in Waterford, and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/eleanor-methven/\" target=\"_blank\">Eleanor Methven</a>, of Charabanc, in Belfast, joined me at Rough Magic’s base at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/project-arts-centre/\" target=\"_blank\">Project Arts Centre</a> for a brilliant session full of spiky, funny observation and unmistakable energy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WT7RYFKB2RFIPIGUYBETX5FL4I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092483},"content":"When Diarmaid described the bleak hinterland of 1980s Ireland, and the deep recession that prevailed, we agreed to a person that we were thankful not to have been aware of how dreadful everything was. For us the time was characterised by purpose, momentum and fun.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SSZUN3NKMNF4VKYSZEHUY4CDN4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092484},"content":"It makes me want to ask why there was such an explosion of creativity at such a grim time – and why conditions for the theatre industry in our newly wealthy, apparently progressive country are now so much less favourable.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AP3SKK7GRZGL3NGHNOQDEIXAD4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092485},"content":"Because they are really not good. Seven hundred and seventy people have now signed a letter, initiated by theatre practitioners and supported by the <a href=\"https://performingartsforum.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Performing Arts Forum</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtheatreinstitute.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Theatre Institute</a>, urging the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/arts-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Council</a> to focus on the sector’s ongoing challenges.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NQ4ZPZ5APNFSHL5LPFA5R2GK7A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092486},"content":"The key issue is financial: council funding has gone up since the Covid pandemic, but the proportion of that money spent on theatre has gone down by about 9 per cent.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DI2R27Z2EBBPNCJFHC76E2WWUI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092487},"content":"People are surprised when you point this out. Theatre gets a sizeable chunk of the budget, they say, and they’re not wrong. But when you look at how it’s distributed, how many people it needs to serve and how much civic, social and artistic interaction depends on the infrastructure provided by the theatre industry throughout the country, the picture becomes more complex.","type":"text"},{"_id":"62A5KX2NFZEZHIJLPIIUZLONH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092488},"content":"It fluctuates from year to year, but nearly half of the Arts Council’s theatre spending goes to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey</a>; another quarter goes to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/druid-theatre-company/\" target=\"_blank\">Druid</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-theatre-festival/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Theatre Festival</a>. These are all important organisations, and not one is overfunded, but it leaves the rest of us – including long-established companies – financially hobbled. Emerging companies can only look on in perplexed despair.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S3WABXB6EZG4DLOVZCRHCAMY5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092500},"type":"image"},{"_id":"T433EX6HZRDP5DFT7F5KDSZKUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092490},"content":"There are significant areas where the difficulties are particularly acute.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZUDHAXPYJVAB7EUKY3I2VHVKZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092491},"content":"For many decades the Abbey has been funded as Ireland’s national theatre – and has borne that title and responsibility. Some regard its funding – <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/\" target=\"_blank\">€9.5 million for 2025</a>, up €1 million from last year – as disproportionate. I would argue that the responsibility it has been asked to take on is equally so.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NHHE5NW4FVBFFKLTK3V5GM4ZTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092492},"content":"The Abbey attempts, through its institutional infrastructure, to fulfil a leadership role, be custodian of the canon, support artists and new work, stimulate audiences, drive production models, form outreach initiatives – and on and on. The list is long and, I believe, overwhelming. I admire the Abbey’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/abbey-theatre-co-directors-we-want-our-artists-to-have-a-hand-on-the-steering-wheel-1.4778806\" target=\"_blank\">current management</a> greatly, but their job is staggeringly difficult.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5LPSP5BAOFBCDLG7AATQKL44UQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092493},"content":"Abbey Theatre co-directors: ‘We want our artists to have a hand on the steering wheel’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"5WG6DROKYZFC3HGM2BDPSCQ5FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092494},"content":"Institutions have a vital role in supporting and sustaining art and artists. But the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/national-library-of-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\">National Library</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/national-gallery-of-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\">National Gallery of Ireland</a> do not make art: they exhibit, curate, disemminate and support it. The Abbey is additionally tasked with the generation and production of theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3QQZC4KGFVFMJO67RYBZAMJDBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092495},"content":"It has for some time been hard pressed to make work that can claim automatic superiority over the activities and work produced by companies that manage on a fraction of the Abbey’s budget. I believe the answer to this is not to reduce its funding but to deploy it more efficiently and to raise the State’s support for theatremakers across the country, to create a more level playing field.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XU5KBNWUHFBFFJMU3CIRNMGN5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092496},"content":"Like most theatre companies – like many national theatres – the Abbey was <a href=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/about/history/\" target=\"_blank\">set up</a> by a couple of mavericks in partnership with an enlightened patron. It became a national theatre in response to the formation of a new republic and the need to assert a cultural identity. That great ambition was essential in forming the nascent State, but in the intervening century, particularly in the past two decades, the country has changed fundamentally.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NH4NIXKTAVFUZGKYKMIKV3KXU4","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"CGMJIMGRDJD6ZFNS4DOJ4ETODE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092498},"content":"We need a national theatre for a 21st-century Ireland. No organisation can deliver this alone. The “single-vision ethos” once quoted in relation to the Abbey cannot serve the spectrum of activity across Ireland. A new generation wants to make theatre for a new audience and must be supported to do so on its own terms. A more generous, inclusive and – crucially – nationwide structure can help reignite the energy and creativity that have been sapped in recent decades.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PQV3UAKDRRDV3MHTTX4OK534NQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092499},"content":"The hugely cheering boom in TV and film production in Ireland, and the habits formed around screen consumption during Covid, have created new challenges for theatremakers. So I think it’s worth reminding ourselves that theatre and the spoken word are the bedrock of our cultural identity; Irish dramatists and actors invented the language of theatre in the English-speaking world, from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/richard-brinsley-sheridan/\" target=\"_blank\">Richard Brinsley Sheridan</a> to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/eugene-o-neill/\" target=\"_blank\">Eugene O’Neill</a>, from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/peg-woffington-the-best-irish-actress-of-the-18th-century-1.3633218\" target=\"_blank\">Peg Woffington</a> to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/fiona-shaw/\" target=\"_blank\">Fiona Shaw</a>. Narrative theatre is a form in which we are world leaders, and our film industry consistently stands on that legacy. Film is a vibrant evolution of theatre, growing from its foundational roots.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HMT7VI7XYVDSVFZ665UX3ELRPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092501},"content":"The explosion of work that began in the 1980s was one of the great successes of Irish theatre. I was working in Glasgow and Edinburgh around the time that the <a href=\"https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/\" target=\"_blank\">National Theatre of Scotland</a> was being set up. Irish theatre was then the envy of Scotland – and it wasn’t so much the institutions that excited admiration as the energy and diversity of the work coming to <a href=\"https://www.edfringe.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a> from the independent companies that had mushroomed from the 1980s onwards.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AROI3UJZOFEWNEMHLUIGE3LXAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092502},"content":"But the economic crash forced the State to rein in spending – and the arts, seen as low-hanging fruit, were devastated. Successive funding cuts have resulted in the demise of more than 30 independent companies, to the great impoverishment of our theatre culture.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6M5J3LZWSZGO5EDFLGP4GYHXKI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092503},"content":"An idea took root that the profusion of administrative structures around small companies was wasteful, that the funding should go directly to artists. This sounds like good thinking, but what it really meant was that a very successful ecosystem that supported an astonishing amount of work, including by emerging artists, was dismantled in favour of rescuing the big institutions. That included perpetuating sluggish systems and patching up a series of high-level mishaps. This policy created a continuing divide in Irish theatremaking.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U6UPVLZA3NGDDLPEXFACYLHWHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092504},"content":"The Abbey’s €1m controversy: What went wrong?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"2CHGYFIR7VEZHESKOVJK5XD6LU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092505},"content":"For the remaining independent companies, partnerships with relatively well-funded producing houses are a means of survival. They are (puzzlingly) frowned on by the Arts Council, but, given the paucity of funding and its inefficient application, these arrangements are the only way work can be made. As a result the pathway to production is blocked by more and more barriers that in turn are guarded by fewer and fewer – and so disproportionately empowered – individuals.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2RWLOWBG5VHVXJQKKY3UOI4AHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092506},"content":"And, at entry level, structures intended to increase access for artists offer totally inadequate sums that enable dreaming but not making. Given the lack of producers and administrative support, artists now have to self-produce, adding marketing and accountancy to their skill set when they should be focused on the rigorous process required for the creative act.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4OQFVOOIQBKQHO4CFV6MVB63HA","additional_properties":{"_id":"QT3TPQSJBVHNPJDDKU4VIJMTBM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"4ZBLZPMIU5HD5OGCINFZ7UO46A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092508},"content":"Make no mistake, business acumen is as necessary as artistic vision, but none of these skills can be fully practised part-time. Overload and burnout are inevitable, and diminution of the result increasingly evident. Some excellent producing hubs have been set up to support individual projects, but even they are overwhelmed. More are needed, but it’s worth observing that, when properly funded, independent companies such as Rough Magic are able to support emerging collectives at the same time as producing first-class professional shows with a mix of senior and emerging artists that frequently leads to intergenerational learning.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M32D3ZOAKNGRHKOJXCQZLTVWBI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092509},"content":"The opportunities to make and present work are now in the gift of a small number of people who are themselves under extreme pressure, from Dublin Theatre Festival to the Arts Council itself. This is a criticism not of individuals but of the chain of events that has created a hierarchy when what is needed is a self-sustaining, artist-led, democratic ecosystem.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OX6MUPLCTZGHPHBWXTBXULQ5DU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092510},"content":"A further pressure on the production of independent work concerns arts festivals. The problem, as far as theatre companies and artists are concerned, boils down to bottlenecks – but that’s another day’s work.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TLMJABXR4NCEDPPENWG67VE7ZI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092511},"content":"So how do we address this pickle?","type":"text"},{"_id":"WOUNJPHWM5HSPJFFQPLDOAIFY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092512},"content":"A new structure could be formed around the diverse entities that make live theatre. This could mean a federation or consortium of theatre artists, managements and collectives, representing all regions and constituencies on the island of Ireland. Diversity is key, pluralism essential. Autonomous hubs across the country can determine the work they make and host, and the artists they support. This is already happening in centres such as Waterford and Limerick.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4YNINQLSRGTFGVECLJKPUZRVE","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092513},"content":"The Abbey Theatre would now become a linchpin in a new network that responds to and supports a 21st-century ecosystem. The Abbey must retain its funding and its production muscle, with a renewed remit to focus on its primary nature as a literary theatre and to support the development of playwriting – by playwrights – across Ireland.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A6YSJAIUOBGMBH4F2ATNM3AYQY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092514},"content":"Losses widen at Abbey Theatre even as revenue increases","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"2EWRRZB3SNDWBINSZGWMEM6BCM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092515},"content":"In terms of the burgeoning new forms and huge advances in scenography and design, the independent companies are already leaders. Project Arts Centre should be recognised as the national-theatre studio, by whatever title, and the spaces around the country that do similar work should be accorded the same status. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-fringe-festival/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Fringe Festival</a>, originally run, like Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as a retort to the senior festival, has become a vital platform for new work and was our partner in setting up Rough Magic’s <a href=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/artist-development/seeds/\" target=\"_blank\">Seeds programme</a> for emerging artists. Collaborations like these are the key.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VO2OQ5FQOVGILNOXYNELVT65MY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092489},"type":"image"},{"_id":"ZGUDJTZ3OJBIFKU3IJNIWUHCOI","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092516},"content":"The historical legacy of Irish theatre is that of its actors and playwrights, many of whom predate the Abbey. The more recent movement towards European models of production does not diminish this: we remain a culture characterised by mastery of the written word. Our writers are globally recognised, but their early work has frequently been championed outside this country – by new-writing houses in Britain, for example.","type":"text"},{"_id":"32NQDG5OQBCI5A3J7KSPIGE7WA","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092517},"content":"We need to refocus on making work for a national audience, honed within Ireland, before moving to international platforms. The Abbey can support this – it is already uniquely funded to do so – while remaining an anchor custodian of the classic canon from the Irish, anglophone and world theatre traditions. International exchange will be part of this remit, but it can be shared: <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pan-pan/\" target=\"_blank\">Pan Pan</a> has been covering this area for decades, supported by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/culture-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\">Culture Ireland</a>. The skills and structures exist across the sector. Let’s make use of them.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PCZ3EATFX5HTXAXJL5757IIZWM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092518},"content":"To generate, fully develop and produce new or even canonical works will need co-production arrangements with artists and the companies who support them across Ireland. Work should frequently premiere outside Dublin. (Rough Magic’s <a href=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/artist-development/\" target=\"_blank\">Compass strategy</a> of producing with partners in other cities has been one of our most successful recent initiatives.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"2ONPQ2NDYJDRFCG3YNGOKEWR7I","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092519},"content":"A significant development in the past few years is the number of artists who have moved out of Dublin, largely but not exclusively for economic reasons. A coherent plan for making, touring and sharing of work, built around artists and audiences in all parts of the country, must be part of a national endeavour by festivals and venues of every scale and nature, and in locations across Ireland, north and south.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KRRN672X6FE4PEEPOAIYSKRTTA","additional_properties":{"_id":"XBISEIPRRJHG5DPNDCYCXBWGMU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"JFE6WRRQCRD5XLNL6H5SLEYTPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092521},"content":"And, yes, all this will need extra cash.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SVZBCAYE3JGELKC3OZVXPGI7AU","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092522},"content":"The funding of theatre as an art form must continue to be the responsibility of the Arts Council, but, if the sector is to be properly supported, some of the infrastructure cost will have to be borne by other bodies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"J2DNA4NNWZCABA4NS5MLKQS6FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092523},"content":"Given that two of the major buildings – and their accompanying costs – are in Dublin, the city’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-city-council/\" target=\"_blank\">council</a> should contribute to the houses that offer some of its most iconic cultural experiences, both for tourists and for the home crowd. Around the country, the support for such buildings, and the staffing they need, is often the concern of the local authorities whose citizens they serve; there is no reason why that cannot apply to Dublin. But whatever the result of those conversations, the final responsibility must rest with the Department of Arts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I33F2MDH2BGQFHODBXXWFM2J2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092524},"content":"For too long the State has assumed that Irish theatre will just happen – because it kind of did. But we live in a harsher world than that of the 1980s. If the Government is serious about creating a cohesive, diverse and representative culture for all its citizens, and for sustaining an industry that is a major employer as well as a world-class cultural force, it must free up funding for the Arts Council to channel towards the creative artists and ensembles (including producers and technicians) who make possible the one experience left that cannot – cannot – be replicated by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/artificial-intelligence/\" target=\"_blank\">artificial intelligence</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GUID6MQYKVH47MGUBJ77R4CPN4","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092525},"content":"This will all need to be researched, modelled and piloted. The pause in theatre production offered by the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/covid-19/\" target=\"_blank\">Covid-19 crisis</a> was a useful period of reflection, but now is the time to arrest the deflation of a defining creative industry so long taken for granted.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YEWAAMQ7EZFZ7L7YLXHVEFVQ3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1740054092526},"content":"I suspect that this movement will take place organically, but it would be very exciting to see the current national theatre help to lay the foundations for the new one. The key to this is to share the responsibility for the future strategy of theatre across the sector, by treating artists and collectives as a resource and not a problem, and by recognising that an adult conversation between the funding bodies that exist to promote art and the people who make it happen can be a fruitful endeavour.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WRUSLW6BEJHCHCIKHV3JR3SDCY","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Lynne Parker is artistic director of </i><a href=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.roughmagic.ie/\"><i>Rough Magic Theatre Company</i></a>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Lynne Parker"}]},"description":{"basic":"The future of Irish theatre looks bleak. It’s time to overhaul the way the sector works – including where the money goes, says Rough Magic’s artistic director"},"display_date":"2025-02-24T05:23:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Lynne Parker: The Abbey does so much. But Ireland needs a national theatre for the 21st century ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34","auth":{"1":"9add8fe0b536716f32dd95e935b5ac22d7cdc7a08d98dc3de6b8bc8bb128d752"},"focal_point":{"x":3572,"y":1215},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/3YVF2BC4ZFCMNKTJIVHZG7WV34.jpg"},"lead_art":{"_id":"7SL74HXSGFEAZLXNETG5TCCPRM","type":"image"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/24/lynne-parker-the-abbey-does-so-much-but-ireland-needs-a-national-theatre-for-the-21st-century/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"XJHVR2AJLBDO7HCK5E3BFQ2CHU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":202,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/96438bfc-3c19-46f0-9af5-f761c568f1be/versions/1740140182/media/5e464a49e7350c42e4cd97dfab20022f_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/21/milk-spectacle-is-tinged-with-tragedy-in-the-abbeys-palestinian-dance-play/","content_elements":[{"_id":"IUFHNYJ6BNA3TM3E4HES2APV7U","additional_properties":{},"content":"Milk","type":"header"},{"_id":"2UEHO2X5YVAS5PXPWEJOSO4M64","additional_properties":{},"content":"Abbey Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"N6CAGHSDNVEAHPCYKPQDLQOSXI","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"TRTXHR7YFZFRTA7RGLDDNJMEAA","additional_properties":{},"content":"In an era of ceaseless reports from a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/israel-hamas-conflict/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/israel-hamas-conflict/\">horrifying conflict</a>, when a nation is voicing its grief, how can an audience – no less than a society – be made to take notice?","type":"text"},{"_id":"4KAWGE3DGFGJXOOHAM42357I2A","additional_properties":{},"content":"The dance play Milk, by the Haifa-based <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/palestine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/palestine/\">Palestinian</a> company <a href=\"https://www.khashabi.org/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.khashabi.org/about\">Khashabi</a>, uses the tools of contemporary theatre to portray despair in new ways. Here, a group of mothers surviving disaster are seen in an abstract wasteland, their shuddering bodies carrying a mannequin, rocking and shushing it as if it were a child, until collapsing into Pietà-style poses.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVSR5QCAWVE77OSLVW7T6CWR2A","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.basharmurkus.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.basharmurkus.org/\">Bashar Murkus</a>, its director, has previously found arch methods to address violence, pairing a prisoner with an executioner as an absurdist double act in New Middle East, from 2013, and transmuting the tragedy of child refugees drowned at sea into the underwater nightmare of The Salty Road, from 2019.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IHG2QIMZR5B3JPC3SOYUWMG5OE","additional_properties":{},"content":"In Milk – which premiered in 2022, since when it has gained extra resonance – he seeks out the splashy spectacle of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pina-bausch/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pina-bausch/\">Pina Bausch</a>’s water dances, though tinged with tragedy: in Majdala Khoury’s extraordinary scenography, the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\">Abbey</a> stage becomes a pool of grieving mothers’ breast milk.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7BY3PBL5INBFJI2J6OFVMISY2Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Murkus depicts complex navigations of grief through considered movement sequences. In the eclipsing sadness of one scene, a woman (a superb Salwa Nakkara) fussily rearranges a group portrait to try to include the mannequins, but the final composition blocks the women from view.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NBOCPPWPRBEELMUISCDEIRX5PU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Two young mothers (Samaa Wakim and Shaden Kanboura, both nimble) are paired with lifeless partners in repeated combinations, in a throwback to Bausch’s 1978 masterpiece Café Müller. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMCM7M4PSVFPZCL54C2CH7YU4Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Later, solace is suggested by the sight of inanimate bodies lying among pretty flowers while the women finally erupt with happiness, making each other laugh at a picnic.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TUQA53OZ65FWVFE7JLSLFJS2O4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Murkus, assisted by the dramaturge <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/khuloodbasel/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.instagram.com/khuloodbasel/\">Khulood Basel</a> (a regular and essential collaborator), has an eye for references. When the cast are assembled into a still pose, surrounding a mother holding her lifeless son (Reem Talhami, giving a picture of devastation), it seems in re-creation of Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ. (Speaking of chiaroscuro, check out the accomplishment of Muaz Al Jubeh’s incredible lighting).","type":"text"},{"_id":"UBECT4P7VBE4XO7WU6IC5IQIEI","additional_properties":{},"content":"That combination of splashing movement and religious art evokes the Greek choreographer <a href=\"https://www.dimitrispapaioannou.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.dimitrispapaioannou.com/\">Dimitris Papaioannou</a> and boundary-pushing work usually presented at the prestigious <a href=\"https://festival-avignon.com/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://festival-avignon.com/en\">Avignon Festival</a>, in France, rather than at our own national theatre. (Abbey, please stage this kind of production more often.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"SL3EF3HILZGYBBRGJVOUE2QHVY","additional_properties":{},"content":"In the second half Murkus introduces a son grieving the loss of his mother (Eddie Dow, whose movement dazzles with the spray of the wet stage), making for a complex sequence of mourners craving affection, resentful of others’ happiness and, ultimately, incapable of replacing what they’ve lost.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OE7LLWEM5ZEYRAIBZNOGZ5OMWY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The drama isn’t quite sustained through the lengthy assembly of Milk’s elaborate stage images, or in insistently repeated movements that struggle to acquire variation. Maybe that’s because no one knows where this will all end. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"OT4LO6JA7NDN7HRFX2QGST6PQQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Those who saw Milk when it premiered must look back on the final image of bodies among rubble as ominously prophetic. If it can’t quite find a way out, that’s perhaps because the real-life horror it portrays continues.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BRME4XND3NDF3DGVNWK7HBLMRA","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Milk is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/\"><i>Abbey Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, March 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Bashar Murkus and Khashabi use the tools of contemporary theatre to portray despair in new ways"},"display_date":"2025-02-21T12:16:08.749Z","headlines":{"basic":"Milk: Spectacle is tinged with tragedy in the Abbey’s Palestinian dance play","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU","auth":{"1":"f51fcdc179cd1b980c2c0096df01deafc7ef1983823120106fd4acea61ff19b3"},"focal_point":{"x":1281,"y":773},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6LV62L4PSBCABFUQX4BI4OVKGU.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/21/milk-spectacle-is-tinged-with-tragedy-in-the-abbeys-palestinian-dance-play/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"67MUVSG4QZA4ZPNBBG2HXNH6PY","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":501,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/8ef67221-b5bd-4ca1-a90f-e176e5f1b3f4/versions/1738851557/media/a14c81333117e2a84cde7424019140ad_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/16/from-game-of-thrones-to-king-lear-northern-actor-conleth-hill-on-creativity-wizards-and-the-benefit-of-not-having-a-plan/","content_elements":[{"_id":"CZOUYWMXWBGN3MXNCRJRLJ4AUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924828},"content":"Towards the turn of the millennium, Conleth Hill, then a theatre actor in his mid-30s, found himself at a juncture. After a decade working regularly in Belfast, he had finished ticking off a list of roles he had had in mind since leaving drama school.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RWKHO4FRSZH4XLTLWHO4F6IPEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924829},"content":"It was a period when, against the extraordinary promise of IRA ceasefires, many members of the city’s vibrant theatre community lived on Sunnyside Street, which has the Errigle Inn, a popular actors’ haunt, at one end and the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lyric-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Lyric Theatre</a> at the other.","type":"text"},{"_id":"66SFQCMQPFFABDLBMMMWLSJVEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924830},"content":"Hill had been seen on the venue’s stage a lot. In one 12-month period he appeared as the patricidal impostor of JM Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World and as the top-buttoned florist in Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical Little Shop of Horrors. (Both had been on his list of roles to play.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"R4L4CCVZGBAWZPOAG5E2TVEL2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924831},"content":"“I got to do them all, but I was also excited to not have a plan,” Hill says backstage at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate Theatre</a>, in Dublin, where he is in rehearsals to play King Lear.","type":"text"},{"_id":"242SO37NSZAVHAEGXS66ACLCWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924832},"content":"When the Lyric asked him what he’d like to do next, there was one play he wanted to revisit. A few years earlier, in 1996, he starred in Stones in His Pockets, a new comedy by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/people/2024/04/07/playwright-marie-jones-my-mother-told-me-there-was-no-such-thing-as-menopause-in-her-day/\" target=\"_blank\">Marie Jones</a>. Hill played an aspiring screenwriter who signs up as a film extra when his Kerry village is overrun by a Hollywood production crew whose glitterati presence has a strange influence on locals, even driving one poor man to suicide.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HDB7KCV7RBFFDHKA35NR7QPECA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924833},"content":"The Lyric’s revival of Jones’s play was expected to run only a couple of weeks. It seemed unfeasible to fly home Hill’s original stage partner, Timothy V Murphy, who had relocated to the United States (and is now a real-life Hollywood regular), so he was replaced by the very capable Sean Campion.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7PN4ZWMMWFFWPI24YQHBEMYQKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924834},"content":"The play became a sensation over the next two years, filling a smaller London playhouse before transferring to the West End, and eventually to Broadway, where it clocked up $1 million in ticket sales before it even arrived in New York.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7I3TM3DIDFB4PAUE45724E3BJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924835},"content":"“I think it was word of mouth. It wasn’t critics. It wasn’t money being thrown to market it. It was just people going to other people, ‘Do you want to see that?’” Hill says. He liked that the play made for a kind of counterpoint to a film released earlier that decade, Ron Howard’s epic romance Far and Away, featuring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman with questionable Irish accents.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OQRAQBSBOBBF7BQOF3CEZ7BJAE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924836},"content":"“Where Hollywood is concerned, it’s a case of, why would you let reality get in the way of a good story?” Hill says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OGGA6ULYP5DLNDKYM6V4FQASZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924837},"content":"Crucial to the play’s appeal seemed to be how, as a multiple-role comedy, it turned its virtuosity into a buzzy attraction. The production’s minimalist set was limited to a line-up of villagers’ footwear stretching across the back of the stage, as if set up as a dare: can just two actors fill all these shoes?","type":"text"},{"_id":"VJFMEXH6TBFIZOSGRKZW2XOFWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924838},"content":"“It’s amazing how, because of budget and other restraints, creativity can really be something.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4MY4DSB3VRCVLLIIXBCWLTPX5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924839},"content":"The format wasn’t anything new; this was around the time that John Godber’s relentless, character-shifting workplace comedies were making him one of the most performed playwrights in the UK.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZJLTCLO5BVBUTJY3P33TEVFZHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924840},"content":"What seemed to hit differently were the performances. Hill shape-shifted from a hopeful Kerry screenwriter to a Hollywood diva, breathily lusting over local men, and then, with a suddenly straightened spine, became an intimidating, bolt-upright security guard. Each character seemed to receive a detailed, full-body portrait.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y6DW7FVWYZELJFUZHV3ZIKIXOI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924841},"content":"Stones in His Pockets opened doors. “I certainly had no problems afterwards with people going, ’Do you think you could do it?’, whatever the part was, because I think the play proved I could be that versatile,” Hill says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y2IVIIMMT5AA5EOTMDA7NSX2HA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924842},"content":"When The Producers, Mel Brooks’s comedy about Broadway schemers, opened in the West End of London, Hill played a glamorously sociopathic director, acting opposite Nathan Lane.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NRK2UQKS55CXVAQ6DR3RVE7LLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924843},"content":"In Jennifer Saunders’s unsettling, short-lived sitcom The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle, a satire of exploitative tabloid talkshows (the title is a barely veiled reference to Jeremy Kyle), Hill was an absurdly groomed metrosexual husband to Saunders’s monstrous TV host. (“She was brilliant. And that ego she portrayed!”)","type":"text"},{"_id":"VOD3OLQFC5B3ZC6B6AK2KU4R6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924844},"type":"image"},{"_id":"23HVJXO2PBGHJKY2PVZKL5RXPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924845},"content":"Of course, it was HBO’s fantasy series <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/game-of-thrones/\" target=\"_blank\">Game of Thrones</a> that introduced him to a wider audience. Hill stepped into that mercilessly cruel and graphic epic about rival royal families as Lord Varys, an elegantly refined spy with scathing wit. He was in no rush to take the part. “I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SOARLX3WGJCRDEMDJK42IACYFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924846},"content":"He was swayed when he read a scene in which the show’s hero, the salty dwarf Tyrion Lannister, searches for revenge after surviving an attempt to murder him. Prying open a crate delivered to his quarters, he tells Tyrion that as a child he was abused by a sorcerer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YQG2ENOJBVEYBOLY65R2S5YC44","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924847},"content":"The scene ends with the opened crate revealing that it contains the trembling abuser, sent overseas by one of the spy’s informants. “I soon learned that the contents of a man’s letters are more valuable than the contents of his purse,” Varys says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PJW322KXWRAVPHDBXA3G46CDRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924848},"content":"Being part of a bigger-than-life show, the kind that attracts swarms of devotees to Comic-Con, can define an actor in a way they dislike (as on the cult film Galaxy Quest, in which Alan Rickman plays a theatre actor made miserable after appearing as an alien scientist on TV).","type":"text"},{"_id":"XBZCOLBXMNGLJIKM3YMXYKGVOE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924849},"content":"Hill seems fond of Game of Thrones. The role complemented the rest of his CV rather than obliterate it. “I don’t think it was a typical casting call. They wanted people who could handle the language, who had done Shakespeare,” he says. (Hill had starred in a production of All’s Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre in London.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"GZDHFVCOQ5BFTOCOB4E2VBTINA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924850},"content":"Game of Thrones soon attracted comparisons with Shakespeare in its plotting and colour – and there was certainly something of a parallel between the atmosphere of productions such as the Abbey’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/rock-pop/king-lear-1.1252021\" target=\"_blank\">2013 revival</a> of King Lear and the TV show’s wind-beaten version of medieval Europe. (Game of Thrones, with its echoes of the Wars of the Roses, also featured gruesomely creative acts of cruelty, aggrieved offspring bent on power, and goading, bloodthirsty spouses.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"FDNJ2ULXRBFQTJSGDQWL3XR47A","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924851},"content":"Hill himself seemed to have a mixed history with the playwright. He related early on to All’s Well That Ends Well, with its teenager stung by unrequited love, but by the time he was studying in London he was running in the opposite direction. (“I was never a fan of the Royal Shakespeare Company voice,” he says.) Playing Macbeth opposite Frances McDormand in the United States in 2016 signalled that he may have changed his mind.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T2LTHZQJT5GGDL2OHFD7C6DIEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924852},"type":"image"},{"_id":"56CKTA3DQNGBJH2COBC7EPQHEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924853},"content":"Then, a few years ago, Hill reconnected with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/05/21/gate-theatre-director-roisin-mcbrinn-a-big-part-of-what-im-trying-to-do-is-ensure-as-many-voices-as-possible-are-given-space-and-power/\" target=\"_blank\">Róisín McBrinn</a>, the Gate’s artistic director. The two worked together 20 years ago, on the London premiere of Owen McCafferty’s heist play Shoot the Crow. The offer came for Hill to direct a play at the theatre: Arthur Miller’s 1967 classic <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2023/04/19/the-price-simon-delaney-balances-restraint-with-rage-in-the-gates-assured-staging-of-arthur-millers-play/\">The Price</a>. During that run McBrinn asked Hill what he thought about playing Lear.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4SGXOQT5Q5EKHIKUVXYMPA75PM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924854},"content":"Shakespeare’s play begins with a crass spectacle. The king, preparing for old age, summons his three daughters and asks them, as if they’re pageant contestants before an audience, to answer a question: “Which of you shall we say doth love us most?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DDA3B3B55RCVFOFARDFODQEE7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924855},"content":"“I’d stand up for him,” Hill says. “You give one-third of a kingdom to a daughter and they feel hard done by?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FGZNDH6TQ5AVJPUWT5EVZLLZNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924856},"content":"The play soon recedes into the turmoil of Lear’s mind, while a catastrophic transfer of power shakes the kingdom, separating men and women from their fathers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AER3O6JY3BBWBAZQNNDPWIHS2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924857},"content":"“During the course of it he realises how wrong he was, but then he also realises how wrong his life was,” Hill says. “All this pomp, all these large effects that go with majesty, have nothing to do with how people live their lives day to day. He goes, ‘I have taken too little care of this.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5S7LACFDCFBAPDHA52OUP5IVHM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924858},"content":"Hill is sympathetic about Lear’s crisis. “The anger, the frustration and – I speak from experience – the invisibility of ageing,” he says. “You identify as you grow older: ‘Oh, I’m invisible now.’ That’s dealt with in the play. Four hundred years ago he’s writing about it. That’s why it’s so good.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OQMHZIKOVZFE5LJQDCKD5MMTPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739528924859},"content":"<i>King Lear opens at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gate Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, on Wednesday, February 26th, with previews from Saturday, February 21st. It runs until Sunday, April 27th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"The `Shakespearean' HBO fantasy brought the Northern actor to a wider audience, and he's not complaining"},"display_date":"2025-02-16T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill: ‘I was resistant for a long time. I’m not into wizards’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE","auth":{"1":"83eb1fe314ee74698cedd862a09016ba2a75d4edafda1a351eda308ea7e6f2d2"},"focal_point":{"x":2439,"y":2896},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YDJB3PD2A5FKHIKKEZWL2YAEHE.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/16/from-game-of-thrones-to-king-lear-northern-actor-conleth-hill-on-creativity-wizards-and-the-benefit-of-not-having-a-plan/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"UCWINA23SNDDXCROMHV24BU53I","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":764,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/9d3d3bf3-e4d3-4e10-a5ba-a8b9cfbc1821/versions/1739291561/media/d4da86fb6d21e74a1a6a7da5fc291618_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/15/playwright-simon-stephens-our-sense-of-self-is-defined-by-the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-my-family-told-themselves-we-were-irish/","content_elements":[{"_id":"76C5UXFDYZFITETWZKIP62X23M","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240332},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/simon-stephens/\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Stephens</a> is just home from a funeral. He’s still jacketed as he joins the videocall from London, where he’s in his deliciously busy, book-lined office. The exceedingly prolific and awarded British-Irish playwright is considering things. The funeral was of a close friend of 25 years, the artist Alastair Mackinven, who died from cancer at the age of 53.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SZ3TKKR4MFGCRPBQV2BHYWNH4Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240333},"content":"Years ago they were in an art-punk band together, Country Teasers, which “achieved more legacy than it had resonance in its actual life”. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/franz-ferdinand/\" target=\"_blank\">Franz Ferdinand</a> and Pavement “talk about how important we were”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4RYILECC3BBWJA4ANYW5BGST3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240334},"content":"“These things are often healing, aren’t they, funerals?” Stephens says. Mackinven’s death was òne of the first among his peers. “We’ve reached this moment. It’s like, oh, it’s us now, is it? It’s nice to see old friends, though, and remember some of the things we did. That was good.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KTXO7CBK5JHP7PHLAFNWFO2OC4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240335},"content":"We’re here to talk Men’s Business. Stephens’s new play is an English-language version of Männersache, by the German playwright <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/franz-xaver-kroetz/\" target=\"_blank\">Franz Xaver Kroetz</a>, that is having its world premiere at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/glass-mask-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Glass Mask</a>, in Dublin; the company is a small fish making a significant splash in Irish theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MICENARRGZFJXNUZR7N4CZOK5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240336},"content":"Stephens loves Kroetz, who was also an actor (“he’s described as the German <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/sam-shepard/\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Shepard</a>”), for his “startlingly flinty naturalism” and the “extraordinary toughness to his writing”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UYSNOWUV6NA7FKLUSDXQPTHCKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240337},"content":"His play Through the Leaves “resonated with audiences in the more hipster corners of European theatre. I was fascinated by it.” So Stephens asked a friend, an academic named Bettina Auerswald, for a literal translation, so he could make a new version.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NDFEFAR43VFOHGNI4YBZO6DJT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240338},"type":"image"},{"_id":"2M35EYZAAFGS3HZ5KYLYMIPQ7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240339},"content":"“And she found this play Männersache, an earlier version of what became Through the Leaves, which is even tougher and less sentimental and has an almost psychotic brutality to it. I just loved it for its nuance, its toughness, the strangeness of its ending. There’s a kind of deranged musicality to it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"LEUAIK3NNREYJFYZWSVYPOTZVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240340},"content":"It’s hard to produce now. “English theatre in the pandemic aftermath has become more gentle, more populist, built more around celebrity casting and uplifting stories. The type of work that always excited me about theatre as an art form – that asks difficult questions, creates a liveness that has an intensity – is disappearing from English theatre.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"F2LHFFNK5BA7XHEO4WHXAEJDUA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240341},"content":"Last year Stephens saw Glass Mask’s production of his play Country Music in Dublin and thought, “These guys are doing what I’ve always wanted to do. <i>This</i> is why I make theatre. I never really wanted to make theatre to win Tony awards. I’m proud of Curious Incident,” he says, referring to his hit stage adaptation of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mark-haddon/\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Haddon</a>’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which won Tony and Olivier best-play awards, but prizes weren’t why he wrote it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SFQD73TB2JG3DLI5GLIW7XD3IY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240342},"content":"‘It was a novel that was read by everyone’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"REPT4P55MRB4DG7D2DHKQGWJ3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240343},"content":"“I wanted to make the kind of theatre Glass Mask were making. They’re at the start of their work, and they’re punk, they’re flinty, they’re unapologetic. They’ve got this space, and it’s not a gargantuan Broadway house, but there’s a realness to the space.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JAWWK56L5RCOXKTI4AB7UHFHT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240344},"content":"Glass Mask is an intimate cafe venue. “I thought their production of Country Music was really brilliant and rigorous and honest. I was excited by that fearlessness. I wanted to give them Men’s Business because I think they’d get the spirit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JWDCVXT5JNFGBEUGUTXC6WZUKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240345},"content":"“It’s the same world <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wim-wenders/\" target=\"_blank\">Wim Wenders</a> was born out of, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rainer-werner-fassbinder/\" target=\"_blank\">Fassbinder</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/werner-herzog/\" target=\"_blank\">Werner Herzog</a>. For me, artists in Germany in the late 1960s were using art to make sense of the catastrophe of their parents’ generation, and the Third Reich. The work didn’t necessarily directly address that. It was in the metabolism of the work.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UBSO3ZOIFFCA5EWVX4Y4M6JCFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240346},"content":"“You have to ask yourself, what is theatre for? I think the function of theatre is different in Germany to anywhere else in Europe, and it resonates. You can historicise it back several centuries to the unification of Germany, or the nature of the federal state, but I go back to that 1968 generation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5PEVZE5LC5A2VLJVONW6OMUCQM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240347},"content":"“For me the function of theatre in Germany is rooted there. It’s Peter Handke, it’s [Peter] Stein, all these guys using theatre to ask difficult questions.","type":"text"},{"_id":"URW3G6QZR5EKTIHJLUYSEGODF4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240348},"content":"“I don’t know about the historical nature of theatre in Ireland, but in England after the second World War, theatre was a place for celebration and entertainment. I’m not knocking that. I love a great night out. But I also think it can be a place where difficult questions are asked.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QKSR3YEYHBFE5KCVRBAYHNL66A","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240349},"content":"“My favourite type of music is difficult music. There was an edge to the work [Country Teasers] made. We were doing something very different from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/oasis/\" target=\"_blank\">Oasis</a> or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pulp/\" target=\"_blank\">Pulp</a>. There’s an edge to the type of theatre I’ve always cherished. And I find that edge more in Germany than in other places.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"74LPWVDOMJEOBKI3LJJOEHHF2M","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"AUE3BW6PPNDKHDXG4AK76AUA5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240351},"content":"It’s no surprise that Stephens is one of the most-performed English-language writers in Germany.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B72BC3QKUFDM5KDAPLNHPFAJ7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240352},"content":"“I was 54 yesterday, and I never thought I’d live in a time when Germany would move back towards fascism. But that’s what’s happening, in Germany, in America. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/elon-musk/\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk</a>, I think there’s something unapologetically fascist about his thinking, and he’s encroaching into English politics with his advocacy of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/nigel-farage/\" target=\"_blank\">Nigel Farage</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QBNRG7ELHZEULBLXAKKRDESXV4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240353},"content":"“It’s not a time for theatre to reach into sentimentality and celebrity casting. It’s a time for theatre to get difficult and gnarly and fearless, and Glass Mask are as exciting makers of theatre of that form as I’ve come across anywhere in Europe. I’m a big champion.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HTLCFR6XLFHB7B5YUTBFDUEZXA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240354},"content":"Men’s Business is billed as “a love story set in the back room of a butcher’s job with a brutal bastard of a dog howling in the yard next door”. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rex-ryan/\" target=\"_blank\">Rex Ryan</a> – Glass Mask’s founder and artistic director – and Lauren Farrell perform, directed by Ross Gaynor. Stephens says it’s darkly funny, sexy and brutal.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4CDXBMMB2FA7PEAYI2BWN4A7OQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240355},"content":"“The cafe is great. I love the moment they clear the plates, close the curtain, drop the lights. You don’t anticipate acting at that level, or art of that toughness, and the counterpoint between the rather lovely world and then art of the highest calibre is really surprising but really thrilling.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"G4V2VK7PYFGHVMZSEB4PCOHVMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240356},"content":"Stephens will return to Dublin to see Men’s Business after London rehearsals for Vanya, his acclaimed radical spin on Chekhov starring the Irish actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/andrew-scott/\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Scott</a>, which <a href=\"https://vanyaonstage.com/\" target=\"_blank\">opens</a> off Broadway, in New York, in March.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FFUDLXYHXNCLRC2ACXVMI3CDDQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240357},"type":"image"},{"_id":"ABFY4FE4QRDS7MU62M6Y63LNDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240358},"content":"Scott is a reminder of what Stephens jokingly calls his own “questionable Irishness”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IBCOES5O7BD5VKDWYRJ2ERF7PI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240359},"content":"“My mum and uncles were Irish, born and raised in Belfast. I was born in Stockport, south Manchester, but raised with the kind of apocryphal story that I’m from an Irish family and I’ve got Irish blood, and the Irishness is important.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EPJBBV4CRJG2PLLKQKFVYO5PWE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240360},"content":"“Maybe it had the importance of an exile to my mum, and to my grandmother, who lived in England for the last four decades of her life. My grandmother, especially, talked often about going back to Belfast. I don’t know if she ever would have done, but it was a story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"L6QKQTVIVFEZHODPEU7XIGJFJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240361},"content":"“You know, so much of our sense of self is defined by the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. And the story my family told themselves about who they are was definitely that it was an Irish family. And some fragment of myself, sense of self, was part of that.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XKDIQN3O6VFSFPK33SFBLBH2IU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240362},"content":"So Stephens was Irish before he ever came here.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NHJGMEDU2NE6VO6XM2KDF3QKHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240363},"content":"“My uncle sent me an amazing photograph from 1923 of my grandmother as a child, outside this house with her sisters. It’s a terraced house, and there was seven of them raised there. There’s something very moving about it. Just to see all these girls.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UKHXKDETM5GB5HDPFB3X2G2I2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240364},"content":"Stephens’s mother, born Carol Porter, died in 2023. She was raised on Sunnyside Street. His grandmother was Georgina Miller – “the Irish name. Porter was my Cumbrian grandfather’s name.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UPDHL5JTRNHJRD2A77MYWG2NZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240365},"content":"Stephens first went to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/belfast/\" target=\"_blank\">Belfast</a> in 2014, when the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lyric-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Lyric</a> produced his play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-punk-rock-1.1898092\" target=\"_blank\">Punk Rock</a> (“a beautiful production”, he says). “I went to that house where my grandmother was born, and the house where my mother was born. It was a really tender thing, to go into this little regular house in Belfast and imagine my mum born there, growing up there as a child.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JY5FJPDJDRDBZCUY7J3DTSRMKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240366},"content":"“It’s strange. There’s something of a time loop going there as an adult and imagining my mother as a child there. I’ve worked a lot with the wondrous Andrew Scott. When he met my mum, his glee: ‘I <i>knew</i> you were Irish!’” Stephens roars laughing. “But he recognised it somewhere, the soul of the rhythm of my words, I don’t know.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"CSTUKGQZDBBZZC6DS4QUDS7YLA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240367},"content":"He’s still involved in a band, writing lyrics for LiY – it’s short for Live into Yours – “celebrating the possibility of an intergalactic optimism”. They released an album, Songs for Telescope, on Spotify and are developing it into a piece of theatre for <a href=\"https://soundsfromasafeharbour.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Sounds from a Safe Harbour</a>, this September’s festival in Cork curated by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bryce-dessner/\" target=\"_blank\">Bryce</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/aaron-dessner/\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Dessner</a> of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-national/\" target=\"_blank\">The National</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/cillian-murphy/\" target=\"_blank\">Cillian Murphy</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/enda-walsh/\" target=\"_blank\">Enda Walsh</a> and the festival’s director, Mary Hickson.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MN34QYVUEBG5HMX4GOUVC3OIDE","subtype":"spotify","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"24Z6YSXISVEM7F3FXSXF5FZMJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240369},"content":"Stephens is bamboozlingly prolific. He reckons he has written about 50 plays, including versions and adaptations. “I really should stop now,” he says, jokingly. “I don’t think the world needs any more.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"7I5DTJRUL5EZJFLF257445MJ7I","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240370},"content":"He’s also professor of scriptwriting at <a href=\"https://www.mmu.ac.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester Metropolitan University</a> and is married with three children; however, he manages it all.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A5VVMHOTQNHSTG7N2RATZKTJ34","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240371},"content":"“I’m working on 17 things at the moment.” He means it literally. He pulls up his work document and lists some current projects: a television series with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thomas-vinterberg/\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas Vinterberg</a>, an adaptation of an <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/amor-towles/\" target=\"_blank\">Amor Towles</a> novel, a musical adaptation, with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/guy-garvey/\" target=\"_blank\">Guy Garvey</a>, of Kes, about six original plays, a play opening in Tokyo, a version of Three Sisters, an adaptation of Wings of Desire and a collaboration with the choreographer <a href=\"https://imogenknight.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Imogen Knight</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CGYDXXK7WRF6HGEEHJYPFRPRX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240372},"content":"Asked how he fits it all in, he’s almost stumped. “I guess it’s what I do. Writing for me is as elemental as breathing. And it’s, like, when I breathe, Andrew Scott speaks. There is something about his Irishness that articulates part of my soul. It’s not like I’m trying to work really hard. It’s just the work is fundamental to me.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DSIUMDC5DBBZ5J6FFIB42EWJT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240373},"content":"Stephens comes back to his friend Alastair Mackinven. “I was very encouraged by Alastair in how he made his art. I think I make my theatre in the same way. I’m not embarrassed talking about Alastair today, or his legacy or what I learned from him. We might have looked like a couple of 50-year-old punks, but there was something elemental or spiritual to Alastair about the application of paint to canvas. I think there’s similarly something ancient about the application of language to the performing space and theatre.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"V7R2KULPLFBNPP6YNCONVWN6RE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240374},"content":"Only some of these things may come to fruition “but there’s a kind of restless hunger about the possibility of making theatre that helps us make sense of what it is to be alive, and be alive now. It is about the possibility of something wondrous at a time which can feel overwhelmingly difficult for us optimists.","type":"text"},{"_id":"42HZKZSPHNFL7EGVPB35WDLMSY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240375},"content":"“I’m an optimist by nature – as a teacher, as a parent. It’s not been a great month for us optimists. But I keep going. All we can do is keep going. All we can do is keep writing. All we can do is keep making sense of the world through the stories we tell about it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DZKJXYXSZNFQJAQG6BY4BDT6FQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739529240376},"content":"<i>Men’s Business is at </i><a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Glass Mask Theatre</i></a><i>, at the Bestseller Cafe on Dawson Street, Dublin, until Saturday, March 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Deirdre Falvey"}},"name":"Deirdre Falvey"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Tony and Olivier winner feels a huge affinity with Rex Ryan’s ‘fearless’ Dublin company Glass Mask, which is premiering his play Men’s Business"},"display_date":"2025-02-15T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Playwright Simon Stephens: ‘Our sense of self is defined by the stories we tell ourselves. My family told themselves we were Irish’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E","auth":{"1":"2f35299966cf9eb606eae710ab82ed4716dc428ad9e8927cc4796535e5ebe35f"},"focal_point":{"x":2166,"y":2344},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HDOJOYQAN5GY3FNYGBNHQHCD7E.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/15/playwright-simon-stephens-our-sense-of-self-is-defined-by-the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-my-family-told-themselves-we-were-irish/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"WN4SBWV6JBCQTFFRC6WRBPY734","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":200,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/7d6d7a29-eea8-4b8f-86cc-4c610eab3ff0/versions/1739530887/media/3c9af9ac2ca883abcef2e34ea6b2c60b_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/14/mens-business-review-avant-garde-date-night-pregnant-with-commitment-issues/","content_elements":[{"_id":"IYTP3YNZ6FFBNBSV3EI57H6FFI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Men’s Business","type":"header"},{"_id":"NJRUMUAXBRDA3JL2YBQFTU23N4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Glass Mask Theatre at Bestseller, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"NYMMGWREJ5EKRPMPEZABCOL5OA","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"V55GUTHX6ZGWTHRBL22HVHVNIQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Bestseller wine bar, on Dawson Street in Dublin, has undergone a shocking refurbishment. At one end is what appears to be a butcher’s shop, with sharp knives displayed against a wall of white tiles and large cuts of raw meat hanging from a rack. Either someone needs to call a health inspector or the resident theatre company has run amok.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GU6GQS2CS5DP5NKN6A2WT77UEU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Glass Mask has always been a model of economic shrewdness, so it comes as a thrill that its latest play, Men’s Business, by Simon Stephens, of which this is the world premiere, begins with a curtain slowly opening on an impressively built room striking in its sterility, its lights blinking in otherworldly blue against the garage-punk strains of The Hives. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ANGI6MJOMVDDNFCYTBJACNQIBE","additional_properties":{},"content":"We watch as Charlie, a butcher played by Lauren Farrell, cleaves a large piece of meat before, through miracles of set design, her countertop becomes a romantically set table. Talk about a glow-up.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S4ZTZFWDHREOJIEBGAEPUCB74Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"Charlie’s dinner date is Victor, a builder played by Rex Ryan, who first appears like a kind of rock star, wearing a welding mask and using a lit torch. He seems to await being spoken to, and is inflexible while discussing women (he never visits them at home) and sexual education (“Knowing sucks the passion out of everything”). ","type":"text"},{"_id":"CC3EY6MAQFFR3FVHTUBNBFG3TY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Soon after they sleep together, Victor unravels, suspecting that he has a threatening rival for her affections in the form of her dog, a sociable greyhound named Wolfie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YBDJ3N23W5BQBEJO3CC4KCAZKA","additional_properties":{},"content":"The original version of the play, first seen in 1972, was by the German playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz, who has a reputation as a sobering realist. This new translation by Stephens (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-punk-rock-1.1898092\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-punk-rock-1.1898092\">Punk Rock</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-sea-wall-1.2117175\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-sea-wall-1.2117175\">Sea Wall</a>) seems to suspect more absurdist leanings. Victor’s cruelty may make Charlie think less of herself and her business, but the pair seem to be on a mutually agreed path towards oblivion. (“I’m trying to destroy you mentally,” he says. “It’s not that I’m not grateful,” she replies.) ","type":"text"},{"_id":"IO7C7GSEHJH45AYLBNISLSOL2I","additional_properties":{},"content":"That allows Ross Gaynor, the production’s director, to pivot away from an overly extreme depiction of abuse and perhaps towards a more offbeat study of relationships. We see Farrell’s face, smiling amusedly at Victor, drop into a picture of disappointment, dissatisfied with his performance. Ryan’s eyes widen, like those of a deer caught in headlights, as a vicious man listening to his girlfriend’s reasonable requests for respect is able only to exclaim, emptily, “You’re weird.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"WVNIY7MSNFBHJHRNEJA5JJAUC4","additional_properties":{},"content":"That confirms the play as an ingenious satire about commitment issues in a world of warped relationships with sex. (Charlie is too ashamed by her Catholic upbringing to masturbate; Victor refuses to perform oral sex but expects to receive it.) The production can’t quite mask troublesome scene changes or deliver the stylised violence of the play’s conclusion, but it still packs a punch.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JQX43IEFUVCPDM2AG2ZTX7GDDY","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s the silent pauses that speak loudest (Kroetz’s next play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/request-programme-1.596863\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/request-programme-1.596863\">had no words at all</a>), as Charlie smiles over at Victor while he is dressing himself. He stares emotionlessly back. What a void behind those eyes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QVPX3JDBRVGEZDG7S7UM7UGYXE","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Men’s Business is at </i><a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\"><i>Glass Mask</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, March 1st, then runs at </i><a href=\"https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/\"><i>Finborough Theatre</i></a><i>, London, from March 18th until April 12th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Rex Ryan and Lauren Farrell star in Glass Mask’s world premiere of Simon Stephens’s new play"},"display_date":"2025-02-14T10:56:21.322Z","headlines":{"basic":"Men’s Business review: Avant-garde date night pregnant with commitment issues ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI","auth":{"1":"2da267cbd1aee7263eec1e46c76481e875554ad7cbb4f63e964a795cef700106"},"focal_point":{"x":2126,"y":1634},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/L2G6UZPXVBHWFJ2HPSZZMWUELI.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/14/mens-business-review-avant-garde-date-night-pregnant-with-commitment-issues/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"HVXCCVRY6BG5XAW7QQTGM6XT6Q","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":61,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/a8fe9b54-bb11-4d64-99e7-a54ed3425707/versions/1739520383/media/d26c9987fe7f7198573134b4715b286e_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/14/steve-coogan-pulls-out-of-performance-of-dr-strangelove-in-dublin/","content_elements":[{"_id":"JFIVIEGQ7VAZ5LDNF5FUVGBZ5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739517889428},"content":"Actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\">Steve Coogan</a> had to pull out of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/\">Dr Strangelove</a> at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bord-gais-energy-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bord-gais-energy-theatre/\">Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</a> last night with laryngitis. It is not known yet if he will be back for Friday night’s performance. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"LAJ54AWLEBACTIJEI47JQRLDJA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Coogan plays four parts in the production which is based on the original 1964 Stanley Kubrick classic film of the same name. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"IMZPX4ETHFENPKSRG3ONJZWVVE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Ticket holders received a text message on Thursday evening to inform them that the actor “is recovering from laryngitis and will not perform 13 Feb 2025 19.30 @BGET”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3RBUBZBLMFDTDHFI2PYYJ2EXTQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The show runs until February 22nd. It is brought to the stage by film-maker Armando Iannucci and Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"2MBCEVADYFEURKZKEFANPEW33Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"Actor Ben Deery, who is known for And Then There Were None, A Street Cat Named Bob and Baldur’s Gate III, replaced Coogan on stage for last night’s show.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HCIMDTS3VJHTPB6K52HNQXOIJM","additional_properties":{},"content":"The theatre has been contacted for comment. ","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ronan McGreevy"}},"name":"Ronan McGreevy"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatregoers were told the actor has laryngitis "},"display_date":"2025-02-14T08:01:16.991Z","headlines":{"basic":"Steve Coogan pulls out of performance of Dr Strangelove in Dublin","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU","auth":{"1":"101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709"},"focal_point":{"x":1791,"y":960},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Ireland"},{"name":"Dublin"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/14/steve-coogan-pulls-out-of-performance-of-dr-strangelove-in-dublin/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"3CDUKYYRMVECTHE34MCAIK2PVE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":207,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/6da0a708-a6cd-4047-93ef-f388ff22e4a7/versions/1739181922/media/07b64dd273b7d893e8a13aa43252c3ae_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/art/review/2025/02/11/oscar-fouz-lopez-tenets-of-growing-review-watercolour-tableaux-seek-to-rejuvenate-their-subjects-through-a-nurturing-ecosystem/","content_elements":[{"_id":"Z4I4PZEDPJDGNP3WHFUQFKKJ7A","additional_properties":{},"content":"Oscar Fouz Lopez: Tenets of Growing","type":"header"},{"_id":"AKIVV3OWRBACHMLK6PXIUHWYU4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Molesworth Gallery, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"77DJMLGCCNDH5MI4EDXLRWYE2I","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"FLZYGZOFUVGZLDM5UBO2D545IY","additional_properties":{},"content":"When you think of figurative painters, portraiture often comes to mind. If your taste leans towards classical art, then you may think of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mona-lisa/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mona-lisa/\">Mona Lisa</a> or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/johannes-vermeer/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/johannes-vermeer/\">Vermeer</a>’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. If you have cultivated an interest in the artworks of the last century, then perhaps you recall <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/frida-kahlo/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/frida-kahlo/\">Frida Kahlo</a>’s self-portraits or <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lucian-freud/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lucian-freud/\">Lucian Freud</a>’s studies in corpulent excess. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"XWXHVTV7QJA7TAJR2MSQY4DM74","additional_properties":{},"content":"But there is another tradition in figurative painting, one that doesn’t so much focus on the personality of its subject as render a moment of human drama tangible. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"RE4H2WBRSFDJBJDAT3WMLKO6UQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Such scenes have captured the visual imagination of painters since time immemorial, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that the Enlightenment thinker and art critic Denis Diderot coined the term “tableaux” to describe them. These paintings situate people in a dynamic environment. They imbue their subjects with narrative propulsion, creating the impression of an episode or chapter in an ongoing story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P36V7KIWIVAIJKEEWRMRIH3ECQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Oscar Fouz Lopez’s work sits comfortably in this tradition. For contemporary audiences, his work might be compared with that of David Hockney, who is undoubtedly an influence: Lopez’s painting style has a similar glow, using colour and ambient landscape in a manner that recalls the English artist.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EWDBQQ55JRGSVGGHZ6G7IIUXZU","additional_properties":{},"content":"This new exhibition is Lopez’s third for the Molesworth Gallery, a firm demonstration of the organisation’s belief in the integrity of his work. Originally from Spain, Lopez moved to Dublin in the late 2000s to study, completing a BFA and MFA here. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHZLOMEONBDZXEMJJJMGGBCU74","additional_properties":{},"content":"‘Young men aren’t just b****rds running around on their bikes ... everyone has their own dreams’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"RF7EFF46FVE6DIKX7X62SXLW5A","additional_properties":{},"content":"Though his years in Dublin were formative – he now lives in Vienna – the artist is clearly still under the spell of his homeland’s climate: all of his works are bathed in the radiant, orange-grove warmth of Mediterranean summer. In his first Molesworth exhibition, Light Catchers, his focus was night-time revelry: the artist conjured snapshots of a sprawling bacchanalia taking place at the boundary between forest and ocean. People sway and dance around flickering firepits, indifferent to the surreal apparitions of death that circle their innocent play. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"STVCQ2N6KVE7DB474CY52CIAT4","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"EOKRLJKVXNFHXAFN2FCF7MECGM","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"MYEMQ6R3PZAWDG7CUVFYJDW7DE","additional_properties":{},"content":"Lopez’s new work in Tenets of Growing both develops and relinquishes some of the formal features of his earlier output: for the most part he abandons the touches of magical realism, and he has replaced oil paints with watercolours. Nor are the paintings visual fragments of a wider, unfolding event; instead they are individual affairs, discrete moments trapped in time. They appear more mature, as though the artist has grown in confidence; his style is looser, more spontaneous. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFNGHMI7XJAEHP44A4HIFJDTVU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Lopez’s works nonetheless exhibit similar themes: a focus on joy and rejuvenation, epitomised here in the ample swatches of vegetation and flora that envelop his subjects. As the show’s title implies, the natural environment plays an important role in these tableaux. Lopez’s scenes are wonderfully low-key, as though the tranquillity of the plant life has rendered the people in the frame equally, dreamily calm. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EXG3LSTLXJHUVBP4KHJCOCPWOI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Those few paintings that retain a surrealist acidity stage these elements to amplify the sense of a nurturing ecosystem; a particularly compelling composition, The Pull, depicts a stroll through a kingdom of sculptural outgrowths that is reminiscent of a thriving coral reef.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7G6MI7TUVRDPPP5K5WGUFDGM6A","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Tenets of Growing is at the </i><a href=\"https://molesworthgallery.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://molesworthgallery.com/\"><i>Molesworth Gallery</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Thursday, March 6th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Spanish artist’s paintings both develop and relinquish some of the formal elements of his earlier work"},"display_date":"2025-02-11T09:19:40.64Z","headlines":{"basic":"Oscar Fouz Lopez: Tenets of Growing review – Watercolour tableaux seek to rejuvenate their subjects through a nurturing ecosystem","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY","auth":{"1":"3d49b77efee0ac5a98725a159f015962d7a71b5df386fbc4e3335c0854649f92"},"focal_point":{"x":1115,"y":1187},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6WVVCY5LPVDAPH7COXPEH6ZPHY.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Art"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/art/review/2025/02/11/oscar-fouz-lopez-tenets-of-growing-review-watercolour-tableaux-seek-to-rejuvenate-their-subjects-through-a-nurturing-ecosystem/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/art","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Art"}}}},{"_id":"SHXXG4KVW5BG3M6TZDBR5VIULA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":433,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/cbb3652a-4e1a-4078-8ed9-544064a634a1/versions/1738753265/media/0f3a9b9a322b3cd62339408b646743ba_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/music/2025/02/10/celebrating-the-voice-expert-paul-kwak-i-live-and-breathe-singing-and-voices-all-day-long/","content_elements":[{"_id":"GSS5FABRH5BZBKGPI2FILTPLOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313818},"content":"The tip of the iceberg is an old image. But it certainly applies to singers and opera. There are long lists of credits for opera productions. But even those lists don’t tell the whole story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PIDXVVWCZVFSVDC72RHE45NP4I","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313819},"content":"The repetiteur – the pianist who plays during rehearsals – will get mentioned. But the ones who prepare the singers even before that won’t. Fitness trainers won’t, either, not even those people whose job is to ensure the health and wellness of the vocal cords, those complex, fragile skeins of tissue without which singing is just not possible.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GY3UQ6W4BVABRFSS4ADZPSMW2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313820},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tara-erraught\">Tara Erraught</a> performs at opera houses around the world. But the Irish mezzo-soprano, who is from Dundalk, Co Louth, hasn’t forgotten her roots, and she’s on a mission to fill some of the gaps she herself had to deal with through her project Celebrating the Voice, which is billed as a professional development programme for singers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BUEFLDXXC5AOBO6C2CCAB2SWB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313821},"content":"She ran it for the first time in Drogheda in 2020, just before the Covid clampdown; this year she’s bringing it to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/national-concert-hall\">National Concert Hall</a>, in Dublin, where she is an artist-in-residence.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5CNFTDLB6BDX7AF7MQCCSEO4GU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313822},"content":"She’s as interested in reaching the support networks of families and friends as the singers themselves, and she has lined up a number of experts to make presentations, including the director of <a href=\"https://www.operadeparis.fr/en\" target=\"_blank\">Paris Opera</a>, a financial and tax consultant with special experience of the arts, and a leading artist manager.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5CNFTDLB6BDX7AF7MQCCSEO4GU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313824},"content":"Two of the experts have professional profiles that are not quite as high or well understood: Paul Kwak, who is an American vocal-health and ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist, and Morgane Fauchois-Prado, a French pianist.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PLJJKGMJEBGIDEVMKCGSN5KDQE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313825},"content":"Kwak, it turns out, trained at the <a href=\"https://www.juilliard.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Juilliard School</a>, in New York, as what he calls a “collaborative pianist”, with a “kind of a view to pursuing a career in medicine, but I didn’t know quite how it would come together.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CTSML2WLA5DPXN7NTBPLDVQ32Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313826},"content":"“But that’s where I fell in love with the voice and where I fell in love with opera. And then I pursued the path of becoming a doctor and then a voice doctor. So I live and breathe singing and voices now all day long.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OHPPCOGGMFEV5BH64A3Y5T6AHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313827},"content":"It’s a good time for his kind of work. “I think in the 21st century the advance of scientific research when it comes to the anatomy and physiology of the voice is making for some increasingly multidisciplinary and fascinating conversations about singing: how we take care of singers and then by extension the culture of performance schedules down to things as minute as rehearsal schedules, the breaks people should have, how you take care of a house, how you ventilate an opera house, things like that.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TOJZPMURQNGTHAZXQAWUGUOWUU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313823},"type":"image"},{"_id":"54LHLJ3RFFFEJNJVKT47XRZMLM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313829},"content":"The big challenge, he says, “distils to the truism that every singer is as different as the body in which they come. My job would be much easier if I could look at a pair of vocal cords and make a determination about what to do, or determine that by what role the singer is singing. Or how old the singer is. Or what race the singer is.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WP3TM6RPFRELDDR5YEQ5QE7RKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313830},"content":"“You could take five sopranos who are singing Mimì in La Bohème. You could give them the same food. You could have them sleep the same amount. Keep them on the same medication regimen. Have them study with the same teacher. Do the same exercise regimen. And their vocal cords may look completely different.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZNTGKSUGBC2HG4PGAUALSHPTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313831},"content":"“And that is because the way that the vocal cords respond to challenge, to inflammation, to stress, the ways that they recover, is very much rooted in the individual inflammatory pathways and wound-healing pathways of each body.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GLPIHVJFEVHQVC6OKHUZSUHMXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313832},"content":"“What that boils down to is that my work is ultimately as much art as science, if not more art than science. Because I’m making decisions that have to incorporate not just the pathology but the schedule. What are we trying to get to? Is the performance that’s three days away most important or is it the performance that’s 14 days away? What are we going to tell the house? Each clinical encounter is about much more than just the sum of the vocal parts.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RQLCOAHGAFG6BFQOSAEKXIFAKY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313833},"content":"There are things about the profession that Kwak would like to alter. “I would change perhaps back to a de-emphasis of the physical appearance of the singer and emphasise the primacy of the voice and the vocalism.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IERJMRMUFZHAVPXKTJTPGALYR4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313834},"content":"“The advent of live and HD cinema transmissions has caused a bit of a skew toward people who look the part rather than sound the part. I hear what people say about not believing that a Mimì who has tuberculosis and on her deathbed is going to be 400lb and can’t move around the stage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RSSCDJWB7ZAVLALPGP6CY43AYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313835},"content":"“But I do think we’ve gone a little far in the other direction and perhaps showcased voices before they were ready, voices that weren’t necessarily right for the vocal role just because they looked a certain way.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2CUIJ3KO6JESBGXZNVB2F4ZKAU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313836},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"LDUGFCLNAZD3ZP7NFXQRUY77DI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313837},"content":"Fauchois-Prado started piano at the age of seven and, like Finghin Collins, ended up studying with Dominique Merlet in Geneva. “I like the piano,” she says, “because you can do anything on it. You don’t depend on anyone. And then I realised that, while I was self-sufficient on the piano, it wasn’t enough. I was already playing with fellow singer students, and I enjoyed it immensely.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"GLWVRX2UW5EPNDLT6HQNMOOEDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313838},"content":"So she did the vocal-accompaniment class at the <a href=\"https://www.conservatoiredeparis.fr/en\" target=\"_blank\">Paris Conservatoire</a>, “and my main teacher there told me, ‘I think you have a thing with opera, so you should try the opera studio at the best opera.’ And I got in as a trainee repetiteur.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YWUHGZK23VCQ3IVUTH34RN7FFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313839},"content":"“But before that I used to make a living playing in the restaurant called the <a href=\"https://lebelcanto.com/en/\" target=\"_blank\">Bel Canto</a> with singers disguised as waitresses. So I read through a lot of repertoire there, and then I got into the opera studio. It was like a calling. I finally felt at home. I’m a team person.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"U4WRYRC5BZCF7KJOFFCCWNMGFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313840},"content":"Her best advice for anyone pursuing a musical career in opera? “Choose the repertoire wisely. I think that’s the most important. It’s like being true to yourself. So I was being true to myself when I chose to work with singers. For singers it has to do with knowing your abilities and your limits, and it has everything to do with the repertoire choice.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"WTTGX5EGEVCZJFLG3YN4UT4GCI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313841},"content":"A hard call if you’re young and the role you’re offered is not one you’re comfortable with.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UFQZPUQMXZCFNFORPSRSZOLJZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313842},"content":"Fauchois-Prado talks with great passion about working on Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and Debussy’s Pélleas et Mélisande, and is hugely fired up about bringing younger audiences to opera. “I’m a strong believer in everything that has to do with presenting operas in schools, having schools come to rehearsals and talk to the artists.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZNVO74BHQNCXRM3BKQPCMX7S7U","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313843},"content":"She is frank about the worst of the challenges she faces as a vocal coach and repetiteur. “I guess having to work with people that you don’t feel a connection with. When you work in the field of arts and living arts, it’s all about the people. So if you have to build a shield to protect yourself from malevolent people, someone that you have no artistic connection whatsoever with ... that’s the most challenging. Because you have to do it. You have to work and you have to rehearse and you have to coach singers even if they don’t want to.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"EM4SZ5OYOZC3NGNLJGFAVDQ5WY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313844},"content":"She talks about working with a singer “who spent more time telling me about her love affairs and misadventures than actually working”, and about a conductor who was “a complete asshole. Sorry, excuse my French. There’s no other word. It was really hard.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4NTUXKATRRDLDMWBX2VZH5MZQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738941313845},"content":"<i>Celebrating the Voice, with masterclasses, presentations and concerts, is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.nch.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>National Concert Hall</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Monday, February 10th, to Friday, February 14th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Michael Dervan"}},"name":"Michael Dervan"}]},"description":{"basic":"With her National Concert Hall programme, the mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught is on a mission to fill gaps in the way singers are trained and cared for"},"display_date":"2025-02-10T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Celebrating the Voice expert Paul Kwak: ‘I live and breathe singing and voices all day long’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q","auth":{"1":"0b650f4d44eabfcce5f240d8b1f355b501761b8851c91133638e1a0becfb4924"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GPL654B7BBDAPLVZWGKOGSFA7Q.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/music/2025/02/10/celebrating-the-voice-expert-paul-kwak-i-live-and-breathe-singing-and-voices-all-day-long/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/music","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Music"}}}},{"_id":"DDV2LKHGIZAIJJQFPPEFYPUBUE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":277,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/29970a8d-6592-4fa3-b11e-5ac0156fca63/versions/1739017162/media/9c2a37153c47b9b094b731bdb7cf4203_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/actor-tony-roberts-who-often-worked-with-woody-allen-dies-aged-85/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ZHO2H4QXNNBEDAYYLBJH67PJEE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297507},"content":"Tony Roberts, a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tony-awards/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Award</a>-nominated theatre performer who appeared in several <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/woody-allen/\" target=\"_blank\">Woody Allen</a> movies, has died aged 85.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FWXGB2F2QRF7JKVKFA26KPZHIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297508},"content":"Roberts’ death was announced to the New York Times by his daughter, Nicole Burley.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5LOI6ZXJNG3DMVMRRFTKU5BYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297509},"content":"Roberts had a genial stage personality perfect for musical comedy and he originated roles in such diverse Broadway musicals as How Now, Dow Jones; Sugar, an adaptation of the movie Some Like It Hot, and Victor/Victoria, in which he co-starred with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/julie-andrews/\" target=\"_blank\">Julie Andrews</a> when she returned to Broadway in the stage version of her popular film.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2ZE7JUZGIJCVNK3GRM3KCOHJGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297510},"content":"He was also in the campy, roller-disco Xanadu in 2007 and The Royal Family in 2009.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D7MS7OWYG5BRXCQKZJEWHQ2XBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297512},"content":"“I’ve never been particularly lucky at card games. I’ve never hit a jackpot. But I have been extremely lucky in life,” he wrote in his memoir, Do You Know Me?.","type":"text"},{"_id":"J275GVOWSFAADA5FTZ7YT3DF54","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297513},"content":"“Unlike many of my pals, who didn’t know what they wanted to become when they grew up, I knew I wanted to be an actor before I got to high school.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IYVC73TV5NGMJL6EOCSRVSR3UE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297514},"content":"Roberts also appeared on Broadway in the 1966 Woody Allen comedy Don’t Drink The Water, repeating his role in the film version, and in Allen’s Play It Again, Sam, for which he also made the movie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CXPLQVEJXFDZDPOEZLEFYMMBJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297515},"content":"Other Allen films in which Roberts appeared were Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Hannah And Her Sisters and Radio Days.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QH3S2N5HIRFIPH4PPSIZC7GU5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297516},"content":"“Roberts’ confident on-screen presence – not to mention his tall frame, broad shoulders and brown curly mane – was the perfect foil for Allen’s various neurotic characters, making them more funny and enjoyable to watch,” The Jewish Daily Forward wrote in 2016.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PXQVPKJUGMDYYHUB4PWMC452OU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297511},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5QEUN755WNHHDCTF2M4BXB5PEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297517},"content":"In Eric Lax’s book Woody Allen: A Biography, Roberts recalled a complicated scene in A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy that Allen shot over and over – even after the film had been edited – to get his intended effect.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ESB6PUYYDZDYDHCDSHCFTWJ74Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297518},"content":"“When you go back to see [Allen’s work] two, three, four times, you begin to see the amazing amount of art in it, that nothing is accidental,” Roberts said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KE5ZM5UFTZC6NCAGGRLYMYFJTQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297519},"content":"Among his other movies were Serpico and The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6U5TQV4F3VHLTEEE7MEH36TU3Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297520},"content":"He was nominated twice for a Tony Award – for How Now, Dow Jones and Play It Again, Sam, when he was billed as Anthony Roberts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YNGUCCVD5BHAJCZSGWBIDTXWQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297521},"content":"Roberts, who made his Broadway debut in 1962 in the short-lived Something About A Soldier, also was a replacement in some of its longest-running hits including Barefoot In The Park, Promises, Promises, They’re Playing Our Song, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, The Sisters Rosensweig and the 1998 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Cabaret.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QVJVYRZZMFFTDJHJBNWP4ZNWBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297522},"content":"“I was lucky enough to get in on the last years of the Golden Age of Broadway. In that era there was a lot more going on that seemed to have high quality about it and great conviction,” he told Broadway World in 2015.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LAQWJU7SPFCGBDNIT2I33O77V4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297523},"content":"In London, he starred with Betty Buckley in the West End production of Promises, Promises, playing the Jack Lemmon role in this stage version of The Apartment.","type":"text"},{"_id":"54BXHN2CQZDFPO5HPKBTGBEX44","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297524},"content":"Roberts’ television credits include the short-lived series The Four Seasons and The Lucie Arnaz Show as well as guest spots on such well-known shows as Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5BC27C5OXJHDROOZXJ2DDQMXHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297525},"content":"Roberts was born in New York on October 22nd, 1939, the son of radio and television announcer Ken Roberts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DELC77QI4BFXVIQ36ZSAH7UFOQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297526},"content":"“I was raised in the middle of a lot of actor talk,” he told the AP in 1985. “My cousin was Everett Sloane, who was a very fine actor. My father’s friends were mostly actors. I’m sure that in some way I needed to prove myself in their eyes.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"LHATXCZRJNGZJFMNR72QLCJH6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297527},"content":"He attended the High School of Music and Art in New York and graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BVQCFCY4RRE53FMXJV24FI6DUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297528},"content":"His marriage to Jennifer Lyons ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughter, the actor Nicole Burley.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4PATG2UQJBB6NPRP2AK3BX74AU","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297529},"content":"He first met Allen backstage when he was starring in Barefoot In The Park, having replaced Robert Redford.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BBEZQCBBIJALPJUO4EIEPQYC7E","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297530},"content":"Roberts had unsuccessfully auditioned four times for Allen’s first Broadway play, Don’t Drink The Water.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OYCYZ6AAVBEEFO2Y3WSDRLNLPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297531},"content":"Seeing Roberts perform in Barefoot In The Park convinced Allen that Roberts was worth casting.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6RUDK3ULMJGMFFLEZC7UJVV5M4","additional_properties":{"_id":1739015297532},"content":"According to his memoir, Allen told him, “You were great. How come you’re such a lousy auditioner?” – PA","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"name":"Mark Kennedy, Associated Press"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Tony Award-nominated theatre performer made his Broadway debut in 1962"},"display_date":"2025-02-08T12:14:13.021Z","headlines":{"basic":"Actor Tony Roberts, who often worked with Woody Allen, dies aged 85","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U","auth":{"1":"4954364ad0716c23a65a3613e19ce17e8b858b814d1327a3bd612a3c44c743af"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/Q3M6AZFS6RQJ6OHNL534E2B35U.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/actor-tony-roberts-who-often-worked-with-woody-allen-dies-aged-85/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"QS3Q2S3FNZE6RJYMTC5JDE3FYI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":525,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/af926f7a-dae2-4288-a9ac-55b451750758/versions/1738621702/media/afe3b6c8c3d5e2a86ea52264f8b0f8ad_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/begin-anywhere-its-like-your-daughter-was-told-her-dress-wouldnt-arrive-until-the-day-of-the-wedding-but-its-a-dior/","content_elements":[{"_id":"DPZWAZS5WJA35HNGNWSMTFA5KM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Close collaborators in the past, the composer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mel-mercier/\" target=\"_blank\">Mel Mercier</a> and the choreographer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-scott/\" target=\"_blank\">John Scott</a> have parted ways for their latest project, Begin Anywhere. Not because of any disagreement, but because they are honouring their personal and artistic connections with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-cage/\" target=\"_blank\">John Cage</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/merce-cunningham/\" target=\"_blank\">Merce Cunningham</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C32VG62OP5DBHIX6N2DDYHCZOY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The late American pair famously worked independently when collaborating: composer Cage and choreographer Cunningham did not discuss their artistic ideas before or during the act of creation. Cunningham’s dancers would often hear the music for the first time on opening night.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WLZ2QB76FNFWFEXRMRXX75EPWM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In this way Cage’s music and other theatrical elements would not follow the dance, but would coexist on the stage at the same time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5NIYJNCGC5BWZEOYHGC7XKJVRI","additional_properties":{},"content":"No single art form would be subservient to the other; instead, all would receive equal attention.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RU43AQ4SSVHJ5K6GEXDREDRYEM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Cunningham knew that, working with composers such as Cage and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/morton-feldman/\" target=\"_blank\">Morton Feldman</a> and artists such as <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/andy-warhol/\" target=\"_blank\">Andy Warhol</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/robert-rauschenberg/\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Rauschenberg</a>, each artist’s contribution would stand on its own terms. Speaking to The Irish Times in 2002, Cunningham quoted <a href=\"https://epaper.irishtimes.com/titles/irishtimes/5088/publications/26577/pages/12\" target=\"_blank\">Feldman’s justification</a> of this working process: “It’s like your daughter was getting married and was told that her wedding dress wouldn’t arrive until the day of the wedding ... but it’s a Dior!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YKLMSFJ2OND7RKETXL6KZXNS4Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mercier has first-hand experience of seeing this process in action. In 1979 his father, Peadar, who had played bodhrán with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-chieftains/\" target=\"_blank\">The Chieftains</a>, received a phone call from Cage, “who asked my father if he would come into the Radio Centre in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rte/\" target=\"_blank\">RTÉ</a>, where he was recording some traditional musicians for a new piece called Roaratorio: An Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake”, Mercier says. His father asked if Mercier could also come along, and Cage agreed.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QW5JZKOTRBFC7LCPP2YJEAZJOQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“When we arrived we expected to see other musicians, but it was just me, my father, John Cage and his sound engineer, John Fullemann. Cage simply asked us to play. So we sat down and played jig rhythms and reel rhythms on the bodhráns, which they recorded.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4VZ4BZFWFNHYPIBW3OJEAKD2B4","additional_properties":{"_id":"NB3GONIMK5FQPF57AHKAHYKAFY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"E5UQNOZURRGU3M3YR5RUIQAGHQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Some months later they got another call. This time they were asked to go to the Pompidou Centre, Paris, with the singer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-heaney/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Heaney</a>, the uilleann piper <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/seamus-ennis/\" target=\"_blank\">Séamus Ennis</a> and the fiddler <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paddy-glackin/\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Glackin</a> for the first live performance of the piece. (It had originally been commissioned for German radio.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"FPUOL76TSFEDRCSQVMZBCRPTIQ","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"GUOQFU6FXVFJHPLLRXR23A76AI","additional_properties":{},"content":"It was the first time the Merciers heard the entire piece of music.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IHJ7EYUSMBESBJSH6UMZXZUBIQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“We had read a little about it, so we knew that Cage had recorded around 3,000 or 4,000 different sounds, all connected to Finnegans Wake. He had travelled around Ireland, collecting sounds with Fullemann, while also gathering recordings from archives worldwide,” Mercier says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HALDZRGIEVB2TJK5AVMGMP63VA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“He also had created his own vocal score, which he recited in an intoned style. Sometimes his voice would come through clearly, and at other times it was drowned out by the layered sounds. At moments the soundscape was chaotic, but then it would quieten down to something as simple as a blackbird’s song.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UZMHBQEJMNEQVPV6V7QCR3EP5Y","additional_properties":{},"content":"“For me this turned everything on its head. The biggest revelation was the idea that anything could be music: a motorbike crossing a bridge, a blackbird’s call, Paddy Glackin playing a reel on the fiddle, or John Cage’s voice, sometimes audible, sometimes lost in the layers of sound, but always elusive in meaning. It was all part of the same sonic world.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YKVHCKVM45CYPJ3NFER7PDOKOE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“That realisation completely opened my ears. It changed the way I understood sound, not just as music but as colour, as texture, as composition. I still carry that with me today.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OKUHW6FSDFD5XGOSEXL753QSQU","additional_properties":{"_id":"G4EHSHJU6FAC7CE4IKSPEOUWI4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"HSTQLZDIFBDSJHMKG7RMJEFMAY","additional_properties":{},"content":"This sonic democracy, where every sound had equal importance, also applied to the five musicians who were asked to play in bursts of two to three minutes, but never at the same time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6S3PLMS3ZJEGVPXZ2UD2EJGDZ4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Everything I knew about music was rooted in playing together<i>. </i>As a bodhrán player I was used to accompanying others, responding to melodies, fitting into a shared rhythm. But now I had to resist that pull. I had to create an independent, autonomous space within the soundscape and not be drawn into anyone else’s rhythms.","type":"text"},{"_id":"R65NTBV4ONG4PEEK36P5TCIWSU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“For the first time the bodhrán had a place of equal importance among all the other instruments. There was a kind of parity of esteem across the entire soundscape that was both liberating and exhilarating.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BWTM2SHQJ5G4VHWDIT2DFN2WTI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Cunningham has had a similar influence on Scott, who first saw the Merce Cunningham Dance Company live in 1997, when they performed a piece called Ocean at the newly opened Waterfront Hall in Belfast.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MUXP2JMED5DP7GV3WKXAK4LUEU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Rather than seeing a work by an old choreographer at the end of their career, I saw dance that was vital and exciting,” Scott says. He then travelled to see the company whenever possible, attending rehearsals and meeting Cunningham. “I couldn’t say that I was a friend. He was approachable-slash-unapproachable. But sometimes after a performance you would be told that Merce wanted to see you, and he would say a few words to you.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"G5ZXYZUWGBGFLKH2MSQO3YWYCQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Scott developed a working relationship with two members of the company, Ashley Chen and Cheryl Therrien, who had a strong influence on Scott’s own choreography as well as easing the way for his company to perform some of Cunningham’s works, which are usually difficult to license from the <a href=\"https://www.mercecunningham.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Merce Cunningham Trust</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TNOW7SWG4FBC5PJ2G2YYC2PMY4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Scott and Mercier have collaborated on original works before, but a few years ago they decided to further explore the worlds of Cage and Cunningham.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2MHVYOONIRFRPALNSKQZOXFZTE","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"7Y47D46ILFCWFONIIH7HNK5FFM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In 2022 an Arts Council award allowed them to travel to the <a href=\"https://irishartscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Arts Center</a> in New York, where Patricia Lent, a director of the trust and, from 1984 to 1993, a member of Cunningham’s company, taught the late choreographer’s methodologies to Scott and five dancers. Meanwhile, Mercier collaborated with some local musicians.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DFSYI6GUDRECHBIZ7OP3V3FISE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“On the final Friday we held an informal showing,” Scott says. “Initially we thought this project might be a way to explore an evocation of Roaratorio, but by the end we realised something different was emerging.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IFAJXV6KE5DRFCEBBIDQUKSP2Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"What materialised was a new work, Begin Anywhere, commissioned by the Irish Arts Center and based on the Cunningham and Cage collaborations. Lent has also curated and arranged four Cunningham solos into a cohesive event. “They are from RainForest, Travelogue and Changeling, which has an almost surreal quality, and a solo Merce created after visiting the zoo, filled with strange, animalistic movements,” Scott says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VFS64ITDLZGCJLTTFAV4BQSIHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"7H767SR36BD37N37RLJC664JKQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CFD2UT7MP5DJ5GRCZNC2EJKN4E","additional_properties":{},"content":"The music for these solos has been written – independently, of course – by the New York composer <a href=\"https://www.johnkingmusic.com/\" target=\"_blank\">John King</a>. “He has composed 19 minutes of music, but the dance is about 16 minutes, so we’ll just fade the music down when the dance is over,” Scott says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5RPQ5IMWCRGZTGPLOSYDSCUKVQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"For Begin Anywhere, Mercier is working with diverse Irish-based musicians Kevin McNally, Mick O’Shea and Claudia Schwab as well as the Cork sound artist Danny McCarthy, who has created a cassette-tape audio piece.","type":"text"},{"_id":"L3RS273SCJDG5CKFWXBRGPJWJ4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“All three musicians are great improvisers, and that’s at the heart of the project,” Mercier says. “While we’re not relying on chance procedures like those sometimes used by Cage or Cunningham, or traditional methods like the I Ching, the improvisational nature of the collaboration will naturally lead to a level of chance in the music. The performance will differ each time, shaped by the shared improvisation between the musicians.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UB5GKA2LXNFMRCSTRL6NOBTU4Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"For the premiere in New York, Scott is working with the Irish and New York-based dancers Vinícius Martins Araújo, Morgan Amirah Burns, Boris Charrion, Magdalena Hylak, François Malbranque and Ryan O’Neill. In addition Mercier has interviewed eight former members of the Merce Cunningham Company, whose voices feature in the soundscape.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SD3SMW4ZWRHY5EEJ5ESK6F2AKU","additional_properties":{},"content":"As Mercier and Scott have been working independently, the only common structure for their music and dance is the duration of the performance. Both believe that this working process is as valid today as when Cage and Cunningham worked together, more than 40 years ago. And both leave a personal artistic legacy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"US53SX5V45GDNIMPTODCL3EMMU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“What inspires me about Merce is how he kept going,” Scott says. “He had no money in the 1960s, but kept turning up to the studio every day. That was what was important. Keep going on.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TZ4WYOB27BHA7JBFIYFJRYVZIY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Mercier says: “I think of John Cage and how he lived his life. The courage he had and the resilience he must have needed to be able to challenge the way he did. That requires a kind of passion for life and for discovery. But also courage. And I think that is a source of inspiration just as much today as it was 50 years ago.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FKEUHW6DEFBEDCA4FCJ3JQQZK4","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Begin Anywhere and Four Solos is at the </i><a href=\"https://irishartscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Irish Arts Center</i></a><i>, New York, from </i><i>February 12th to </i><i> </i><i>16th; then tours to </i><a href=\"https://tht.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Black Box</i></a><i>, Galway, on </i><i>February 25th; </i><a href=\"https://dancelimerick.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Dance Limerick</i></a><i>, </i><i>March 8th and </i><i> 9th; </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, </i><i>from March 11th to </i><i> 15th; and </i><a href=\"https://www.civictheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Civic Theatre</i></a><i>, Tallaght, Co Dublin, on </i><i>March 18th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Michael Seaver"}},"name":"Michael Seaver"}]},"description":{"basic":"Choreographer John Scott and composer Mel Mercier have adopted techniques of Merce Cunningham and John Cage for new collaboration"},"display_date":"2025-02-08T05:17:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Begin Anywhere: ‘It’s like your daughter was told her dress wouldn’t arrive until the day of the wedding – but it’s a Dior!’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ","auth":{"1":"e04aa66ab4c81d23b0ec784245adc7895c88dcc82acb592974f35cc3893f496b"},"focal_point":{"x":2325,"y":2262},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/2KM7FTFZA5GBFH7WDHRYJ6SYEQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/08/begin-anywhere-its-like-your-daughter-was-told-her-dress-wouldnt-arrive-until-the-day-of-the-wedding-but-its-a-dior/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"24ZAJJFY7ZCO7BDRAUYPLM7J6E","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":197,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/8b2920bd-15ca-4ec6-afc3-1ae8765c30e8/versions/1738927463/media/ece80141db4e92953282f41091e52395_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/aurora-a-modern-myth-review-an-ecoaware-play-with-a-surprising-amount-of-sass/","content_elements":[{"_id":"66X72RRPWNALDG3ZSIJYNN3DVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066600},"content":"Aurora: A Modern Myth","type":"header"},{"_id":"P7HOWOJNSRFA3L4AZZOAPEI6BM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066601},"content":"Space Upstairs, Project Arts Centre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"5LGYDSLEIJHTLBLJR3POR6SLPU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066602},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"674UHSGDSRHNNOANOGSH5LPJVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066603},"content":"In the transition from childhood to adulthood, when the sensible morals of children’s books recede to reveal a complicated world exploited for profit, an obvious question might be: who wouldn’t grow up angry?","type":"text"},{"_id":"PNTFUO3ZARESVHWVS7JTZEEWG4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066604},"content":"Someone who’s irate is Cass, the woman at the centre of Aurora,<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/prime-cut-productions/\" target=\"_blank\"> Prime Cut’s</a> new production, who at one point describes the end of her childhood, a period when the events of her favourite storybooks had seemed to come to life while she was playing carefree in village fields. “It was our turn in the world … at a time when we thought we had a turn,” she says (jaded with age, in Meghan Tyler’s performance).","type":"text"},{"_id":"LE2UNPG4G5ALZI4S5L75OQZP7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066605},"content":"One of the beloved children’s books Cass believed were real was The Lonely Tree, a fable about a tree that learns how to use its root system to connect with a larger forest. She tries to hold on to its reassuring moral – “When you ask for help, it always comes” – as the real-life tree becomes endangered, standing in the path of a new gold mine outside the village.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E2SRVL2TWZDXDNXTQPSCOY3K6I","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066606},"content":"Cass may have grown up, but playwright Dominic Montague and director Emma Jordan insist on the fancies of children’s fantasy, like a fairy-tale that has grown into dubious adulthood. The tree, in the video design of animation students from Ulster University’s school of art, glows unnaturally between snow-white and neon purple, as if viewed through an acid trip. There’s also a talking badger with an attitude (“What’s with yer man calling me shifty?”).","type":"text"},{"_id":"VFSPDYTGNNBVVEXN3UKGRYAMDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066607},"content":"The plot jumps back and forth in time, between scenes in a police interrogation room, where Cass pluckily resists questioning about the disappearance of gold worth a king’s ransom, and her preceding camp-out at the tree, where she’s determined to stay day and night, protecting it from destruction. “This journey is not about activism, about protest. It’s about friendship,” she says. “It’s not about you having a breakdown?” asks her assistant, Drew (nicely played by Thomas Finnegan).","type":"text"},{"_id":"3FCUZNH52FDIREX2AXMM7HY4IM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066608},"content":"Such sass papers over a lot of cracks. Drew’s role is as barely more than a messenger, bringing back reports from the village to explain how the demonstration is finding supporters. Similarly, Cass’s brother, Conn (a man indifferent to the town, who escaped to the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\">United States</a>, played by Connor O’Donnell), arrives, ultimately, as an expositional device, eliciting her personal history: her grief about losing their parents; and her hopelessness as a young person with no future in a country where she can’t get a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mortgages/\" target=\"_blank\">mortgage</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WCBYEOCEDRHJTK4YXSP2UUMJ4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066609},"content":"As Cass grows in confidence as a folk hero, Montague’s script becomes an uneven mix of capitalist critique and environmental philosophy, turning to astronomical observations for solace: everything’s just atoms on the same journey through the universe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N2FN7GQIMJF5DCTVHWICCSUWO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066610},"content":"The intended impact doesn’t land, but Montague has an almost admirable disregard for playwriting rules. “Do you know what they call what you’re doing?” Conn tells his sister. “Hubris.” “Do you know what they call what you’re doing?” Cass replies. “Eating a bag of d*cks!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TPOPYAHTIBGUZKLN2MFXDTGMBU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066611},"content":"Seeing Aurora is certainly not a boring way to spend time on this planet.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3B2KTZCYP5FQVNUPMQMH3JFDMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738926066612},"content":"<i>Aurora is at </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, February 8th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Prime Cut’s production of Dominic Montague’s play doesn’t always work, but it’s definitely not dull"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T11:19:08.612Z","headlines":{"basic":"Aurora: A Modern Myth review – An ecoaware play with a surprising amount of sass","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI","auth":{"1":"c967f33dccaf4302b3abe499eb710bffea4f0a092fa61b8eb533be0f0e85d242"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SH4AKBXBMFDY7LXRDSDR5XKRLI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/aurora-a-modern-myth-review-an-ecoaware-play-with-a-surprising-amount-of-sass/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"P4RGF33R7RC3RBBNXDZRTMVWX4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":222,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/62f66bb7-8225-4fc4-8333-3d56e95aa876/versions/1738926213/media/e242e79bf38de4508d50a5cb4b2057d3_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/","content_elements":[{"_id":"QUV7PDKRRNB6VAZIBEHRHGIJBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131305},"content":"Dr Strangelove","type":"header"},{"_id":"KCN6IUUIFVBFRAGPT7XQ4OUUVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131306},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"4OUPIE7CONAR7NR25D2DD6JU3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131307},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"5KZAPW5LMVHRNHKTXB5536E654","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131308},"content":"An unpredictable <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/russia/\" target=\"_blank\">Russian</a> leader. An ineffectual <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/\" target=\"_blank\">US</a> president. An adviser who can’t restrain himself from doing a one-armed Nazi salute. Another convinced fluoridation is poisoning the world...","type":"text"},{"_id":"YSUDDDBDCBAHTFRWDOIUJE63CQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131309},"content":"The far-fetched scenario of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stanley-kubrick/\" target=\"_blank\">Stanley Kubrick’s</a> cold-war satire Dr Strangelove is so familiar to the current political moment that it has the potential to be not very funny at all. But where Kubrick’s film was po-faced in its approach, allowing American terror of potential nuclear war to reach absurdist heights, this stage adaptation by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/armando-iannucci/\" target=\"_blank\">Armando Iannucci</a> and Seán Foley (who also directs) leans into broad physical comedy instead. What can one do in the face of the current global political reality, the writers suggest, but laugh?","type":"text"},{"_id":"HVNPAAISYVDENAGFLJSMUYERDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131310},"content":"Kubrick’s 1964 feature was a tightly constructed 90 minutes; the pair’s script keeps things taut, although they also indulge their love of wordplay and doublespeak, providing a rich vein of verbal humour throughout the pacy drama: General Ripper’s strategies for annihilating the communist threat posed by Russia include “pretaliation”; when faced with certain sudden death, Dr Strangelove, the president’s scientific adviser, who has defected from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/germany/\" target=\"_blank\">Germany</a>, urges the Americans to stop being defeatist and channel can-do vibes instead.","type":"text"},{"_id":"625YDXDT6ZGFFFLP4YLBHYW3DA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131311},"content":"Where the play does elaborate on the source material, it’s not because of unnecessary plot twists but to facilitate the transformation of the production’s star, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Coogan</a>, who betters <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/peter-sellers/\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Sellers</a> by performing four roles against the three of his screen predecessor.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EEIBVOM2AFBGRNMSLUK4F4FV2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131312},"content":"Coogan needs no introduction here (nor to a predominantly male audience, who whoop and cheer as soon as he steps on the stage), and the range of roles allows him to showcase the breadth of his comic capacity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GNEKGNKUEJAPPL2KFMB2HWGE4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131313},"content":"As Captain Mandrake he is stiff-upper-lipped and stiff-limbed, terrified of every tremor as the battle rages outside Camp Burpelson. As Major Kong, riding his torpedo like a rodeo bull, he is the archetypal military hero, pumped up on testosterone and thoughts of his future glory.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MMQOH425CBHYHNEG7KF4AI4ZYE","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131314},"content":"As the weak President Muffley he makes less of an impact, perhaps because that character spends so much time in the wings, yielding the floor to Coogan’s Dr Strangelove, the most memorable of his characterisations. Despite his titular status, Strangelove is a shadowy figure in Kubrick’s film. Here he is the star of the show: bespectacled and silver-wigged, nimbly navigating the stage in his wheelchair.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3YGZDGPJMVHPZFDEP6NNTIO2A4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131315},"content":"Coogan’s bravura, shape-shifting performance is facilitated by an excellent supporting cast, including Giles Terera as General Turgidson and Tony Jayawardena as the Russian ambassador, Bakov, as well as by Hildegard Bechtler’s set and costumes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TEXGCZYSK5AE5AR5B2KJYJOMGE","additional_properties":{"_id":"AMU3GNXRPFE3FO3KTA7WL6XFFA"},"content":"‘Watch your step’: Steve Coogan takes Patrick Freyne backstage at Dr Strangelove","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"E63UB5YDMJFH3EPPAELR5RARA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131316},"content":"It is unfortunate that the net effect of Iannucci and Foley’s adaptation is so flat. Although the political backdrop of the story needs no update, there was an opportunity to do something more with it, such as interrogate the hypermasculinity of the military world on which the imagined future of humanity depends.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MRFCALUF6FBWVHO7OIZFY6VBBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131317},"content":"Iannucci and Foley make a small acknowledgment of the grossly gendered world that they have brought to life on stage – and that the characters aspire to in their bunkered future – but they seem happy enough to just entertain the audience rather than challenge it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JIC7KVRM7FEPHH3KXWPHGAUUEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738923131318},"content":"<i>Dr Strangelove is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, February 22nd</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Armando Iannucci and Seán Foley’s production of Stanley Kubrick’s political satire leans into broad physical comedy"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T10:58:27.988Z","headlines":{"basic":"Dr Strangelove in Dublin review: Steve Coogan gives a bravura performance, but the play around him falls a little flat","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU","auth":{"1":"101aa8758e19b8b48de716a6e2b632d3a65d32299f5a10260c60e4717977d709"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/URT2PCVNYZFCLLDUKR6I656BCU.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"B73N3OHHBVAMBI3T7JD4FOQ5HQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":293,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/896424dc-cb29-4818-b34b-f5daeff91cd1/versions/1738850405/media/7877135aa55269a83419aa40f3da6789_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/","content_elements":[{"_id":"5UDGHCJ2SZBCVIKGSSIXB6TB7I","additional_properties":{},"content":"On Monday the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, launched an attack on the “insane priorities” of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-biden/\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Biden’s</a> administration when it came to spending American money overseas through USAid, a federal agency that <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-f-kennedy/\" target=\"_blank\">John F Kennedy</a> established when he was president.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IOMUX3SIURD37AUQBLJJKPIGTE","additional_properties":{},"content":"USAid, aka the United States Agency for International Development, has attracted the attention of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/elon-musk/\" target=\"_blank\">Elon Musk</a>, whose “department of government efficiency” claims to be aiming to cut the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\">United States’</a> federal budget by a third.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LEDGQG5CLJBHJG5BE4676R3RSQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"To do this he will have to take on more than USAid, whose overall expenditure of $50 billion a year is a puny fraction of the trillions spent by the US government. But USAid presents an attractive target that appeals to voters who are less than keen on giving money to foreigners.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B6BRHT2IM5B2VHBKAFALJIX4AE","additional_properties":{},"content":"While the bulk of the agency’s budget goes toward health, education and anti-poverty programmes in poor countries, it also makes cultural grants – which are what attracted Leavitt’s scorn this week: “$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces,” she read out, referring to one of several diversity, equity and inclusion projects; “$70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland, $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. I don’t know about you, but as an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZKVRYYACTJBHTKSFINOOCM2HIE","subtype":"twitter","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"4SFJKW7EF5CWDFKA2YL6BYG5QM","additional_properties":{},"content":"She also said: “If you look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAid in the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that that organisation has been spending money on.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPVKZ4WB35E3RAYOXGGIEJDVBM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Noses twitched immediately in Ireland at the second item on her list. The transgender Colombian opera singers could look after themselves, but what was this about a DEI Irish musical? It wasn’t long before our old friends the internet sleuths had established that the €67,500 or so in question had gone to a production company associated with the Other Voices festival.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZCEXYJQCKNGJHAYZWPBGSTZ6OI","additional_properties":{"_id":"ZWRQHQVOKJCYXHGHYX5JVSGJUU"},"content":"Are we at the beginning of Donald Trump’s global trade war?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"PG4IE4ULLBA63KIJVM3RVQHOGA","additional_properties":{},"content":"By this stage Irish racist Twitter was fully aroused and pointing the finger at any production that didn’t have an all-white cast. And lunatic Catholic Twitter was doing the same for any show that had dared to mention <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mother-baby-homes/\" target=\"_blank\">mother and baby homes</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GY6LCD7XI5ECNKWSCYVSSOZ2SY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The woke extravaganza in question was actually something called Dignity, a live-streamed set of performances from the US ambassador’s residence in the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/phoenix-park/\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix Park</a> in September 2022 that featured, among others, the American folk musician <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rhiannon-giddens/\" target=\"_blank\">Rhiannon Giddens</a>, the Italian instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, the singer-songwriter <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mick-flannery/\" target=\"_blank\">Mick Flannery</a> and the fiddler <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/martin-hayes/\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Hayes</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KK5ENXSNYFC5BHWLPFGYSKQHKU","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"V5EJJZZXYZBTZJZMTRG7C7EQ2I","additional_properties":{},"content":"Having examined the evidence on YouTube, I regret to inform you that there is nothing about white fragility, queer theory or any of the other progressive shibboleths that have attained the same status in this White House that the dictatorship of the proletariat had for the un-American activities committee of the US House of Representatives in the late 1940s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ALHTO7D34BFD5HWWEQYI6EIZZA","additional_properties":{},"content":"It is certainly true that the accompanying <a href=\"https://www.othervoices.ie/events/other-voices-dignity-live-from-the-u-s-ambassadors-residence-dublin\" target=\"_blank\">promotional bumf</a> for the gig (which was sponsored by the well-known radical agitators <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/coca-cola/\" target=\"_blank\">Coca-Cola</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pwc/\" target=\"_blank\">PwC</a>, among others) was full of the sort of platitudes that were so in vogue in the faraway days of the early 2020s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6G26MI565NCQXCVXK2JRXA3ESQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“The Biden administration is committed to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access,” we were informed. “With this event we aim to highlight and celebrate the work that the embassy, the Irish Government and our partners are doing to advance DEI throughout Irish society. These ideals have long underpinned the strong relationship between both countries.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"E2AWO3XILNHDPKM34YMZTS63MM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Not any more.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DBMPAIXPVJGWDEDY7NODFU3RNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"It has already become a truism, but the United States’ 180-degree turn over the past three weeks is more akin to regime change in a dictatorship than the peaceful transfer of power in a democracy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PQI53ETUHVDUDAC56EEEQCNYYM","additional_properties":{},"content":"That poses a challenge for everyone. It is not surprising that the businesses that were happy to incorporate DEI into their corporate strategies, along with some of the more dubious internal policies that accompanied them, are now competing to see who can ditch those policies fastest.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U6Z7IT3S6ZHLZIQMZ6MQZWL6SM","additional_properties":{"_id":"D4LXIACYQFHNNPR7C7Z6H2VXPQ"},"content":"While Democrats sleep, Donald Trump is tearing up America’s rule book","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OVJXGGOM5JDI5GUJ2VZ7CKSMHI","additional_properties":{},"content":"What might be more interesting is to keep an eye on whether the Department of Foreign Affairs and Culture Ireland do something similar, at least in their dealings with the US.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EM77MF3HARBOLPY42LEOMCQ3FQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The scorched-earth tactics being implemented by Musk will be a test of how intellectually robust and how well supported these ideas really are. But even those sceptical of them should beware the far more intolerant backlash being promoted by the likes of the neoreactionary academic Patrick Deneen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EYDKCI2YF5D4VAWHYYCA6AWHVU","additional_properties":{},"content":"The analyst Tyler Cowen offers a<a href=\"https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/02/trumpian-policy-as-cultural-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\"> perceptive insight into Trumpian thinking</a>. “You will not win all of these cultural debates, but you will control the ideological agenda,” he wrote this week. “Your opponents will be dispirited and disorganised ... Then just keep on going. In the long run, you may end up ‘owning’ far more of the culture than you suspected was possible.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"U5A3CDBNGNCPROKJIOJPGK6HVM","additional_properties":{},"content":"The next gig at the ambassador’s residence is going to look a little different.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Hugh Linehan"}},"name":"Hugh Linehan"}]},"description":{"basic":"‘As an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap,’ Donald Trump’s press secretary told reporters"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T05:20:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Irish musical slammed by the White House as an ‘insane’ waste of $70,000 ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4","auth":{"1":"ce43ae09dc58ff1af90388d17d10ebbee91e1a5150fbab4026afbfffc16154dc"},"focal_point":{"x":4059,"y":1393},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4.jpg"}},"subtype":"columnist","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"UKBPN4XAXFBDJFWBSWFUROTPCI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":249,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/1fb7b28a-f852-4318-a2f3-0e1941ad5d62/versions/1738580461/media/0ca8b9d6d3000567c611b0f87677d172_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/","content_elements":[{"_id":"I2BZBV325NF5LJYK65CSTC6MUM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Fledermaus","type":"header"},{"_id":"A7H4XILE3FDI5FOLK3P6UQRFUU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, Co Kerry","type":"header"},{"_id":"NSFDMDTUF5AOBF6LLKV7DNNSNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"BTJE5XOIFVCA3O5MECKKZPYPDY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Irish National Opera opens 2025 with a touring production of Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss II. It’s a delight from start to finish.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3ID6TZGQ7RCG5K3YQZMPTI3LFA","additional_properties":{},"content":"That start – the Overture – enjoys a wide familiarity well beyond the rest of the operetta. Wonderfully carefree and good-humoured, it previews the famously infectious, earwigging dance tunes that punctuate the story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y5GUDKLDEZEJVE757WTULT74CM","additional_properties":{},"content":"If the genius of Strauss is that he sustains that lighthearted spirit for the two hours it takes the ridiculous plot to unfold, then INO’s success comes from producing a staging that constantly matches that spirit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZYE6LLTVDBC3BIJ76W57KXQIKM","additional_properties":{},"content":"You have to leave certain expectations at the door. Starting with location. Forget Strauss the waltz king’s sumptuous 19th-century Viennese backdrop. Instead the designers Paul O’Mahony (sets) and Catherine Fay (costumes) re-create the interwar era, featuring art deco and judiciously cherry-picked allusions to early Hollywood, Weimar cabaret and the English drawingrooms of Noël Coward. German is gone also, the libretto delivered – often hilariously – in rhyming English.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KBOZSHPHV5CV3JROH342VZLEEI","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"USBY3HFX3FFS3PXST43ZSFJZIA","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s a touring production, so something else that goes is scale: no vast ballroom filled with swirling waltzers. And it doesn’t matter. Under Stephanie Dufresne, the production’s movement director, the dancing – including much funny dancing, notably by men – and the movement and animation of the cast and chorus – just 13 in total – are among the most enjoyable features of the production.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ED3Y3HL5XNA63GXVBD6CGKW6BQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Instead of a lavish, Straussian orchestra there are just nine players, including Richard Peirson, who directs from the piano, having condensed the original score into an inventive and faithful arrangement for chamber ensemble. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"UU6JWRQ7HNFSHCTQW5VEDQFUFQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Peirson also periodically appears among the revellers to snatch a dance and a swig of champagne. He can easily do this because his players are situated not in a pit but in a small bandstand upstage, in full view. This not only integrates the musicians into the scenery but also adds to the intimate cabaret vibe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7FCBKZGZXVGWBHXHG3DBFTWEBY","additional_properties":{},"content":"So it’s the same story but, to both eye and ear, a different world, one concocted and brought to life by Davey Kelleher. The director’s vision embraces complexity in small spaces, including his enhanced role for the musicians, plus plenty of farcical melodramatics and laugh-out-loud physical humour. But, like Peirson, he remains faithful to the spirit of the original.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WAUHMBPL45DBZO4OLJPND6PJXU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TDCWFXGM5ZCT3PC4WP7CMANAH4","additional_properties":{},"content":"The cast must fire on all cylinders for any of this to come off. They do, and not only vocally. It’s a story where the women triumph and the men do silly things, and the excellent portrayals by Ben McAteer of the vengeful Falke, Aaron O’Hare as the ludicrously amorous Alfred and Seán Boylan as the jovial prison governor Frank are all shot through with expertly executed silliness. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FWWB6AP66FGKDBEPWIUWFJMCI4","additional_properties":{},"content":"In this they are led by the tenor Alex McKissick, as Eisenstein, Falke’s deserving victim, whose silliness is hilariously at odds with his matinee-idol looks and obvious accomplishment as a dancer.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VXOO7YVMXNGN3BUXHI6K76YOJI","additional_properties":{},"content":"The women have nearly all the best tunes. The musical highlights belong to Jade Phoenix as Rosalinde – Eisenstein’s wife – and Sarah Shine as her maid. Sharon Carty is clearly having a blast as the bored and androgynous Prince Orlofsky. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"IEY75YTSABCVZGVH6LVZ3HWUW4","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\"><i>Irish National Opera</i></a><i>’s production of Fledermaus is also at </i><a href=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/\"><i>Cork Opera House</i></a><i> on Tuesday, February 4th; </i><a href=\"https://www.watergatetheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.watergatetheatre.com/\"><i>Watergate Theatre</i></a><i>, Kilkenny, on Thursday, February 6th; </i><a href=\"https://limetreebelltable.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://limetreebelltable.ie/\"><i>Lime Tree Theatre</i></a><i>, Limerick, on Saturday, February 8th; </i><a href=\"https://tht.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://tht.ie/\"><i>Town Hall Theatre</i></a><i>, Galway, on Tuesday, February 11th; </i><a href=\"https://www.hawkswell.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.hawkswell.com/\"><i>Hawk’s Well Theatre</i></a><i>, Sligo, on Thursday, February 13th; </i><a href=\"https://angrianan.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://angrianan.com/\"><i>An Grianán</i></a><i>, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Saturday, February 15th; </i><a href=\"https://solsticeartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://solsticeartscentre.ie/\"><i>Solstice Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Navan, Co Meath, on Tuesday, February 18th; </i><a href=\"https://www.antain.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.antain.ie/\"><i>An Táin Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dundalk, Co Louth, on Thursday, February 20th; and </i><a href=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\"><i>Pavilion Theatre</i></a><i>, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on Saturday, February 22nd, and Sunday, February 23rd</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[]},"description":{"basic":"Opera: INO’s staging maintains the light-heartedness the Strauss needs for the two hours its enjoyably ridiculous plot takes to unfold"},"display_date":"2025-02-03T10:55:47.887Z","headlines":{"basic":"Fledermaus review: Irish National Opera’s touring production is a delight from start to finish","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY","auth":{"1":"b5df2d04040a5d4cabe5d48edfb982578e4cb4926bf4c20713e813d4e93c7353"},"focal_point":{"x":1736,"y":809},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"JCUBGHCTZVDIDF5UEKB5WOZKRM","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":909,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/5d82f4a7-0280-4845-b925-f2428684be19/versions/1738144116/media/0ff1841f5b269056db9aae2deca6d2dd_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/","content_elements":[{"_id":"HZWL5NFZXRFB5OM6W4H7YPUL6U","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/des-bishop/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/des-bishop/\">Des Bishop</a> spends more time in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/new-york-city/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/new-york-city/\">New York</a> than in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\">Dublin</a> these days, but he wants us to know he is still an Irish comic. It’s only since the pandemic that he’s really been spending more time in the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/united-states/\">United States</a>, he says as we chat over Zoom. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFQLWPM2DJEBTJFRG5OGOXGLRA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Because I have an American accent, people are immediately, like, ‘Oh, he’s not an Irish comic any more ... Now you’re an American comic.’ That really bugs me. Guys. I’ve been here since 1997. It’s quite funny how quickly then people are just, like, ‘Oh, he’s over there now.’” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"KASVM3DNHVFDTMUO5SJQFFW7MQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop never intended to fully move to New York, he says. He had been “bicoastal” for some time, spending much of his year in the US, touring and spending time with family. When the pandemic broke out he chose to spend it in the United States, because he has a house by the ocean there and the weather was better, “but I never made a decision to leave. The pandemic happened and then life happened during the pandemic, and then suddenly I’m, like, ‘Oh s**t, I live more in New York now.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QQODZUA2DFFI3ORW3HXGHXQJQM","additional_properties":{},"content":"When he says that “life happened during the pandemic” he means that he met and married the US comedian and reality-TV star Hannah Berner. We’ll get back to that in a bit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JLMX2HSSSNBDLK75YQT26PRMYA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop is warm, engaged and engaging. He has always been a comedian who is interested in identity. An Irish American who was shipped off to an Irish boarding school in his troubled teens, he mined, in his early comedy, being a fish-out-of-water American grappling with Irish culture. Now, in the context of living more in the US, he’s very conscious of how Irish he is. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZPZVUXYDQJBUTJYCQROO2XPGKQ","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"WKL3FFBSVJFD3OKGHCYNSKUQWE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Since I started doing comedy all the people that helped me, they’re all Irish. I was an integral part of the comedy scene. I ran the International [Comedy Club, in Dublin] for years. My core group of people that I’ve been with from the beginning are all Irish. I’m an Irish comic with a New York accent.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"23D6SPCVEZEG3MJKKXUTE3LS24","additional_properties":{},"content":"It was with the drama society at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-cork-ucc/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-cork-ucc/\">University College Cork</a>, where he studied English and history, that he got his first stage experience, but it was thanks to the comedian (and former Bosco presenter) <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2023/12/23/frank-twomey-obituary-much-loved-actor-comedian-and-musician/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2023/12/23/frank-twomey-obituary-much-loved-actor-comedian-and-musician/\">Frank Twomey</a>, who hosted nights at Gorbys, a club in the city, that he started to do stand-up. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"O3JBXOX5RVAP3HEDIUHFUGO4Y4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“God rest him. He died last year,” Bishop says. “He pushed me into it. He was just, like, ‘You’ve got to try it.’ I used to get up for the joke competition ... I got up one time, but before I told my joke I was improvving on something that just happened to me in the toilet, and when I got off stage he was, like, ‘That’s it. You’re doing a show in two weeks.’ Honestly, whether I would have got into it or not without him I can never say. Life is random.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"T75VXDU5UVHLXMHIZESPO5PHYE","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"3VJYVCUUPRHGBAYQH6SKT2ZP44","additional_properties":{},"content":"What was doing his first comedy set like? “Absolutely terrifying,” Bishop says. “I’d done plenty of drama-society shows, and I loved being on stage ... But what the f**k was I doing up there? I was clueless. I literally turned to my friend Ian and said, ‘I truly understand the expression “sh**ting yourself” now,’ because I literally was on the precipice. I viscerally understood the term.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"7HLGVJHPYNAGZPACJKSRTS6GQA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop thinks he was lucky. Ireland was undergoing a bit of a comedy boom in the wake of Father Ted, and he had a built-in shtick. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FH7QBEUP3BEVDAL2EAUIYNHNIY","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I was one of the first guys doing the fish-out-of-water stuff. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tiktok/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tiktok/\">TikTok</a> now is riddled with American students that come to Ireland and they’re making similar observations to what I was making back in the 1990s and the 2000s. I’m not diminishing them and I’m not diminishing myself ... But there were some easy laughs to be had.","type":"text"},{"_id":"R7R2SP2KFNBL5LZLMLDZV6Y7GA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“My early stand-up, it was very Irish observational, but it was virtually useless outside of Ireland. So I had that sort of dichotomy of really doing well in Ireland and then having no idea what I wanted to say outside of Ireland in those early years ... 9/11 was the first time where I started to talk about more international stuff, and I did Edinburgh. That gave me a bit of confidence to be, like, ‘Okay, I’m not just talking about Ireland here.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NOWDP66SZRH6BKGDRIXYYNKGMU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop began making TV series that involved embedding himself in different communities. In The Des Bishop Work Experience he took on minimum-wage jobs. In Joy in the Hood he encouraged nascent comedians from marginalised communities. On In the Name of the Fada he learned Irish in the Gaeltacht. “That format of turning an experience into stand-up was the beginning of something,” he says. “It kind of guided me into a different way of thinking about stand-up.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RMO7AO2RLJHVPIXVYTAAJXMFPE","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5YWVYETPSVH5TPR7YIIZ5PQDV4","additional_properties":{},"content":"He was always open about his personal life, about being a recovering alcoholic (he drank throughout his teens) and about dealing with testicular cancer, but it was with a show called My Dad Was Nearly James Bond that he broke ground. It was about his father giving up on his acting dreams.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KOXI5K4RUZEMZA5K7X47RU55RI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop wrote it while his father was sick and dying. He created it with the input of the theatre director <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/conall-morrison/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/conall-morrison/\">Conall Morrison</a>, who gave him “the confidence to sit with moments that need to be sat with ... That show definitely comes from watching [the actor and memoirist] Spalding Gray and going, ‘I can do something like that.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"O43QH2KV2BBQND7K6JZRMZUWZQ","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"VBPEDSKUOJBIDDBHNIIDHJQTCU","additional_properties":{},"content":"He thinks there’s something useful in shows that use comedy to explore serious issues. “I’ve been through two parental deaths now,” Bishop says. “I know about the grief of losing a parent. I don’t know about the grief of losing a spouse. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child. There’s a lot of essential human experience I haven’t experienced, but I know about those two things, and when I hear someone talk about that in a way that’s interesting, I just f**king love it and I appreciate it. I think, Oh God, I needed that today. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"TEJF4SQDR5FBLMT55HEXOKM77M","additional_properties":{},"content":"“So I’m very happy when I finish a show like My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, and people feel it and they’re entertained and they’re part of it. It is so satisfying. You think, Why do we do this if it’s f**king pointless? This isn’t pointless.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"M736QEPMSVBIXEPI24GVG6GQPQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bishop wasn’t sure he’d do that sort of show again, but after his mother died, in 2019, he put together one called Mia Mamma. “I remember in the early stages thinking, How the f**k am I back here again, with the trial and error of when it’s too dark or when it’s too light? I was basically understanding grief while trying to joke about understanding grief. So I was learning on the fly there, which was also part of that show.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"QHR5B3JIYBGKXEBCJXBB7WFJHU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Is it cathartic to work on something so personal? “There’s probably something slightly psychologically unhealthy about needing to work through your s**t with an audience.” He laughs. “But I will say one thing. I was on my way to the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire [and] I had to pull over because I was overwhelmed with a mixture of sadness, grief and anxiety. And I had to acknowledge at that moment, ‘F**k, man, this is a lot.’ ","type":"text"},{"_id":"KY4BF5SU25EPXCJVZAVIRAIOXU","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"BKRSZBHFIZEC7E6YIUQK3CJKLE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother. I was literally, like, ‘Can I handle this right now?’ I was close to losing it. I got a little sick to my stomach ... I don’t know how much catharsis there is, but I know that it was intense.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OQKH6YA6GJFMPIBURSSLU3KMMQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"And then, just as that show was starting, the pandemic happened and everything stopped. “A couple of months into the pandemic I was, like, ‘Man, I needed this.’ The pandemic wasn’t easy for me, but it was quite transformative to have that enforced solitude, being put into this modern monastery, to just be with myself. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"Q3DEWRRGVJEYPLCVE2PZ7X2OGQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Des Bishop: ‘The last time my mother spoke was to say sorry’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LBTBAMBCEVES3LZXLCQUHRCHEQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“After having had the intensity of the experience of touring Mia Mamma quite soon after my mom died, I was forced to literally, really be with it. All in all, I would say maybe there was some catharsis [in the show] but, actually, the better catharsis is to just feel.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EW7YX7HTSBGMXBV636RHOVJMLM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In the midst of all that he met Berner, who is 33. It’s a very modern love story. They followed each other on Instagram. “I thought, Well, I’ll shoot my shot. So I was, like, ‘Hey, you’re out east ... You want to meet for coffee?’” Bishop says. “It was about a 10-minute drive to Sag Harbor, where we were going to get a bite to eat. And I knew by the time we parked that car – I didn’t know I was going to marry her but I knew that she was a winner.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KGQHIUP6ONDBVJTOR5WAQLE7TQ","subtype":"instagram","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"GKP4CGIAL5DPPLDXH7PXLNXN3M","additional_properties":{},"content":"They married a year and a half later because, as Bishop, who’ll turn 50 this year, says, “I’m not a spring chicken.” They’d connected instantly. “For me it was actually overwhelming. It’s hard to describe. It was just a transformative experience, my mom dying and then the pandemic and the solitude, so I was open to it in a way that maybe I hadn’t been before.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"U5TSLYLYUBGJPILOD3FTE2ZYJQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Berner appeared on three seasons of the American reality show <a href=\"https://www.bravotv.com/summer-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.bravotv.com/summer-house\">Summer House</a>, on Bravo. Did he know about her TV career? “I remember from following her [on Instagram] she just started posting these clips,” he says. “‘Oh, is this some sort of MTV show?’ I wasn’t even aware of Bravo as the institution that it is. I didn’t know that that was the reality channel.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HB4DAQO4NZCXVKU65JBXXHPDE4","additional_properties":{},"content":"She now concentrates on comedy; the couple also host a podcast together, <a href=\"https://hannahberner.com/podcasts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://hannahberner.com/podcasts\">Berner Phone</a>. Bishop says Berner has been a big influence on him, particularly around how to operate online. “I still had a pain in my hole with the way the industry had changed, so I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era ... She was a huge motivator. She was on my ass all the time. ‘You’ve got to post clips.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JAFD42KUKBE5VEURFX7XVJKUSM","subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"BNWAIP3Q4NETJGC7SS3VTY7N7E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Why was he resistant? Bishop laughs. “I got into stand-up for live performance,” he says. “I did TV, but the TV was always really to gain popularity so that more people came to my stand-up. I wanted to sell tickets. I wanted people to see my shows. I never wanted to edit, and I never wanted to set up a camera and I never wanted to think in the way that you have to think as a content creator ... I just didn’t expect the industry to shift the way that it did.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"Z4QEEQRCEZBH7B2TAZQGXMU324","additional_properties":{},"content":"Years of gigging in the United States and of people responding to his online material mean Bishop’s audience in the US is growing steadily, but he’s looking forward to his upcoming Irish gigs and the familiar “warmth” of Irish audiences. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"NFESUN2BRVCBPD6WOKOOIECK44","additional_properties":{},"type":"image"},{"_id":"NKGTQ6WNTZFGTNQ3HM5XFQKEGY","additional_properties":{},"content":"What are the differences? Irish comics and audiences value storytelling, Bishop says; Americans prefer speed. “I watch my stuff from back in the day and I’m, like, ‘Wow, I am really taking my time getting to a punchline.’” He laughs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"UA7YUQU4M5AKNOZFTZ26AGKBPM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Another thing Bishop doesn’t have to think about in Ireland, he says, is being divisive. “I have no problem speaking openly about my dislike and lack of understanding for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\">Trump</a>’s popularity, but I’m also aware that people can have these overly emotional responses if they find out that you’re one side or the other. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"4ZHKMF4CWBEBDKHMUM6EEDD5VQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I don’t hide it. I make the right amount of jokes. I don’t shove it down their throats, because I know that they’re not in the mood for that ... What was great about [the late comedian] Bill Hicks was that he told American people things that they’d never heard before, and that was challenging. Whereas now the world is so divided that they’re not going to hear me. They’re just going to shut off.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FH4K4ESF7ZCJFAH6E5MFAZEVYY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bihsop is surprised at the size of the backlash against progressive issues. “Imagine the audacity of traditionally marginalised groups just trying to grab a touch of power for themselves, just a f**king hint of power, and the slapback it got,” he says. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"H7VHQ5P2ZREGHHAHI7W4D3NXPI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“It’s really taken me by surprise, actually, how quickly things have shifted. And it’s frightening ... Online and in the media, it feels insanely divisive. The way Maga talks about liberals online, it really feels like the type of division that creates the worst moments in history ... ","type":"text"},{"_id":"B536PFULTRFGFJRXTW7HLRNVB4","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Nobody wants the normal way that we used to have discourse about issues. It just doesn’t sell. They want to hear in strong terms what reaffirms what they believe. I’m just a classic centre. I’m a classic 49-year-old dude. I have my biases, but I also can understand – even if I disagree – aspects of people on the other side of my centrist beliefs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"6KBULOKT5JG3DLRXV2RZ22NMGI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I can’t live on the extremes. I’m not going to pander to [the extremes]. But really, commercially, that’s not the way to go. Commercially it’s really a time to pander.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"27IUX5SGZVGYNEK76ATC4SHUZU","additional_properties":{},"content":"We talk a little about hugely popular American online comedians such as <a href=\"https://www.theovon.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.theovon.com/\">Theo Von</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-rogan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/joe-rogan/\">Joe Rogan</a>, who’ve embraced right-wing talking points and been embraced by Maga in return. “There was probably a moment in time where you could almost understand people’s complaints about censorship and free speech,” Bishop says. “I think they were exaggerating, but there were moments where I could admit that there was probably a tight atmosphere around what you could say ...","type":"text"},{"_id":"ORH2PSKCV5AUZF6X5TFT276R54","additional_properties":{},"content":"“But then it got this influx of Maga energy – people saying, ‘You can’t f**king say anything any more,’ and all these people are in their comments saying, ‘You’re the one that says stuff that nobody’s allowed to say,’ and they believed it. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"JSV4TR5ZNRDBLIFAHE4GND647A","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I don’t have a problem with their popularity. What I have a problem with is that if you really were a comic that’s not afraid to say the things you can’t say, you would challenge your audience at least a bit about some of the Maga stuff,” Bishop says. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"Q444DELFXFGBZDVZBOWZNVYQCI","additional_properties":{},"content":"“But they don’t challenge. They pander. They went from a moment of challenging an element of the status quo to pandering 100 per cent ... There’s so much money in picking a side.” ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EGFLW42PFZFDXDUG2HWXIOCNCM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Does Bishop get many of Berner’s fans at his gigs? “I would say 10 per cent of the crowd,” he says. “When the Hannah fans cheer, the pitch is three octaves higher ... It’s good to have a diversity in the crowd. I don’t just want it to be 40-year-old white people at my shows. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZZI3EY7JW5CNPH6F2J7PGQML34","additional_properties":{},"content":"“Every now and then, if Hannah goes to a cool city, I’ll open up for her, and when I perform to her crowd it’s very different. It’s mostly women. Most of the men are gay except a couple of boyfriends that were dragged along, and so you have to know that you’re playing to a specific audience. That’s fun too. You know that you’re in the middle of a niche.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"CFWNP4XVS5APTL4CTPRGU5PFP4","additional_properties":{},"content":"There’s nothing wrong with a good niche, Bishop says. His American audience is much more diverse these days, but in the past he had predominantly Irish audiences at his American gigs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"6IOSONLLDVF67LHX77WB35MLOE","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I’d do Boston and I’d have some random Boston guy opening for me, and he’d come off and he’d be, like, ‘I found it hard to get them.’ I was, like, ‘Bro, you’re not in Boston, you’re [basically] in Dublin. Don’t feel bad. They don’t even know what you’re talking about.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2F3DLTLSIBCGPEY4LZ3VUBDGJY","additional_properties":{},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.desbishop.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.desbishop.net/\"><i>Des Bishop</i></a><i> is touring Ireland until March 15th; dates include the </i><a href=\"https://www.3olympia.ie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"https://www.3olympia.ie/\"><i>3Olympia Theatre</i></a><i>, in Dublin, February 26th-28th, plus shows in Limerick, Cork, Belfast and Galway</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Patrick Freyne"}},"name":"Patrick Freyne"}]},"description":{"basic":"For the Irish-American comedian, lockdown was preceded by his mother’s death. The impact was profound – but it opened the way to a new life"},"display_date":"2025-02-01T05:30:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Des Bishop: ‘I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ","auth":{"1":"d40553702e377f77026cb1bcd174f9c528b14c3caf51f43dc042946f1f725969"},"focal_point":{"x":2618,"y":1760},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"NYL3AMTKUJAK5GHHMMMXTJ5KAQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":214,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/9260e977-d6f1-4de5-8a4d-8697e6a44331/versions/1738241356/media/ec52235bbffa6b6cf1998469c73d9639_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/","content_elements":[{"_id":"SQ7ZCWTCEJCT3JBUTJGFQHLGFY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087172},"content":"The Ferryman","type":"header"},{"_id":"4LC73ERMKRE3FCLZILWW3DQFB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087173},"content":"Gaiety Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"QM2RVDGFQNFGVCTZOOSNV6EMKQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087174},"content":"★★☆☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"B2UJ735RGRDEVHB4TDRO3SI3MU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087175},"content":"It’s courageous of the director Andrew Flynn and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gaiety-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gaiety Productions</a> to import The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth’s blockbuster from 2017, to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a>. Since premiering in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/london/\" target=\"_blank\">London</a>, and running on Broadway, the play has resembled an explainer about the Troubles for people outside the island. Will an Irish audience find its report overly familiar?","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZVSQPMA3VFAN3AJ35YEQ36DJWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087176},"content":"Set in 1980s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/armagh/\" target=\"_blank\">Armagh</a>, the drama has its centre in Caitlin (a well-judged <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/charlene-mckenna/\" target=\"_blank\">Charlene McKenna</a>), who, since her husband went missing 10 years ago, has taken shelter in the farmhouse of her brother-in-law Quinn (a built protector, played by Aaron McCusker) and his extended family of aunts and children.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WVL7PZW35FE6FJESCDQEOFJMMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087177},"content":"A discovery that her husband is one of the Disappeared – those abducted and buried – invites a visit from an image-conscious republican criminal (Laurence Kinlan, making every casual observation sound like a threat). Nationalist politics has gone mainstream since the 1981 hunger strikes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"O4OHYFX4K5EITP4IB572VWJAVU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087178},"content":"Butterworth has not only read up on the era; he seems intent on performing the plot points of an actual Irish play. With the family swept up in an annual harvest festival, anticipating the escape of ritual, the play echoes <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/18/dancing-at-lughnasa-review-gates-triumphant-breathtakingly-beautiful-revival-deserves-groaning-houses/\" target=\"_blank\">Dancing at Lughnasa</a>, with one scene of all-out dancing even getting interrupted by a lost radio signal. In such moments Butterworth seems to be tipping his hat to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brian-friel/\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Friel</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPL2OMA3RZB2RI5YYZ3PPGXVCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087179},"content":"Everything is impossibly lively in early scenes, as each member of the near-infinite family (a huge cast of 23), and some of their farm animals (including a real goose), makes their entrance. A national reputation for clerical hypocrisy and outrageous vulgarity comes from obtuse angles: a corruptible priest is introduced by a rhyming republican henchman; a nine-year-old exclaims in shock: “F**k me blue!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UDYNB4TBCJH2DP7DAT34AGLAWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087180},"content":"Then, when the family’s own history of republican violence is revealed, the play begins to resemble a series of Wikipedia searches. As a distantly senile aunt played by Brid Ní Neachtain (given the woeful name Aunt Faraway) becomes lucid to recount scenes from the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/history/1916/\" target=\"_blank\">1916 Rising</a>, Butterworth drops in an insistent roll-call of revolutionaries, a list of Irish counties and a roundabout reference to banshees, as if intent on including all the fruits of his research.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SKUA5Z7NG5CWXCUTQLTDHWMIWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087181},"content":"With scenes increasingly interrupted by random singsongs, including belting renditions of tunes by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-dubliners/\" target=\"_blank\">The Dubliners</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wolfe-tones/\" target=\"_blank\">The Wolfe Tones</a>, it verges on the Micksploitation of being here just for the sake of doing something Irish.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZRFATTFRZGDNGK4B64ESXRPPM","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087182},"content":"Most unforgivable is the final act. (The cast is not to blame: please get everyone here to work together again.) Butterworth has Caitlin flip-flop on her secret desire for Quinn, who himself seems to extend the horrors of the Disappeared into an uneasy metaphor about his own cooled-off marriage, claiming that his wife (Sarah Morris, deserving much better) has “vanished”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"72PNFVAU6NESPBF5M6TK6UKGXU","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087183},"content":"It all ends somewhere that seems cynically bleak and contrivedly mythical. Friel was a misdirection for Butterworth; Stewart Parker’s 1987 masterpiece <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/modern-ireland-in-100-artworks-1987-pentecost-by-stewart-parker-1.2590843\">Pentecost</a> is the definitive statement about this era. There, a grieving antiques dealer caught in riots, and seeking refuge in the untouched home of a dead loyalist woman who would likely hate their guts, has a profound moment with their grief. It ends not surrounded by the squawk of banshees but with the throwing open of windows, an awesome beam of sunlight: “I want to live. We owe it to our innocent dead.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BC6QTEV5ZREU5NY6HXWNWDPOHA","additional_properties":{"_id":1738237087184},"content":"<i>The Ferryman is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gaietytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gaiety Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, March 15th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Jez Butterworth seems intent on showing all his research with a list of Irish counties and reference to banshees"},"display_date":"2025-01-30T12:44:05.565Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Ferryman at the Gaiety review: This British play about the Troubles sounds as if it was written using Wikipedia","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM","auth":{"1":"e7d099af7c5ffd5274cd0756443d9b12685e554ef6ae0ae032c8bdf1198e9b1d"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"MHRL4BCRR5EVVEVBJ7T7LC3VFE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":481,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/c2d03df9-24b4-4672-9e56-1ba8da87b50a/versions/1734356992/media/0c0b61ca81a16855c2e73aece2fb56dc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/","content_elements":[{"_id":"J23BOMAFXFGSJCPYNJS7N2YGUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609496},"content":"When <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/david-west-read/\" target=\"_blank\">David West Read</a> was in his early 20s he moved from his home in suburban Toronto to New York City, to pursue what he hoped would be a long career in writing. He enrolled at the <a href=\"https://www.juilliard.edu/\" target=\"_blank\">Juilliard</a> school of performing arts as a “TV concentrate” but surprised himself in the first few weeks of his studies by “crossing the floor into the playwriting department”. Despite the fact that his initial creative instincts were televisual, living in New York he had fallen in love at first sight with the theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JV47V2FDQZHU5P5UNPAXKPMXBE","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609497},"content":"“Growing up in Toronto,” West Read explains from a desk in his Los Angeles office, where he is running a writer’s room for a new Apple TV+ drama starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/matthew-mcconaughey/\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew McConaughey</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/woody-harrelson/\" target=\"_blank\">Woody Harrelson</a>, “I hadn’t really seen any live theatre before.” But in New York, “instantly, there were so many opportunities. There were free tickets, there were jobs and perks for [theatre students], and I took every single one of them. I must have seen hundreds of performances,” he says of that heady time, “and I really came to appreciate what is so special about live performance.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QLTD25KR35ERVLT23FQ7STWAUI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486104},"content":"West Read’s first professional opportunity came soon after graduation. He credits his playwriting teacher, Daniel Goldfarb, for his big break. “I volunteered as assistant on his plays,” he says, “helping him with rewrites, sitting in on rehearsals, and he had such a passion for theatre that it seemed like a pretty great career.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NLVU5ENOL5DR7PVI75OWU3ZGYI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486105},"content":"When West Read presented him with the draft of a script he had been working on, Goldfarb introduced him to his agent, and the young writer’s debut play, The Dream of the Burning Boy, was produced at the <a href=\"https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Roundabout Theatre</a> in 2011. Off the back of that success, Broadway came calling, and the following year The Performers debuted at the <a href=\"https://shubert.nyc/theatres/longacre/\" target=\"_blank\">Longacre Theatre</a> in a starry production featuring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/henry-winkler/\" target=\"_blank\">Henry Winkler</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/alicia-silverstone/\" target=\"_blank\">Alicia Silverstone</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4IZXROKRGFBMFPY2OCTK35BTZA","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486106},"content":"The celebrity casting couldn’t save the production from the ruthless reality of lukewarm reviews, and it closed less than a week after opening night. West Read’s star had risen and fallen in a year, and he was heartbroken. “I was very aware of how fortunate I was and I got completely swept up in the excitement of it all. Then to crash down so quickly, and in such a public way, I really struggled. People in the theatre world backed away from me. They didn’t want to be associated with this flop.” West Read himself “didn’t want to be associated with the theatre any more”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P6DVQYGOKZHUJABVCFVQKKUPP4","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"W4XFZIUY4JDPFJIJCYIXLUB2WY","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609499},"content":"But his luck soon changed: when he submitted a sample to the makers of a new Canadian sitcom that was looking for writers, he landed a junior role – and soon worked his way up to executive producer. The sitcom was Schitt’s Creek, starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, and it ran for six seasons. Its final season broke records when it won seven <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/emmy-awards/\" target=\"_blank\">Emmy Awards</a>, taking top spot in every category for comedy drama, including an Emmy for West Read himself.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DMLUAIKQBVGK5JCMIWSK3JUU2Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609500},"content":"Despite his success in TV, which also includes two seasons of The Big Door Prize, starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/chris-o-dowd/\" target=\"_blank\">Chris O’Dowd</a>, West Read says live theatre remains his true passion. So when he was approached to write a musical for <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/max-martin/\" target=\"_blank\">Max Martin</a>, the Swedish songwriter and producer behind hits by many of the biggest pop stars of the past 25 years, including <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/britney-spears/\" target=\"_blank\">Britney Spears</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/the-weeknd/\" target=\"_blank\">the Weeknd</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/taylor-swift/\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Swift</a>, he tried to forget about his Broadway bruises and pitched an outlandish rewrite of Romeo and Juliet in which the heroine decides to forgo suicide for adventure, heading to Paris after Romeo’s death in the hope of finding new love.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2J4BPHAJ3NF5FHGVFVG6VQGK2E","additional_properties":{"_id":"54II7SGSQZGGTN6LJF5U7RBCQA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"MXGT447FCBB6RPMKOSUUALYSQI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609501},"content":"West Read had known almost nothing about Martin or the artists he worked with, but once he started researching which of Martin’s songs would suit the jukebox musical he quickly realised it was impossible not to know Martin’s music. “It is everywhere you go, especially in America.” But Martin was far from a household name. What the project needed, West Read decided, was a recognisable figure, someone who “could be a poster person for the show. I also thought it would be really fun to reinvent a classic story at the same time. To shake up perceptions of something canonical as well as the perception of the songs.” The seeds for & Juliet were sown.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MFPKFRSB65ER3KRXK22LVSBRYU","additional_properties":{"_id":"7KNIIOBF55CULB2TBRV5FBULWQ"},"content":"From the archive: Inside the song machine – the secrets behind pop music's biggest hits","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"X4AVS2VCE5BLJLS773YUGFRWM4","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609502},"content":"Set in the immediate aftermath of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/william-shakespeare/\" target=\"_blank\">Shakespeare</a>’s most iconic tragedy, & Juliet is actually more than a reimagination of the classic heroine’s fate. It is set in a very contemporary-looking Elizabethan England and places Shakespeare himself front and centre. Struggling to finish his new play about the young star-cross’d lovers, Will, as he is known in West Read’s drama, is also struggling with marriage problems of his own. His wife, Anne, sick of playing second fiddle to his ambition, thinks she might know a bit more about the challenges of a relationship and is determined to put her tuppence into the unfolding play.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TFPFAJNIHBHZNDQ45QVCLVMKUM","additional_properties":{"_id":"PWVZMNQISRFPJOKP77HKJJUDTM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CTS7YPNE5FHPNPX2R6XW226VL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609503},"content":"While the story West Read sketched out for the producers wasn’t a hard sell – “they took to it immediately” – the writer himself was a bit unsure about how it might translate for a mainstream-musical audience. In North America, he says “Shakespeare is something you learn in school. It’s considered highbrow and inaccessible, so the challenge for me was to demonstrate how Shakespeare was the pop artist of his day, because he really was ... He wasn’t writing just for the elite or the educated class but for everyone.” And theatre, like pop, is a hugely collaborative medium, West Read adds.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EMOIJUIYAVGSDKWJOR3MTENMEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609504},"content":"& Juliet opened on Broadway in 2022 after a stunning few years wowing critics and audiences in England. (The production won three Olivier Awards, including best actress in a musical for the first Juliet, Miriam Teak-Lee.) The cross-generational musical offers three love stories unfolding in parallel: Juliet’s opportunistic pining is set against Will and Anne’s middle-aged marital crisis, while Juliet’s nurse is given a late-in-life opportunity for romance when, following Juliet across continents as her protector, she reunites with an old lover in France. The love stories coalesce at Romeo’s funeral to a rendition of Backstreet Boys’ Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely. (Yes, really.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"XSGO7LFHEJGMLANG5MULILYPHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609505},"content":"West Read also gives Shakespeare’s standard comic gender-bending trope a distinct contemporary flavour, in the shape of Juliet’s best friend, the nonbinary Mai, who, in a stunning solo, brings poignant meaning to Britney Spears’s I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman. It may sound cliched, but when you see it on stage it feels organic and authentically representative.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RFFLFP7W6RGD3JOJABTNQFOENQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609506},"content":"In a coincidence worthy of a Shakespearean comedy, when the North American production was first announced, West Read was told that the previews would take place in his old stamping ground of Toronto. Midway through dress rehearsals, one of the cast caught Covid-19, and West Read found himself corralled into their place for the opening performance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IGGJJYC3UNCKBKFWNCRVZXY4CU","additional_properties":{"_id":"55IXYDYAIVHX3KN43D74ZREH2Q"},"content":"Like Romeo and Juliet, it’s hard not to fall in love in Verona","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UZJLVJ6DFVBWFIBBT52CXBCPJI","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486115},"content":"“Thankfully, there was very little singing – and I turned down the mic a lot – but it was absolutely terrifying,” he says. “It was the first time I had been on stage since college, and it definitely gave me deeper appreciation for what actors have to do every night.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IVZGJHKBTJDLRGQWUPWWDSD7E4","additional_properties":{"_id":1730465486116},"content":"If he ever had to step into an actor’s shoes again for the show, West Read says, he would hope to play Will. “Anne is the best character, I think,” he says, the wounding memories of his early Broadway failure firmly banished. “The metatheatrical aspect of a writer playing a writer would be too good to resist.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MXH22VFJWVALLJL6FOI4LGI6UM","additional_properties":{"_id":1730457609507},"content":"<i>& Juliet is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Tuesday, February 25th, to Saturday, March 8th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"& Juliet creator David West Read’s TV credits include Schitt’s Creek but his passion for theatre propelled him to rewrite a Shakespeare classic featuring the music of one of pop’s top hit makers"},"display_date":"2025-01-26T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Britney Spears meets Shakespeare: How & Juliet puts a pop twist on star-cross’d lovers","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4","auth":{"1":"0100ee4836c4703e0a5542b8b74b09a6a48df503fd4b6e46e5d56f21f4a5670c"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"HNEQVDM4RZBWXJHBBMOP47RIU4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":435,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/b4a726df-2b1f-4166-a51d-967d12f12a34/versions/1737124759/media/ddbd989eb5ba9d8a16c2d9148f62aab0_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/","content_elements":[{"_id":"5OHO5RTM4JCA7HY5TDVJM33V3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919251},"content":"The actor Joan Plowright, who was celebrated for her long career in theatre and film, has died at the age of 95, her family have announced.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E4T7TQZTXRDITK4TXWYDHVB224","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919252},"content":"Plowright won acclaim for performances during the early years of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and the National Theatre when it was based at the Old Vic and led by her second husband, Laurence Olivier.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SILFK5O6XBF5VAPA3BHW6WADPA","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919253},"content":"She and Olivier appeared together in the West End and on Broadway in John Osborne’s The Entertainer, as well as starring in the screen version. At the National, she played Portia to Olivier’s Shylock in The Merchant of Venice as well as roles including Masha in Three Sisters, Sonya in Uncle Vanya and the eponymous heroine of Shaw’s Saint Joan.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VYTLSXH5YRCBDP3DRXTRYA36YA","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919254},"content":"A statement from her family said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Dame Joan Plowright, the Lady Olivier, inform you that she passed away peacefully on 16 January 2025 surrounded by her family at Denville Hall aged 95.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KFDZS55GOBCP5MQ2Q7VR352QBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919255},"content":"“She enjoyed a long and illustrious career across theatre, film and TV over seven decades until blindness made her retire.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZRFRWPK46JFSNPUXMHJCMGY5VE","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919256},"content":"“She cherished her last 10 years in Sussex with constant visits from friends and family, filled with much laughter and fond memories. The family are deeply grateful to Jean Wilson and all those involved in her personal care over many years.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MSGKQWGQ4BFFXN74VJVHJ52SDI","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919257},"content":"The Society of London Theatre announced that playhouses across London’s West End will dim their lights for two minutes in remembrance at 7pm on Tuesday. The organisation’s co-CEO, Hannah Essex, said: “Dame Joan Plowright was an iconic and deeply respected figure in the world of theatre, leaving an indelible mark on the industry she shaped with her talent and dedication.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"WM54BJF5GNBBVC56OV42FNEUVY","additional_properties":{"_id":"WHAL7EYWUBE6TG6CNDOARVFWJM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"65657AM6RVGEFG5JOZQYMD4DGE","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919258},"content":"The US film director Paul Feig was among those paying tribute. He said that working with Plowright on his first feature film, I Am David (2003), had been an “unbelievable” honour. “I was in over my head directing such a legend but she made it all so easy,” he said in a post on X. “I marvelled at every take she did and learned so much from her.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FODE6UQPHJGLNOI5RQVW6UFSLU","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919259},"content":"Plowright was born on 28 October 1929 in Brigg, Lincolnshire, and attended Scunthorpe grammar school on a scholarship. She was the second of three children of Daisy Margaret Burton and William Ernest Plowright. Her mother was an amateur actor and opera singer who taught dancing; her father was a journalist with a passion for am-dram. She always wanted to be an actor and won a drama trophy at a local theatre festival aged 15. After leaving school at 17 she worked briefly as a supply teacher before training at the Old Vic theatre school in London.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EOID67A3H5FYBE2J6IQMFBWT4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919260},"content":"After appearing in a late-night revue in London she made her stage debut in 1948 in Croydon in a show called If Four Walls Told and then joined the Old Vic theatre company, where she met the actor Roger Gage, whom she later married. She auditioned unsuccessfully to play Bianca in Orson Welles’s stage production of Othello. Welles remembered her and cast Plowright as Pip the cabin boy in his West End version of Moby Dick in 1955.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WUR4FY57D7T7MXMTEJ4SPJ5XA4","additional_properties":{"_id":"7L62JHD4KJE4RDMWZFM3MPJLNY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"UPCLS5CKQZBLJGJJKQFE37NYVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919261},"content":"The following year, arriving at George Devine’s English Stage Company, she “felt for the first time totally at home in a theatre” as she wrote in her memoir And That’s Not All. “I was in touch with people who cared, as I cared, about creating a theatre which was to do with the 20th century. I found my own voice as an actress, and an exhilarating sense of purpose.” William Wycherley’s The Country Wife was her first success at the Royal Court and, over several years, she starred in plays as diverse as Arnold Wesker’s Roots, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara (in the title role) and Eugène Ionesco’s The Chairs and The Lesson, which both transferred to the Phoenix theatre in New York, where her costar in The Chairs was Eli Wallach.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2S4ASSLJMNDZTLZMTAQYEHKXHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919262},"content":"In 1957, Plowright took over from Dorothy Tutin in the Royal Court production of John Osborne’s The Entertainer when it transferred to the West End. It introduced her to Olivier, who was playing the faded music-hall star Archie Rice, the father of her character. He had been impressed by Plowright’s performance in The Country Wife and jokily renamed her “Miss Wheelshare”. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"DJTKXPL6RJAYBMGN5UF27SPNLQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Entertainer also became a film and Plowright would later choose a recording of Olivier singing Why Should I Care? as Archie Rice for one of her selections on Desert Island Discs. She went with the play to Broadway and later earned a Tony award playing Jo, the pregnant teenager in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, with Angela Lansbury in the role of her mother.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TNXQP7JA4ZGXDJDEFLLLYLQ2MM","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919263},"content":"In 1960, Olivier and Plowright starred in a stage production of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros directed by Orson Welles at the Royal Court. That year, Plowright divorced Gage. In 1961, Plowright married Olivier after sustained media coverage of their relationship and the end of his marriage to Vivien Leigh.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7A55FLQPZ7CZTY2U2QR26ON5QQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"CDVWS4VKCVAMBBG6FVWNJPS4BM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"OW2OSUUG5VBQZFJHENYPU62LNM","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919264},"content":"During Olivier’s directorship of the National, Plowright’s roles included Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder. In 1973, Franco Zeffirelli directed her in Eduardo de Filippo’s family drama Saturday, Sunday, Monday, where, she told the Observer: “I had to cook a ragout live on stage. The delicious smell sent people out at the interval looking happy but very hungry and the sale of sandwiches rocketed.” Zeffirelli directed her again in 1977 in De Filippo’s Filumena Marturano and again in 2003 in the Pirandello adaptation Absolutely! (Perhaps), both in London.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6XWIGZRTZNBQJGNY3UKYWZMOYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919265},"content":"In 1988, Plowright directed a play about Marie Stopes, Married Love, and in 1990 she acted with her two daughters, Julie-Kate and Tamsin Olivier, in a production of Time and the Conways directed by her son, Richard Olivier. By that time her film career had gathered pace. In Peter Greenaway’s Drowning By Numbers she played the mother of Joely Richardson and Juliet Stevenson. There followed roles in an adaptation of Beryl Bainbridge’s The Dressmaker, the offbeat comedy I Love You to Death and Enchanted April, which was filmed in Portofino on the Italian Riviera and brought her an Oscar nomination for her performance as an imperious widow. The popular film Tea With Mussolini brought her back to Italy and back to Zeffirelli, casting her alongside fellow dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. She played the surrogate mother of a boy modelled on Zeffirelli.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFVT7PDVUVGTXKXRVZAHIGQHLM","additional_properties":{"_id":1737122919267},"content":"In 2013, Plowright reprised her role as Saint Joan for a speech used at the 50th birthday celebration of the National Theatre. In 2018, she reminisced on her career alongside Dench, Smith and Eileen Atkins in Roger Michell’s film Nothing Like a Dame. – Guardian","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"name":"Chris Wiegand Stage editor"}]},"description":{"basic":"Actor Joan Plowright helped shape British postwar theatre through her performances at the Royal Court, National Theatre and in Lodon's West End"},"display_date":"2025-01-17T14:39:17.54Z","headlines":{"basic":"Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q","auth":{"1":"c91e4f8e7c0508fc48b1836e49b8fa96977043097312d6766c153609f4345513"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"NQQBKSBVCZAWNDPFKE4AVWSYMY","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":219,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/576b0066-90be-485b-85ea-bab9cd0f0c97/versions/1737110931/media/c5e66adef64e68889a6dc976f82b0467_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/","content_elements":[{"_id":"LKOZMWAPBJBP3JGCNNIQUYZDCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1655456089120},"content":"Accents","type":"header"},{"_id":"BPM3RL3VEFGWJL2NQLMWORXK5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1736788422164},"content":"Ambassador Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"FMTNH4YLUZECJMKWCGQBIK7D3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1737107833655},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"FV3WKJ7W5VBNVE2VWDJF2VZDPY","additional_properties":{},"content":"The obvious question if you’re seeing Accents, a poetic drama by Emmet Kirwan and Eoin French, for the first time might be: where’s the party? The last time you saw Kirwan pouncing onstage and speaking in verse it was probably during <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review-dublin-oldschool-1.1924247\">Dublin Oldschool</a>, his breakout play turned phenomenon, from 2014, in which he played an on-the-run DJ who escaped into a haze of Dublin Bacchanalia. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"JFUDFS34MRGNDGKZJKVHR4477U","additional_properties":{},"content":"This time he’s playing himself, in autobiographical comings and goings to and from the National Maternity Hospital while his partner expects their son. (It’s a pivot Kirwan seems intent on. “If anybody came here expecting poems about doing yokes: psych!” he says.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"K5DOTVJ3KFG2BDSX5M7QCDPG2A","additional_properties":{},"content":"First seen in 2022, Accents returns tinged with grief. French, who released music as the indie-electronic artist Talos, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2024/08/13/cork-musician-eoin-french-known-as-talos-dies-aged-36/#:~:text=Cork%20musician%20Eoin%20French%2C%20known,aged%2036%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Irish%20Times\">died last year</a>. This play goes on tour shortly after French’s wife, Steph, and friends such as Ólafur Arnalds and Dermot Kennedy gave a stirring tribute performance of We Didn’t Know We Were Ready, a song he cowrote, on The Tommy Tiernan Show.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KNP7OBMCSRCLDCWDIUVGA5KXJM","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"JWLUXZK3PFHZ5L6ISATQ7RWCEA","additional_properties":{},"content":"French showed in his music a preference for spaciousness that can easily smother a nimble voice like Kirwan’s. The score quickly narrows to meet the performer, however. While describing surreal anticipation in the maternity ward, Kirwan conjures absurdly hallucinatory images of belligerent babies. He imagines his son speaking his first words as soon as he is born: “Where’s the bleedin’ bass?” French obliges, introducing a dance beat for Kirwan’s verse to ping against.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T5UXGNIWYRDTNJ667Y6SAC4W6Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"As the play sends Kirwan home from the hospital, the plot becomes another Dublin odyssey, showing him on a profound search for parenthood. He visits the city-centre street where his mother used to live and, touchingly, allows for her own sweeping urban quests through mid-century Dublin. French’s gauzy effects recede for a childhood piano as she is depicted walking carefree down O’Connell Street, standing up a date she has changed her mind about.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3AN2U3G3BRAULCVGOEP4UBKHXI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Accents is proof that such Dublin promenades needn’t be populated by gangsters and cops to have friction. We see Kirwan visit his parents in Tallaght before returning to the hospital; they conjure a woeful history of State neglect: the new working-class suburb has no amenities. That leaves a legacy Kirwan worries about passing on, having navigated a place fraught with desperation and fear, and having been assaulted as a teenager. “They tried to change me / And they did / But this won’t be the inheritance of the kid,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WFKBIFXPNNBWVFIGNWAMSGFDNI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Kirwan turns his anger on classist myths (“If you come from violence, you become violence”) while skewering politicians for failing to provide public housing (“You can get away with anything with a gentle whisper,” he purrs). In an affectionate promise towards the play’s conclusion, after journeying from shame to pride, he is joyful at the prospect of passing his family history to his son.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6QGGLN3SZVCQ3F55ASYUWIGZBU","additional_properties":{},"content":"Alongside such resolute declarations, Accents isn’t short on swooning sonic metaphors. At one point he describes how he and his partner will be transformed by their son’s arrival: “Like a tuning fork bringing us into key.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"LTYR5SVCKRGPHIZZLVHBFBOARU","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Accents is at the </i><a href=\"https://mcd.ie/artists/emmet-kirwan\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Ambassador Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, January 18th. It then tours to the </i><a href=\"https://www.civictheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Civic Theatre</i></a><i>, Tallaght, January 31st and February 1st; </i><a href=\"https://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Mermaid Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Bray, Co Wicklow, February 5th-7th; </i><a href=\"https://limetreebelltable.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Belltable</i></a><i>, Limerick, February 13th and 14th; </i><a href=\"https://everymancork.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Everyman</i></a><i>, Cork, February 18th and 19th; and </i><a href=\"https://tht.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Town Hall Theatre</i></a><i>, Galway, February 21st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"The musician’s death adds a layer of grief to this autobiographical drama, in which Kirwan is an expectant father exploring what it means to be a parent"},"display_date":"2025-01-17T10:43:47.73Z","headlines":{"basic":"Accents review: The late Eoin French’s remarkable music accompanies Emmet Kirwan’s fatherhood search","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI","auth":{"1":"918e31587c685d0bced3de5571c487096c8691f4af9588140e0ad34f7321eb14"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"YZ5J6X2LRJDVFPH4M4G4I3UKRU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":388,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/47bd3953-404f-4734-9285-78393201f116/versions/1736876286/media/e047b11531be894934fe5f82ff5514f0_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ZIAMSCCP3VHSTMU7266UL2W4OA","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037126},"content":"Comedian <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tony-slattery/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Slattery</a> has died aged 65 following a heart attack, his partner announced.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TWIBVX3E7VAVVOFYDDKZEILYF4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736865126209},"content":"Slattery appeared on the Channel 4 comedy improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and comedy shows Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7MBNJJBKTRHOZMQSOOQ4FNJ5IE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037128},"content":"A statement on behalf of his partner of more than three decades Mark Michael Hutchinson said: “It is with great sadness we must announce actor and comedian Tony Slattery, aged 65, has passed away today, Tuesday morning, following a heart attack on Sunday evening.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MXXBQ7563ZCDNEWD4ISOA5KLHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595191},"content":"Tributes have been paid by comedians <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stephen-fry/\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Fry</a>, Sandi Toksvig, Richard K Herring and Al Murray, along with radio DJ Mike Read.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6MU3LZUEIJFSJNSPGDAYEAR4VU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952967},"content":"Fry, who worked with Slattery on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, hailed him as “the gentlest, sweetest soul”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T5GSZM5EXJBRHCZYRM7A57DO3I","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952968},"content":"In a post on Instagram, Fry said: “So very sad to have lost the wonderful Tony Slattery, just about the gentlest, sweetest soul I ever knew. Not to mention a screamingly funny and deeply talented wit and clown. A cruel irony that fate should snatch him from us just as he had really begun to emerge from his lifelong battle with so many dark demons.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ELEA7ZX5UVCKJHIKY4KJM7VNIY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952969},"content":"“He had started live ‘evenings with’ and his own podcast series. Lovely, at least, this past year for him to have found to his joyous surprise that he was still remembered and held in great affection.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YZBE5VBNPJD2FCOTIXXAGBJ7EU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736871952970},"content":"“Love and condolences to Mark [Hutchinson], his staunch, devoted life partner of almost 40 years.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"POS7TMEF4NBIJOZXFXYPA534TI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Toksvig said: “I don’t think I ever met a more beautiful man than Tony Slattery. I was 19 when we met and thought he was astonishing. Stunning to look at, glorious smile, infectious laugh and a streak of kindness a mile wide. I loved him. We all did. In a crowded room of talent, he was the brightest and the best.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"G5JAM5IPAFCBVNI6HDS5BREPRY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037129},"content":"Born November 9th, 1959, Slattery was the contemporary of Fry, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/emma-thompson/\" target=\"_blank\">Emma Thompson</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hugh-laurie/\" target=\"_blank\">Hugh Laurie</a> at the University of Cambridge. He was the former president of the improvisation group Cambridge Footlights, and had recently been touring a comedy show in England and launched a podcast, <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LZUvrgw639GviWjCL2e74\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Slattery’s Rambling Club</a>, in October.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FZJITI2SNBERJNYUAB2WYEUZY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037131},"content":"Outside of stand-up, Slattery appeared in 1980s and 1990s films including Neil Jordan’s crime thriller The Crying Game, Peter’s Friends with Laurie, Fry and Thompson, and black comedy How To Get Ahead In Advertising with Richard E Grant.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2LMGT7AG2TNHCZZOCWPSRTO5BU","additional_properties":{"_id":"C3JKBZGS55EATMLYXH7SOVKH7I"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"I43ORFIPOBDCTNRG7KHUWE7E7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736866042877},"content":"He also had prominent roles in the theatre, which including receiving a 1995 Olivier Award nod for best comedy performance for the Tim Firth play Neville’s Island, which was later made into a film starring Timothy Spall, and starring in second World War-set production Privates On Parade, based on the film of the same name, as ace impersonator Captain Terri Dennis.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7NOENOTFAFATPNFSW5MXXHLAPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736866042878},"content":"His West End debut was in the 1930s-style musical Radio Times, and on TV he also played a detective in Tiger Bastable, a gentlemen comedy spoof, and the title character in sitcom Just A Gigolo.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MZY6V5A6QFC7JFYCQFUTPKECTQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"But he will be most remembered for his work on the Channel 4 flagship comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which saw performers conduct a series of short improvisation games with suggestions from the host or the audience.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CHC2UTAP6FEGFFQ4QKRDHSXDE4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Slattery appeared in 48 episodes from 1988 to 1995, becoming one of the show’s most popular performers. His departure in series seven affected the show’s ratings.","type":"text"},{"_id":"G5Y23MV4D5B6VKYE7KVBVPH7IU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868121559},"content":"In 2020, Slattery – who regularly spoke <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/tony-slattery-the-abuse-still-weighs-on-me-after-all-this-time-1.4251386\" target=\"_blank\">openly about his bipolar disorder</a> – revealed he went bankrupt following a battle with substance abuse and mental health issues.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DD77MZYXP5B4TB5IQBPGU3CRNY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037133},"content":"He told the Radio Times that his “fiscal illiteracy and general innumeracy” as well as his “misplaced trust in people” had also contributed to his money problems.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TENWVNI4R4JEGJI444BGEIRQ2I","additional_properties":{"_id":"4J4VWGYE6JG57O7H4XOCDIC2VY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"DP63EYOJQZDIZFMOQWUS3AUZHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037134},"content":"Slattery released the BBC Two Horizon documentary What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? in the same year, which saw him and Hutchinson visit leading experts on mood disorders and addiction.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IILHEXOVTBFXVHFZFTZW7A3ICU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686021},"content":"He had previously appeared in 2006 BBC Two programme The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive to speak about his condition.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EOCGDHPF2RE4FCQXRQJZFABXT4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686022},"content":"He said: “I rented a huge warehouse by the river Thames. I just stayed in there on my own, didn’t open the mail or answer the phone for months and months and months. I was just in a pool of despair and mania.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"C3RYI3HPWZEV3BTBUIJMJRSZL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686024},"content":"Slattery also made appearances in the final Carry On film Carry On Columbus, Robin Hood, Red Dwarf, The English Harem, Cold Blood, The Royal and Coronation Street.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HT6YAY4AAZHRHBRF6TGE3C56XI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736867686025},"content":"He won the first Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe along with Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, was one of the original patrons of Leicester Comedy Festival with Norman Wisdom and Irish comedian Sean Hughes, and had been a rector at the University of Dundee.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZAUSWQ6FOVHWROC7EUAFQKV5HQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595205},"content":"Read, who appeared with Slattery on Classic FM quizshow A Question Of Classics alongside late TV host Barry Took, wrote on X: “Very sad news about Tony Slattery ... we had fun. What fun & Tony & Barry were always on top form.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"IWRCYA3L4BGO5D4NJIP5LKE5Q4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595207},"content":"Murray wrote: “Really sad news about Tony Slattery. Such a dazzling talent,” while Herring posted: “Oh, Tony.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"EUJZQSBPN5GH5IJODEWL6HNOQE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595208},"content":"Tom Walker, best known as the satirical journalist personality Jonathan Pie, called the news “absolutely heartbreaking”, and referred to Slattery as a “genius”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7YX3QH6GWFHS7OHZW3HDGG7DPE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736868595209},"content":"Absolutely Fabulous actor and comedian Helen Lederer paid tribute to her “best friend” Tony Slattery on social media. “My best friend in laughter, wit, love, absurdity, being my best man (twice), we adored you – what will we do now.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BSXHU7W7GZEZVFOCPZVP6INOZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736870015543},"content":"Comedian and actor Les Dennis said Slattery was “wonderful talent” as he paid tribute to the comedian. “So very sad to hear Tony Slattery has died. A wonderful talent and a nice man. You will be missed Tony,” Dennis wrote on X, formerly Twitter. – PA, Guardian","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5KC5NJPHBHMTACRYGQ2O5SO2Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1736864037135},"content":"","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[]},"description":{"basic":"Slattery was a regular on comedy shows Whose Line Is It Anyway? Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You"},"display_date":"2025-01-14T14:28:03.695Z","headlines":{"basic":"Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM","auth":{"1":"6550cea46f079be9b8f557d87bddbee2e452460932c18345a7b2fb82a40f2a6a"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"TV & Radio"}}}},{"_id":"4WPIXFQH4VEQTORA2XCK66F3QU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":213,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/4c67e30a-5add-44bb-959c-340e0c600c54/versions/1736765529/media/990ca7c882b3c340f1d1427736060d54_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/","content_elements":[{"_id":"2TNFTHYD4NHVZK2H4ZGR66LLOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488337},"content":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters","type":"header"},{"_id":"5T77ZVMAW5AO7JTVNIZFCPLW4M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488338},"content":"Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"IROBKJJRMBBRTJGZGTOV46TXSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488339},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"WXGS4WVIJVHO3JO7QQNXWXZLMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488340},"content":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters, by Michael J Harnett, is a small, homespun three-act play focusing on the relationships between two pairs of sisters who meet for coffee with a sense of routine obligation only for truths left unsaid for decades to come to light unexpectedly.","type":"text"},{"_id":"22VLFH54N5H2VPRQOWVAVOYDBE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488341},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/geraldine-plunkett/\" target=\"_blank\">Geraldine Plunkett</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/deirdre-monaghan/\" target=\"_blank\">Deirdre Monaghan</a> open the show in the roles of Angela and Betty. Though their ages are left indeterminate, they are likely to be in their 70s, with a background in Ireland’s Protestant ascendancy; albeit that their family suffered financial setbacks later on, the women’s reminiscences involve a large family home, replete with domestic servants. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"MW44IQTF3NE53ETYDUKDRXIJX4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Taking their seats in the cafe, Angela is well dressed, fashionable even, while Betty looks more subdued. These superficial indicators belie the dynamic set in motion as soon as they sit down: Betty begins to unravel the convenient half-truths about their parents that the sisters have maintained. Her more combative, honest persona stems from a change in her circumstances: as Betty reveals, she has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HZSNXPKJ4NATREKSGEBILZLGMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488342},"content":"Following Angela and Betty are Mona and Lu, played by Brenda Brooks and, in a bold move by Vinnie McCabe, the production’s director, Deirdre Monaghan once again. Despite the duplication of one half of the casting, this pair of sisters are, on the face of things, utterly at odds with the previous duo. Mona and Lu are younger by at least two decades, and they speak with very different accents, having grown up in a working-class household in north Dublin. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"FZQLF5KOXVFVNEDRGU4MWHSZDY","additional_properties":{"_id":"EDYOGDM4VNEDZCGW63YFYTD6H4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"P4WUAOC25FFHLL4ZCNCFXXXSQA","additional_properties":{},"content":"As before, however, a moment of reflective clarity visits the sisters during their conversation, this time elicited by Mona’s recent separation and stint in counselling. Mona’s newfound insights give her the tools to penetrate her sister’s emotional barriers, prompting the release of a secret trauma that Lu buried years ago. With this confession the pair discover a new intimacy, and they examine the inadequacies of their married lives with an almost giddy sense of freedom.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WO4YEXB2DZBZHFQP6653R2BYRE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488343},"content":"The relationships dovetail in the third act, when Angela and Mona spend a moment together in the play’s final scene. United after a momentary interaction reveals that one of the cleaners employed in Angela and Betty’s well-to-do home was none other than Mona and Lu’s mother, Angela – now bereaved – and Mona discuss their sisters, migrating into a conversation about themselves and their struggles to feel entitled to happiness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DNPXGRRTEFGH5NDFO4CBIEV23U","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488344},"content":"A madeira, if you don’t know, is a dense English sponge cake, originally meant to be dipped in Madeira wine, that has been a staple of afternoon tea – in other words, it connotes a sense of orthodoxy, of lifeless bourgeois rules, not to mention blandness. A madeira is a boring desert, Betty exclaims in the first act. But, she notes, it is also a place: a Portuguese island, off the coast of Morocco, that is shaped by volcanic activity, rife with verdant cliffs. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"MDXVCHMKCZHGPMXEXWBMLH6DDE","additional_properties":{},"content":"This duality is the heart of the play: while our personal, domestic lives can feel dull and uninspired, another world is always possible. All one need do is realise that it has been there all along.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QZETDHJCLFGZJHFOFY6INCWTSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488346},"content":"Though the writing is occasionally quagmired by cliche, the production is executed without misstep and features some excellent acting. At 60 minutes, the time flies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"G62QFXQLVFDJZG74XIPPVX55SI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736761488347},"content":"<i>Madeira: Secrets of Sisters continues at </i><a href=\"https://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bewley’s Cafe Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, February 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Two pairs of sisters visited by a moment of reflective clarity gain a new understanding of family"},"display_date":"2025-01-13T10:44:02.327Z","headlines":{"basic":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters review – Four siblings, three actors and a tale that penetrates emotional barriers","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU","auth":{"1":"7777f19931fac85275857c5b81ab599014d82f2c32ee3076d33b3082a909a2c3"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"BYLD6USTNJEBZFKTQI42G3RWVA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":169,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/3090bbac-b336-4e9b-bca2-f50b28b5fd4c/versions/1736432324/media/bdedf1e021a4d5bc674b82f0221833bb_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/","content_elements":[{"_id":"BDOMPTGP4NCYDISQDHWWBSSHVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564108},"content":"The <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey Theatre</a> has been awarded €9.5 million in the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/arts-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Council’s</a> first round of direct funding for 2025, €1 million more than it received under the same strand last year.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CEUWQWJGRBHCBJS3GRSUFBIE7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564110},"content":"The National Theatre was previously the subject of a critical Arts Council-commissioned review that cited “unclear” governance in relation to tax procedures and financial matters.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZRQNRHM5G5ARPI2NUEDUGTP3FQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564111},"content":"Last August, the board of the theatre accepted the report, and published a list of actions taken or in train, including changes to board records, governance structures and culture, employer liability insurance, as well as its relationship with the Arts Council.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YORU3ZKTT5EF3NIRD3KES6KXZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564112},"content":"At €9.5 million the “strategic funding” for the Abbey in 2025 dwarfs the next highest grant this year, €5,501,130 for the Dublin based Irish National Opera. Both of these are significantly higher than other large strategic grants, including that for Dublin’s Gate Theatre (€2.85 million) and Luail, Ireland’s National Dance Company (€2.2million).","type":"text"},{"_id":"2IHACCP6TJB2DMNPPM4I4DTGTM","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564113},"content":"Among the highest other strategic grants were the Wexford Festival Opera (€1,950,300); the Irish Film Institute (€1.21 million); and the Irish Traditional Archive (€1,067,680).","type":"text"},{"_id":"NPCHPZHQ3BCDTEFTKTJJNKVYAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564114},"content":"Galway’s Druid Theatre was awarded €1.134 million. Overall strategic arts grants to Galway-based organisations totalled more than €4 million.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TGVPH3IELRF3HCWVR4GG4KDP2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564115},"content":"In all, 175 grants were awarded to organisations, art centres and arts studios across the Republic under the funding strand. However, no organisations in Co Offaly were listed as receiving grants.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TPM6BJTPVRHPFKHLEEND34A3IY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564116},"content":"Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council, said grant funding was “vital to the continued growth and development of the arts in Ireland”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LCXEOAWSQRCR7F3LF3EKNJPG3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564117},"content":"She said the money would help ensure that organisations were “empowered to realise compelling visions across all artforms. This financial support will allow people of all ages and backgrounds to engage with and experience the very best of the arts in our country,” she said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NYSDTGJY4JCPDOS7M6HJAN6SMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1736428564118},"content":"In 2025 there are to be 33 direct grant schemes from the Arts Council, all of which are open and competitive, the Arts Council said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EWQX7M5E75GHPGJJYUVGPGAYOU","additional_properties":{"_id":"UQQU4GQZBVFAPIZUGCRGJN37BM"},"content":"<div style=\"min-height:908px\" id=\"datawrapper-vis-35jew\"><script type=\"text/javascript\" defer src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/35jew/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" data-target=\"#datawrapper-vis-35jew\"><\/script><noscript><img src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/35jew/full.png\" alt=\"Table showing funding by the Arts Council for arts bodies in 2025\" /></noscript></div>","type":"raw_html"},{"_id":"YCDY6C2IB5FUNMX3YVDX7FFP3I","additional_properties":{},"type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Tim O'Brien"}},"name":"Tim O'Brien"}]},"description":{"basic":"Almost €60 million spread across nationwide arts bodies"},"display_date":"2025-01-09T13:51:59.314Z","headlines":{"basic":"Abbey Theatre gets €9.5m in strategic funding from Arts Council, €1m more than last year","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI","auth":{"1":"96814d1e4ee76298008a890b37c8118deb136aa9f99a5237df4f3907909dfd54"},"focal_point":{"x":3371,"y":504},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Ireland"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"5UQF7KC6UFH7XI4ASVOG34JVS4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":226,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/041dfd82-300f-4674-a034-2b92745061e9/versions/1736255986/media/51816fafc087f9849914983914085d21_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/","content_elements":[{"_id":"GN5LCUEWKZC23BLF4MPQSRGG3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230439},"content":"Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong","type":"header"},{"_id":"B5W57RF6JVG43LFLJMVJLNTBZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230440},"content":"Viking Theatre, Clontarf, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"U3L7YJ7QBZCHJPLWEEDK3WDR2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230441},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"Y7TTQKNK55DV5OE66FFNF6C56E","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970517},"content":"Along with Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon and Carole Richardson, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paddy-armstrong/\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Armstrong</a> was one of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/guildford-four/\" target=\"_blank\">Guildford Four</a>, the group of young people wrongfully imprisoned in Britain for 15 years.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EYSUE2ZFUNHKVK5QRTV7XGO37M","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970518},"content":"After the Provisional IRA bombed a pub in the Surrey town of Guildford, in 1974, English police rounded up and then beat and brutalised Armstrong and the others. After several days they obtained a set of false confessions – and before long arrested and then imprisoned another group of innocent citizens, the Maguire Seven, including Conlon’s father, Giuseppe, who subsequently died in prison.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KI4W2DY2DFHKRD3KZLGVLBVSBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970519},"content":"At the time of his incarceration, in 1975, Paddy Armstrong was the oldest of the Guildford Four. He was 25.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6UVNFSI5OJGHBCFK3WFDB66MTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970520},"content":"Jim Sheridan’s film In the Name of the Father raised the four’s profile globally, but the details of Armstrong’s personal experience were not common knowledge until the publication of his acclaimed memoir, Life After Life, in 2017. He wrote it with Mary-Elaine Tynan, a teacher, journalist and documentarymaker. Profoundly affected by Armstrong’s story, she has now taken on the role of producer and director of this sold-out stage adaptation, which is about to go on tour.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GKWU53MAA5DLJFBTZCEXYXJJH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970521},"content":"In the prologue to Life After Life, Armstrong observes that, so incredible were the events that befell him, it sometimes feels as though “I’m remembering someone else’s life”. This idea is given a poetic twist throughout this one-man play, as its central character’s memory is fading, his recall declining: Armstrong remembers the moments of his life out of joint, each narrative episode linked not by chronology but by the intensity of its feeling.","type":"text"},{"_id":"64FAEPOBLRGSTBTI426UO5PN2A","additional_properties":{"_id":"MAOKK3SULBBA5BA4HJP7XQAUOE"},"content":"The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"GFYF4TQNKBC3HOL66VRF2PMQOQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970523},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/don-wycherley/\" target=\"_blank\">Don Wycherley</a>, who wrote the play with Tynan and Niamh Gleeson, is incandescent, delivering a remarkably compelling performance. He glides through characters, emotions, accents, locations and time periods without missing a beat. He conveys the humanity at the core of the character he is portraying, a funny, charming and sometimes confused survivor of the cruellest prejudices of English imperialism.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U72WGRILYVGRVI2S7I2WFL4DRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970524},"content":"Though there is plenty of humour, as well as some precious moments of joy, Wycherley carves space for both wrath and despair. After all, many in the English establishment seem to have thought it likely that the Guildford Four were innocent but did nothing to change their circumstances.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QHMC74CPXZBZBGUOLOQ6GJEK74","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970525},"content":"Nor has anyone been held responsible. Three police officers who were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, Thomas Style, John Donaldson and Vernon Attwell, were found not guilty. Peter Imbert, the officer who oversaw the arrest and interrogation of both the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven, went on to be knighted and, later, made a peer. Mr Justice Donaldson, the judge in the case, who lamented Britain’s abolition of capital punishment as he sentenced Armstrong, Hill and Conlon, later became master of the rolls, the head of England’s civil courts.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CFOFTNZ7VZG6TCKZIENZGICILU","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970526},"content":"Yet these facts do not ultimately disturb the sanctity of Armstrong’s life. He finds a measure of peace in the suburbs of Dublin. Though he grapples with the memories of so much injustice, he is unbowed: after prison, Armstrong met his wife, Caroline, and had two children, John and Sophie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D3GW62EEQJCN7E3UFSWIIGCJ2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1736255970527},"content":"This devastating story of disaster, oppression and redemption is not to be missed.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GN5LCUEWKZC23BLF4MPQSRGG3U","additional_properties":{"_id":1735576230443},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.lifeandtimesofpaddy.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong</i></a><i> is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.vikingtheatredublin.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Viking Theatre</i></a><i>, Clontarf, Dublin, until Wednesday, January 8th, before beginning a </i><a href=\"https://www.lifeandtimesofpaddy.com/tour-dates\" target=\"_blank\"><i>tour</i></a><i> that starts at the </i><a href=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Pavilion Theatre</i></a><i>, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on January 14th-15th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Play is a devastating retelling of the injustice suffered by Armstrong and the Guildford Four"},"display_date":"2025-01-07T13:07:51.095Z","headlines":{"basic":"Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong review – Don Wycherley is incandescent in this journey from disaster to redemption","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI","auth":{"1":"cc87132abf35b13fe7f46cb8a32ce320d566e588c0e60d8c65eadc8b2bf416c7"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"IRXBHE2DNBFRPHBRW6BDZHQSPE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":445,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/73f3d26e-e1a8-4c7c-8d6e-6da1c0386f71/versions/1734616439/media/9c5476f479a0b7e4ebee7a10aa641dbb_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/","content_elements":[{"_id":"WR5E2U62WVDTRIAEBB42ZD7EGY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972975},"content":"What happens when you read or hear the word “musical”? Do you wince at the memory of an over-amplified <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/\" target=\"_blank\">theatre</a> evening watching <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/cats-just-because-you-can-doesn-t-mean-you-should-1.4123030\" target=\"_blank\">spandex-clad adults pretending to be cats</a>? Were you “changed” for good – and not in a good way – this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/christmas/\" target=\"_blank\">Christmas</a> season by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/11/19/wicked-review-yes-its-a-nightmare-in-digital-wax-but-youll-leave-the-cinema-in-buoyant-mood/\" target=\"_blank\">Wicked</a>, a stage show turned cinematic juggernaut that the New York Times described recently as “cultural bludgeoning”?","type":"text"},{"_id":"3TFPQBB3SZCEDGDKCZM5D6RTE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972977},"content":"The modern musical has a lot to answer for since it swallowed 1980s steroids to bulk up. Entrepreneurs took a century-old theatrical form and turned it into the mega musical: slick, reproduceable, tourable, mass-marketable, candyfloss waterboarding.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GQBMY5CGVZGMTLVW75V35KNR4U","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972978},"content":"Embraced by some, dismissed by others, mega-musical spectacles have long-since eclipsed what the musical once was – and, for some, still is.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YIUAO5YYWNB4ZICAZ7C3J3KBW4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972979},"content":"For many of these musical purists, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stephen-sondheim/\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Sondheim</a>, who died in 2021 aged 91, was their pope.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AKREWHGSLJDTBBF7FVYUQS7WME","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972980},"content":"A lifelong wisecracking <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/new-york-city/\" target=\"_blank\">New Yorker</a>, Sondheim inherited the musical theatre tradition from his mentor, Oscar “Sound of Music” Hammerstein II, and opened up the form’s possibilities to the ambivalence of modern life.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6QYHYKUB4RBSLBMDUHJ3QO4YV4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972981},"content":"One member of the worldwide church of Sondheimites is Richard Schoch, professor of drama at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/queens-university/\" target=\"_blank\">Queen’s University Belfast</a>. Unsatisfied by Sondheim obituaries and tributes, he began writing a book exploring the universality of Sondheim shows. Their themes and lessons are so ingenious, he promises, that they can change your life.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IN2AJ7CU5ZCSPF3LXX7TCVN4HI","additional_properties":{"_id":"3DGVG7DE7FEE7OK4NVIWAXUWKM"},"content":"Stop lying about musicals. We can see your foot tapping","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LDAAHD32BNBN7FORFQCF3RGMKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972982},"content":"“What Sondheim offers us is not life with all its riddles happily solved but life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray,” he argues. “Virginia Woolf once described George Eliot as a novelist for ‘grown-up people’, and the same is true of Stephen Sondheim. His musicals are for grown ups.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LWJ2XZPXFZCQVKOP3TG4VVKCVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972983},"content":"Schoch is so passionate about his subject that he’s kindly agreed to an interview – via satellite – from the Queen Mary 2, halfway across the Atlantic. In between occasional line drops he explains why Sondheim is different from the mega-musicals of big gestures and hummable, repetitive tunes. (Full disclosure: I have been a Sondheim admirer since 1996 when I floated down London’s South Bank after a Royal National Theatre performance of A Little Night Music, a Swedish-set musical farce starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/judi-dench/\" target=\"_blank\">Judi Dench</a> best known for Sondheim’s only pop hit, Send in the Clowns.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"JC5KMTQU3QJWPRQOEAK4UKIOEE","additional_properties":{"_id":"HLBTOSL5TFEMHEHGCTQS5ASPNI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LDJ4BZQQX5CO5MZXEKEXRSCPHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972986},"content":"For Schoch, the Sondheim spark came from seeing <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2022/10/11/angela-lansbury-was-irish-english-scottish-a-tv-superstar-and-a-broadway-demon/\" target=\"_blank\">Angela Lansbury</a> as the cannibal-adjacent pie-maker Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6BZCEZXFDZFXHDUBAZDGBS7WLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972987},"content":"His Sondheim passion has stayed with him in the subsequent four decades: as a theatre director in Washington DC and New York and later at the New York Public Library’s performing arts archives. After teaching for 15 years in London he is a covert recruiter to the Sondheim cult through his over-subscribed Queen’s musical theatre acting class and an advanced module on the composer-lyricist.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MOVWBN2YJFA6BIJ7X4WFT55CTA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972988},"content":"“The students arrive in class thinking musical theatre is one thing – jazz hands and toe-tapping tunes – but end class realising that it can also be proper theatre,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S2S6KKTR4RA6XCI4UYZN4OPB2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972989},"content":"More than that: Schoch’s entertaining and engaging book argues that Sondheim’s works are high art. They explore the human condition with precision, yet remain malleable enough to remain fresh for each new generation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QBERQ4K5NFFWTFNVUS7UPGAHLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972990},"content":"Take the largely plotless Company (1970) about a bachelor with intimacy issues, wondering how best to survive being alive: as a stoic singleton or as a sorry-grateful husband. Revived recently with a female lead, it became a Tinder-era exploration of urban loneliness and the ticking biological clock.","type":"text"},{"_id":"76CH66HDOBD3PG4B4M542M7ZO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972991},"content":"Gypsy, an early work with Sondheim lyrics, is about a pushy stage mother but recent productions highlight the mother-child conflict over unlived lives.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GO357D42NFAV5MRXRYZE5UEL4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972992},"content":"Follies tackles middle-aged people and lies they tell themselves to rationalise poor life choices.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ATKRG6B67VAN5EKFJOI2F6WNTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972993},"content":"Sondheim’s favourite themes – obsession, loss, regret – can be a dark business, just as his music can switch without warning from peppy showtune to restless Ravel.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FTVNMY22S5FWPBWUDUQP4BQ7AE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972994},"content":"For Schoch, Sondheim’s rare talent as a composer-lyricist allowed him go beyond hummable melodies to explore the dramatic possibilities of merging words and music, conflicting emotion and intellect.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A4IVT7IXT5EOFFJXYHK4DB3ESI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972995},"content":"“There are Sondheim dissonances and angularity; you can get quite positive lyrics sitting on music that is troubling,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EXJSTPFBUNGTJKMQ5GCQOYCUHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972996},"content":"With complex music and ambivalent lyrics and stories, Sondheim’s work attracts criticism for favouring a chilly cerebral approach, more clever than kind. Schoch is having none of it, praising Sondheim shows for daring to show “characters who reflect on their situation”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3O57FBG3RJHJPDLKY4DK7LK3BA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972997},"content":"“They are smart enough to step back from their experience to try and understand ... something we all want to do,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FUIWQJOBPBHFLJ2A7RVYYERSHA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607972998},"content":"After his last Broadway musical in 1994, Sondheim enjoyed a surge of popularity late in life. Film versions of Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods helped; a third – Merrily We Roll Along – is in the works from Richard Linklater. On stage, meanwhile, actors and comedians from Daniel Radcliffe and Jake Gyllenhaal to Stephen Colbert and Catherine Tate are lining up to appear in Sondheim productions.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WHEBUYQ44FFODOY6ZYX2YMPYDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973000},"content":"A decade ago <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/dec/02/assassins-review-catherine-tate-sondheim\" target=\"_blank\">Tate delivered a standout performance</a> in a London revival of Sondheim’s 1991 show Assassins, about the nine people who – with varying levels of success – set out to kill a US president. Amid jokes, revue numbers and a carnival setting, Assassins mockingly celebrates the American dream as a logic trap: if an American’s self-realisation dream is to kill the president, should they go for it – and should we disapprove or applaud?","type":"text"},{"_id":"VXFMHKMUW5C5JJKLERXR3FXBRM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973002},"content":"How does Schoch view the show, months after two failed attempts on the life of Donald Trump?","type":"text"},{"_id":"UTAS7VJGSJHUTE2YT6H4OB45PQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973003},"content":"“It’s never been more timely,” he says. “Life in America can get so bad that a wayward few will go to horrific extremes to put things right. It’s wrong, but it happens, and it happens for a reason.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RUS3EGE3YVF3DKNDUHAMLW3KOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973004},"content":"Sondheim’s last work, Here We Are, is coming to London in April, while Northern Ireland Opera will present Follies in Belfast next September.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SUKOOEAK3FHZBCJ62HIMNAZPNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973005},"content":"Before his death, Sondheim had passed the musical torch on to a new generation lead by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lin-manuel-miranda/\" target=\"_blank\">Lin-Manuel Miranda</a>, creator of Hamilton. Even if it’s too soon to tell if the grown-up musical form remains creative or is calcifying, Schoch is confident that Sondheim shows will still be playing in a century’s time. Why?","type":"text"},{"_id":"OJABVMJJGREUBMLN2NXLASUZYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973006},"content":"“There’s the harmonic, architectural complexity of the music itself, the cleverness, dexterity and insightfulness of the lyrics,” he says. “His work is about what the music and lyrics make it possible for us to see, hear or feel. The music and lyrics work together to provoke us stir up something.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"24GBZAVDAVEABIHWOV73L7HNCY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734607973007},"content":"<i>How Sondheim Can Change Your Life by Richard Schoch is available now.</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Derek Scally"}},"name":"Derek Scally"}]},"description":{"basic":"Queen’s University Belfast academic Richard Schoch says the American composer’s works are high art that explore the human condition with precision, and remain fresh for each new generation"},"display_date":"2025-01-05T06:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Musicals for grown ups: Stephen Sondheim presents ‘life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A","auth":{"1":"ce093d3a27d5b1c25c4ef7cb2a1cc0188bf942ec72dfa34ea33c41cf37c9d8d2"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"JTO2EPKGCBDK7C6HTIRQY7GX34","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":295,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-cdn-b7fyckdeejejb6dj.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/f58b1e05-3c9a-43f9-8a25-d11f12896784/versions/1735816352/media/6ba4249d92a85c64218dd1a6608ef4a4_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/","content_elements":[{"_id":"VBEYOTHP3BAX7CR7CNQIOL27VM","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836864},"content":"Plays by the acclaimed Irish dramatist <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brian-friel/\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Friel</a>, who has been referred to as an “Irish Chekhov”, have been performed in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/london/\" target=\"_blank\">London</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a>, on Broadway and elsewhere. Now an ambitious five-year project is bringing the works home to “the terroir, the communities and the landscapes” that inspired them, culminating in all 29 running across counties <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donegal/\" target=\"_blank\">Donegal</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/derry/\" target=\"_blank\">Derry </a>and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tyrone/\" target=\"_blank\">Tyrone </a>– places that Friel lived – during the centenary of his 1929 birth.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ELQ56PAH5FAVRPIGKELSJ34JFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836866},"content":"The<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/brian-friel/obituary-brian-friel-the-best-known-playwright-of-his-generation-1.2375969\" target=\"_blank\"> late playwright, who died in 2015</a>, was notable in the pantheon of 20th-century Irish writers in that he lived in<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/northern-ireland/\" target=\"_blank\"> Northern Ireland </a>and the Republic of Ireland all his life, rooting his works in both.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4C5JUNMVLBHNRBJ32K27OEZHB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836867},"content":"FrielDays – a Homecoming will feature readings of his notable works, including Dancing at Lughnasa and Philadelphia Here I Come!, as well as those rarely staged, according to Seán Doran, the artistic director of Arts Over Borders, which is organising the huge event.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UO5ZXD26TJGALJFVWKUKAWZXE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836868},"content":"Community halls, churches, schools – “the landscape covered or uncovered” – will be stage and set. “It’s using landscape in a sort of psycho-geography that helps trigger the plays in a more heightened way,” Doran said. A different village or town will be used for each “so it’s county-wide, cross-Border wide”. Each site “has to have the memories and the layering of past and connectivity to the texts you are about to witness”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZZUTJWT7ZBKHG4X6ZWONOCKRU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836869},"content":"The first year, 2025, will include <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/18/dancing-at-lughnasa-review-gates-triumphant-breathtakingly-beautiful-revival-deserves-groaning-houses/\" target=\"_blank\">Dancing at Lughnasa</a> – for which Friel won a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tony-awards/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony award </a>and which was made into a film starring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/meryl-streep/2/\" target=\"_blank\">Meryl Streep</a> – Translations, Faith Healer, The Home Place and the lesser-known Volunteers, which “Friel particularly loved”, Doran said, but which was castigated in London and Dublin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4OQSOZOVZA45JBPINWBFK2YWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836870},"content":"So purist is the approach that each performed reading by actors will happen in the season, or month, in which Friel set them. “In presenting them within the terroir they have come out of, you are strengthening that sense of place in time for the audience,” Doran said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MJB6I6QZPVEHJE6KBURUXX546E","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836871},"content":"Some performances will enable the audience to watch in real time. For example, Translations, which is set over several days, will have a small number of tickets for the first act on Wednesday, the second on Friday, and for the third on Saturday.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KQDFTC3JUJFQ3KJU27B22FZD7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836872},"content":"Further symbolism will include a “hedge school” running alongside the plays. Named after the secret schools that operated in the 18th and 19th centuries for Catholics when their education was banned, these will distil themes from the plays. Audiences will be bussed deeper into the countryside to the school, at a secret location.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5ZKBYGFIUFAJ7CCYOVPBJ4D5WQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836873},"content":"Friel’s themes include exile and emigration, but, Doran said, “Irishness is the overarching theme. And re-evaluating the past into the present, that haunts all of us, through playwrighting”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6D3OC4W24BJGPDHR4Z62KDSWUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"KE7UQXK6JZC3ZPF23DV2MQO7IA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"DSPWWTGKUFBVDM6H35AYS2QXAM","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836874},"content":"Written post-internment, Volunteers features prisoners on an archaeological dig, one that did happen at Wood Quay, Dublin, on the river Liffey before developers built a five-star hotel. “We’ll be doing that at Ebrington Square, Derry, the former British army barracks on the water,” Doran said. It will be set up as an archaeological dig site, “so it will really catch the liveness of a real setting”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IRBEVNPRZRGQRM2DRZ3IBA56EI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836875},"content":"During Faith Healer, which follows the main character Frank as he travels around Celtic villages, audiences will be bussed to different venues between the four acts. Starting in Glenties, the town in Co Donegal on which Friel’s fictional Ballybeg is believed to be based, the audience will move up into the Blue Stack mountains, then on to the coast, and finally back to Glenties.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KG3KUAZFGFGLHNYFUG5SQQVKVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836876},"content":"In some cases, the audience will be crossing the Border in between acts, the message being “to see the Border not as a divider but as a binder”, Doran said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U74A3PAVBFDAVDCEZ3COTRUKTA","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836877},"content":"Translations was written in English but features characters who speak Gaeilge, thus the performances will take place in the Gaeltacht – Irish-speaking areas. The audience “will arrive in an environment, be it a pub, where Gaeilge is being spoken, but the play they will see will be in English, so they will be in the milieu of the two languages,” Doran said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ASLQA3FGFNBX5PXLVZSEJYOILU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836878},"content":"Five plays will begin in 2025, and more will be added each year with the aim that, ultimately, all will be running during the year of the centenary.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FULR3XHVRVBYZBZZNZQHYUAKRU","additional_properties":{"_id":"TOFOJQU7ABHIXJFBMYFXQXGCGM"},"content":"Anne Friel on her late husband playwright Brian: ‘I was crazy about him. He was everything’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"HISFFETS4JA5ZIGDR5QSOV37NI","additional_properties":{"_id":1735811836880},"content":"Arts Over Borders already runs annual Friel festivals. The vision and ambition of this new project was daunting, Doran said. “We evaluate the canon. And it’s only through the seeing and the being with and the living with that this can be done. – Guardian","type":"text"},{"_id":"U6I3NCSOWRDDVF6A4PFXIMNVPU","additional_properties":{"_id":1735812277965},"content":"<i>Tickets are available at </i><a href=\"https://www.artsoverborders.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>artsoverborders.com</i></a>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"name":"Caroline Davies"}]},"description":{"basic":"Five-year project will stage each play in a setting relevant to its theme and in the season it was set"},"display_date":"2025-01-02T11:07:21.44Z","headlines":{"basic":"Brian Friel’s plays to be brought home to cross-Border communities that inspired them","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ","auth":{"1":"1caddb583b9ef0359d08725f47cfb442a8c7c9e951e1a62eb82552f11d912121"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"2CJCFHR3DNHHVPNWTJ43CU4OYA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":485,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/07495b28-c4b9-446b-b653-78c1b761ece7/versions/1733253073/media/7cf25756c86a051082773098776120ec_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/","content_elements":[{"_id":"7CUW3YYVZVFBRJIW2WPZN23KAQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376137},"content":"Up on the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/\" target=\"_blank\">stage</a>, a chestnut colt is nickering nervously, unwilling to be reined. Bred to be a hunting horse, he has been bought to plough the fallow fields of a Devon farm. He whinnies in protest against the leather harness, bucks his forelegs as the bridle is secured. With the bit in his mouth, he rears and kicks his hind hooves, determined to resist. In the end it isn’t physical restraint that calms him but the gentling voice of his new owner, 15-year-old Albert Narracott.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MQ7IZRZNQJD6NMZEA44KAF6QYE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179026},"content":"This inhospitable beginning begets a bond that sustains them both through the violence of domestic and military battles. Boy and beast, man and animal: the relationship is the basis of an authentic kinship.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EAOUAUR4W5HL3CENRCS27O45GQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376138},"content":"If the connection between Albert and his horse, which he names Joey, seems far-fetched, an imaginative stretch, millions of readers, film lovers and theatregoers would disagree. It provides the central plot for War Horse, the beloved 1982 novel by the lauded British author <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/michael-morpurgo/\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Morpurgo</a>. Adapted for the stage in 2007, it has become one of the most celebrated shows in the repertoire of Britain’s National Theatre, as well as the foundation of<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steven-spielberg/\" target=\"_blank\"> Steven Spielberg’s </a>2011 filmed version.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FST37W2EGJHUNEEHSFGO6MNH24","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294104},"content":"This month the production comes to Ireland. Nick Stafford’s script remains unchanged, but a new cast brings a vivid, fresh interpretation to the work where women’s experiences of the first World War are brought out of the shadows and the world of the battlefield is expanded through the possibilities of digital projection of drawings by Rae Smith, the original designer. What the audience will surely remember, however, is the unbridled love between Albert and Joey, whose embodiment on stage is a masterclass in theatrical storytelling.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ADTCDGS4TVEOVLH3V7RJENCWMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376139},"content":"Tom Sturgess, the actor playing Albert, saw the first touring production of War Horse more than a decade ago, on a family visit to his local theatre, the Lowry on Salford Quays in Manchester. Coincidentally, this is where we meet to talk about the new production. Sturgess was only 11 at the time, so he doesn’t remember much about the play itself, he says, but he does recall the scale of it. The production “felt massive, bigger than anything I had seen before. It was in this huge auditorium, and the building itself was so big, so what I remember is this huge sense of grandiosity”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HBVWKBYYZJE5BFINBX627ZAPMY","additional_properties":{"_id":"V4YBDBNVAJFLLAIOXR3SYAOOIY"},"content":"How does War Horse work? A complex design of bungee cord, cane and leather","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"34Z6D3URQNGG3PJMADOSCSYKUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294106},"content":"The experience helped to shape his ambition; after graduating from drama school in 2019, he was immediately cast in the West End, contracted to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which he played in for a year (after the interruption of the pandemic). Getting another gig with such an extensive performance schedule is “a bit of a luxury”, he says. But it also poses the challenge of how to “connect to something artistically that you are going to be doing for so long – eight shows a week for 10 months”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UUFKMCCRMVAPZG2B6ISDSPGAO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179033},"content":"Sturgess’s trick to keep his War Horse performance fresh is “to notice something new in everyone each day, to think less about myself and more about what everyone else is doing”. It also helps, Sturgess says, that most of his scenes are played opposite a puppet, which is operated not by just one cast member but by four teams of three actors.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CSM3HHS5KNBVVCC6SHLRLGUS4Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179034},"content":"“Every team is completely different,” he explains. “So, show by show, you are building a relationship with a different horse. It is the same character, but each Joey has a different personality, based on the group of three, and that definitely helps to keep it alive for me. I can’t go into autopilot. I have to respond to what is being offered.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XEKAAMSPARE7BF6GAYBOWFIMOQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"T223HILJO5C4DJHTXDX3EBFS6U"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"H7QBASJAAZA53IMGJ6IYJ7G3YU","additional_properties":{"_id":"MLII4CY22ZD5DEH5HB5TYSB5FA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"3HKEB777DND5VM3IDTORINE5IM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376140},"content":"Sturgess’s training for working with the equine ensemble began in auditions, when he was “completely star-struck doing the scene”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4M5WH55Q3FBVPMKMDUMSE6KXEA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179036},"content":"“But there was this moment when Joey stopped being a puppet: he just became real. And that is what happens for the audience, too: Joey comes on stage and they see the horse and the three puppeteers manipulating him, but then there is a moment – and you don’t even realise – but all of a sudden the horse is real before your eyes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S6NMXJAHRFDYJB6Z7K3UIOFAH4","additional_properties":{"_id":"WLPGBZL2MVHYVATEKHIG5UGTVE"},"content":"A Few Words on Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman – Too close to its subject","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"BK3IUZZRYNE57OJE3L2YYUMODA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294109},"content":"“That happens to me on stage, as well: I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing like a horse, making sounds and moving like a horse would, so you start interacting with them like you would with any horse. But, like any horse would, they also ignore you, and by rooting [Joey’s behaviour] in the reality of how a horse might behave, it becomes more than a device to pull an emotional response out of you. By playing the truth of a horse, it becomes something real.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5LCEBOOMTFCIVMCCALO4H5S7QU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376141},"content":"Tea Poldervaart is one of the actors playing Joey in the two incarnations we see on stage: we meet Joey as a colt, as well as in his fully-grown form. Poldervaart explains the reasoning behind the trebling of actors.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SLJFTRB2AZHMXJI7PKERCMPPKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179040},"content":"“The horses have a lot of weight to them,” he says, “so there’s a very physical workout every time you go on stage. The head” – which Poldervaart plays – “is just under 8kg, and the heart and hind is 44kg in weight – and that doesn’t take into account an actor sitting on top and having to gallop across the stage. And you are carrying that for two hours through every performance, so you really need to be fit and you really need to be comfortable and safe.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QKQOS453EFEQPDJBLEMK4M7L2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179041},"content":"Splitting the role between teams is a way of ensuring that.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T5ZSVY525VGZRPMFCCDMLHAT2I","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376142},"content":"“With our Joey it feels like we are mirroring Albert’s youth and innocence, his childlike wonder. Our Joey is very interested in the world. So in the first half he is very chirpy and happy, and open to everything. And that has such an impact then when he gets sent over to war: it’s like seeing a child in those environments.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HFTEGQUOMJFGRFYQ6QPC6MF2TE","additional_properties":{"_id":"TP3QEG6HAJHSRAYYDQGTN6UVMU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"W6HZ4TE2JBBZJNJTEDWT75GZNI","additional_properties":{"_id":"FI5O6VOK4FF5VE2EF2ZZANYDAU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"W3OJO4267NARZNVAHPGIUNZG7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376143},"content":"He describes the different functions of the different parts of the animal both technically and emotionally. “With each position on the horse we all have roles and emotional indicators. So for me, as the head, I’m giving the gaze and focus of the animal. Heart is really selling the breath, the life‚ of the puppet. Hind is like the engine, the driving force.” Ultimately, “it’s really all about working together”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M74ZPZZQXZGZVD2YHUWTKJD7DM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376144},"content":"This is something that the show’s directors emphasised as they readied the cast for this tour. Katie Henry, who’s directing this revival, and Matthew Forbes, its puppetry director, have long histories with the show: Henry joined for its first West End transfer; Forbes played Joey for three years. Although they have extensive knowledge of the production, they were keen, as Henry explains, “to accommodate the freshness of coming at it again with a whole set of new people”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BGUVTVPAPREILCCRMLBYH364FY","additional_properties":{"_id":"4ZHLER2UFRHDTDHCAJA7A7BMMY"},"content":"Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s son on his parents: ‘Kids were second to their drinking and partying’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UZEG32OJVFFALMCVEUG6UF74ZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732812294114},"content":"There are more women in this new production, including Sally Swanson, who plays the Singer, and whose rich folk voice brings a distinct feminine frame to the masculine world of war as it was in 1914, reminding the audience “what happened to the women left at home, what happened to the communities ripped apart when the men were sent off to war and didn’t come back”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QDHL4U42EFHURMVWIZN67E35FY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376145},"content":"Forbes sums up the puppets’ ongoing role in enabling our deep engagement with Morpurgo’s story. “By using puppets,” he says, “we are inviting the audience to engage their imaginations in bringing Joey to life.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FXLN5BGJY5E7XGOUQRGPBD2SEI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733248179048},"content":"If, as the adage goes, the audience is the central character in any piece of theatre, that’s doubly true with War Horse. “The response to Joey’s journey is so strong because the audience have been so invested in helping to create him.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"U3IEUV2AQNHLLEVNSD4ROVGENM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732730376146},"content":"<i>War Horse is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Wednesday, January 29th, until Saturday, February 1st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"A new stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel brings the kinship of boy and beast alive in a triumph of theatrical storytelling"},"display_date":"2025-01-02T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"War Horse: ‘I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing, making sounds and moving like a horse would’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA","auth":{"1":"fb19ddcba9834d40834b36ead89c489c6856747d243cca1d64f4291a2b757695"},"focal_point":{"x":3199,"y":2375},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA.JPG"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"L76YR2W3D5BDVATW56RLA2LDSU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":672,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/eaf5478b-ab0c-4cf8-81de-8e4e79a30ecc/versions/1734100479/media/a0de08d15d378916d6087c8a7969ea05_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/","content_elements":[{"_id":"WV2TYVN7G5BKJNM2P7O2SWXDYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475354},"content":"With many announcements still to be made, and several independent companies taking existing productions on the road, it remains to be seen how 2024′s commendably adventurous programming will play out. Will this streak continue? Will some box-office pain influence a return to more familiar material? We choose to be hopeful. The <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey Theatre</a>’s revival of the long-neglected 1931 play Youth’s the Season -? is expected to deliver a rare vision of 1920s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a> as young, arty, partying and campy. The <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate</a>’s production of Lovesong, by Abi Morgan, will present a 40-year marriage onstage. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is intensely romantic. How they warm these cold hearts of ours.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHV4BEWUO5FDZJZUH5FGXLBUDY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475356},"content":"Fledermaus","type":"header"},{"_id":"MCMKO5KYTFDILOP7PC37YGFEIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475357},"content":"Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, February 1st, then touring until February 23rd, visiting Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Letterkenny, Navan, Dundalk and Dún Laoghaire, <a href=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">irishnationalopera.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"W6KMYO5WB5FRPAHDQOZBDQY2GM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475359},"content":"It’s disguised identities at a masquerade ball in 19th-century Vienna as Irish National Opera stages Johann Strauss’s upbeat classic. Next-generation stars Jade Phoenix (La Ciociara) and Sarah Shine (The First Child) play a prisoner’s wife and her maid, their separate schemes leading them towards the biggest party in town. Large-scale debut for director Davey Kelleher.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JSVAFPVK3ND2DK5PE5JRWSRIR4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475360},"content":"Dr Strangelove","type":"header"},{"_id":"3KKPNIUEQVCLFAIEKA2DSYNBRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475361},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, February 5th-22nd, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"R5T4USZYGNHXRJYNC5QPLGLAHM","additional_properties":{"_id":"BH2KL5YRBRCWHLX4ES46CNGIYA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"6OELKF7IJ5HKFCOQ2T4DELDDLQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475363},"content":"Stanley Kubrick’s dark cold-war comedy, about a paranoid US general leading the world towards mutually assured destruction, saw the corridors of power as populated by contrivedly macho, chisel-jawed men smoking cigars, chewing gum and sleeping with their secretaries. That doesn’t sound unlike the toxic worlds portrayed by Armando Iannucci in Veep, The Death of Stalin and more, who is one of the writers of this stage adaptation, swiftly transferring from the West End of London. Steve Coogan takes on the multiple roles made famous in the film by Peter Sellers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DCO6SWGW4FG3HMWSAYPNZACMMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475364},"content":"Men’s Business","type":"header"},{"_id":"J52IARG6Z5BS5FVPID73DEMHIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475365},"content":"Glass Mask Theatre @ Bestseller, Dublin, February 11th-March 1st, <a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">glassmasktheatre.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"WPOEBO2BYBAHRJA7H7FTU7TNJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475367},"content":"Something of a coup for Glass Mask Theatre, which secures Simon Stephens’s new adaptation of this play by Franz Xaver Kroetz, the social realist of 1970s German theatre. A man and a woman (and a dog) all clash within the dangerously sharp confines of a butcher’s shop. Premiering in Dublin before playing in London.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RAY3BQT5TZDRFHJ3IUHWOEJWNU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475368},"content":"King Lear","type":"header"},{"_id":"MAYOASMCERGCFKAHFOC74EOYZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475369},"content":"Gate Theatre, Dublin, February 21st-April 27th, <a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gatetheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"GGQ7EKA52FBEZFB3N5YZJJHFIE","additional_properties":{"_id":"DKQ6I5KERREW7JTWCY3X3AW2OA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CIBWZEAMCRBENMHJMOGDLB7L7I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475371},"content":"A huge television audience may know him from Game of Thrones, but Conleth Hill – catapulted into the mainstream by Marie Jones’s comic 1996 play Stones in his Pockets – is a theatre creature through and through. While appearing in HBO’s fantasy drama he also performed in plays by Chekhov, Edward Albee and Annie Baker. All roads lead, fittingly, to Lear, Shakespeare’s swaggering king, who elicits performances from his daughters that lead to a catastrophic transition of power.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BSNTOTECTRDV7BK775ULAMM4YQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475372},"content":"& Juliet","type":"header"},{"_id":"LWGCILDC2RHDZJIT6BETBDTNIY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475373},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, February 25th-March 8th, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"JASOQ75E3BGSBFCTHVISO2ORWE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475375},"content":"For some, this enthusiastic rewriting of Romeo and Juliet might fist-bump emptily with girlboss feminism. It remains one of the smartest ideas in jukebox-musical history. The playwright David West Read secured the rights to the back catalogue of the Swedish hit-maker Max Martin, so allowing Juliet to wake miraculously from her deathbed to Britney Spears’s …Baby One More Time, escape to Paris accompanied by Robyn’s Show Me Love and reunite angrily with Romeo to Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone. Flashes of brilliance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TQFJMBR4RBA35KQOHRMTKBVOMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475376},"content":"The Velveteen Rabbit","type":"header"},{"_id":"XLWF2WE7BJENPGRD5NSLKPZ4KM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475377},"content":"Lyric Theatre, Belfast, March 14th-30th, <a href=\"https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">lyrictheatre.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXRFHSLBWJHG7GR2JERZL273LM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475379},"content":"Before there was Toy Story there was Margery Williams’s children’s book about a stuffed rabbit, attached to the idea of coming to life, and pushed aside by a new wave of mechanical toys. The industrious Replay Theatre teams up with Belfast’s Lyric Theatre to present this new musical adaptation, with music by Duke Special and a book by the novelist Jan Carson.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DSZ2APUNRFDGTGKYUTM6ZG52SI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475380},"content":"Little One","type":"header"},{"_id":"DH6L6PG2TVBGJHEXALB6RJU64Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475381},"content":"Glass Mask Theatre @ Bestseller, Dublin, March 18th-April 5th, <a href=\"https://glassmasktheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">glassmasktheatre.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"2KHEMUEOQFBH7EA6OCW2CHST74","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475383},"content":"A surprise production of the Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s chilling play in which two adults revisit their childhoods adopted into the same family. Glass Mask Theatre again subverts reassuring ideas of dinner theatre, insisting on serving a psychological drama to go with your Bordeaux.","type":"text"},{"_id":"H6MT2OVSJVBXZD36OWNDEBVHR4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475384},"content":"The Flying Dutchman","type":"header"},{"_id":"ATN7WIOG7NFNRBKCOXDYZJM724","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475385},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, March 23rd-29th, <a href=\"https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">irishnationalopera.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"P6UCXMEBK5G4ZAMIRBU7DMXTOU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475387},"content":"The expanse of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre transforms into the spooky Norwegian harbour town of Wagner’s opera, as a sailor’s daughter is haunted by the captain of a sunken ship. Irish National Opera brings back the horror-opera star Giselle Allen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EAWFFSWNXJEBLM6DB6SCUV32RM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475388},"content":"The Lottery","type":"header"},{"_id":"FANDGEH6JJDSZHZWQ7GH6GXRX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475389},"content":"Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co Kildare, March, <a href=\"https://www.riverbank.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">riverbank.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"IZTGYPYKERENLLWSDGS6ZMSWFI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475391},"content":"After his fetching play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/a-very-old-man-with-enormous-wings-review-a-children-s-story-for-a-sceptical-age-1.4012338\" target=\"_blank\">A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings</a>, Dan Colley’s next instalment of South American magical realism is inspired by a short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. Expect strange goings-on in an offbeat town whose inhabitants’ lives are ruled by an omnipresent lottery company.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTK43WNA5RCBJB4HPXLNJ6OCHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475392},"content":"Youth’s The Season -?","type":"header"},{"_id":"JKFJZBROC5GA5ERRLMNWSUD7LM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475393},"content":"Abbey Theatre, Dublin, April 2nd-May 3rd, <a href=\"https://abbeytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">abbeytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"TIOU2KR2FREV7BGSMXK4EHSQE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475395},"content":"“Dammit, it <i>was </i>the 20s and we had to be smarty!” <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dorothy-parker/\" target=\"_blank\">Dorothy Parker</a> said. Dublin’s own version of a 1920s metropolis populated by arty, campy scenesters trying very hard to be funny comes to life in Mary Manning’s long-neglected play. Some might read this story of startlingly literate young things partying and languishing in the new Free State as a veiled portrait of a Bohemian set that included <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/micheal-mac-liammoir/\" target=\"_blank\">Micheál MacLiammóir</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hilton-edwards/\" target=\"_blank\">Hilton Edwards</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/samuel-beckett/\" target=\"_blank\">Samuel Beckett</a>. Manning, a film critic turned playwright, could also camp it up. When MacLiammóir requested on his deathbed that she remove the question mark from the play’s title, she said “No, Micheál. No.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5XYSM4GOYFCI3G3CNYTNAXUKMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475396},"content":"Our New Girl","type":"header"},{"_id":"N5FSLF2ACRENBMZTTOYSE73ZQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475397},"content":"Lyric Theatre, Belfast, April 8th-May 4th, <a href=\"https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">lyrictheatre.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"6OK22TC6IJBRDEUTTONWCE6NGA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475399},"content":"A large-scale debut for director Rhiann Jeffrey, whose productions Distortion and This Sh*t Happens All the Time were slippery accounts of navigating homophobic worlds in Northern Ireland. That makes her a good candidate for Nancy Harris’s excellent play, a sexism satire meets psychological thriller in which an insecure mother is surprised to discover that her husband has hired an enigmatic nanny without consulting her.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C4FXNJQPO5FC7KLXVG63AMAGYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475400},"content":"Chora","type":"header"},{"_id":"HZO7ZJ75HBCNZNUYKGFQYAM3H4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475401},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, May 13th, then touring until May 28th, visiting Wexford, Belfast and Cork, <a href=\"https://luail.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">luail.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"UZNDZP75CRGO7AE4KYVCZM66HI","additional_properties":{"_id":"6BISXEGFG5GPFFKV56XAPGYSAY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"XZ54KN45KNEYTEYZBYNGCIWV74","additional_properties":{"_id":1734080217070},"content":"How is Ireland’s new all-island dance company, led by Liz Roche, shaping up? It makes its debut by opening Dublin Dance Festival with this triple bill choreographed by Maria Campos and Guy Nader, Roche, and Mufutau Yusuf. Performed with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, they’re billed as drawing on themes of home, memory and landscape.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SAZAY5CEAFEZHKZVHDQGU4ZANM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734080217071},"content":"Lovesong","type":"header"},{"_id":"FOS7E4CWEREDPCODUQPIZ2TYAU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475404},"content":"Gate Theatre, Dublin, May 14th-June 15th, <a href=\"https://gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gatetheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"RZN2CHIMPZAO5IOE3BVC7M752E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475406},"content":"How do you present a 40-year marriage on stage? Abi Morgan’s tear-jerker about an older couple at a crossroads is fittingly directed by David Bolger, the CoisCéim choreographer, as the couple’s younger selves are seen drifting into their house and revisiting their regrets and their accomplishments. Lovesong always moved like a dance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"STYLPSQTHBFVDJY7SYF33B3LYI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475407},"content":"L’Elisir d’Amore","type":"header"},{"_id":"22UZRO4XYZFTPO4Q62SFUKY5EE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475408},"content":"Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, May 25th-31st, then touring until June 7th, visiting Wexford and Cork, <a href=\"https://irishnationalopera.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">irishnationalopera.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"6L2QJXETDND75BHT3CTLFNMZYQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475410},"content":"It’s hard to imagine this 19th-century romcom of an opera standing still for long, as slapstick king Cal McCrystal directs Gaetano Donizetti’s story about a labourer on a country estate who, with the help of a love potion, becomes the most admired man in town.","type":"text"},{"_id":"INR4UUGIZNHQZIFPXO3MM25HKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475411},"content":"Wreckquiem","type":"header"},{"_id":"NTIGB7JIFRETNA5G3NO7D2SIB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475412},"content":"Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, June 26th-July 5th, <a href=\"http://limetreebelltable.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">limetreebelltable.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"YRRWHGV32VFDNNCJPT634NLGNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475414},"content":"In Mike Finn’s new comedy, which riffs on Limerick’s increasing gentrification, a property developer threatens to remove a beloved record store, rallying the city’s impassioned vinyl collectors to its defence. Pat Shortt leads the cast.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VSR35HHFVBHZRDLUEINUWMFS6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475415},"content":"The Black Wolfe Tone","type":"header"},{"_id":"45DZIFRU6BF4TPJNVHOJNWCDCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475416},"content":"Venue to be announced, June, <a href=\"https://www.fishamble.com/\" target=\"_blank\">fishamble.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"3GJT6SULJJFUNJNWE3IHGB5DTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475418},"content":"The often charming Ghanaian-Irish actor Kwaku Fortune, seen as a smouldering romantic in Piaf and Amelia, turns to playwrighting. Fishamble produces this anticipated play about young men struggling with intergenerational trauma.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RTJSNSJGUNEJZCCGCAOV5LYLVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475419},"content":"Amelia","type":"header"},{"_id":"FSNLH7TIBFEEPAYYXUADTAMF5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475420},"content":"Venue to be announced, October, <a href=\"https://www.blueraincoat.com/\" target=\"_blank\">blueraincoat.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"6XZGYU6ANNCXHOBFVP3KOPII2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475422},"content":"For its sixth play about explorers, Sligo’s adventurous Blue Raincoat company looks at Amelia Earhart’s final flight. Director Niall Henry deployed stately puppetry for his plays about seaborne journeys. This one takes to the sky via aerial dance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7IKGWOWXZZG2HOCC6XBJB5CK3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475423},"content":"Connie","type":"header"},{"_id":"FCLEURJEVVAQDK7WEUSOTZQ3TU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475424},"content":"Royal Cinema, Limerick, October, <a href=\"http://joanneryan.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">joanneryan.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"HFZEAQGANRC57B3M3MH37AT334","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475426},"content":"The playwrights Joanne Ryan and Ann Blake throw open Limerick’s 19th-century Royal Cinema – closed for 25 years – for this exciting promenade play about Constance Smith, the Limerick actor who starred in Hollywood films in the 1950s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"T3IUAN47BNEO7BT4BFOUOPV2XY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475427},"content":"Deidamia","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZLBFHXH4PFG2NIAZ3XWPQCGDA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475428},"content":"Wexford Festival Opera, October, <a href=\"https://www.wexfordopera.com/\" target=\"_blank\">wexfordopera.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"X34EKLHGC5EKTGQZ3MCGFW3XH4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475430},"content":"An audacious attempt at the work that drove Handel to quit opera, which Wexford Festival Opera says is an unfairly neglected work. It certainly isn’t boring, as Greek mythological heroes are disguised in drag (leading Ulysses to unknowingly flirt with his son-in-law, Achilles).","type":"text"},{"_id":"SDFNQXXH35E23KXDEF7SOHEHNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475431},"content":"Moulin Rouge! The Musical","type":"header"},{"_id":"TOAAZQMJ6RGR3EKBYCXNVPAZJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475432},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, November 20th-January 10th, 2026, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"74JOPFEEY5CGVMYFDWL2ZUD3RU","additional_properties":{"_id":"DBQYRZMPDRDDPP3SKVBS4SYZTM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"Q6OHZZ3KBBDWDCKGBVWSHCVRDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475434},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/baz-luhrmann/\" target=\"_blank\">Baz Luhrmann</a>’s near-psychedelic film gets transposed to the nightclub subterrain of Cabaret, though this musical is insistently uplifting. In belle-epoque Paris, Christian, an American composer, falls in love with a French nightclub star. He wants to be the world’s greatest composer of love stories. Touchingly, the musical sets out to go the distance with him, using its jukebox structure to travel through a huge range of love songs, from the 19th-century opera of Jacques Offenbach to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, as well as songs released since the 2001 movie, with numbers by Lorde and Regina Spektor. The stage design is miraculous. Everything’s intensely romantic.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MTRKK2XNWNGSNHVAFKEMCRAG44","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475435},"content":"The Good Luck Club","type":"header"},{"_id":"HULBPW4MARESJGDDTY6NBSXFJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475436},"content":"Venue and dates to be announced, <a href=\"https://anuproductions.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">anuproductions.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"HONN7XH7KVHG7FT7BH5RGGDJA4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733936475438},"content":"The title of this intriguing offering from Anu refers to the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake, the private operation set up during the early years of the State to finance the country’s medical institutions. Collaborating with the National Archives of Ireland, director Louise Lowe is expected to take audiences through the murkier depths of an organisation entangled with wealthy gamblers. There was never an inquiry into the sweepstakes during its 60 years, but Anu’s play sounds as if it may have the critical approach of an investigation.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"From King Lear at the Gate to Dr Strangelove starring Steve Coogan, the coming year’s stage line-up includes jukebox musicals, period romcom and a play that probes the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake"},"display_date":"2024-12-29T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"2025 on stage: 21 plays, operas and dance works to see over the next 12 months","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34","auth":{"1":"688b389e90ff8be367a73ca4d16edb9d2431ea5335d5265c0c234293cbf1a706"},"focal_point":{"x":1795,"y":2455},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"C4J6KFXQPJGAXBZT3EBQL6EVN4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":526,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/cd17a4cc-7bad-4cef-b924-329d6208acde/versions/1733861809/media/160f908133a835b878186201b82d66a1_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/","content_elements":[{"_id":"LCZMB7DYNBGKLNWWHHMCC3RDLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552786},"content":"Theatres often rely on familiar plays. So revivals are nothing new. But when the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gate-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Gate</a>’s handsome, terrifically acted production of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/18/dancing-at-lughnasa-review-gates-triumphant-breathtakingly-beautiful-revival-deserves-groaning-houses/\">Dancing at Lughnasa</a> opened, in July, the year had featured so much new work that it felt as if <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brian-friel/\" target=\"_blank\">Brian Friel</a>’s sensation from 1990 was the first revival we’d encountered for some time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XFVG5O7BWFECZIBZNBSKW3AX2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733240420476},"content":"Brave new world","type":"header"},{"_id":"2VAICZ5XW5E3HLTS4ICQFPIUJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733240420477},"content":"That wasn’t quite the case, of course. The year started with Landmark’s slyly good production of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/01/18/krapps-last-tape-review-stephen-rea-invites-us-to-applaud-the-tape-recorder-but-the-triumph-is-his/\">Krapp’s Last Tape</a>, the Gaiety’s woolly interpretation of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/01/31/sive-review-john-b-keanes-dark-tale-struggles-to-get-past-the-flaw-at-its-heart/\">Sive</a> and the Lyric’s storybook-attractive <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/09/little-women-review-crowd-pleaser-kicks-off-lyrics-2024-spring-season/\">Little Women</a>. After that, however, we entered unfamiliar territory. Who knew what to expect from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/09/the-president-review-olwen-fouere-and-hugo-weaving-give-heroic-performances-in-the-gates-classy-production/\">The President</a>, an Austrian play from 1975, practically unknown in English-language theatre, that follows mouthy political leaders in the aftermath of an assassination attempt? The Gate’s inventive depiction of numbskulls in charge, and the people forced to listen to them, brought over the British-Australian actor Hugo Weaving to play the title role, and allowed Olwen Fouéré to give a masterclass in high camp as his first lady.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GOHCMTVOFFAQ5JCKN6SEHMZCLM","additional_properties":{"_id":"DPPUBNANIBATFBCYSY2PRTHZOA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TNBZZFOU3ZCJFBPKBC7PF3IJ34","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552789},"content":"Over at the Abbey, much also felt different. Marina Carr’s absurdist <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/29/audrey-or-sorrow-review-marina-carr-daringly-wraps-gothic-comedy-around-a-harrowing-core/\">Audrey or Sorrow</a>, showing a crew of ghosts haunt a grieving couple starting a family, certainly wasn’t boring. Adapting a fin-de-siècle Russian family saga can be a superficial route to being regarded as auteurist, but Hilary Fannin’s audacious adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/04/19/children-of-the-sun-review-rough-magic-shakes-up-gorky-with-humour-style-and-sheer-chutzpah/\">Children of the Sun</a> didn’t shy from the playwright’s link to Soviet oppression. Elizabeth Kuti’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/06/19/the-sugar-wife-review-siobhan-cullen-and-chris-walley-star-in-an-elegant-revival-of-a-drama-loaded-with-political-and-moral-quandaries/\">The Sugar Wife</a>, a satire of wealthy philanthropists in 19th-century Dublin eyeing up abolitionists visiting from the United States, hadn’t been seen for two decades.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M3YKKR3NTNEMVFC7FORM6V6WZI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552790},"content":"Ten years ago you wouldn’t have expected any of these to receive big-budget productions. Managements back then cited fiscal austerity and – with new writing long considered a box-office liability – a preference for staging classics. Five years ago programmers cautiously phased in shorter runs for new plays. Now there is greater confidence, and unfamiliar material is staged for longer. Some will perform better than others. At the Abbey, demand for Audrey or Sorrow was strong from the get-go, with an additional week’s performances announced before previews. Unfortunately, the belated Dublin premiere of Augusta Gregory’s complex relationship drama <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/28/grania-lady-gregorys-epic-love-story-takes-on-a-new-lease-of-life-in-its-abbey-debut/\">Grania</a>, which she wrote in 1912, seemed to play to half-full rooms.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4J5EHMNYLZDJRBUCTMEIOCMOGE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552791},"content":"Contemporary class","type":"header"},{"_id":"7E4YU6XC5ZDXBCEN5W63P7C32E","additional_properties":{"_id":"SM4ATA7HFFBWTBZMFWGZSGB5TQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"OQPFWLZDSJBI5GHM75HIZYHPYM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552792},"content":"The standout plays of 2024 were contemporary. Róisín McBrinn’s magnificent staging of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/05/30/circle-mirror-transformation-wonderful-presentation-of-the-before-and-after-of-theatre-at-the-gate/\">Circle Mirror Transformation</a>, Annie Baker’s 2009 work about adrift New Englanders brought together by a community drama class, elicited some of the finest performances of the year: Marty Rea as a frustrated civilian, visibly stirred by classmates performing the story of his life; Niamh Cusack and Ristéard Cooper as a couple stealthily concealing the abuses of their marriage. It also seemed the most potent comment on the medium itself. “Do you ever wonder how many times your life is going to totally change and then start all over again?” a student asks long after class is over. Theatre, we know, can change lives, but rarely have we seen that portrayed.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPUWVNA2RNDFVBBYSZQIQE6TWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552793},"content":"Similarly meticulous in detail, and revelatory with alternative readings, was <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/07/16/reunion-review-a-zinger-of-a-play-that-does-not-flag-for-a-second/\">Reunion</a>, Mark O’Rowe’s extraordinary mystery, in which a family come together to remember their dead father. Long moved on from the underworlds – criminal or supernatural – of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/howie-the-rookie-1.166292\">Howie the Rookie</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reviews-1.1210558\">Terminus</a>, O’Rowe took the Bergmanian set-up of couples’ shattering late-night confessions and deployed a Chekhovian artist stung by rejection and flirting with ideas of self-destruction. The overall effect was undoubtedly O’Rowe, however, written in remarkably constructed dialogue, woven with subtle power plays between family members, and leaving audiences satisfied to agonise over unconfirmed details (particularly a mother-daughter conflict portrayed with fascinating ambiguity by Cathy Belton and Valene Kane). Who needs a trip to the underworld? Plenty of horrors lurk in unexpected places here on the surface.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WJCJRRDZBJAHZFTFZWFSSMOC3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552794},"content":"Looking to the future","type":"header"},{"_id":"R7H2MBLG7NCWDINP2HQD3PCHUM","additional_properties":{"_id":"YRTCLRV4ZRCTTDSIXHXEC6BWYM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"SJY7MQMIBFFTLFM3S5UO2M4R3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552795},"content":"O’Rowe and Baker’s plays both made a serious case for realism – easily pushed aside by broader, showier forms – as the most impressive mode of 2024, as if the closer we zoomed in, the more there was to unearth. The plot of Dee Roycroft’s excellent comeback play <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/29/amelia-a-touching-vision-of-where-we-and-theatre-will-end-up-in-the-climate-crisis/\">Amelia</a> suggested that everything conceivable in our reality has already happened. Set in a later stage of the climate crisis, it takes an adynaton as its plot: a farmer and his teenage child take in a flying pig (nicknamed Amelia Earhart), as if everything once thought impossible has happened.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EXLKORTCVRCELFBZM4PNDHU5V4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552796},"content":"Roycroft’s play ached for acceptance of the unknown. The child – a neurodivergent teenager, seen as touchingly brave in Bláithin Mac Gabhann’s superb performance – yearned to see the world, to the worry of their overprotective father (John Cronin, doing his best work). And the play gently encouraged its audience to be courageous about a future that may have limited resources, as it cut off electricity to the auditorium and showed theatre reverting to the magic of a previous century, with a clanging thunder-sheet and a pedal-powered generator to build the stage lights towards brilliance. Amelia made the future feel like something to still have claim to.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QDUGOAHHVVAMFHAAP6MITXDAMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552797},"content":"What was left behind","type":"header"},{"_id":"2S3N4ZFTCRFDDMUTEKGFRCRG4Y","additional_properties":{"_id":"ZO4ECRQQGFFIDKTAUCSTX3TBKE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"A3YKB6NGTFENLGEBIXMFLKUY7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552798},"content":"The past, on the other hand, occasionally seemed put behind us. CoisCéim’s dance <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/03/16/palimpsest-review-emigration-charvet-shirts-and-the-anglo-tapes-coisceim-powerfully-evokes-irelands-past-and-present/\">Palimpsest</a>, a collision course with the first 100 years of the State, felt like the final product of the Decade of Centenaries, the government programme that has influenced theatre for the past 11 years. It also saw the choreographer David Bolger and the composer Denis Clohessy vigorously interrogate their past approaches, showing the island struggling – but, touchingly, also dancing – through a difficult century.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D3XLNZ6C6ZDMXOUTL7YUDFGNJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733236667087},"content":"Elsewhere, the appointment of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/selina-cartmell/\" target=\"_blank\">Selina Cartmell</a> to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre brought the director’s thrilling career in Ireland – from indie queen to head of the Gate – to an end, at least for now.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RHKCLVCEABEVLEHCJBKGNLBOOU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552799},"content":"At the Abbey, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/09/14/the-abbeys-1m-controversy-what-went-wrong/\">a governance review</a>, relating in part to the investigation of complaints about one of the theatre’s former co-directors, seemed to reach resolution after a costly two-year process. The national theatre committed to new governance structures, though questions around the complainants’ withdrawal from the process, and the board’s decision to issue redundancy payments to the outgoing co-directors when their fixed-term contracts ended, remain unanswered.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A6OZGODTSVGTFCKMYF7YPMIHWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552800},"content":"Thankfully, after <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2024/01/25/toy-show-the-musical-report-four-new-things-we-learned-about-controversial-flop/\">a report that found its projections rather ambitious</a>, there was little mention of Toy Show the Musical.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BXAI6TBS5RENXCGKQ7AJ5IMTHM","additional_properties":{"_id":"BZB6O2AACJBA5IGWOYMAG2XMWM"},"content":"The Abbey’s €1m controversy: What went wrong?","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"VKK3OD2OFNFMFNVMVRQJTEB72Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552801},"content":"A year celebrating women?","type":"header"},{"_id":"K4PWR325EJDZ5AMKNKKUECPT5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552802},"content":"It should be said that, in addition to the several already mentioned, 2024 featured an abundance of plays written by women. The Ark presented Anna Carey’s ingenious adaptation of her novel <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/02/26/the-making-of-mollie-review-anna-careys-book-is-now-a-razor-sharp-suffragette-stage-comedy/\">The Making of Mollie</a>, its bright young activists let loose on a grey, rigid version of presuffrage Ireland. Jody O’Neill’s stirring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/30/grace-a-moving-depiction-of-the-complex-way-a-girl-with-autism-experiences-life/\">Grace</a> saw a non-verbal girl with autism encouraged by the ghost of her father. Sophie Motley’s Winter Journey, a new version of Schubert’s Winterreise, was an existentialist promenade through a Cork neighbourhood. Louise Lowe adapted Seán O’Casey (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/29/starjazzer-affecting-innovative-anu-adaptation-marries-a-put-upon-ocasey-heroine-with-her-equally-abused-granddaughter/\">Starjazzer</a>) and James Joyce (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/\">The Dead</a>).","type":"text"},{"_id":"Y3OYFKTWBZB3TAGUVVME6ZK6DE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552803},"content":"Is this progress? The idea of an all-women’s season has been <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/i-think-the-main-thing-the-abbey-can-do-right-now-is-listen-the-women-s-podcast-1.2422734\">regarded with suspicion</a> since the early days of Waking the Feminists. A third-wave feminist might point out that this wealth of playwrights were all white.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QB7XVNEBYNBEXAEAXKSC4CRDFA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552804},"content":"Industry anger becomes art","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXIG5RUNKZEUVL3EXXVW3QKLHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552805},"content":"At this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival plenty of ire was aimed at the performing arts’ current discourse on inclusion. Most driven was Joy Nesbitt’s dark comedy <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/13/julius-caesar-variety-show-an-anxious-comedy-about-a-theatre-industry-refusing-to-evolve/\">Julius Caesar Variety Show,</a> about a nightmarish actors’ audition. Nesbitt’s points felt new and insightful, as a black actor (a cool-headed Loré Adewusi) was seen dealing with a white bullying director (a compellingly snide Ultan Pringle) who insisted on the one hand that colour-blind casting doesn’t work, because audiences can’t unsee race, and on the other hand that not going along with exploitative expectations of blackness is actually being artistically conservative. How depressingly elaborate these schemes are.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JGLREU7ASBAVVNPZW7ZNU72A5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552806},"content":"How is inspiration supposed to flow in a country where nonwhite playwrights are only considered “early career” artists? There was a poignant moment during I’ve Always Liked the Name Marcus, Matthew Sharpe’s delightful play about a Jamaican-Northern Irish man’s upbringing. Sharpe’s character is on a soul-search, whirling through a series of reinventions – modelling himself on freestyle rappers and NBA players, looking more to the black public figures of the United States than anyone closer to home. “Who was my inspiration supposed to be?” he says, with ache, about a lack of representation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WBK4CZWFNRA2NMJJG76K7BNWCU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733228552807},"content":"At a time when programmers are taking plenty of risks, what if someone took a chance on trying to answer him?","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Gambling on longer runs of unfamiliar work paid off in a gratifying number of cases. But Irish theatre still isn’t as inclusive as it should be"},"display_date":"2024-12-22T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takers","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA","auth":{"1":"29bb5d4a01612cce0f442811fbd1b6061e0cb8bd91969c63c6c69dae46549f92"},"focal_point":{"x":3745,"y":2335},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"FG2AH6TPTVH53ILSH5TEMM6PA4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":501,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/453874c9-f3b9-43b5-932b-96e47479d727/versions/1734646106/media/c78c3ee8281017e75187ddfbc6e0fdc7_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/","content_elements":[{"_id":"IIMTKHVJ5FAHBMWGMAFXK7B5RI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731574},"content":"Sammy Sausages is a Dublin panto institution. After a quarter of a century of entertaining families at Christmas, Alan Hughes knows well that Sammy’s fame precedes him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZDCZ7ZEVNFH3XATZRE2J7CFJFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731575},"content":"“I get stopped in shopping centres by kids going: ‘Oh my god, it’s Sammy Sausages,’” he said. “It is mad; kids run up to me and ask for pictures.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OUZLF6HHANAJNP4YPXQEEZCPPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731576},"content":"Sausages was created by Hughes’s husband, Karl Broderick, when they were still running the pantomime 20 years ago in St Anthony’s Hall on Merchants Quay.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VMNHK6FDVNBVJLSUWLPJDEFOCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731577},"content":"They wanted a character who could be a recurring fixture in the show, a kind of Dublin version of Buttons, the character in Cinderella who serves as a kind of conduit between the play and the audience.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PP4EVVRX65FTNKJ4PIFBFTLLIU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731578},"content":"Initially, he had a different name, Timmy Tiddles, but when that name didn’t quite land with audiences, they employed a name change and the character immediately took off.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5Y4PESDZZFAV7AR2YICL4RRBHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731579},"content":"“Sammy Sausages is the narrator, he brings the kids through the show, making sure they know that difference is sometimes good, and that good always triumphs in the end,” said Hughes, who is known beyond panto audiences as a TV presenter on Virgin Media.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KEUGUOGIEVBHTJQA5TDC4UHQIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731580},"content":"In a world that has changed dramatically — streaming television, live music, video games, social media, and more discerning and demanding audiences — this peculiar form of Victorian music hall entertainment seems only to have become more and more popular.","type":"text"},{"_id":"65C32JGE7NAMBMKUEPV6NIHLFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"WPL47C565FEVRO7Q5J5UNFYOWQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"T7AQXOHILJFBPFHCPKLC6CLFWM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731581},"content":"Why do people love the panto so much? For Donal Shiels, the chief executive and artistic director of the Civic Theatre in Tallaght, it’s the immediacy of the pantomime that makes it so enduring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RJONW62H5VDGFO4JFYSDWRET6A","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731582},"content":"“It’s live, that’s the bottom line. There’s only so much Netflix you can look at, only so much Disney on film, only so much gaming you can do. And sometimes they’re a solitary thing,” he said, compared to the lively interactivity of a good pantomime.","type":"text"},{"_id":"THN2BGVZ3BEQ7LIJ44AYDVJDHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731583},"content":"For Leo McKenna, the line producer of the Gaiety panto, the success is a reflection of the essential nature of the pantomime — word-of-mouth growth from one year to the next, from one generation to the next.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LT7JZYXUWVEPZA33RWRTPJZJC4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731584},"content":"“People will often come and see the panto and walk out and buy a ticket for the following year,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMQLKVU74FDPVL7ZXKQMKTI64I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731585},"content":"“While children are our audience, they’re not our customers. We sell tickets to parents, they come back if the children leave happy,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UGP6ZO4AANDJDEBZLOQJ5ADCMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731586},"content":"“So hopefully in 25 years’ time those children will be buying tickets for their kids based on what we did today. It’s up to us to keep that tradition strong because success breeds success and failure does the same.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4CDCN7SYBHKHJJ3ZBK6ASKWQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731588},"content":"Sourcing firm figures on just how big the pantomime sector has become is trickier than it looks. There are more pantos — amateur and professional — than ever before, but no aggregated figures to show total ticket sales, or revenue, or economic scale, and the various panto companies guard their figures closely.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OW3R4LTH7FEAFKEA3MZM5FWEIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731589},"content":"But the Gaiety Theatre, home to the best-known panto, now into its 151st year, can give some sense of the scale.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5ODQ4J3AFJC6NIPD7IMHMFQQTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731590},"content":"By his calculations, there’s about 60 people daily involved in running the Gaiety show, including 25 performers — actors, dancers, signers — on stage, with six band members and six backup musicians, 17 people backstage in costume and lighting, and 30 front-of-house staff including bar staff, ushers and the box office team.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QBKMLT2E2NEF5BXK3PSUXFFFTU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731591},"content":"“All of that is serious money that we spend to get the show up and running and stays in this country and supports the people of this industry,” said McKenna.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SL276THZUJFVZFHFIDDGJSJRFE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731592},"content":"It’s possible to calculate the revenue generated from a simple calculation. The Gaiety sells about 100,000 tickets for the panto every year, at an average price of about €30 per ticket, meaning it probably makes roughly €3 million overall from ticket sales alone, before anyone calculates the sales of snacks and drinks.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LMGR4WB5ANC4DNY32LM3ZVT7AQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731593},"content":"That revenue is even more important for smaller theatres, according to Donal Shiels. “If we don’t do a panto, we’re in the red, and if we do, we’re in the black.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DK74P5FDW5CM7KZXXDMPTP3CEM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731594},"content":"The costs of putting on such a show are enormous, he said, heading in some instances towards the operatic, with expensive sets, music, sound and lighting all required. It is only getting more expensive, as the old-fashioned pantomimes of generations past are updated with digital screens, high-wire performances and modern special effects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JOR6HCJZNVF2DGUT64SSJKU2ZY","additional_properties":{"_id":"JGX3HLC7QRAOJFE4UTMMEQV2YE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"F27ATDNLCRBMZC73LM3VHI4CCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731595},"content":"When Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick put on their first panto, it cost £22,000 (€27,000) to stage, “and we were terrified”, he said. “This year it will cost us €300,000.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"L6W6DZAOFFDWDK2APWLR7ERD5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731596},"content":"“You’re in it to make a profit. No theatre is putting on a panto to make a loss,” he said. “This is the one time of year you can enter a market and make a profit.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BD5MWKGDKRHU3BO4GQNUYSGIYU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731597},"content":"All that money has wrought very noticeable changes on stage, according to Joe Conlan, the long-standing panto dame of the Gaiety Theatre, who has seen those changes over the course of his life, first as an audience member, then as a cast member.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KHIFZPMOWJFS7OXFRCACPGDPI4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731598},"content":"Conlan still remembers his first panto as a child, watching Danny Cummins and Maureen Potter in Humpty Dumpty.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7WP53LIXFVGINOAKTYARKBR5LA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731599},"content":"“I can still see Thelma Ramsey, the conductor, with her white gloves and white baton,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god, I want to be up there.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NBAA7VUM7FGONND7YK5NJC3F7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731600},"content":"He performed in his first panto alongside Potter and Johnny Logan, but today’s panto is a very different beast in some respects, not least because Conlan will be flying over the audiences’ heads on no less than four occasions thanks to high-wire social effects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3MOAF5MLYJCFZAF6OLGWVWHKZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731601},"content":"For Conlan, the traditional elements of the pantomime remain unchanged, such as the dame, the themes of good and evil, and the resolution in the end, not to mention the centrality of good songs.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XPXOG2ME75CSHN4RDES3P44RRI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731602},"content":"Perhaps the most important thing is the involvement of audience participation, he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E3YCRD4KPFAQBG6TIKBZCM2UUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731603},"content":"“As an actor, if you go on the stage and you can feel they’re not with us, you’ve to pick up the pace. Other nights you go on and there’s rocket fuel in the audience,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TPGVQSHMQ5HJJPP67W4L6DI76I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731604},"content":"There’s a view in the world of pantos that the form doesn’t quite get the recognition or the support it deserves, no matter how popular and profitable it has become.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4T5Z3MIUQRH53J3R2OZ3F3KZQY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731605},"content":"For Shiels, the robustness of Christmas pantomimes illustrates the strength and depth of performing talent in Ireland, even if many of them have to go to the West End in London to make a career of it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N6SQCWH6MNFZDKALXFX3DTNOIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731606},"content":"“We’re a musical country; we’re the only country with a musical instrument as our national symbol. We have a brilliant comedy tradition and a deep tradition of music and writing. And we’ve got good actors who can put depth into comedy or into a good musical,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VDN2A4LW4NHWHHKC7YHP777BQQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731607},"content":"While Dublin will probably never rival the West End or Broadway, he said, it could become a kind of nursery for successful musicals in the future.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YVFFHTTDMNAXVJBUM6U6VDWY3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731608},"content":"“It’s not about producing Hello Dolly or Mary Poppins; we can’t compete with that, but we can make work that is relevant and entertaining or funny,” he said.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JNJ2ITYINNB4XAC7CU3RENL3ZU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731609},"content":"“I don’t see why it should not be included in something like Arts Council funding.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"K2AWINWST5HGBCDQA2UDVNUX2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731610},"content":"Pantos will continue to anchor the theatrical season for so many actors, theatres, and audiences, and Alan Hughes has no intention of slowing down.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UTAAD2YTQVAGRK2IXAJPQM27QY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731611},"content":"“When people ask me how long I will keep doing Ireland AM, my answer always is as long as I’m enjoying it and healthy and fit enough to do it,” he said, referring to the Virgin Media show he co-presents.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U3JZCEEVEZAORPISTN6J5TELMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734644731612},"content":"“I’m running around the stage twice a day, and still loving it, loving the interaction with the kids, and loving our new venue,” he said. “So Sammy Sausages will be around for many years to come.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YCDY6C2IB5FUNMX3YVDX7FFP3I","additional_properties":{},"type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Barry J Whyte"}]},"description":{"basic":"The annual pantomime is as popular as ever and keeps smaller theatres going year after year"},"display_date":"2024-12-20T13:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Oh yes it is ... the Christmas panto and how it keeps Ireland’s theatre community going","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4","auth":{"1":"7a6743faa349ac75535eab7282719b6675811567e6af5d9176d31f8d1df194cd"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4.JPG"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Ireland"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Culture"}}}},{"_id":"DSXJWSVPEJEHLAAKJWGXL7TEHI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":184,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/bc2fd0c1-e108-4cbd-abec-c34e52fa658c/versions/1734312527/media/3844839dc8560a203ddb24568f778c85_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/","content_elements":[{"_id":"NNQZHRSPO5DUXLXSCAHOVCMZ2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733934347627},"content":"Beauty & the Beast","type":"header"},{"_id":"VUBUV2GCFFCTPECZ73TFW3MNB4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734311460707},"content":"National Stadium, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"JLBXFIMBYJH7BJEPUA3K4FMBAM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734311460708},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"QQ67LUB4MRGP3C2XWAQSWWXL6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705723},"content":"Dublin’s most interactive panto sends (costumed) wolves chasing through the stadium, demands constant participation from its youthful viewers and, in a coup de theatre, pulls all the fathers on to the stage to bust their best Chappell Roan moves. There will be dad dancing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VRNABZFMJVB3JOGK6NFA2WTH6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705727},"content":"The TV presenter <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/alan-hughes/\" target=\"_blank\">Alan Hughes</a> has championed pantomime since the 1990s. For more than a decade his hugely popular Sammy Sausages character, a uniquely Dublin spin on Buttons, has had a perfect scene partner in Rob Murphy’s outrageous, trash-talking dame, Buffy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YLVJ77MJENEP3DOGOZNTYPAEQM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705728},"content":"This Beauty & the Beast is subtitled A Sammy & Buffy Adventure with good cause. This dynamic duo are the shiny Brown Thomas Christmas window of a well-oiled machine that includes the writer <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/karl-broderick/\" target=\"_blank\">Karl Broderick</a> (who is also Hughes’ coproducer), the director <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/simon-delaney/\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Delaney</a> and the musical director Ross O’Connor. A nimble chorus proves worthy of Paul Ryder’s ambitious choreography.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UMNXRMADC5DBTN5YS2MTIVZXXM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Using digitised backdrops and recorded songs, the enthusiastic cast power through the story and musical numbers, pausing only for loud exchanges. Kids are summoned to their feet, the audience is divided into competing singalong halves, and raucous cheers jolly every scene along. Kudos to the troupe for the great use of space; the production repeatedly sends characters running through the aisles of delighted and squealing customers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DVXVJFRTMJGCBMCEBIWNL2P2BY","additional_properties":{"_id":1734309729953},"content":"The Fair City actor Johnny Ward has a ball as the preening, gun-kissing Gascon, an unsolicited suitor for Belle, the book-reading heroine, who is played by the newcomer Caoileann Woodcock. The promising young actor beat more than 100 hopefuls to land the role. Her soaring duet with Susan McFadden, the West End and Celtic Woman star, is sensational.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WBWXUT4BHZHWNCUD2G6EC4K35A","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705733},"content":"The perennial panto problem of the drippy central romantic couple is ingeniously circumvented by a script that streamlines the Beast into a series of roars and storm-outs from Niall Sheehy – strops that recall Robert Pattinson’s disappearances in the first Twilight movie.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FOBO6T5GCBBXBIB47TMKCCHN5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705734},"content":"For all the wealth of experience on stage, some of the funniest moments come through corpsing, mistimed physical rolls, and wig slippage. This writer feared she would have to call paramedics for the row behind during an off-script sequence between Hughes and Murphy and, again, during banter between Murphy and, as Belle’s father, Will Morgan.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GLBYYWZRR5AEREHAXKTXMGGN7Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705735},"content":"The production and costume design cleverly flirts with Disney’s animated version of the story while asserting its own rowdy identity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MHT437LSNNDMVOIDUZCXRCCDTI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734307705736},"content":"On the bus ride home, younger audience members passionately re-enact scenes and songs. I can think of no higher recommendation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LISMEVRN6RA5XAH6YOKIPLNIZM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733505374670},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.panto.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Beauty & the Beast</i></a><i> is at the National Stadium, Dublin 8, until Sunday, January 5th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Tara Brady"}},"name":"Tara Brady"}]},"description":{"basic":"Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick’s interactive pantomime, directed by Simon Delaney, features the promising Caoileann Woodcock as Belle"},"display_date":"2024-12-16T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendation","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ","auth":{"1":"9f1bdde6ef90ff6fd721946ecf5924296262bb1170a878d85613e20c48e807ef"},"focal_point":{"x":1425,"y":1475},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"CFBXH3ECKJFD7FNTKPZRPSJFRA","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":189,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/f3df287c-b11a-4585-88fc-1cf0f95033d9/versions/1734298884/media/8a93635b12267f2b5ef6094e05afb83f_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/","content_elements":[{"_id":"QTC3JG5B3FFR7NPCC4S52L3FLQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275366},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ralph-fiennes/\" target=\"_blank\">Ralph Fiennes</a> is in fluent, fluty form for a reading and discussion of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ts-eliot/\" target=\"_blank\">TS Eliot</a>’s Four Quartets – arguably the poet’s last great work – at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey</a> on Sunday evening, for the 2024 instalment of the national theatre’s annual TS Eliot Lecture, conceived in memory of Eliot delivering a talk on <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wb-yeats/\" target=\"_blank\">WB Yeats</a> at the old Abbey space in 1940. It also coincides with the 80th anniversary of The Four Quartets’ first publication in a single volume.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4NLJWHAFRVFOLDNCLMJEY4DYSI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275367},"content":"Fiennes, in conversation with the actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ingrid-craigie/\" target=\"_blank\">Ingrid Craigie</a>, explains that he first heard Four Quartets read “with very little inflection” by the poet on a vinyl album and that he later decided, when preparing an acclaimed stage interpretation, that the verse “had to be inside you like a piece of music”. For that one-man-show, developed during the lockdown period, he memorised the entire poem – about 100 lines.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RXHZ3TDI2NBT7ONSAY2NLFZH44","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275368},"content":"Billing Sunday’s event as a “lecture” is not entirely misleading. It could also fairly be described as a performance. Large parts of the electrifying reading – afterwards he jokes that, some time out from the memorised show, he now needs the text for reassurance – suggest a sermon as Eliot, through his 21st-century interpreter, puzzles again and again over the quandary of living poised between “time present and time past”. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"CJFLNFH7JFDAJMOIQBVPQUSNYI","additional_properties":{},"content":"Elsewhere, Fiennes the actor takes over. Describing apparent pagan rites in the East Coker section – “Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth” – he appears on the point of stamping out his own prehistoric dance. Elsewhere there is a sense of him incanting in the manner of a possessed acolyte. But the piece, sometimes spoken at a lectern, sometimes delivered while pacing, always returns to a pedagogical style that suggests the speaker has a clear and plain idea to impart.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVMLDBEJWVBCVDDTNMOH6F6E5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275369},"content":"Few readers have, however, found the dense, convoluted Four Quartets, parts of which relate Eliot’s impressions of the Blitz, in the least bit clear or plain. After the reading, the actor, who was raised partly in Ireland, discusses how the poem – like so many great poems – can engage the reader even before he or she grasps the meaning. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"7QLV3FVEU5GGDD2HLBMFKDYHT4","additional_properties":{},"content":"Fiennes had, he explains, “time on my hands” during lockdown and set to engaging with the tetralogy’s “many corners and complicated arguments”. What he ended up with in the stage production – and with the reading at the Abbey – is a subjective interpretation. “When you play Hamlet you have to make it yours,” he explains. The result is moving even if you aren’t always certain which emotions are being evoked and why.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PGZ4YGAB6ZFCBGFCKXIYPL54ME","additional_properties":{"_id":1734297275370},"content":"Fiennes, acclaimed among the best actors of his generation, looks likely to receive his third Oscar nomination for his turn as a cardinal supervising a papal election in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/edward-berger/\" target=\"_blank\">Edward Berger</a>’s gripping <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/11/28/conclave-ralph-fiennes-is-flawless-in-robert-harriss-preposterously-gripping-drama-of-papal-electioneering/\" target=\"_blank\">Conclave</a>. Prompted by Craigie, he sees some connection between Four Quartets, much concerned with the author’s Christian faith, and “the speech in Conclave about doubt and certainty being the enemy”. He smiles wryly as he continues that this today “resonates with a lot of leaders being very certain”. Too many potential candidates spring to mind.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ICJLTQCXPFCD5AD5VOT6ZKCLKA","additional_properties":{"_id":"2CQE4KWA7BHOBCMULNQKOZAONM"},"content":"Conclave: Ralph Fiennes is flawless in Robert Harris’s preposterously gripping drama of papal electioneering","type":"interstitial_link"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"The likely triple Oscar nominee, star of Conclave, is in fluent form at the national theatre’s TS Eliot Lecture for 2024"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T21:34:49.149Z","headlines":{"basic":"Ralph Fiennes at the Abbey Theatre: An electrifying, moving reading of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM","auth":{"1":"6bc5626b070f43e2f6bb1b9110db1343634dee75bc65c5b5a930ca1e9b8d1ac4"},"focal_point":{"x":1525,"y":957},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"OJREXLKG6VAY5BSYNFCDHW2AAU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":618,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/cc106022-e9f4-4f1d-a6b8-8b451b72555e/versions/1733928166/media/1dab43184458eaf51f31d2b79b03f429_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/","content_elements":[{"_id":"JFIVIEGQ7VAZ5LDNF5FUVGBZ5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834326064},"content":"At the age of 25, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/guildford-four/\" target=\"_blank\">Paddy Armstrong</a> was one of four people falsely convicted of the Guildford pub bombings. He was arrested 50 years ago and spent 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. After a long campaign for justice, the convictions were finally overturned in 1989.","type":"text"},{"_id":"37MZL7HUZZBZBBLW3IWPC7T6PY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437863},"content":"The group of people who became known as the Guildford Four also included Armstrong’s first love, an English girl called Carole Richardson (then 17), and fellow <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/belfast/\" target=\"_blank\">Belfast</a> men <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gerry-conlon/\" target=\"_blank\">Gerry Conlon</a> (21) and Paul Hill (21). Richardson died in 2012, Conlon in 2014.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HPHVE5KB2NFGTOAKQP4JMFQ6BM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507444},"content":"The actor <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/daniel-day-lewis/\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Day-Lewis</a> consulted Armstrong and Conlon to perfect his accent and prepare for his Oscar-nominated role in In the Name of the Father, the 1993 film based on the Guildford Four’s story, in which he played Conlon and Pete Postlethwaite played his father, Giuseppe.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MJCDEU427VHO3ETZ4WUAGOHYWM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733848651291},"content":"Armstrong’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/life-after-life-review-paddy-armstrong-s-painful-guildford-four-memoir-1.3007265\" target=\"_blank\">2017 memoir – Life after Life</a> – written with the journalist Mary-Elaine Tynan, has recently been adapted into a play starring Don Wycherley. A new documentary shown this week on TG4, Ceathrar Guildford: 50 Bliain na mBréag, which delves into the miscarriages of justice, features Armstrong and never-before-seen footage of his late friend, Conlon.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VKDPTDTHNZC4PII5WLXRZRZFKM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437865},"content":"At the time of his December 1974 arrest Armstrong was living in a London squat with Richardson. The couple were engaged to be married. He’d had several sleepless nights, on “a three-day speed and Tuinal [a barbiturate] party,” as he describes it in the book. Drugged and weak with exhaustion, Armstrong was taken into custody and coerced into admitting to a crime he didn’t commit.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Q6KFEUUANNGPLLWRNKKZLFNK7M","additional_properties":{"_id":"PE6BCISCQVFZ5AZVK2YWMSNW5Y"},"content":"Memorial service remembers victims on 50th anniversary of Guildford pub bombings","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LIZVKPQJMNBLJIAJBGH3MDM2IA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507447},"content":"Four British soldiers, Caroline Slater (18), William Forsyth (18), John Hunter (17) and Ann Hamilton (19), and a civilian, Paul Craig (21), had been killed and 65 people injured in the IRA attack on October 5th, 1974, in which bombs were detonated in two pubs in the town of Guildford, in Surrey.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P6N2BBYLOJGURCSXC5KDN7FZMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507448},"content":"While in police custody he endured intense questioning and threats were made against his family and his life. He recalls being hung out of a window at one point and a “snarling mutt” being brought into the room if he paused for thought.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XIH3YTS42FFHBEYT2LY2OJJA3Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437867},"content":"Speaking in his home in Dublin, he recalls now that the questions were “rapid fire”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C3R2TFU5ENCAVGNJS3CXOALKOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733932507295},"content":"“I couldn’t keep up with them,” he says. “There were no breaks in between. I was barely able to keep my eyes open.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OAFJASXGOZETTCCEJ2WGEKYXDI","additional_properties":{"_id":"OYRXLMNO6FDW3OCH5HE3I4PXSM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"OFN6FD5NSJH7ZPH7JFXFZJBD2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437868},"content":"Eventually Armstrong signed papers confessing to the crimes he was accused of. By October 1975 he had stood trial, along with the other three accused. They were convicted just over a year after the bombings.","type":"text"},{"_id":"STXSYBBR75HWXBZDQVJLLYXUDE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437869},"content":"After serving 15 years as a Category-A prisoner, sometimes living in solitary confinement, Armstrong was released on October 19th, 1989, after his conviction and those of the other three were finally acknowledged to have been a miscarriage of justice and quashed. He finds it difficult to talk about life behind bars today, but recalls the emotional reunion afterwards with his family.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PMV4UCJ25FFHVFL724ZPQFEVC4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733932507299},"content":"One moment shared with his younger sister Josephine, who he had not seen in several years, is particularly poignant. He remembers, trying to hold his emotions together after his release, looking at her in astonishment. She must be in her 20s now, he guessed aloud. “No, Paddy, you’ve been in 15 years. I turned 30 in August, two months ago,” was Josephine’s response.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W4VFVPRARJCPNFGVX2CS7LXC5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437871},"content":"After his release Armstrong spent six months living with his British solicitor, Alastair Logan, in Guildford. “That was strange, living in Guildford,” he reflects.","type":"text"},{"_id":"63FJLL2MQVH53JURICW2DXFESU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437872},"content":"“Alastair was a great person, the way he fought for me and all. He said, come on and stay with me for a bit.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"6YELZHHTJ5HDPGMVAQVVT7XQOE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437873},"content":"He had become institutionalised, he recalls. “The first morning I got up, he came up and he said, ‘What’s the problem?’ I said I was waiting on the screw to open the door for me so I could get out.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UH2DNHV6TFCZTDFIHX6QQKUN6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":"XHV5B6I2TBED7ELWLSH55KY5TE"},"content":"In the Name of Gerry Conlon: Horrifying revelations about Britain’s treatment of the Guildford Four","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"N2Y4SKISKRGT5DIP6WX3PHV4UQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437874},"content":"Adjusting to how much the world had changed in the 15 years he had been in prison took some getting used to. Things were strange and new. Armstrong says the concept of traffic lights at pedestrian crossings was entirely new to him. This took a while to grasp and more than once, Logan had to grab him as he tried to cross a busy road.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KSLLINL74VH4XBKACRRKGJU2CE","additional_properties":{"_id":"GK3HCHUSUREERNWVXB3CZ3T22Y"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"SFWPCNEB6JH5JK5AQ6IHVSCCL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437875},"content":"“Before I went into prison you didn’t have to worry about rushing to cross the road. When I got out he said, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘to cross the road’. He said, ‘No you can’t, you eejit you. It’s different from what you’re used to.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JU5X3JFBT5CQ5OUGOBLA6RYP5U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437876},"content":"Inflation was another thing that struck Armstrong forcefully in those first few months. Getting a new wardrobe was fairly high on his agenda, he says, recalling his horror at being charged £50 for a new pair of jeans. He remembers saying to the shopkeeper: “What? The last time I bought them they were a fiver.” To which they replied: “Where have you been living, in a time warp?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KR4XBSF2CFH5XOMNWHZRYX5HQ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437877},"content":"Armstrong recalls the huge media attention he inititially received as having been difficult to deal with, and says he has chosen to live a mostly private life since his release.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D5HYSW5PBBBMPPRYBHDD7ER2FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437878},"content":"Through it all, he has maintained a remarkably positive outlook on life after prison.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YY2W6SEXINDH3EFJSB5CDFAK6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437879},"content":"Speaking fondly of Day-Lewis, he recalls the actor saying: “‘Paddy that was the greatest time I’ve had, going around with you in pubs and all the talk and listening to you,’ ... ‘You’re a gas person, after what you have went through.’ He said, ‘You’re amazing, the way you are.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SRM25MX3NRB2BIWZZBENMYRYOM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437880},"content":"“I think people were amazed,” he reflects now. “People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out. When I was in prison I said to myself, if I ever get out I’ll get out and enjoy myself. Who am I going to be bitter and twisted against, only the [British] government?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2KXEAHBORZFXXLEQWZ5KECKCBY","additional_properties":{"_id":"DQ33QXDEJVB2BNHQFZP5NY3XMU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"QP42CNY5DFHDHFKEO2YU7DBOO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437881},"content":"After some travelling, including a trip to Goa in India and a road trip with Conlon travelling across the United States, Armstrong settled back into a routine in Dublin, and was a frequent visitor to Lillie’s nightclub. The first time he met his now-wife Caroline, a schoolteacher, at a gig in The International Bar in the summer of 1996, he cut straight to the chase.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YXDF6I5OGJEAJJUW2WPMSXEE7A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437882},"content":"“I’m Paddy Armstrong. Of the Guildford Four,” he said, as he lit her cigarette.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FOY2EN5FVRAP7KVYWLSLCNGHL4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507465},"content":"Caroline joins the interview in the couple’s home at this point. She agrees she was intrigued, but her brother was a garda who knew Armstrong socially and urged caution at first. However, Armstrong made it his mission to meet Caroline again. Her family ended up welcoming him with open arms. The couple have two children.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6XVGVL2G35HGRNUNPTFK7HAB7U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437883},"content":"Armstrong says he couldn’t have imagined being able to live such a “normal” life post-release.","type":"text"},{"_id":"X6DMFZTZFNB6VGQIJ6IAHZ64UE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733848651311},"content":"“When you’re in prison you don’t think of things like that, because you’re saying to yourself, ‘No less than 35 years’; when you’re 24 going in and the judge tells you: ‘Armstrong, life imprisonment. Serve no less than 35 years.’ I would have been maybe 59. You wouldn’t be thinking about getting married.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"CZ542F74JFCY3KJQHZYSULGG4E","additional_properties":{"_id":"RLSEPZ2IYVEEVG32ATYGESVZYY"},"content":"Guildford pub bombings among first cases to be examined by commission into Troubles-era crimes","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"PVAGGSOPQVHKXD7TB4VIYAHVQY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437884},"content":"Having already seen the theatre adaptation of his memoir three times, Armstrong has nothing but praise for Wycherley’s depiction of him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WMXWLHU3SNGP7GPDFLUI3A56BQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437885},"content":"“It was very, very good. The way he played the part of me was very good, because that’s the way I went on. That’s the way I done things. He was absolutely amazing.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"MK4RPBXRWZFVZNG3OVVWNT3GJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437886},"content":"The songs featured in the play hold special significance for Armstrong. He recalls listening to music in prison and hearing one song in particular which reminded him of Richardson.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PTXKIWSW5ZHYPIQBOHOJ4C7B5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437887},"content":"He gives an impromtu rendition of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, warbling: “We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year ... The same old fears, wish you were here.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HIER36SMY5FBBHQBLPCJOSJ2CI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437888},"content":"Wycherley, speaking about bringing Armstrong to life on stage, says capturing his unique character and sense of humour was central to this.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PPAUGNHGMJASLB4LOZX7CHXZOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437889},"content":"“I suppose I would bring that knowledge of what is required on stage to make it interesting or watchable or dramatic, so there has to be a little bit of a struggle and there has to be humour. And that humour is what just bounces off Paddy, and so I was going to have to access that. Some of the jokes you’d hear him coming out with – and we’ve got to get those kind of gaggy bits – he’s quick with a line.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"M7O5Z3DBCFCYTJMUY3SFZYLQP4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733834437891},"content":"While conscious not to impersonate Armstrong, Wycherley says “there’s certainly aspects of him [in the performance], and the life is there. And hopefully, when I say the life is there, the life he has, the energy that is Paddy, some of that is there, as well as some of the pain that’s kind of hidden by him at times. That’s underneath, but you don’t really see that from Paddy. Sometimes he might go into it, you know, but he generally tends to lighten it, to get away from it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"S3YTIVMDMZH7NN7GPEDVVRD5UQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733848651320},"content":"<i>After a sold-out run at the </i><a href=\"https://www.vikingtheatredublin.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Viking Theatre</i></a><i> in Clontarf in Dublin, </i><a href=\"https://www.lifeandtimesofpaddy.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong</i></a><i> will be touring Ireland in 2025, starting at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on January 14th-15th and 20th-22nd</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"TVDRNP6CMBD3XCTAWDQIR23WHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733914507478},"content":"<i>Sign up for </i><a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/media/2023/11/07/stay-informed-with-push-alerts-from-the-irish-times-delivered-straight-to-your-phone/\"><i>push alerts</i></a><i> and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"YCDY6C2IB5FUNMX3YVDX7FFP3I","additional_properties":{},"type":"list"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ella Sloane"}},"name":"Ella Sloane"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Belfast native had to rebuild his life, which is now the subject of a stage play, after wrongly spending 15 years in jail for an IRA bomb attack"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T06:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU","auth":{"1":"04741a907bed2db54f3d5be95d23715f3abeb27d012736547b080f528671b8ee"},"focal_point":{"x":3963,"y":2680},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU.jpg"}},"subtype":"default","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Life & Style"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Culture"}}}},{"_id":"PGORPX3MDJAOBGR45ECUU7UV3Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":788,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/93e054d8-59ec-4130-ad78-aa8e2bba2ec0/versions/1733927062/media/6f2ffe333439336ca3ebd2d7748392c5_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2024/12/15/irish-wwe-star-lyra-valkyria-at-its-core-were-storytellers-everything-comes-down-to-good-versus-evil/","content_elements":[{"_id":"BPHUPFCH4JCA5IGJFACX2B4JRM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397563},"content":"Gladiator II and its healthy <a href=\"https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt9218128/\">box office receipts</a> have taught us two things. First, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/paul-mescal/\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Mescal</a> is now huge. Like, physically. It’s nuts. And, second, despite the film’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/11/11/gladiator-ii-review-dont-blame-paul-mescal-but-theres-no-good-reason-for-this-jumbled-sequel-to-exist/\" target=\"_blank\">gladiatorial combat</a> being set nearly 2,000 years ago, audiences still flock to the spectacle of muscle-bound men (and women) knocking seven bells out of each other.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6CBAXGKSC5HQBLTHTVGKVKX6DQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420638},"content":"Outside Hollywood, one of the biggest outfits to capitalise on our craving for this ancient sense of adventure is World Wrestling Entertainment, aka <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wwe/\" target=\"_blank\">WWE</a>, some of whose stars, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hulk-hogan/\" target=\"_blank\">Hulk Hogan</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dwayne-johnson/\" target=\"_blank\">Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson</a> among them, have become household names. Its brand of wrestling is pure show business, its fighters’ tightly choreographed moves furthering an all-important plot that plays out from week to week at arenas across the United States and, increasingly, around the world.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I3Z45734KFDMTHZ7KLQWQ45POM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420639},"content":"This is big business. WWE’s popularity has helped to make Johnson and his fellow wrestler <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/john-cena/\" target=\"_blank\">John Cena</a> among the highest-paid actors in Hollywood; in the ring, the likes of Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Trish Stratus and Mark “the Undertaker” Calaway have become legends among the fans who flock to the live shows or tune in to watch them on television, drawn by the drama at the heart of what the companies behind it refer to as sports entertainment.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YTAHWXED25AR7PI45K76TIDSCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420640},"content":"With its imminent multibillion-dollar move to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/netflix/\" target=\"_blank\">Netflix</a>, WWE – which claims to already have 1.2 billion fans in 180 countries – looks set to keep growing.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHGQTE2BE5A6HJVRZIPTV7SD2M","additional_properties":{"_id":"23YHT4BVLRAQXNKNY4KNCQVCPA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"NP4FQWSRW5FHDLRYPLBC456LIY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420641},"content":"<a href=\"https://aikenpromotions.com/events/wwe-live-3/\">WWE Live!</a>, the recent sold-out show at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/3arena/\" target=\"_blank\">3Arena</a> in Dublin, gives a sense of its appeal. As fans queue outside, a line of bouncing children, cocky teenagers and dutiful parents snakes around Point Square. Street sellers are out in force with light-up swords.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SZ6ENW7TLNCLTHL4UIQYAJAP2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420642},"content":"Sam Fitzgerald, who is nine, has travelled from Cork with his family. “I like the way that people are always throwing it around and flexing and stuff,” he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KECIRCZ4FRAPVIIFNF3UEXNWVY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703651},"content":"“Tell him how many wrestling figures you have at home,” his father, Brian, chimes in.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5ULKONVV7FCFXGVFFUL3ECZTVM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703652},"content":"“I have about 73,” Sam says with pride.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6NL23HW34JGVVHT44GKY7VWMWY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397574},"content":"His six-year-old sister, Lucy, is just as much of a devotee. According to their father, they’ve been huge fans since they were about five, much as he was growing up – “old school”, as he calls it, brandishing a wrestling T-shirt of his own. (”This is probably the last year [Sam] will get out of it,” Brian adds. “It’s more soccer with him now.”)","type":"text"},{"_id":"7QE67ZHXGNFENNFGSAEPLL2YQU","additional_properties":{"_id":"I6VQKBXDDNCHJEBW46IYSMDS3A"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"74ERGNCWWFHEXD4OYAFF3TWKJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397575},"content":"Nostalgia is a powerful draw. Eight-year-old James Lawless is also on his way in with his father, who is just as excited.","type":"text"},{"_id":"EYIMCBV43ZAUHFGICDLCT6EEOY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703655},"content":"“It brings back the memories,” James snr says. “I’m a fan from back in the Hogan days,” in the 1980s.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NDQTOEJBAVG45IFVKYFSSZLYK4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703656},"content":"His son is a huge fan of Cody Rhodes, one of tonight’s stars. What does the wrestler mean to him?","type":"text"},{"_id":"BIOO5KUYABG5ZFGVEF5WDUXJSU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703657},"content":"“Everything,” James jnr says shyly.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PJIVATLYT5FHNBX526EFU2MZFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420645},"content":"When the show starts it’s easy to see the attraction of WWE. One moment there’s some overacted brawling with wooden sticks, fold-up chairs and a table that, unsurprisingly, doesn’t stay intact for too long; the next, performers are reaching into the crowd and hugging children who have come along dressed in mini versions of their costumes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OKKJXSBMUVEOPDFXBKWCWPME74","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703659},"content":"It’s an eclectic mix of faux rage thrown around the ring and genuine connection with fans – something perhaps not hard to generate amid the collective effervescence of the 10,000 or so devotees who make up the crowd.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZGYTC4Z4VFBXF4N5DLI3U5YBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"64RIOKY73BBLJIQW5R7PJUZU3Y"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"CYSFZYUZFJAQRBISILCOA6UKDI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397584},"content":"The audience are anything but bystanders at WWE events, cheering, booing and becoming an additional character in this live soap opera. Fans stick their fingers in the air for the fighters’ entrance songs – every wrestler has their own theme song – and invariably wear or carry WWE merchandise.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KSBWGBGCQVEWTODRQJVCAU4KQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703661},"content":"“Hit him in the head!” one boy shouts nearby. It’s not clear if the wrestler is responding specifically to his direction, but, of course, he hits him in the head.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GKMF73YSDZGYFFJCSLNLJG2HHY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397586},"content":"A few rows behind is a boy whose hoodie and sunglasses both read “Yeet”, a long-memed retort that’s also the catchphrase of Jey Uso, one of the menacing hulks on stage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"67U25YWRTFCYXH73XXKOHDMKGI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397577},"content":"Netflix sees these larger-than-life performances as an opportunity to cement its appeal as a one-stop shop for home entertainment. <a href=\"https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/wwe-raw-netflix-release-date-news#:~:text=Beginning%20in%20January%202025%2C%20Netflix,and%20regions%20added%20over%20time.\">From January 2025</a> the streaming giant will air WWE’s flagship weekly show live, having <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/01/23/netflix-strikes-5bn-deal-to-livestream-wwes-raw-show/\">agreed to pay</a> $5 billion, or about €4.8 billion, over the next decade to screen Monday Night Raw, which is currently watched live by 1.7 million people a week.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BSICHVEJHBADZO2J2XP75AIYPQ","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"KKMWBZOAWFDDDO5XQIMINCND6Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397580},"content":"The move will “dramatically expand the reach” of the organisation, according to Mark Shapiro, president of WWE’s parent company, TKO. TKO was created to facilitate WWE’s merger with Ultimate Fighting Championship – the Las Vegas-based mixed-martial-arts promoter owned by Endeavor, the American media company that began as a Hollywood talent agency.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IDCKBMRW7VBUVFSJBXI3RIWIYA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420651},"content":"The Netflix deal, which also includes streaming rights to all other WWE programming, including the fan favourites SmackDown and WrestleMania, helps confirm that Netflix has won the streaming wars over its rivals <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/amazon/\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/disney/\" target=\"_blank\">Disney</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/apple/\" target=\"_blank\">Apple</a>. It has found a winning formula in what <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ted-sarandos/\" target=\"_blank\">Ted Sarandos</a>, its head, calls “sports-adjacent drama” – the type of programming exemplified by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2024/02/29/patrick-freyne-on-drive-to-survive-nyck-de-vries-is-failing-to-make-his-car-go-faster-unlike-me-he-hasnt-thought-of-leaving-the-house-earlier/\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1: Drive to Survive</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WSENWHUGTZHIJPBPNECM4TBGKE","additional_properties":{"_id":"7AZ3S4PLEZBY7HGO7C52PHUF7U"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"NHXQT6X5CVGULIYSORHO6LKB2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733851761709},"content":"That series’ appeal to Gen Z fans is credited with boosting the popularity of the motorsport, particularly in the US. (In another sign of the commercial draw of sports entertainment, Formula 1 is now owned by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/liberty-media/\" target=\"_blank\">Liberty Media</a>, which is also the largest shareholder in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/live-nation/\" target=\"_blank\">Live Nation Entertainment</a>, parent company of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ticketmaster/\" target=\"_blank\">Ticketmaster</a> and, ultimately, of 3Arena.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"JSOD4GBTRJA3HPM2ZXLQYDEDJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703666},"content":"The characters in Drive to Survive are real racing drivers and team principals, of course. WWE is strictly fantasy: even though their outlandish moves can injure its wrestlers, its bouts and the equally scripted feuds surrounding them are pure entertainment – as the company has <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/10/nyregion/now-it-can-be-told-those-pro-wrestlers-are-just-having-fun.html\" target=\"_blank\">testified</a> in the United States in order to avoid the regulations that apply to boxing and other combat sports.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FQ7DX5ZG35DZJE62DUDXGBQ43E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703667},"content":"It’s “extreme storytelling”, according to <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/aoife-cusack/\">Aoife Cusack</a>, aka Lyra Valkyria, who is Ireland’s latest WWE star.","type":"text"},{"_id":"M5Z4SKR5ERAO5ITZXWGB24JKYU","additional_properties":{"_id":"IKZYNX6RRBCPPGXOYUJY727GTI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"FB3WIS3NJBEHRONEC3WBAORBGA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733831703668},"content":"The Dubliner is not at 3Arena tonight, but the 28-year-old accepts a video call from Orlando, in Florida, where she has lived for the past several years.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TJTUU3CRKZCV7EQTTQM6BDUHAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397588},"content":"She started out on mats at <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/FFPWIreland/\" target=\"_blank\">Fight Factory</a>, Ireland’s largest wrestling school, when it was based in Bray, Co Wicklow. I tell her about a touching moment at 3Arena when a performer beckoned over a little girl from the crowd who was holding a handmade sign and gave her a hug. “That’s honestly the whole point of what you do,” Cusack says. “It’s easy to get caught up in the ... wild lifestyle, and sometimes it takes seeing a little girl coming up to you with her poster to really draw you back out and remind you of why you do it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"NOOZ6AY7JNGA7EAUOP7GYWYILU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397589},"content":"Inspired by the likes of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/rebecca-quin/\" target=\"_blank\">Rebecca Quin</a>, the Limerick WWE star better known in the ring as Becky Lynch, Cusack has worked her way to the top. Earlier this year she was called up from <a href=\"https://www.wwe.com/shows/WWENXT\" target=\"_blank\">NXT</a>, WWE’s development league, to star in Raw.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XZJBTBIXWRDY5LWO2CTOHSBFAY","additional_properties":{"_id":"S4SEDTNYK5CQ7KQRFCKRB5NYGA"},"content":"Lyra Valkyria: The wrestler from Clarehall taking the WWE world by storm","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"CXEZDFFJNFDOTLUQ5LRMJDURZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397590},"content":"WWE once relegated women to the status of sexualised sideshow. The company’s recognition of them has come far since the early 2000s, when fans voted on a babe of the year – and even since 2016, when women were referred to as divas. “Fans started this hashtag called <a href=\"https://x.com/givedivaachance\" target=\"_blank\">#GiveDivasAChance</a>,” Cusack says, “and I think that carried an awful lot of weight in actually getting women more time to showcase what they were able to do.” Now, she says, they’re an equal draw.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OLXJH2MFEFDTTOCY2BAH3A5DPQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397591},"content":"Fan-driven change is a theme in and out of the ring. Revelations about a toxic workplace culture and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/2024/01/27/wwe-founder-vince-mcmahon-resigns-after-sexual-assault-claims-by-former-employee/\">allegations of sexual assault and trafficking</a> against WWE’s former chief executive <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/vince-mcmahon/\" target=\"_blank\">Vince McMahon</a> resulted in his resignation after audience backlash; a US <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5532725/2024/05/31/vince-mcmahon-lawsuit-paused/\" target=\"_blank\">federal investigation</a> is under way.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JLL2R4WWCVA6VGOIQL3BMGIC5Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397592},"content":"Although Netflix’s Raw programming is unlikely to come with a caveat about the WWE’s scandal-ridden history, the streamer released a documentary series last September chronicling the rise of “Mr McMahon’s” wrestling empire and the fall of the man himself. McMahon, who created WWE by taking over the company that his father founded in 1953, and has strongly denied all the claims against him, ended his association with it earlier this year, selling <a href=\"https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/vince-mcmahon-tko-stock-sale-endeavor-1235963815/\">more than $2.3 billion (€2.1 billion) of TKO stock</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D4LJ5VEDAFCWRET34AKGKB3P34","additional_properties":{"_id":"73DMCGASL5GO5JXGEJIT55WDLE"},"content":"WWE: A global success story where the villains are in plain sight","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"RE4NNN5XUBHGJGIPU3XFIHOGEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397593},"content":"Cusack says she hasn’t witnessed a toxic culture at WWE. “I think I started at a very good time,” she says. “I think it’s very, very different now. In the locker room, everything I see is extremely positive. A lot of changes have been made positively. I think all of the incidents that needed to be dealt with are being dealt with or have been, and I don’t see any of that kind of thing in this current locker room.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"7DGRKBF3HRDAXDKJSCMMMC6B7Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397594},"content":"Some may find it hard to divorce elements of McMahon’s wrestling empire from watching WWE on Netflix, even if it’s a legacy that TKO would like to leave behind – especially now that Donald Trump has nominated McMahon’s wife, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/linda-mcmahon/\" target=\"_blank\">Linda</a>, a former WWE chief executive, to become education secretary in his second US presidential administration. (She is also the subject of legal allegations, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/us/linda-mcmahon-sexual-abuse-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\">accused of failing to act</a> on credible claims that a late WWE employee had sexually abused “ring boys” who worked at wrestling matches; she and her husband emphatically deny the allegations.)","type":"text"},{"_id":"63BRKFBY3ZDQJOAYP722PPU37U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733992873186},"content":"Trump and Vince McMahon, who have long publicised their friendship, once toughed it out in the ring together, for the so-called Battle of the Billionaires. As victor, Trump then got to shave off McMahon’s hair in front of the crowd.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MKXKOSVTKJAQ7G3TF3QTUNAKH4","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"FIOMS6IHA5CVXPFRGE3GPHJDKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397595},"content":"The goodies and baddies are at least universally agreed upon within the ring. “Wrestling, at its core, we’re storytellers,” Cusack says. “Everything comes down to good versus evil, so I feel like it’s such a great form of escapism and excitement. Ultimately, whether good or evil triumph, you’re going to have your favourites, and you’re going to lean on them and think about them when times get tough.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QTULJZ5HWNBXZNJ5KB5NMYBRLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397596},"content":"Should it be a concern that children hold up these muscly stooges as role models? For John Francis Leader, of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-dublin-ucd/\" target=\"_blank\">University College Dublin</a>’s media and entertainment psychology lab, it’s all about balance. “I think it’s important to be conscious of your media diet and to manage it intentionally,” he says. “That is particularly important when something like this comes to Netflix.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RJBECLMQK5F25KJBCAO7DMNEP4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397598},"content":"He believes that wrestlers can be perfectly acceptable role models for children, as long as they’re not their only ones. “How can I make sure I have 20 or 30 other representations [of masculinity] so I don’t fall into this trap of thinking, ‘Here’s what it means to be male,’ in a very narrow way?” he says. “Let me see somebody laugh <i>and</i> cry; somebody strong <i>and</i> somebody struggle. Then I think you’re safe, even if you’re consuming some fairly strong stuff.","type":"text"},{"_id":"O6PIGP26XBGNNJJB2IDOWU7F3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397599},"content":"“What’s been an interesting trend – which WWE falls into – has been ‘reality’ television, where it’s not quite clear where the boundaries are. When you look at the WWE approach, you’ll often hear it described as performance theatre,” he says. “This is caricatured, curated, and that’s okay. You classify it in your mind, [and] that allows you to enjoy it very much in the world of fiction.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YE7W5ONCMVCALO26X435MPORTE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733822420667},"content":"It can become problematic if a viewer regards it as real, and glamorises toxic traits displayed by some of the wrestlers.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QDX4BCKRONGJRMWEE4FOYTJDPE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397600},"content":"This year the BBC revived Gladiators, the combat gameshow from the early 1990s, which, like WWE, stars caricatured heroes and villains battling it out. It’s so popular that the BBC has commissioned a spin-off children’s series, Gladiators: Epic Pranks, to give young viewers “an insight into the world of the much-loved superhumans”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N6PFCTKGYVAMFCIBAENQAHY5II","additional_properties":{"_id":"H2GUC53BTFC75DPQ5WUXCCRA5M"},"content":"If I was on Gladiators my name would be Lump or Wheeze, and my ‘little dance’ would be falling over with a grunt","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OQ4JQMZWQFAMZCCFXXX2TRTFAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733851761729},"content":"What does this resurgence of screen strongmen – and strongwomen – say about the type of content that audiences are craving?","type":"text"},{"_id":"PC5EC5J4A5HLHKL3YD2OGFCQQI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397601},"content":"“We live in a strange world today compared to our ancestors, and for the most part we’re not getting attacked constantly,” Francis Leader says. “We’re sat at desks, thinking about things rather than hunting or being chased. However, those biological systems are still in there, and this is the argument as to why we like things like horror movies. Things like Halloween are important traditions because they give that somewhere to go ... Certain needs, if they’re not given space in the media or other places, they need to be met sometimes in a caricatured form.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"VYLKLGMDWNGI5ODPPIXSPGDWUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397602},"content":"Wrestlers’ slapstick physicality tells a story anyone can understand, with villains, scoundrels, chancers and charmers. It’s all about twists, tribalism and age-old instincts. One might hope, then, that this string of Irish success continues in the ring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6H6ZSM46TNEMHAQF2BCGG77KVI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397604},"content":"Paul “Gladiator” Mescal vs Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, anyone?","type":"text"},{"_id":"4SDCOLCJINEMNHVYSOWHLFTD6I","additional_properties":{"_id":1732894397605},"content":"<i>Monday Night Raw begins on Netflix at 1am on January 6th, 2025</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Conor Capplis"}},"name":"Conor Capplis"}]},"description":{"basic":"With its mix of larger-than-life faux rage in the ring and genuine connection with fans, it’s not hard to understand the huge popularity of WWE – and it means big business, too, for Netflix"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Irish WWE star Lyra Valkyria: ‘At its core, we’re storytellers. Everything comes down to good versus evil’","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GGV3MX4X45DG3INFBWPVA4YVUI","auth":{"1":"ecb992dd1c27a696cd40db0feefe9436fa783ae1658eb6678e8c3f8c44919ba1"},"focal_point":{"x":2520,"y":1650},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GGV3MX4X45DG3INFBWPVA4YVUI.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"TV & Radio"},{"name":"Sport"},{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2024/12/15/irish-wwe-star-lyra-valkyria-at-its-core-were-storytellers-everything-comes-down-to-good-versus-evil/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"TV & Radio"}}}},{"_id":"BPCFPM3QB5GEDBZ7QBCJVI6XOU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":155,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/f76cb0ca-915e-4b31-bef9-8d77dc04fc90/versions/1734177779/media/4c5af89fd1f9ed50058a1507d35ace72_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/14/mary-poppins-a-practically-perfect-masterclass-in-storytelling-for-the-stage/","content_elements":[{"_id":"VSS2CKLYFNA6TJGSOYMA463Q7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478497},"content":"Mary Poppins","type":"header"},{"_id":"USX7QA3D6RGWDCT4WNAB5FKSNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478498},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"25TDPZLMJFBTPM7VPAIYQFUVBA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478499},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"XZ27HFJVFNDKZLB66ZXKKBN7U4","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973841},"content":"It would be easy to be cynical about a stage version of Mary Poppins. Disney’s musical film has been a seasonal staple since its premiere, in 1964, and the “practically perfect” nanny already had a long-awaited second coming in Mary Poppins Returns.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U3DOCWJURFC2RGDZTACZE7U4WA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520747},"content":"But this theatrical offering from Cameron Mackintosh and Disney, which debuted in 2004, is a thrilling and original version of the well-known story, which has so much more to offer than its celluloid incarnations.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2MUN5NPIQRCM7I3NKHXODEMOLI","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520748},"content":"Led by a stellar team of creatives, it is not a version of the iconic film but a masterclass in storytelling for the stage, exploiting all the unique features of live performance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WEMFFCWBURH55C5KAJTKR5I67Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973842},"content":"Julian Fellowes’ tightly scripted book leans into the considerable source material of PL Travers’s original book series, crafting a plot that will surprise anyone for whom the films are their only touchstone.","type":"text"},{"_id":"H25AXKKXRNB6FFW434DTJIDZ2A","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520750},"content":"With the help of the orchestrator William David Brohn, new songs and lyrics from George Stiles and Anthony Drewe reinterpret film favourites from the Sherman brothers while adding memorable musical numbers to flesh out the exciting new episodes.","type":"text"},{"_id":"2GVWWFO3GNE6FJJCS4L54MAZMM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520751},"content":"The choreography from Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear combines classical elegance in ensemble numbers such as Jolly Holiday with a playfully percussive tap-dancing scene on the London rooftops for Step in Time that concludes with an awe-inspiring upside-down solo.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YTYNCIUMNRDSZMNS3AZS3HVTHM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520752},"content":"Hugh Vanstone’s lighting design aids subtle theatrical trickery that will have children scratching their heads in wonder.","type":"text"},{"_id":"43WR2JF2GZAEXCNXMZXMKSJIUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"33KZEQ5QYFBMXB5JD2M46L6RCY"},"content":"Mary Poppins in Dublin: Behind the scenes of the all-singing, all-dancing Christmas show","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"3RRCCAUBYBADXE5V6T6EF26EXI","additional_properties":{"_id":"5IVQ3RY3TRBS5PZXUX4Q5H4TVY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"EKVGTZ3SUNDKTN4NCY7Z7HEKVE","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973843},"content":"Richard Eyre, whose original direction is aided by James Powell for this latest production, confidently steers our gaze as the omniscient shape-shifting narrator, Bert (Jack Chambers), guides us through the sliding layers of Bob Crowley’s spit-spot pop-up-picture-book set.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMN2XCYCNVA3RBPTUBNMPDXSHM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734176520754},"content":"Stefanie Jones’ welcomely vulnerable Mary Poppins glides on and off stage and up and down stairs with a graceful, understated magic that makes sure to take nothing away from the breathtaking finale.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E7VA35X7BNBCFGMYV33SW7GGYA","additional_properties":{"_id":"XA37T35I45HKPJMBQZHESV6IRE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"DEZP76WKIVETRJC3CKDJN2LKZM","additional_properties":{"_id":1734174973844},"content":"In those closing moments, the excellent ensemble raise their voices in a full-throated chorus and young and old crane their necks to wave goodbye to the impossible, confounding nanny who has offered us the proof of her own motto: “Anything can happen/ raise the curtain! Things you thought impossible/ will soon seem certain/ Anything can happen if you let it.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"434QQAGSBRFZBIWSPFIMYVNHJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733998478501},"content":"<i>Mary Poppins is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin 2, until Saturday, January 11th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: This thrilling Cameron Mackintosh-Disney show capitalises on PL Travers’s original story, which has so much more to offer than the films"},"display_date":"2024-12-14T11:55:54.863Z","headlines":{"basic":"Mary Poppins review: A practically perfect masterclass in storytelling for the stage","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"L6KOA56DRNH3LNV4NFE2L4ILTU","auth":{"1":"fe191cedd976d01b3369a56f474727e919e9e53869069bfa95a425fa5ace6be7"},"focal_point":{"x":545,"y":330},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/L6KOA56DRNH3LNV4NFE2L4ILTU.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/14/mary-poppins-a-practically-perfect-masterclass-in-storytelling-for-the-stage/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"RCK5M5U74JFM5N6LZR6HXM2VVI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":925,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/c689f81b-c0b7-4324-930e-1ac12891fc1c/versions/1733499996/media/0535650aed84543145b61a067d42cea4_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/14/watch-your-step-steve-coogan-takes-patrick-freyne-backstage-at-dr-strangelove/","content_elements":[{"_id":"YVNO3F4WAFCZ7BOISQQRRZHQ2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580218},"content":"I am making small talk with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/steve-coogan/\" target=\"_blank\">Steve Coogan</a> in a small reception room at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. We’re talking about Coogan playing <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/mick-mccarthy/\" target=\"_blank\">Mick McCarthy</a> in the forthcoming film Saipan – “He’s from Barnsley, up the road from me” – when someone starts loudly drilling into a nearby wall.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZR5ACWSD5VAARLQIORW4IJ73ZA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580219},"content":"“This is a really bad choice of room,” Coogan says, staring at the wall. “Can they stop?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UXUUF2C35NB6LPTVYNUCXYRG7A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580220},"content":"“I don’t think so at this stage,” the friendly press person says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KVJEZ3SJ45CTJIREGU6VFEED2Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580221},"content":"It’s just before the tech rehearsal for the West End run of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2025/02/07/dr-strangelove-in-dublin-review-steve-coogan-gives-a-bravura-performance-but-the-play-around-him-falls-a-little-flat/\" target=\"_blank\">Dr Strangelove</a>, Sean Foley and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/armando-iannucci/\" target=\"_blank\">Armando Iannucci</a>’s stage adaptation of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/stanley-kubrick/\" target=\"_blank\">Stanley Kubrick</a>’s dark satire, which moves to Dublin in the new year. Coogan is playing four distinct parts, so he’s understandably a little distracted.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GTKTMWAKWVD6JCUMRUMS3WZUAA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580222},"content":"He stands up. “Come to my dressingroom.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ILUEQAGASFC6PPXVGLTD3UJPHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580223},"content":"He pauses. “That sounds a bit weird.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"EPM4VUQVY5FRDH7F3UEV32T4KI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580224},"content":"But then the drill goes off again, and he starts walking. “Seriously, it’s going to be way better than this.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"J4YV6SEYYNEONIASEBNGV26Z5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580225},"content":"And so I follow comedy legend Steve Coogan around a warren of ancient corridors. “Where are we?” he says as we pass plasterwork and thick carpets.","type":"text"},{"_id":"F5EJTVZFUVAQTDEW2I3MWSBASI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580226},"content":"“I’m trying to get away from the noise,” he says to one woman as we pass.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3AJI2WHLSJDFZJWN7M7CYGSJ74","additional_properties":{"_id":"CETU2QA6R5FYZE52RLI75WQLBU"},"content":"Dr Strangelove in Dublin review: Steve Coogan gives a bravura performance, but the play around him falls a little flat","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"SHTQEUAC45DFHBSUXMW2YMPTKE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580227},"content":"He opens a door. It’s not backstage. It’s the stalls of the theatre. Comedy legend Armando Iannucci is sitting in one of the rows.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AXFDCK6J3RA2RJDPQMNXHDAQZQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580228},"content":"“Oh, hi,” comedy legend Armando Iannucci says happily.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HMRJXQVBMFE4JJWEPMLOOYPOEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580229},"content":"“I’m doing an interview,” comedy legend Steve Coogan says distractedly, gesturing at me.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KDWH3UD43BA4JALBU36Q4OBXIA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580230},"content":"Comedy legend Armando Iannucci turns to me. “We actually hate each other,” he says, but Coogan is already heading towards another door.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7VC4Y3AYC5B7PCUCMZVCTM4BJQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580231},"content":"“Okay, we go this way,” he says, finally finding a door to the backstage area. More warrens, darker ones. We wander under ladders and over wires. Coogan narrates: “Watch your step here. Watch these little lines. Watch all this debris and come through here.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"QA4WA7MSDZCSZJLJOBNOT7QIBU","additional_properties":{"_id":"UI5SPJIZC5GN3LV4JVHXI2K5Y4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5D3DXB5PPRFRZBBR46CY7GAFAQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"DEHBXPKK5JA4VDIBWM622GDFFA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"VO37VUZSPZAG7KPYFJ42QCZNY4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580232},"content":"Having Steve Coogan take me on an epic if distracted trek through a theatre to his dressingroom is the most fun I’ve had in ages. It is, in fact, vaguely <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/peter-sellers/\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Sellers</a>-esque.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UQUZGAUIXFEELMD4EDYH6BN2JM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580233},"content":"Kubrick’s original Dr Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb came out in 1964, two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s a brilliantly funny, dark and disturbing film, featuring amazing performances from Sellers in three of the main parts. It’s about a rogue American general who’s instigating a third World War and the president and his former-Nazi adviser, the eponymous Dr Strangelove, who are trying to strategise their way out of the situation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P3XQ3YNHQBB37KY76MR3WGQDMM","additional_properties":{"_id":"BFAKQYKI5NFD3O4A7SKZEXRMOU"},"content":"Armageddon time: how Stanley Kubrick made us laugh at the annihilation of the human race","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"LXIVFYUCURAZPBVEWRNL4Q6EWQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"OLR4QV5PZ5BBXHAXVBPIB25LAI"},"content":"First-look at Éanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane and Steve Coogan as Mick McCarthy","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"TTLNVFLDGBBIXOLPGF3MPH74JI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580234},"content":"David Luff and Patrick Myles, the stage version’s lead producers, first sought permission for the adaptation from the Kubrick estate about seven years ago. None of Kubrick’s work had been adapted for theatre at that point. “It was a hard sell,” Myles says. What sold the idea, in the end, was Luff and Myles’s successful adaptation of another classic satire, Sidney Lumet’s Network, featuring <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bryan-cranston/\" target=\"_blank\">Bryan Cranston</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"C2YE3VCH3FETRA6PKHVSIXRLVU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580235},"content":"If anything, a Dr Strangelove adaptation is even more appropriate now than it was when they set out to acquire the rights. Since then Russia has <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/ukraine-war/\" target=\"_blank\">invaded Ukraine</a> and Russia’s president has made threats against Nato. Israel has been <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/israel-hamas-conflict/\" target=\"_blank\">attacking</a> the people of Gaza and is at war with Lebanon, unsettling the whole of the Middle East. And the unpredictable <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/donald-trump/\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump</a> will soon, once again, be president of the United States. “The <a href=\"https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/\" target=\"_blank\">Doomsday Clock</a>, which is this thing that a group of international scientists use to measure how close we are to a nuclear war, is set at 90 seconds,” Luff says. “It’s closer now than during the Cuban Missile Crisis.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"KQF2IRBLBNEDVELS64SKSZDLSE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580236},"content":"“One gallows-humour joke between Armando and I is that, the worse the world gets, the better it is for the play,” Foley, the play’s director and cowriter, says. “Incredibly, JFK 2, or whatever he’s called” – he means <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/robert-f-kennedy-jr/\" target=\"_blank\">Robert F Kennedy jnr</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2024/11/14/donald-trump-selects-robert-f-kennedy-jnr-to-lead-top-us-health-agency/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump’s pick</a> to run the US department of health – “says, literally, exactly what General Ripper says in the show, which is, ‘We’ve got to stop all this fluoridisation business,’ and he sees weird plots in vaccination.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YKPTWFMA55HR3FHXBQ73AL4J5E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580237},"content":"Was Foley intimidated by the idea of taking on a beloved film such as Dr Strangelove? “Obviously not intimidated enough,” he says. “But, yes, absolutely.” He asked Iannucci to cowrite, he says, so that he wouldn’t get “all the blame”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CXYVGAWZMJDEVPBPD75LYXZ3I4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580238},"content":"“The key thing for me was thinking, well, it <i>could</i> be done on stage. It wasn’t a crazy idea in that sense. And therefore, if it could be done, it seemed to me, it was something that we could relish. Once you’ve freed yourself from the idea that people are going to hate you for ruining a masterpiece, then you have to concentrate on what you feel you can bring to it and how you can make a great evening at a theatre.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"5NRRR3VF25G3BGMOGVKMXXKUPU","additional_properties":{"_id":"RETA5ASFMRH4TBD7RQUESUB7EE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"UD5BVSA4NVAHJP735IRZRXVBBI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580239},"content":"Foley also saw something unique in what theatre could do with the concept. “Sellers plays three characters,” he says. “That’s extraordinary. It’s brilliant to see in the film. But some part of you knows damn well that they’ve gone, ‘Cut!’ and he’s gone off and got makeup and a wig and time has passed. On the stage we can’t do that. You’re literally seeing it live, going on right in front of you: Steve Coogan doing four characters. Immediately the bravura quality is already theatrical.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"X6MSXSSAYRBZTAVEQPNBUVOJ5I","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580240},"content":"Do a group of people jump on Coogan and dress him between scenes? He laughs. “I can’t reveal what’s happening, but something like that.” Later he says, “The costumes are tricked and the shirts are sewn together ... It is like a pit stop: you’re literally ripping stuff off, putting stuff on, and then you’re back on stage, wigged.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"UAVNS6WH3RFJROYK6D7QNSU324","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580241},"content":"Giles Terera, who plays General Turgidson, the part once played by George C Scott, thinks it’s important to consider how changing the medium changes the material. On any given day a theatrical performance lands differently, he says. “When you do it from one week to the next, the world shifts around it, and there are more resonances that may or may not have been there before. It’s a living, responding thing. Movies have that, but the response only goes one way. Whereas in the theatre, as storytellers, you are receptive to the same thing as the audience.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"GKKGKGESGBBEXAXQZ26CRD7GNU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580242},"content":"I sit up in the balcony of the Noël Coward Theatre and watch actors dressed as airmen gather in the seats below before the rehearsal begins. Crew members in black T-shirts move heavy pieces of set about. Foley sits talking to Iannucci in the stalls. “Let’s have it!” one of the airman says as the show commences across three amazing-looking sets: General Ripper’s office, the war room and the cockpit of a huge B52 bomber flying against a huge video screen.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6A3D4QUGIRAUXEQKFQHDROL73A","additional_properties":{"_id":"CFOEKP4235BQHK2JG7GLFIP2YA"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"SETVGJ3UYRFXBIEKIYQZU3QT74","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580243},"content":"“It’s basically an office comedy,” Foley says later. “In the war room, Ripper’s office or the cockpit of a B52 you’ve got three different kinds of workplace settings. Unlike a lot of films, you don’t have to go to 20 different locations.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"TZUZOYZR2FETHC7RKSRDMR4BZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580244},"content":"It’s an entertaining and impressive production. Because Coogan plays four distinctly different characters, the moments when one of them appears to leave the stage and another enters are like a graceful special effect. But it’s the tech rehearsal today, so there are occasional bugs. At one point Coogan emerges breathlessly as Captain Mandrake but is not fully in costume. These hiccups get worked out as I watch.","type":"text"},{"_id":"Z4U7TWFGDZDKNF7UBUD7STKGEU","subtype":"youtube","type":"oembed_response"},{"_id":"62H5PQUC4ZHM3DVTIYHVDY7WYE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580245},"content":"Before the rehearsal, in his dressingroom, I ask Coogan why he chose to play four parts instead of Sellers’s three. “He was supposed to do four, but he pulled out of one of them,” he says. “I thought if I was going to do it, I want to go the extra yard and not just mimic what he did. Sellers did define character comedy for a couple of generations, so you want to pay homage to what he did, but I had to own it in some way creatively.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"P7LN2TPXBZCYNPTYPL4GSXMJUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580246},"content":"If Sellers defined British comedy in the 1960s, Coogan and Iannucci have defined it since the 1990s, when they created the news-satirising programmes On the Hour and The Day Today. It was on those shows that Coogan first developed <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/steve-coogan-why-i-m-bringing-back-alan-partridge-1.3797645\" target=\"_blank\">Alan Partridge</a>, who went on to be the focus of several TV series, a film, a podcast and two books across the following decades.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UCMQBJRPMBCVTOTHGNKRS2N6D4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085922},"content":"Coogan also went on to do <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-trip-to-spain-review-steve-coogan-and-rob-brydon-get-stuck-into-food-and-death-1.3038836\" target=\"_blank\">The Trip</a>, 24 Hour Party People and, crucially, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review-philomena-1.1579466\" target=\"_blank\">Philomena</a>, Stephen Frears’s film about the Magdalene laundries. “Philomena got me my get-out-of-jail-free card,” he says. “No one ever offered me a role like that. I love the idea of being funny and of moving people. I like comedy as a tool. I like daft comedy. I like traditional comedy. I love Porridge and Steptoe and Son, but they had poignancy. They were about flawed individuals, flawed humanity.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZWM4GFTKZJH3XBYJ3FIYEUXPFM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085923},"content":"“Comedy has always been seen as lowbrow by intellectuals, wrongly, because the best art straddles those two things. Comedy within a drama sugars the pill of difficult subject matter and requires great skill. It’s <i>hard</i>. I like to do things that are difficult. Catholic self-flagellation.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"VG53XP2ZWVAW7KVELDJY6T5R4A","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580247},"content":"Coogan and Iannucci, also a Catholic, haven’t worked together since Iannucci’s film <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/in-the-loop-1.747255\" target=\"_blank\">In the Loop</a>, in 2009. Coogan says that working together in the 1990s was his comedy schooling. “I was doing impersonations, and even though I was good at them I always found them a bit like a party trick,” he says. “I was trying to weave my impersonations into subject matter that had some substance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VCJW33TKH5AVLLCLIUXAUGP2M4","additional_properties":{"_id":"3JNR6GXKAFAQFKCPOGVBRLKUCY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"SAAP6NTC5RB6VEDDSAEBY7MAPM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085925},"content":"“Armando saw me do my stand-up in 1990, or something like that, and thought, ‘Oh, he’s good,’ and basically offered me a job on On the Hour ... I wanted to do something a bit unusual, but I was also probably a bit more populist in my tastes. I was more intuitive and less intellectual. And Armando was as much intellectual as he was intuitive. He was the grown-up in the room ... Armando cast the die in terms of being confident, being unusual and being a bit avant-garde and not worried about being strange. I learned a new language from Armando.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"X3VGVKA4FZCNNBDNIA35JMXZFU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580248},"content":"I meet Iannucci up in another strange little anteroom in the theatre. He tells me about how Dr Strangelove, along with The Great Dictator, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/terry-gilliam/\" target=\"_blank\">Terry Gilliam</a>’s Brazil and The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy had an impact on him as a young man. “I was, like, ‘Oh, you can do comedy <i>of ideas</i>. It doesn’t have to just be jokes or sketches. It can be <i>about</i> things.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HJGN6OAKDNHW7GDO6BS7OV6H4M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580249},"content":"Iannucci accessed a wealth of material at the <a href=\"https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/library-services/special-collections-and-archives/archives-and-special-collections-centre/the-stanley-kubrick-archive\" target=\"_blank\">Stanley Kubrick Archive</a>, at the University of the Arts in London. Initially Kubrick was working on Dr Strangelove as a serious drama. Then, Iannucci says, “they realised that the only way to tell this story is through the absurdity”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"F73NDNW4F5EF7LVHUSGMJSSZ2M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580250},"content":"Reality is absurd, he says. The film version of Dr Strangelove opens with a sign at a military base that says, “Peace is our profession.” “I always thought it was a joke, but you go to the Kubrick archives and find that was what was on the military base. He’s got a photo of it. ‘Peace is our profession.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FUV4YTUBUBCJHLZUI444MNZMQA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580251},"content":"You can really see the power of humour in autocracies, Iannucci says. “When we were doing <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-death-of-stalin-mortal-panic-with-a-ghastly-conclusion-1.3259594\" target=\"_blank\">The Death of Stalin</a> I saw the Stalin joke books that were circulated [in Soviet Russia]. You could be killed if you told a Stalin joke, but people felt the need [to joke]. ‘If I can make fun of him, he hasn’t got me.’ Autocrats hate jokes about themselves. I think it’s because then they can’t control the response to a joke.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4UV6KZNBYBGNVOV2QLAMOZ23X4","additional_properties":{"_id":"2LSNMY6MPFCJFJ6E5OGJLRF2SY"},"content":"Grand Theft Hamlet: Slings, arrows and outrageous fortune as Shakespeare meets gameplay","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"KCHXRHUPZ5C6PBPTO7IP7T2ULQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580252},"content":"Foley is also a staunch defender of the idea that silly comedy can coexist with serious ideas. He quotes the poet Patrick Kavanagh: “‘There is only one muse, the comic muse. In tragedy there is always something of a lie. Comedy is the abundance of life.’ I always think that in tragedy they’re leaving something out. No matter how dark things are, there is always something that is absurd. Tragedy excludes that, but comedy doesn’t exclude tragedy. Shakespeare wrote a lot more comedies than tragedies, and even the tragedies have a lot of comedy. He knew what he was doing.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XNJBQ3WZKZGYNJECCBTNZ7HPRQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580253},"content":"He has previously been involved in stage adaptations of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/pg-wodehouse/\" target=\"_blank\">PG Wodehouse</a>’s Jeeves and Wooster stories, the Ealing comedy The Ladykillers and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/ben-elton/\" target=\"_blank\">Ben Elton</a>’s TV show Upstart Crow. Why does he think turning films and TV programmes and books into plays has become so popular?","type":"text"},{"_id":"XYUP364L5JDPRKVNBYZMF7F2IU","additional_properties":{"_id":1734076403191},"content":"“In one sense there’s a financial side to it,” he says. “Why mustn’t you say ‘Macbeth’ in a theatre? The real answer is not to do with ghosts and ghoulies. The real answer is because when the management said, ‘We’re putting on Macbeth,’ you knew they were financially in trouble. Why? Because Macbeth is one of the greatest-selling shows of all time.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"FDLFAKTTKZGXNGYDUOJAOIOCPI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580254},"content":"But retelling old stories is not a new phenomenon, he says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"YPWBOOCIJRDVDOM7VL434OZ5UU","additional_properties":{"_id":"SQIL6HZWPNBOTG2EOVSUJBHDTI"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"6PAMAACHEBHMTHF3MYTMRW4RRA","additional_properties":{"_id":1734076403194},"content":"“If you go back to Shakespeare, again, he was nicking plots off everybody. He’s ‘inspired by’ or he ‘borrows from’. The fact is that we now have cinema in the mix as well as books and theatre and paintings and short stories. Mary Poppins was a children’s story, and then it was made into a big film, and then it was made into a <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/2024/11/16/mary-poppins-comes-to-dublin-behind-the-scenes-of-the-all-singing-all-dancing-christmas-show/\" target=\"_blank\">big stage show</a>. Certain stories are very powerful, and people want to do them [again].”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DLNOBLB6DFFMVNR4VBZ7YDG7OI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580255},"content":"Foley sees some sort of cathartic purpose in art. Giles Terera, who played Aaron Burr in the initial London run of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/21/hamilton-in-dublin-the-action-barely-pauses-long-enough-to-let-an-ecstatic-audience-applaud/\" target=\"_blank\">Hamilton</a>, is more optimistic about theatre’s capacity to change the world. Hamilton’s racially diverse casting directly changed how open casting directors were to black actors, Terera says, so it <i>can</i> have an impact. “People rose up and rioted because of [JM Synge’s] The Playboy of the Western World.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZCWXLPZLBBDIPCBJW4NHTHDBJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733490085934},"content":"Terera also starred in Bisi Adigun and Roddy Doyle’s <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/dublin-theatre-festival-review-1.969810\" target=\"_blank\">version of that play</a> at the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey Theatre</a> in Dublin in 2007. “Theatre has the potential to allow people a space to think. That’s dangerous, because people being allowed to think for themselves is when things happen ... The really important thing about theatre is that you have two hours where you have your phone off and you sit with your own feelings ... ‘Think about this subject. Don’t turn away from it.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SVPYREJYYRBJZCN6TKHGQYQAUU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580256},"content":"Foley is less confident about art’s capacity to change anything. “People say, ‘Oh my God, isn’t it wonderful that <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/taylor-swift/\" target=\"_blank\">Taylor Swift</a> supported <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/kamala-harris/\" target=\"_blank\">Kamala Harris</a>?’ Is that going to swing the election?” he says. “It didn’t. Art is for something else. In this case, specifically, it’s to make people laugh.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"M22LNQ5QVJD4FJ4WLGIGDCY2FE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580257},"content":"On the other hand, he believes there’s something quite profound about making people laugh. “Clowns are the greatest form of satire, because they’re about satirising humans – because we’re idiots,” he says. “It’s always useful to be reminded of that. The best philosophical statement in the world is somebody walking on stage and slipping on a banana skin on to their arse.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"3PA2JTUEWJEABARTGENODETI2Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733478580258},"content":"<a href=\"https://drstrangelove.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Dr Strangelove</i></a><i> is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Wednesday, February 5th, to Saturday, February 22nd</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Patrick Freyne"}},"name":"Patrick Freyne"}]},"description":{"basic":"The comic actor is playing four parts in the new stage version of Stanley Kubrick’s film, which comes to Ireland in 2025"},"display_date":"2024-12-14T05:30:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘Watch your step’: Steve Coogan takes Patrick Freyne backstage at Dr Strangelove","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"3SH4AQKYH5ADXM3V5WB4TSO5VA","auth":{"1":"d6bfb73d984df5bd2781bc18972eba9b95e2817049f028c33a21910c05208937"},"focal_point":{"x":2208,"y":2358},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/3SH4AQKYH5ADXM3V5WB4TSO5VA.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Film"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/14/watch-your-step-steve-coogan-takes-patrick-freyne-backstage-at-dr-strangelove/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"SB2Y7KW6IVB55NVC2DWJROF6AU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":198,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/282f7ded-ce4d-4b6d-a54e-3939a1abae20/versions/1733739815/media/65558fa8219cf002415feacd86d4bebc_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/a-streetcar-named-desire-review-hot-and-bothered-in-new-orleans/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ADI6J2VSAFGZRONPHIBWMDEC5Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1733737551999},"content":"A Streetcar Named Desire","type":"header"},{"_id":"NTL4R6DBA5EGDJUEBMGPAXIQNA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733737552000},"content":"Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"NZIW57XKPJECVPEQMSQL5IZZ4Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1733737552001},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"S2SHMCNFR5AG5BM3GPMELP4WVQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"There’s a scene in <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/tennessee-williams/\" target=\"_blank\">Tennessee Williams</a>’s sweltering play from 1947 when Blanche DuBois, a visitor who has arrived in New Orleans with a suitcase of costume dresses and love poems, is driven to explanation. Asked about her concealed past, she says: “You know what ‘played out’ is? My youth was suddenly gone up the water spout.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DUE2H5B6CVHHZFHUKPJ62CHLQU","additional_properties":{},"content":"It’s a line that has possibly held the play back. Among standout performances in Dublin, audiences will recall <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/frances-mcdormand/\" target=\"_blank\">Frances McDormand</a> giving a tightly controlled, fraught turn in 1998. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/lia-williams/\" target=\"_blank\">Lia Williams</a> was luminous as an impossibly refined Blanche in 2013. Both actors were cast in their 40s despite the script describing the character as 30. Within the strict society of the United States in the 1940s, perhaps a woman was made to feel past her prime, but the role has always been tinged with youthful vim.","type":"text"},{"_id":"P56DAHNVWZA2FAQJKCSLPWUFLE","additional_properties":{},"content":"For this lucid Smock Alley production, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/cathal-cleary/\" target=\"_blank\">Cathal Cleary</a>, its director, has recruited a pleasingly young cast. Eavan Gaffney’s Blanche, after a tumultuous first decade of adulthood, steps inside her sister’s modest apartment, which is far from the high-class comfort of their ancestral home. Stella (<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/sade-malone/\" target=\"_blank\">Sade Malone</a>) smiles with girlish admiration for her alpha husband, Stanley (Jack Meade) – a couple in their late 20s making a start on a problematic life together.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GOQJXZFT75B45DCGYYTND3DI7E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Where older Blanches hit the rigid poses of high-society women – Williams’s silhouette extended into the pointed shoulders of puff sleeves; in a London production in 2020, Gillian Anderson leaned into the drama of a wide-sleeved but confining kaftan – Gaffney is impressively fluid. “You talk to your mother about me?” she says, suddenly turning on her heel to sit next to an admirer (a wonderfully well-judged Kristian Phillips).","type":"text"},{"_id":"O7HSH4TXRBFZTJF2OTCPG25RHQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"Gaffney can give unlikely lines propulsion. “Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets!” she says with a snap when Meade’s watchful Stanley threatens to have a lawyer look over the sale contract for the family home (which he would have a legal claim to as Stella’s husband).","type":"text"},{"_id":"6YDVVGAWCJHWBDD2QL7WCN2LDM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Cleary’s production is fascinatingly exposed, the cramped apartment represented by a minimalist stage surveilled by characters lurking on the edges. The jazz of the Blue Piano saloon becomes replaced by the composer Jack Baxter’s haunting song (“Some hypnotic dream / To lift us”) as Blanche is greeted by smiling, unblinking locals. Such ominous signs foreshadow a cry for help later on: “Caught in a trap!”","type":"text"},{"_id":"RFLQ5RULW5HOJF4LPOBNRXWIY4","additional_properties":{},"content":"This is the production’s preferred tone as Blanche’s mind begins to spiral. As well played as the material is, the promise of a fresh perspective seems overshadowed by productions past, as vocal intonations and costuming veer towards older impersonation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TMIF5IQANFBMPNIZWMMDI3DL3Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"This isn’t quite a Blanche finally making a start on life after a lost first decade of adulthood (“Death ... the opposite is desire!”), a twentysomething Stella nosediving into experience without a clear safety net (“I was sort of thrilled by it,” she says of her husband’s aggression) or a Stanley making a shocking transition from military to family life. The old streetcar occasionally clatters with life, though.","type":"text"},{"_id":"VQ3NOUT37JG4RCJJNQFGQGGK4M","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>A Streetcar Named Desire is at </i><a href=\"https://smockalley.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Smock Alley Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, December 21st</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Cathal Cleary’s lucid production features a pleasingly young cast, including an impressively fluid Eavan Gaffney as Blanche DuBois"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T10:18:28.944Z","headlines":{"basic":"A Streetcar Named Desire review: Hot and bothered in New Orleans","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"LSIEETWZNZFHXO5GUWW6XIXJX4","auth":{"1":"62b1e4277372a06c2afd3e8ad1280bb9070301eaffefe71fbeb1f7686a44b732"},"focal_point":{"x":960,"y":1030},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/LSIEETWZNZFHXO5GUWW6XIXJX4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/a-streetcar-named-desire-review-hot-and-bothered-in-new-orleans/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"5UEIJQKKRJEKFOTTTL5UP6XYAI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":199,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/b1aa92bc-595b-48f3-b675-8918b26043bd/versions/1733734123/media/3a5e64674e34dae3f3f044fb2a7af3d9_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/red-riding-hood-everymans-warm-hearted-panto-sparkles-with-exuberance/","content_elements":[{"_id":"TDMOLA3Q7JEF5PKLOMVYKSHJGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005457},"content":"Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"L3I4J6AOBBCUNEAAGT3ZL4UXEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005458},"content":"Everyman, Cork","type":"header"},{"_id":"FTSQALBSS5EL5KEVDDDEZJB7PE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005459},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"K24CDDJXHVDPHCMTUWQUN52IEQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005460},"content":"Sparkling with exuberance and spangled with laughter, Everyman’s version of the ancient fairy tale of Red Riding Hood appears to be aimed not so much at audience participation as at audience integration. This is present in gleeful abundance, expressed in full-throated response to recurring invitations from the stage, where stallholder Peggy Twomey is definitely in the house. As Granny to little Red, Fionula Linehan’s Peggy fuels her remarkable physique with appropriate vocal energy, especially when encouraging tribal declarations of loyalty to the rebels.","type":"text"},{"_id":"S2B2KNYH5ZAURNXVBU5XGU5DHE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005461},"content":"These strident Corkonian assertions could distort what might kindly be termed the plot, were there not so many other elements in this warm-hearted production. At its core the story concerns little Red Riding Hood, and here at its core is Grace O’Halloran, a practical heroine whose calm rationality keeps the thin thread of coherence alive. It also helps that she is a sweet-voiced and confident singer even at 11 years old and that her rapport with this young audience is unforced and immediate.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MZCPDNLJSBASFAKGA54WJBRLCQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005462},"content":"All the ensemble singers and dancers keep the action lively and often charming, especially in their costumes from Daniel Stones, who also provides a wolf leathered from beard to boot. This usually voracious animal is announced as an acquisitive entrepreneur with his goggles set on taking over Peggy’s trade in breakfast cereals. Despite this indication of the creative challenge posed by converting an admonitory fable into contemporary relevance, it may be that writer Karl Harpur has latched on to the essence of the story.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BR6VQC3DMNA3DAWJT4FVAODYJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005463},"content":"Modernised in his day by Charles Perrault and analysed much later by the psychotherapist Bruno Bettelheim, it has at its moral centre the transition from childhood to adolescence. This rite of passage is revealed in a captivating exchange between Pip (a stalwart Aoife Hosford) and Red. It is a poignant moment given here with the truthfulness and innocence that lie at the heart of the folk tale and that does much to redeem an episodic script.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GQST4YJUVNGBXKSWLXBI24BUUA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005464},"content":"Redemption also comes from the committed performances of other members of the cast, not least those of Pádraic Di Fusco as the woodcutter and Andrew Lane as the imaginary friend pleading for inclusion in diversity. These reflect the talents gathered in this production by director Catherine Mahon-Buckley, but a question arises as to the moderate use of technical resources and imaginative visual innovation.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MR4HRG5VMJBYFCNW6UWCPBDY7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005465},"content":"The theatre itself, in its rare evocative glamour, provides a link of historical consistency. Instead the linkage is a mantra of “belief” applied at random during a variety of vivacious encounters at a bolting pace set by the band, powerfully visible as well as audible under Anth Kaley. A little like that early marriage feast, and noting that Red’s hood isn’t much in evidence, the best costumes are kept to the end in a glory of sequins.","type":"text"},{"_id":"POUQ57CDCFANNALZDRNSHZVIAI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005466},"content":"In a presentation veering so dizzily from scene to scene, however, it is disappointing that there could be no better competitive audience anthem than being made “hot to go”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IO3Q35JZ4FGKRNQSV2QHGKK4MA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733736005467},"content":"<i>Red Riding Hood is at the Everyman, Cork, until Sunday, January 12th, 2025</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Grace O’Halloran, the production’s 11-year-old star, has an immediate, unforced rapport with the young audience"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T08:43:28.204Z","headlines":{"basic":"Red Riding Hood: Everyman’s warm-hearted panto sparkles with exuberance","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"M4JAMRQKSBC33GY3MYZ55VEGJM","auth":{"1":"ef5775c091b9092dccab6dd863a788c9078618e4153874805b949941dfc8d735"},"focal_point":{"x":2670,"y":1820},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/M4JAMRQKSBC33GY3MYZ55VEGJM.jpeg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/red-riding-hood-everymans-warm-hearted-panto-sparkles-with-exuberance/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"F74Q6IIQG5DYFLWHBWKSLZAHZQ","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":377,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/fe541ab4-693e-4681-aa6c-906ef9a99441/versions/1733354571/media/e48f463eea388de814b44f8c1fdac0c1_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/2024/12/09/terra-dance-artist-alessandra-azeviche-what-i-connect-with-in-ireland-is-the-oppression-from-the-church-within-our-bodies/","content_elements":[{"_id":"NQQMAPHSBZGNPLHVRXQHPHDCSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861579},"content":"Back in September, during <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin-fringe-festival/\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin Fringe Festival</a>, there was one buzzed-out number that many theatre-makers were talking about. As the figure climbed into the hundreds, it kept being mentioned: “Have you heard about the Terra wait-list?”","type":"text"},{"_id":"YIPVUAZM4FDIZG4SSOWGMWAIBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733320987954},"content":"Although plenty of shows sell out, competition for audiences at the festival is intense. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/09/09/terra-a-dancer-and-a-planet-trying-to-get-back-to-certain-kind-of-feeling/\" target=\"_blank\">Terra</a>, by the Afro-Brazilian dancer, choreographer, performer and teacher Alessandra Azeviche, was arguably the most in-demand production. Every evening during its five performances, people queued at <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/project-arts-centre/\" target=\"_blank\">Project Arts Centre</a> in the hope that they might get lucky and nab a returned ticket.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MQTTMY65QFEGXD73PNAEVBTVJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861581},"content":"“There’s a lot for me to unpack, still,” Azeviche says about staging the piece, which was in part about colonisation and countercolonisation. “There’s that tendency of trying to put your whole life into 45 minutes: all your ideas, plans, beliefs; sometimes trying too hard with yourself. It’s not about trying to please people, it’s just that if, for a long time, you don’t have spaces to share, and then you do, it’s like a subconscious survival mechanism: ‘I have to say this all now! Put everything into one basket!’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"AZGBCWYIMVC37KMMIY63ELVANM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861582},"content":"Why does she think it was so popular? “I think there was a mix of curiosity and wanting a new perspective,” she says. “When you’re bringing the subject of countercolonising to a country that was colonised, on a subconscious level people can relate. But it’s a superficial thing to go, ‘We have been colonised, too: we know.’ My experience of colonisation is different to yours, but we can find common ground for sure. Sometimes people are looking for something they can relate to instead of being open to something new, another perspective to learn from ...","type":"text"},{"_id":"65U42D3K35HF7KWUTOXRW75KXQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733320987957},"content":"“It’s complex. It’s not something to ‘get’, it’s to receive, and to sit with someone else’s experience of colonisation in a different body, time, context. For me, having my ancestors from Africa, and having a historical concept of enslavement that travels through my genes, my lineage, my experience, because I’m a dancer I’m talking about embodying a memory of ancestors. What I connect with here [in Ireland] is the oppression from the church within our bodies.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"2HWVJEKQ6NCEJAEHB7YILEFKBY","additional_properties":{"_id":"VADIQ3LVZNH37LQQF5SIEZHRGQ"},"content":"Terra: A dancer – and a planet – trying to get back to certain kind of feeling","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"PWXELSBIKFGJNIKNATXZD53GCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861584},"content":"In Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia in northeastern <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/brazil/\" target=\"_blank\">Brazil</a>, Azeviche performed and taught capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian art form, which she began to learn when she was 12. At the time she didn’t necessarily engage with its spiritual depth, she says. As a teenager she “was following the format of how education is introduced. You become part of it, but you can’t add meaning to it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V2HU7FSF3VBT5CHQW6MWWPDCRY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733320987960},"content":"“But when I started to understand it more, and become an adult, I understood how much power capoeira could bring me. In the back of my mind I was being trained to become who I am right now. It wasn’t, like, ‘I want to become a dancer.’ It was more, ‘I am dancing, I am learning.’ My level of consciousness expanded. My critical thinking kicked in: ‘Oh, I’m black. The capoeira was something my ancestors did to protect themselves against the colonisers.’”","type":"text"},{"_id":"JBJY2BIPDBHITISRZK2QOR3WEM","additional_properties":{"_id":"I4BSBXCIRFHQVNXRXBHSG6KMYQ"},"content":"Beyond bossa nova: São Paulo’s dance ambassadors arrive in Ireland","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UDDPUYUEZ5GGJJKBM4QVYQ25SM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861585},"content":"Azeviche, who plans to take Terra on tour in 2025, is studying to become a mindfulness teacher.","type":"text"},{"_id":"A56CUN4HXVAZXKD5R755XZW3HI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708692},"content":"“I’m going deep into trauma. In my community we have a lot of trauma, so I can’t just be a dance teacher. I need to know about all these triggers I’m bringing to people, because I’m inviting them to dive into things that have been suppressed and oppressed. On the dance floor that can happen at any point,” she says. “I really need to know how to attend to people.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"SOVP4JWUGJHPDL7SNRRTJYJAWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861586},"content":"In 2021 Azeviche was selected as a participant in Dublin Fringe Festival’s Weft Studio programme, which, with the support of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/arts-council/\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Council</a>, offers mentorship and development support for emerging and early-career artists of colour. Azeviche also leads <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/quilombo_terra/\" target=\"_blank\">Quilombo Terra</a>, Ireland’s first Afro-Brazilian arts performance group, and has worked with the <a href=\"https://fivelampsarts.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Five Lamps Arts Festival</a> in Dublin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZHMVZHNL4RGZZC2VRPOB7AC6O4","additional_properties":{"_id":"UDJBOVRXSZDVBKOT3XMDC3IIHI"},"subtype":"pullquote","type":"quote"},{"_id":"SOVGPWAODFEVPIYZZG4KDJQLO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708695},"content":"“I’m expanding my vision of starting a movement of countercolonising,” she says.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PTXN4WDZRBAQBGUS5NNFD7CKVE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708696},"content":"“I’m very curious about the Irish language. When you dive into it, oh my God, the knowledge, the wisdom. When you’re disconnected from that [language], you have no resources to grow … I’m continuing the process of decolonising myself. Now I’m not even using [the term] ‘decolonising’ … Now you can ‘countercolonise’ by taking actions against the ways the colonisers had. I’m interested in countercolonising by changing me, and trying to express that change through my art.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DPEZGUWROZHZZHQKDIUG2EMQEM","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861588},"content":"But change takes time, she says. “At the end of the day, most of us are very tired yet not finding ways to rest. It’s interesting even to talk about the housing crisis in Ireland, people working day and night to pay the rent, not even having time to stop and think – ‘How can I find other ways?’ – or to start your f***ing revolution.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WLLZUQGRVRDYLAYYDVGI4TYWS4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733397708698},"content":"“I’m a power-to-the-people kind of person, so I’m doing what I can with what I have as an artist. It’s about inspiring people by doing.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"BVZOUV23GFB7HICZVSGWDW3DRY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733313861589},"content":"When we speak, Azeviche is at <a href=\"https://www.danceireland.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Dance Ireland</a>’s Dublin studios. “I was teaching, sharing with people, raising conversations. For me, when I talk about a way of living, it’s from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I’m living what I’m saying. It’s not about, ‘I made a piece,’ because the piece will finish, and I will keep living the way I said on stage. So that’s not a piece. It’s real.”","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Una Mullally"}},"name":"Una Mullally"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Afro-Brazilian performer and teacher staged one of the hits of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. It’s part of a cultural journey"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Terra dance artist Alessandra Azeviche: ‘What I connect with in Ireland is the oppression from the church within our bodies’","native":"‘What I connect with in Ireland is the oppression from the church within our bodies’"},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"JQIOD4SGLVB3LMVLTRZNY7H4WI","auth":{"1":"1c9c906da28c38d17260aa17d5284e4d91b772ea0c8fb268626417062da08c69"},"focal_point":{"x":2550,"y":1250},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JQIOD4SGLVB3LMVLTRZNY7H4WI.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Culture"},{"name":"Stage"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/2024/12/09/terra-dance-artist-alessandra-azeviche-what-i-connect-with-in-ireland-is-the-oppression-from-the-church-within-our-bodies/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Culture"}}}},{"_id":"FGYAGUB6AZDU7JQBS6CJQ7W76Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":191,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/da6c9bb6-234b-446f-a97a-76174a6725ed/versions/1733399778/media/7d27767651dc04afa5a7cd8ef541130b_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/cinderella-cork-opera-house-puts-on-a-spectacular-enchanting-pantomime/","content_elements":[{"_id":"WBTR4XW655FHHFOWGNX3QPXR4E","additional_properties":{"_id":1731919740506},"content":"Cinderella","type":"header"},{"_id":"7CIJSD7HWBHHFA423TRSDSOLKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731919740507},"content":"Cork Opera House","type":"header"},{"_id":"CWASMY7QPFACPHNKJARCGVLG6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1731919740508},"content":"★★★★★","type":"header"},{"_id":"K76AUDUZ3RHP5GCNQ2Y6MNQUE4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450185},"content":"Spectacular may be an overworked adjective in terms of pantomime, but this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/cork-opera-house\" target=\"_blank\">Cork Opera House</a> presentation of an overworked theme deserves it. The sunbursts of light, colour, music and costumes essential for the captivation of a multigenerational audience are not only here in plenty but are also provided with a professional grace that enhances the impression of impromptu joyousness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"THJPDDAKZBD3XCTFMTR3KNUD6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450186},"content":"Even before the screens lift on an oddly Ruritanian village there is a communal intake of breath as the much-bustled Fairy Godmother, aka Nanny Nellie, descends from a starry sky. Perhaps such glamour and wonderment are only to be expected. What are less usual are the extra production values from Eibhlín Gleeson, Rory Murphy and Brendan Galvin. It’s not just a buffet of pleasantries certain to delight an audience where so many younger members are equipped with enough food and drink for a picnic – and, therefore, who risk being diverted from what is happening on stage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7LNHLV3NUVAHBPO5O6QNGN44GI","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450187},"content":"If all these youngsters are open-mouthed it’s not because of the intake of crackling snacks. Between them, director Trevor Ryan and co-writer Frank Mackey have trimmed the fairy tale into a series of brief references. We have a rather well-dressed Cinderella in a busy household of ugly stepmother, ugly stepsisters and several others, but nobody wastes too much time on the script.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZFFGMGC7DNCZZJ4O3ZZLC5C22U","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450188},"content":"The basics are common property. A touch of domestic injustice, a Prince Charming (with the charming Paul Wilkins making as much as he can of his chances), a stepmother (from Michael Grennell, stately in a vocal range from tenor to basso-profundo and a hat like a volcano in eruption), a godmother (from Frank Mackey, making much of a bosom and backside of surprising agility, especially when climbing a beehive that really has nothing to do with anything).","type":"text"},{"_id":"O6KL7E5VOJGEHCV623VPYAWU2I","additional_properties":{"_id":"YZTSJOI3AFHLFIF72YCZFFVOC4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"62KVOLPWPNDVREP3KN5MAUUXCE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450189},"content":"Then there is Cinderella. Into this atmosphere of unquestioning acceptance Megan Pottinger brings distinction of style and characterisation. There is also Buttons, always a difficult role, but Brian Ó Muiri bridges Ruritania and Broadway apparently without effort.","type":"text"},{"_id":"7WNZZ22N2ZGPJMQ34SGB3O2RME","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450190},"content":"The glee uniting these different aspects depends not so much on local gags and media references (although those to shows such as Married at First Sight might be beyond the dominant age group here). Instead it is the captivating talent and commitment of the ensemble dancers and the imaginative choreography of Ciaran Connolly that outpace expectation. Connolly in particular revels in opportunity: his coachmen are a Dickensian fantasy.","type":"text"},{"_id":"4XS75TPNAVCDVKM2OJOUED5KHU","additional_properties":{"_id":"E6VEO5N4NJFJJMUF2KVPROTRMY"},"content":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 25 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"JDOTB2QHTRDBXOU2Y7OXSGQBDU","additional_properties":{"_id":"KAJ4QF2XVFE4XG2JDACVC4U2YE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"KVCNL2T2Y5GP7H3KQBSIZWDPMY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450191},"content":"With exuberant lighting from Mick Hurley, music from the band under Jimmy Brockie hidden under the stage, and with costumes from Muireann Doyle, anything else might seem superfluous. Yet there is more, including an invitation delivered by drone, and a transparent coach like a Ferris wheel cabin based at Cape Canaveral and soaring to bring Cinderella high above 1,000 enchanted heads.","type":"text"},{"_id":"E462U6FBZNC4LKMSUVCU5JFMEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733398450192},"content":"<i>Cinderella is at </i><a href=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Cork Opera House</i></a><i> until Sunday, January 19th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Megan Pottinger brings distinction of style to tile role"},"display_date":"2024-12-05T11:51:04.281Z","headlines":{"basic":"Cinderella: Cork Opera House puts on a spectacular, enchanting pantomime","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"IKY54E5UGNEFXD2UPEBV64LTGI","auth":{"1":"0092c74fd76eecf263cff878c376a7a1623c2f64a3f24d80d4575a938c2e0b33"},"focal_point":{"x":1550,"y":2810},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IKY54E5UGNEFXD2UPEBV64LTGI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/cinderella-cork-opera-house-puts-on-a-spectacular-enchanting-pantomime/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"4I4PJDFCXRAO3GZZLJHTOF466U","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":192,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/404b9f8f-4f62-4046-8dae-74e4a1fe4f44/versions/1733394778/media/7d33d72ca38b8e6bb68bc57732b6020d_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/its-always-your-bleedin-own-a-swooning-comedy-for-dublin-after-the-riots/","content_elements":[{"_id":"EQTO3IV53RC6VC4YJBK22HPUZ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1733393539523},"content":"It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own","type":"header"},{"_id":"IFDCTMJ3HJGZZEUBQ7OQMRVTMQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1733393539524},"content":"Space Upstairs, Project Arts Centre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"SOQZSNMAV5GSBD2TU6RDHW7C2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1733393539525},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"YKX475PBQZBP5P3K34GWZFXABY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145644},"content":"When Kian Harris, the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/london\" target=\"_blank\">London</a> fashion upstart in Breadline’s zingy comedy, receives a phone call from <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/dublin\" target=\"_blank\">Dublin</a>, it presents him with a dilemma. Escaped into a busy career, and keeping a distance from home, he’s in no rush to design a wedding dress for his childhood neighbour from St Mary’s Mansions. “I’m one of your own,” she softly reminds him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V4N5TR2GIFGF3PL7JIGPDMIVXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145645},"content":"The tug of home is further complicated by recent history, as <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thommas-kane-byrne/\" target=\"_blank\">Thommas Kane Byrne</a>’s script shows a Dublin community reeling from the riots of 2023. “How do I go back to a city drowning in fear?” says Kian, played by the ferociously good newcomer Cameron Hogan.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N7RBLXVEVFATHKCMQNXATPUAEE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145646},"content":"By contrast, his new client Amber (a note-perfect Ericka Roe) is less concerned with the capital’s tumult than with making a statement. Loathed by many, and accused of being a gold digger marrying an older man, she’s looking to pull off a spectacle that will make her haters salivate – all while having an affair with a besotted man recently tuned into mindfulness and self-reflection to find his place in the world (played by an excellent Lloyd Cooney).","type":"text"},{"_id":"CT7MKSPXKFEFLIENGV24HDQPOA","additional_properties":{"_id":"GPZQTOWD5ZFTHC2RCBEGONQLII"},"content":"‘Dreadful government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces’: Dublin writer Thommas Kane Byrne on his home city","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"OUSISCPIHNAUXOYJ543VPA6KWA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145648},"content":"This is the latest instalment in Thommas Kane Byrne’s fabulous version of Dublin’s inner city, wherein multiple generations strut like divas from Hollywood’s Golden Age, chasing intense passions for showbusiness and fashion. Kian’s designs are said to be a celebration of his community, in collections lovingly elevating and embracing big jewellery and tacky combinations. Appropriately, Ellen Kirk’s set resembles a runway, bringing added pizazz to the play’s characters as they saunter and pose.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KKQEHHHR3FHFLANO3IEHCNQ3FE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145649},"content":"There is no shortage of attitude, as impressive dialogue often releases vulgar word play (“I worked my Helen Hunt off to get where I am today”). The script seems less attentive to the mechanics of plot, though, as Amber dives into doubt about her marriage (“I’ve more issues than Vogue!”) while Cooney’s admirer and Kian are set on a collision course over a dead peer. Only those attentive to TKB’s previous plays Say Nothin’ to No One and Well That’s What I Heard – now grouped into a trilogy with It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own – will be able to fill in these crucial character notes, making this latest offering less sturdy when standing alone.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JAIKESTRMZD5BNKYGQFTU3RBXY","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145650},"content":"Ronan Phelan, the production’s director, neatly separates scenes that require actors to play multiple roles as the plot builds towards a wild, alcohol-drenched night of dancing, allowing us to see characters at their most self-possessed – but also risking derailing the play itself, as an 11th-hour misunderstanding between Roe and Cooney’s lovers serves as a simplistic red herring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"65O6EXSFJFFJXLKAEGTYLUMG54","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145651},"content":"More cogent is Kian’s story, as a designer creatively blocked and unable to deliver the wedding dress, leading him to spar with Amber. Later, when he finally has his vision, he thanks her. “I’ve never met someone so unapologetically themself,” he says, confirming her to be his muse. That’s TKB’s swooning comedy all over, getting its energy from people, from a city. There’s so much around here that’s inspiring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"XTGKC2LFWJBP3FY6PK4NIFQXSE","additional_properties":{"_id":1733394145652},"content":"<i>It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own is at </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, December 14th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Ericka Roe is note perfect in Thommas Kane Byrne’s fabulous version of Dublin’s inner city"},"display_date":"2024-12-05T10:27:50.765Z","headlines":{"basic":"It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own: A swooning comedy for Dublin after the riots","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"JKM7P3K37VE27HMD3LBY23625U","auth":{"1":"d57de764d2e8719b9cc885a55e74dcb6c7f1102cd6fc611f2017847c00b8bda5"},"focal_point":{"x":3885,"y":1555},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JKM7P3K37VE27HMD3LBY23625U.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/its-always-your-bleedin-own-a-swooning-comedy-for-dublin-after-the-riots/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"ECYAEPSDWNDX7LZQ4AQ23622Z4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":205,"audio_url":"https://beyondwords-h0e8gjgjaqe0egb7.a03.azurefd.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/b9b365ee-294e-4753-81ce-37ad69666aa5/versions/1733141559/media/fe363442c0c81d5c5b48a47c9f3ade88_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/02/rigoletto-at-the-bord-gais-energy-theatre-excellent-singing-undermined-by-musical-lapses-and-directorial-miscalculations/","content_elements":[{"_id":"ZGSRXSXWNZAKTGQUUW4FQPX3OA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Rigoletto","type":"header"},{"_id":"FB2FYS5GEJGIPJKXIURBQFH57E","additional_properties":{},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"7MEJZMOLIZC37KQS623GCDS3CQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"6P2GB4GGMNEB3BZIB5JIGZWXNY","additional_properties":{},"content":"In 1851, depicting the ruling class as so loathsome and superficial meant Verdi struggled to persuade both Italian and imperial censors to allow Rigoletto to go ahead. In 2024 the challenge is much simpler: persuading an audience to connect with the opera’s unlikable hero.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BWXFCJWJJREC5MDFS2YQ2JLI6M","additional_properties":{},"content":"You can do it if you have the right singer. For <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/irish-national-opera/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish National Opera</a>’s coproduction with <a href=\"https://www.santafeopera.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Santa Fe Opera</a> and <a href=\"https://operazuid.nl/en/\" target=\"_blank\">Opera Zuid</a>, the American baritone Michael Chioldi is that singer. Coupled with a beautiful voice – direct, smooth and expressively flexible – is a stage presence that spans a very wide range of nuance. Chioldi understatedly ensures that we detest Rigoletto, the court jester, who, encouraged by a hideous peanut gallery of baying courtiers, mocks the anguish of men whose daughters or wives have been bedded by the predatory Duke, his employer. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZWLWZB5M3ZAJLH75MOAJGLC6EU","additional_properties":{},"content":"When one of these men curses Rigoletto we agree. Nor do we soften much when Verdi allows him a plaintive soliloquy to deny his agency – Not my fault: the Duke pays me to do it.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DV6QVOAXOFHI7BWYYIPEAEDONQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"But Chioldi also invades us with inner conflict when the tables are turned and Rigoletto’s own daughter, Gilda, the sole source of love and meaning in his life, becomes the Duke’s next conquest. Chioldi deploys subtle powers of gesture, movement and facial expression that intensify the jester’s suffering. Once Rigoletto retrieves Gilda and listens to her account of what happened, for instance, the two sit at opposite ends of the stage in the production’s most emotionally powerful moment. We may not love him, but we certainly feel for him.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SFH25RWXNBDRFCCAQZFFL55XGA","additional_properties":{"_id":"4G6GLMJXJRHZNE6NIV7PQI72PM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"2MWTEKKQOFGUNEMTQ3OFPDILME","additional_properties":{"_id":"YI7J7XXN3REYRLL3P7SQGIGVBI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"HN4EUJ7XGVDL3GGQXBOQO7FNNQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"As Gilda, the English soprano Soraya Mafi actually exceeds Chioldi in beauty of voice as she scales with incredible comfort and sweetness Verdi’s unforgiving vocal high-wire act. That said, it’s puzzling that Gilda is styled in a way that counters Mafi’s youthfulness.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DQMS6XF2RJC5RKYK3CZPSOORKM","additional_properties":{},"content":"In fact this is the least of the issues that badly undermine both the excellent singing – which also comes from the Uzbek tenor Bekhzod Davronov as the Duke – and other successful aspects of the production. What’s at stake is a fairly effective foregrounding of underlying themes such as grotesquerie – via Jean-Jacques Delmotte’s dressing of the courtiers, both in court and at large in the night, and their movement as directed by Nicole Morel – and vulgarity, in Jamie Vartan’s court designs, accentuated by the lighting designer Rick Fisher’s full-stage border of light bulbs, with its gameshow vibe of cheap entertainment. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"UMDJCBGL4ZBWRLOS7V6RVAAZYE","additional_properties":{},"content":"All this works so well in the opening moments until it is interrupted by the first of several messy and disorienting lapses of musical co-ordination when, on the podium, Fergus Sheil, INO’s artistic director, loses control of the connection between chorus and pit and chaos threatens. Not good enough for a dress rehearsal, let alone opening night.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PRMRKTUI2FHGDEYHWE6THRLAEA","additional_properties":{},"content":"More destructive even are miscalculations by Julien Chavaz, the production’s director, that create ambiguity regarding the opera’s tone. There are even instances of misplaced audience laughter, including when the courtiers – styled as a mob of comic villains – pour into Gilda’s house at night to abduct her. ","type":"text"},{"_id":"JJ7PMU5ZJ5FNPHOB77PYNSIANA","additional_properties":{},"content":"<i>Rigoletto is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, on Tuesday, December 3rd, Thursday, December 5th, and Saturday, December 7th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Michael Dungan"}]},"description":{"basic":"Irish National Opera’s production of Verdi, featuring Michael Chioldi, Soraya Mafi and Bekhzod Davronov, is hampered on opening night"},"display_date":"2024-12-02T12:07:26.605Z","headlines":{"basic":"Rigoletto at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre: Excellent singing undermined by musical lapses and directorial miscalculations","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"RHF2RLQ6R5CSPJRLANLTTJKCOI","auth":{"1":"9a2517a23be64ebe0eb1f843824b0f10d6f007e12337f0b2a105b846a7fbb545"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RHF2RLQ6R5CSPJRLANLTTJKCOI.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Music"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/02/rigoletto-at-the-bord-gais-energy-theatre-excellent-singing-undermined-by-musical-lapses-and-directorial-miscalculations/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"J3WDZKAXCZCEJDZVR3BEQLHEB4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":196,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/4fb5b505-9429-4a23-9632-4b0617d77dee/versions/1732874718/media/1014bc6382d82c8f58c3866546f7ce3a_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/29/emma-review-agreeably-quirky-take-on-austen-shakes-the-storys-structure-a-little-too-vigorously/","content_elements":[{"_id":"4764EG2HNNFJVLPUTPOCD26KWI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732797763658},"content":"Emma","type":"header"},{"_id":"WHNCTMAQKJHMZKT26IXFZBONUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732797763659},"content":"Abbey Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"6GWHIOLLQ5CZ7B4KFFOONB55JY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355126},"content":"★★★☆☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"N3VRU2RCG5CHRBQ2DYFC2RUG7Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355127},"content":"I had probably been imagining the sense of trepidation as older audience members arrived to sitting-down music in the form of bangers by Charli XCX and Sophie. There is, however, little in the first act of the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/abbey-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Abbey</a>’s agreeable take on <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/jane-austen/\" target=\"_blank\">Jane Austen</a>’s longest novel to unnerve even the most fragile temperaments.","type":"text"},{"_id":"QGFHRAEMSZGRTD5LYS4JDWO4WI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732893799867},"content":"Adapted by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/kate-hamill/\" target=\"_blank\">Kate Hamill</a> and directed by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/claire-o-reilly/\" target=\"_blank\">Claire O’Reilly</a>, the piece takes place in a nebulous anytime between the regency period and the present day. Catherine Fay’s lovely costumes honour the empire-line cut but also allow in candied new-romantic frills. There are no phones or motorcars, but there are outbreaks of contemporary language and an electropop soundtrack. Molly O’Cathain’s lush sets have the look of Laura Ashley if Laura Ashley ever worked in peacock blue. Altogether not an unpleasant space in which to spend a winter’s evening.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NS7PMDQTNBABJJEYQVZQOLSKGM","additional_properties":{"_id":"GW53QAWQNNDBPBDRTRQZF4X6HM"},"content":"The Abbey has fun with Jane Austen’s Emma: ‘Our production is curious about her libido’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"5K5TGMJDCRHIFHSI4N77G4EBSA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355128},"content":"Into this steps <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/toni-o-rourke/\" target=\"_blank\">Toni O’Rourke</a> as Emma Woodhouse. When Austen talked of “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”, she can never have imagined the phrase would dog adaptations for more than 200 years. There is plenty to abhor. Believing herself to have secured a magnificent match for Mrs Weston, formerly her governess, Emma seeks an equally perfect partner for the nervy Harriet Smith. Her megalomania only brings chaos. Liz FitzGibbon, playing Mrs Weston, gives us a likable realist from a Sharon Horgan series. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/hannah-mamalis/\" target=\"_blank\">Hannah Mamalis</a>, the show’s hilarious MVP, makes of Harriet a besotted teen from a boarding-school novel.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D6NSJNVAOZDINPU4J25H2FIE6E","additional_properties":{"_id":"74G5Y7LOSVD6DPUM676J23VQGU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"RQ3H4NTHQVG6ZHYAVNB3XQLISA","additional_properties":{"_id":"5VRACIPLUZCDHLWGW4FWKYJGYY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"4XPSKLOAFRFP5AF6ZRUO7LXKZM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355129},"content":"O’Rourke understands the brief and executes it with some gusto. Austen was wrong about her lead character (and, as a great ironist, surely knew she was wrong). The manipulator is a menace, but her vim and imagination never fail to captivate. The lead here is both helped and hindered by a quirky adaptation that has her in conversation with the audience. This can be amusing when she chides us for not warning her about what is to come. The bigging up of the director by name is, however, the sort of self-congratulatory joke that should have been left in the rehearsal room.","type":"text"},{"_id":"UX4VO2Q4PRE7RD6QEFJKRIFQVU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355130},"content":"Hamill and O’Reilly do a decent job of corralling the novel’s large cast of pinballing characters. O’Rourke sonorously intones the name of Emma’s rival, Jane Fairfax – played with comic dignity by Ciara Berkeley – as the cast of the Mean Girls musical chanted that of fearsome Regina George. It clicks together over a lively opening act that honours the original and savours contemporary pop descendants.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W5Y4JZYZNJFQTFMCHZMEVSQ53U","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355131},"content":"After the interval, however, there is a sense of the structure being shaken a little too vigorously. The musical numbers in the ball scene are a blast, but later efforts to justify Emma’s actions are too on the nose. “You don’t remember that from the novel,” the protagonist quips. Well, no. And there are good reasons why those lines weren’t there. At least one revisionary twist is exactly the sort of manoeuvre you’d expect from such a project in 2024.","type":"text"},{"_id":"ZKG63CH3LZBAXEZJZDHVHEVBCI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732872355132},"content":"One nonetheless leaves with a definite buzz on. Which was surely the aim.","type":"text"},{"_id":"I5C4LMQR5FCPXOWDXYVY2HNCEU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732797763662},"content":"<i>Emma is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Abbey Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Saturday, January 25th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Toni O’Rourke plays Emma with gusto, and Hannah Mamalis is hilarious as Harriet. Despite some narrative overreaching, you’ll probably leave happy"},"display_date":"2024-11-29T10:01:57.673Z","headlines":{"basic":"Emma review: Agreeably quirky take on Austen shakes the story’s structure a little too vigorously","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PGASM7TKUZGX7BBCDPQNAHSNUA","auth":{"1":"a5c4b6da10f064f1ece0437d3b8e5cf440c212ff4f0571210c9082a7008bd973"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PGASM7TKUZGX7BBCDPQNAHSNUA.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/29/emma-review-agreeably-quirky-take-on-austen-shakes-the-storys-structure-a-little-too-vigorously/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"6WVQT5H55JEKVG7ED6OU4P5XUI","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":174,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/af1e82e5-1387-4c9d-aaf7-170960109592/versions/1732794533/media/04c2eb3d8f7e021884033080f3a7a43f_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/28/peter-pan-review-gaiety-panto-takes-off-with-dizzying-ensemble-numbers-and-breathtaking-effects/","content_elements":[{"_id":"MHOQ67342FAHZPUOAVSZLI64IQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421507},"content":"Peter Pan","type":"header"},{"_id":"VOUTCJVMSBGTBMUF7UF5YRMHPY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421508},"content":"Gaiety Theatre, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"FJIMTONUVBGDVIFC7G3Z7EN4VI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421509},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"TRYPXVKVDVFQTJ5R6Y73TPDJG4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200127},"content":"There’s no messing about at this year’s Gaiety pantomime. As the curtain rises we are landed straight in Neverland, where Tinker Bell (Ciara Lyons) has taken charge as storyteller for the evening. After a quick summary of the toxic history between the eponymous hero and his seafaring nemeses, and the first of what will be more than 20 musical numbers, we are transported to the house of the Darling children, where Wendy (Clodagh Kane) has been rudely interrupted in her reading by the mischievous Peter (Colm Quinn) and his pesky shadow.","type":"text"},{"_id":"5VT3IDTZWBFNNCASRUD5Q5B5JA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200128},"content":"Song has become an increasingly key part of the storytelling at the Gaiety panto over the past decade, under the direction of the multitalented Daryn Crosbie, who directs, choreographs and writes the annual extravaganza. The dizzying ensemble numbers are one of its greatest strengths, and musical director Peter Beckett manages to move seamlessly between musical-theatre standards, 1990s pop and rock classics, and contemporary tunes without an audible slip.","type":"text"},{"_id":"B244UNADJBDNRAJFAUO4AJQ5QA","additional_properties":{"_id":"OJMPSZGJ5FE5XALC6HMIFITD5Y"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"VE2OKJW7SNC7ZPBPZOLFCALJKI","additional_properties":{"_id":"4JLXOCNIA5BNHJXIGXLZBQVNPY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"BSLG64WJMNFIDIZBATDPDKQWGQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732801771744},"content":"Crosbie’s adaptation of lyrics to suit the well-known tale is less successful, however. With so much of the storytelling subsumed in song, clarity of vocal delivery is key, and although some of the leads (Quinn and Kane in particular) rise to the challenge, the voices of some of show’s long-standing stalwarts cannot match them, and a good bit of the script’s detail is lost.","type":"text"},{"_id":"W4Y5JWCYSRFAPMS2PZWAP7PQNI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732801771745},"content":"Regular panto patrons, however, will know exactly what function Nana (the breathlessly effervescent Joe Conlan) and arch-villain Captain Hook (Nicholas Grennell) are supposed to play, as the danger intensifies and the happy ever after is reversed and then restored.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TC27MXLK6FHM5HTMCD22556YQA","additional_properties":{"_id":"FAVQWQDN3JG6JHZVNWWILAJYOI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"C2NBIBUPTBGKROTIMBJ4HTCBMU","additional_properties":{"_id":"BMULOHBREFBRDOMDPJBDRVIQKU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"N2KH2Y53TZD55PXOZMKWZHVYVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200129},"content":"The design elements of the production are nothing short of spectacular, with a refreshing blend of traditional stagecraft – painted sets and billowing waves of satin for the sea from Ciara Cramer; an elaborate fly system, brilliantly exploited in a variety of contexts – and digital wizardry, from Luis Poveda. When Peter and Wendy take off from the Darling bedroom and travel through the Dublin Portal to Neverland, to their own soundtrack of Rule the World by Take That, the result is breathtaking.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KUSEDYT4NJDJZAI2U5Z5SRPD3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1732792200130},"content":"With terrific ensemble efforts from the Billie Barry corps as the Lost Boys (and Girls!) and Hook’s imaginatively distinctive sea-dogs, who include Donncha O’Dea’s endearing Smee, the visual wizardry is nicely balanced by fun. The biggest cheer at the grand finale is reserved for the final saxophone solo of the TikTok Croc, a highly unlikely anonymous star, who reminds us that the panto’s most important audience is the kids.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SKVCJIVDGFCP7EFYRUSFB7CVUE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131421511},"content":"<i>Peter Pan is at the </i><a href=\"https://www.gaietytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Gaiety Theatre</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Sunday, January 19th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: The annual extravaganza, written, choreographed and directed by Daryn Crosbie, features terrific performances from the Billie Barry Kids"},"display_date":"2024-11-28T11:41:04.177Z","headlines":{"basic":"Peter Pan review: Gaiety panto takes off with dizzying ensemble numbers and breathtaking effects","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"7P454C47OJE4DNOKS3LGZ545T4","auth":{"1":"d4e548bdc5cf8e1affd6ce5af70ca1e5ef99dd49bfec936e2b170025acf838df"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7P454C47OJE4DNOKS3LGZ545T4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/28/peter-pan-review-gaiety-panto-takes-off-with-dizzying-ensemble-numbers-and-breathtaking-effects/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"AP5EWFBDG5FBTIN6HUZWDAWL4Y","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":202,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/5469/podcasts/65b25bd0-4a1e-444c-9c87-0a2dec84ee68/versions/1732665582/media/95a5e3888c41c3c3f51147814ac73d48_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/","content_elements":[{"_id":"W3B3XHMQ7FFYFBMZC7VPIWFBLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732544764972},"content":"The Dead","type":"header"},{"_id":"MWFGN44RHVGCZJLTSKX7Z7Z4UY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732544764973},"content":"Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"JBMJDODRMZBCXD3DOIXAOWOTU4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437326},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"FM6D76LIYZDPZIEE4WEIAZGIBQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437327},"content":"The 40 pages of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/james-joyce/\" target=\"_blank\">James Joyce</a>’s The Dead, published 110 years ago as the final short story in Dubliners, have almost as much hold on the Irish psyche as has the paving stone that is Ulysses. So attached are we to its famous last paragraph that it seemed almost insolent when Pedro Almodóvar ended <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/review/2024/10/24/the-room-next-door-review-almodovars-english-language-debut-is-stuffed-with-good-performances-but-sounds-off-key/\" target=\"_blank\">The Room Next Door</a>, his most recent film, with that snowy drift towards “all the living and the dead”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"D2FU6ZU3KFEATLLOLINHOCIZZI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437328},"content":"Now, in a promenade staging in association with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/moli/\" target=\"_blank\">Museum of Literature Ireland</a>, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/landmark-productions/\" target=\"_blank\">Landmark</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/anu-productions/\" target=\"_blank\">Anu</a> have elected to wrap the tragicomedy around attendees and allow them to physically brush up against the beloved characters. As directed by <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/louise-lowe/\" target=\"_blank\">Louise Lowe</a>, it is a largely successful enterprise. The audience – sometimes partygoers, eventually just an audience – get a real flavour of Christmas among early-20th-century Dubliners.","type":"text"},{"_id":"44I3HVZWTNDDTEKOZ2XGG5ZZPM","additional_properties":{"_id":"T7GXXYQT2BEZ3IMQCMCC5LHQQU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LDPRYDJ3Z5C47APR65USAY5WIM","additional_properties":{"_id":"45SM7AWEZJCDPPKYESP22QPFNA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TKQ7UX6DCJAMZDSJT55CXVI3A4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732665475605},"content":"Now and then we find ourselves a victim of the logistics – placed, for example, in a holding area for supplementary entertainment while waiting to ascend for the final scene in the Gresham Hotel. At such times Gabriel Conroy’s confusion about his wife Gretta’s unexpected emotional convulsion, the kernel of the story, seems a long way off. All the more so as the site doesn’t allow the image of Gretta poised on the stair, partly visible, listening distraught to Bartell D’Arcy flute his sad ballad. Instead the scene happens in the corner of the diningroom, its focus more diffuse.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3GCWQY2SSVGWJNH27TRSM5QHFQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"CZNZH2XLENB4JG4Z2W47EQDNCU"},"content":"The Dead brought to life: how James Joyce’s celebrated short story is being re-created as immersive theatre","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"KSH2QMTMMVHXDCPHABSEWZF3HY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437329},"content":"This remains a hugely engaging and immensely accomplished evening. We arrive at the museum, on St Stephen’s Green, and, attended politely by a maid, await the entry of the principals. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/una-kavanagh/\" target=\"_blank\">Úna Kavanagh</a> bustles in as the abrasive Molly Ivors. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/marie-mullen/\" target=\"_blank\">Marie Mullen</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/bairbre-ni-chaoimh/\" target=\"_blank\">Bairbre Ní Chaoimh</a> justify their standing as theatrical royalty with charming performances as the two sisters hosting this annual epiphany event. <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/marty-rea/\" target=\"_blank\">Marty Rea</a> and <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/maeve-fitzgerald/\" target=\"_blank\">Maeve Fitzgerald</a>, as Gabriel and Gretta, catch a class of gentle bickering that has remained unaltered over a century. Their mutual complaints about preparations for the evening would play just as believably if they’d just piled out of their Volkswagen ID.4 rather than a horse-drawn carriage.","type":"text"},{"_id":"HXP3WGEMUBEURIGDUAVF7OMPNA","additional_properties":{"_id":"O3L35SV4GNEYZHKLIDRAOS4WVU"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"PZVLIVT2TRAU5GDEXW6F7T6W2E","additional_properties":{"_id":"BLVD6M5ZCJHWLOKKMIZNWSKHKA"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"7B5BF3IPCFAMJCNSK6XM3DKJJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437330},"content":"We are then walked next door to Newman House (a building Joyce knew as part of <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/university-college-dublin-ucd/\" target=\"_blank\">University College Dublin</a>) for chat and dancing in the livingroom, toasts and speeches in the diningroom and, after that peculiar interregnum of song and dance, elevation to a top-floor room standing in for the Gresham.","type":"text"},{"_id":"N5NOCUTSLRFITHIIY7CBJEVHAY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437331},"content":"A gentle warning. Those who, like this writer, dread audience participation as they dread chemical warfare may find themselves forced to engage in the odd nodding exchange with an actor, but there is little here to chill bones of any but the most self-conscious theatregoer. The nature of the staging does, however, emphasise comedy – of which there is much in the source – over the story’s more sinewy emotions. The final confrontation between husband and wife feels like an addendum to the busy production rather than a natural consequence of what has gone before. This is to take nothing away from the sombre sweetness Rea brings to those indestructible closing words.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WRC5TMMXXNGLHMOM5SCB4KPUJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732662437332},"content":"A singular achievement.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WBUKBRIT4FA2VEOU2KHKQ4M4L4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732661017241},"content":"<a href=\"https://www.thedead.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>The Dead</i></a><i> is at Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin 2, until Sunday, January 12th, 2025</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Marty Rea and Maeve Fitzgerald star as Gabriel and Gretta Conroy in Louise Lowe’s promenade staging of the beloved Dubliners story"},"display_date":"2024-11-26T23:54:31.348Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Dead review: James Joyce’s tragicomedy wraps around the audience in a hugely engaging, immensely accomplished evening","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"5469"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"QO7YGZTCHZE45CZ6AW7MFLJDWY","auth":{"1":"00b8518c758171f1fc8c5addce823c9fc38a7464ccc57941b7ebcc865b872a38"},"focal_point":{"x":2495,"y":670},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QO7YGZTCHZE45CZ6AW7MFLJDWY.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Books"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"DKR45CIFHNFN5LJ5TKGMIHEMJ4","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":141,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/75139eb5-0e3d-4350-b68a-22f0e79b67a5/versions/1732547383/media/805bcd1f2111533dacb4c3e6aa9975e3_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/25/rapunzel-at-the-helix-dublin-review-strong-storytelling-and-effortless-inclusivity/","content_elements":[{"_id":"LNBJAJEHMJDNVBAB4SFUBNQLDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1655456089120},"content":"Rapunzel","type":"header"},{"_id":"YTWGXMAYX5DHFCS3SYCYIQ3IYY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131656001},"content":"Helix, Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"ABZPODMVNFC5FDIQV2DDCEIDJU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732545938432},"content":"★★★★☆","type":"header"},{"_id":"LEG4BZKTGVHL5BP2AUAQOPQJMI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949030},"content":"In Rapunzel, TheatreWorx’s latest seasonal offering, three villains are determined to spoil our happy ending. There’s the evil witch Gothel (Rua Barron), who kidnapped the eponymous princess when she was a baby, the international man of mystery Leopold (Michael Kiersey), who has his eyes on the princess’s crown, and the Ticket Master (Kiersey, in doubling mode), who is determined to thwart any progress the goodies make in this original take on the classic fairy-tale, by kicking them out of the queue.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JGFPK72NNNH4LGXWOSBMR5CQLI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949031},"content":"The triple threat posed in Claire Tighe and Karl Harpur’s script emphasises the ensemble sensibility that is the strength of TheatreWorx’s idiosyncratic approach to the pantomime style. While Rapunzel (Caoimhe Garvey) lends her name as its title, there are really no leading roles here. The pantomime’s returning characters, such as dame-of-the-day Lola (Chris Coroon), nice-but-dim Laurel (Aidan Mannion) and the effervescent Buddy (Brian Dalton), have equal stakes in the familiar storyline, which centres on the quest to solve the mystery of Rapunzel’s disappearance.","type":"text"},{"_id":"AJOWGYVZNBF4XPED7PHBST4R7A","additional_properties":{"_id":"L7OH4GOM7FDWDLVDEK2PS455SQ"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"YFO5XWAZJFH5ZFUA7H4PKKNPRA","additional_properties":{"_id":"7FGAJCHLJFDVNPBJ7YGL4LFSF4"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"5VKUAFACQBE4DFQ7ULBGGFEARA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732545938435},"content":"With the additional help of a fairy (Rachel Gaughan) and an opportunistic hero (Daniel Miles), the triumph of good over evil is actually pretty straightforward. Then a standout Switcheroo scene, achieved with excellent technical timing, provides a last-minute complication.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IJIGOL7FM5EHNN3ATNQZZJKPJY","additional_properties":{"_id":"F5S6AH2UOVHPNFWJTR5YE7HBZE"},"content":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 23 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"T7SZPDIMFZEQBNEFZOUUD7JO6Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949032},"content":"The ensemble approach is evident in the musical numbers, too, which are nimbly managed by musical director David Hayes. There are a few standouts (Lola performing Chappell Roan’s Hot to Go, for example), but the strongest musical scenes are shared out among the talented cast before the interval and at the finale, when they invite the audience to join in with a rousing rendition of The Spark.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CX5BJU3RDZD6JJWBEVY2PRRPVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732539949033},"content":"Indeed, Kabin Crew’s 2024 anthem shares the same sense of warm and wholesome generosity as TheatreWorx’s production, which is defined by strong storytelling and effortless inclusivity. There are no special effects, no grand coup-du-theatre, but there are oodles of old-fashioned charm.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SCHN4KH4KVCJVDOTXKUA6MAD3M","additional_properties":{"_id":1732131656004},"content":"<i>Rapunzel is at the </i><a href=\"https://thehelix.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Helix</i></a><i>, Dublin, until Sunday, January 12th</i>","type":"text"},{"_id":"HK62VLJADNBOTMVKYPLBIWL7NY","additional_properties":{"_id":"RLN63XOIMBH2LL5WXCQTSOKMDY"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"CXWB4MAPRFF7VDPPNHXQXCU7EQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"7GAH3AD7K5B3LNYVTKY22VAWFM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"7YBS3CN6C5H5BF4FBGV6KDP2AQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"OGK7FRWL5RBVDN4R64ZYDYJTZM"},"type":"image"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: There are no special effects, no grand coup-du-theatre, but there are oodles of old-fashioned charm"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T15:04:37.705Z","headlines":{"basic":"Rapunzel at the Helix, Dublin, review: strong storytelling and effortless inclusivity","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OXP6AH5XDZDZHHWYJAJE3FS4W4","auth":{"1":"12a267bd6384ae08fb15d2e3018d87beebb53b71d14618e3c0cc9842c5037fb8"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OXP6AH5XDZDZHHWYJAJE3FS4W4.jpg"}},"subtype":"review","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/25/rapunzel-at-the-helix-dublin-review-strong-storytelling-and-effortless-inclusivity/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"FETJTF7IJZEDLIW6XCQPC3I4PE","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":589,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/774ab45e-8f0a-48db-86aa-6ebaf4a4e7d9/versions/1732486946/media/aaf0a74984bd139241ee3d4a0f1dfa9b_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/03/mary-poppins-peter-pan-and-cinderella-25-christmas-pantos-and-shows-to-see-around-ireland-this-festive-season/","content_elements":[{"_id":"2CVADFQIKNG3BFM57M3S42RUZA","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599208},"content":"<mark class=\"hl_yellow\">Pantomimes and theatre</mark>","type":"header"},{"_id":"PTUBPKXZCZEX7JSZDCQAQQZXGQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599209},"content":"Belfast","type":"header"},{"_id":"ERGU6NKFDJDKTLCCNKXLC2X46M","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350829},"content":"Beauty and the Beast","type":"header"},{"_id":"5WIZMBM77RB25OTMLYF7MKUZO4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350830},"content":"Waterfront Hall, Nov 22-January 5, £18-£20, 048-90334455, <a href=\"http://waterfront.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\">waterfront.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"4IGXV3XXC5FDRAJWMZTWTBBKIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350831},"content":"Can Belle save the day before the last rose petal falls? Join this well-loved heroine as she tries to break the Wicked Fairy’s curse and escape the castle of the “monstrous” Beast ... but is he really as bad as he seems?","type":"text"},{"_id":"BFJBMRTLA5GCLMVSJNUGKGUKUY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350832},"content":"The Adventures of Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"GA4FPMRMXVDLVNGQ7PTUJWTSBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350833},"content":"The Mac Live, Nov 27-Jan 1, £12.50-£27.50, 048-90235053, <a href=\"http://themaclive.com/\" target=\"_blank\">themaclive.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"BDB2R7HZFVFN3BNKTAKTFN7IDY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350834},"content":"Starring Naoimh Morgan as little Red, this twist on a timeless story sees our protagonist face off with Goldilocks and the Big (or not so) Bad Wolf in a race to visit Granny Hood with a festive hamper of goodies.","type":"text"},{"_id":"53UBSSEOFRDLXJL57FHNJQH3JE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350835},"content":"The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan","type":"header"},{"_id":"XM42D5FACBCHHDKDIDC4CPQQQQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000925},"content":"Grand Opera House, Nov 30-Jan 12, £21-£40, 048-90241919, <a href=\"https://www.goh.co.uk/whats-on/the-pantomime-adventures-of-peter-pan/\" target=\"_blank\">goh.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"U4SHBYBHJBDGNBY6ML46B2PRJE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000926},"content":"With the help of some fairy dust, the Grand Opera House stage will magically transform into Neverland for this seasonal show. Watch Captain Hook battle it out against his biggest opponents – Peter Pan, and the hungry crocodile.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DA24WJBB4FDKFFTGCZEYPTURTQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720622},"content":"A Christmas Carol","type":"header"},{"_id":"J255KKDJPVAKJDNA2UGR6XSCJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000928},"content":"Lyric Theatre, Nov 30-Jan 11, £15-£32, 048-90381081, <a href=\"https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/a-christmas-carol\" target=\"_blank\">lyrictheatre.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"BQM64YTNY5FI5FYZ27P3MD63OE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000929},"content":"This classic tale follows Charles Dickens’ Scrooge as he receives some chilling visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. And don’t forget the jubilant spirit of redemption and goodwill. This reimagining promises to take you on an unforgettable journey through Victorian Belfast.","type":"text"},{"_id":"NCERKVOY6ZFGPPRG3VSWDC3PTM","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599222},"content":"Clare","type":"header"},{"_id":"CXP5YKLVIJH7NBEWCUN6DLS5K4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732180608153},"content":"Cinderella","type":"header"},{"_id":"3CZ32LXZNFFJBPIESQR3H442MA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000938},"content":"Glór, Ennis, Dec 22–23 and Dec 27 – 31, from €17.50, 065-6843103, <a href=\"https://glor.ie/events/the-ennis-panto-presents-cinderella/\" target=\"_blank\">glor.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"KVAQYY7AOJDADIV3PQFF5TDXJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000939},"content":"Bullied by her horrible ugly sisters, Dottie and Lottie, Cinderella lives a life of drudgery. But all that is about to change after a fateful night at Prince Charming’s ball. Find out if her Fairy Godmother manages to swoop in and save the day.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GGYVLRPHVBFO3NL6MZMEBCESBY","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599226},"content":"Cork","type":"header"},{"_id":"3J7YOA3GKVA7BN7CDOCNGG6JV4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720627},"content":"Cinderella","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZWJVDBO6JNCFHNW72BX6PXVOWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000942},"content":"Cork Opera House, Nov 27-Jan 19, from €25, 021-4270022, <a href=\"https://www.corkoperahouse.ie/whats-on/cinderella-2024-the-christmas-panto/\" target=\"_blank\">corkoperahouse.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"MBSZ6OJBDRFHXEDCFMQM4EU3FM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000943},"content":"Polish your pumpkin and gather your mice, because Cork Opera House also has its very own rendition of the Cinderella story this Christmas season.","type":"text"},{"_id":"U4DD3DV2TBED3CPPBPZEN74EUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720628},"content":"Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"MRE6VSX6GNHEPI6C7PM74UW7WU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000945},"content":"The Everyman, Nov 30 – Jan 12, from €25, 021-4501673, <a href=\"https://everymancork.com/events/red-riding-hood/\" target=\"_blank\">everymancork.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"7YRF7ILU6RHJBPK6SJLIEPL5O4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000946},"content":"Directed by Catherine Mahon-Buckley, this enchanting panto follows Red, her best friend Pip and Granny Peggy Twomey as they deal with Deco the Wolf from Dublin.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SSRTPPWEVRHAXIKDB7E6EZIILY","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599233},"content":"Derry","type":"header"},{"_id":"ZNVGHILOANEJ3GFLIHLZP4QXZE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720630},"content":"Aladdin","type":"header"},{"_id":"XZZO4BGZXBA7NPZIO6DDRNVLP4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000949},"content":"Millennium Forum, Nov 29-Dec 31, various prices, 048-71264455, <a href=\"https://www.millenniumforum.co.uk/shows/aladdin/\" target=\"_blank\">millenniumforum.co.uk</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"XJMJG3GGDNDEPONRVTOQJXYX24","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000950},"content":"Conal Gallen returns as the Forum’s Dame in this all singing, all dancing festive show. The evil sorcerer, Abanazar, seeks the magic lamp to bring him untold wealth and power. Can Aladdin save the day?","type":"text"},{"_id":"TCJCR7H65ZFIRJMTLXKHQGKZKI","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599237},"content":"Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"5UZA3LKMWFD33PYAIAXLFGQE3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350857},"content":"Peter Pan","type":"header"},{"_id":"3JPZAZZ2DBFM5APUJPNGLBSBPE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350858},"content":"The Gaiety Theatre, Nov 24 – Jan 19, from €21.50, 01-6468600, <a href=\"http://gaietytheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gaietytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"YLXEK7XU7RF3FACQQWZRJPLLTQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350859},"content":"The Gaiety Theatre has hosted an annual Christmas Panto each year since “Turko the Terrible” in 1873. This year, set sail on a magical journey to Neverland as Peter and the Lost Boys swashbuckle and strive to outwit Captain Hook and his brutal band of pirates.","type":"text"},{"_id":"KP6HWJTNF5ELNCWA36T4HULXQQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"XJCMQMVI25HX5F7QWRQUVBP6BI"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"JEXP3EMMEZGHHJQ55A2KDGJY6E","additional_properties":{"_id":1732708777997},"content":"The Borrowers","type":"header"},{"_id":"Q2FSNIQLWZBCJFSABT4I4CTNZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732708777998},"content":"Gate Theatre, until Jan 12, from €16, <a href=\"https://www.gatetheatre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">gatetheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXEP54D56FEK5DH3R63MBCGM44","additional_properties":{"_id":1732708777999},"content":"Based on Mary Norton’s beloved adventure stories, this <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2024/11/18/the-borrowers-review-irish-set-adaptation-is-solid-good-fun-for-the-whole-family/\" target=\"_blank\">stage adaptation</a> follows the fortunes of the tiny Clock family, who live secretly in the walls and floors of a country house and “borrow” from the big people upstairs in order to survive.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DNQDVH7ZW5EJZMHEJWVN2MJALU","additional_properties":{"_id":"3KMMUHVEUNAMZJUATYEQWGX3CE"},"content":"Human beans and under-the-floorboards Borrowers at the Gate this Christmas","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"UXOFW5L27ZDAVEMEGXYQKPQX3Q","additional_properties":{"_id":"MMTN6TX5GRB7PHTMWREWTKP73A"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"24AHL722R5G6XJGSWAXQPUYTAE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350860},"content":"The Giggler Treatment","type":"header"},{"_id":"VMDF7SZTV5HH5LIHZEIKAEDZ3E","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000953},"content":"The Ark, Temple Bar, Dec 1-Jan 12, from €12.50, 01-6707788, <a href=\"http://ark.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">ark.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"4Z2B5RBFMNFRRMEKJMKB555LGA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000954},"content":"This mischievous musical is based on the novel of the same name by<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/roddy-doyle/\" target=\"_blank\"> Roddy Doyle</a>. If adults are mean to children, they get <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2023/12/04/the-giggler-treatment-review-a-glorious-miniature-musical-thats-great-fun-for-children-and-adults-alike/#:~:text=The%20Giggler%20Treatment%20review%3A%20A,adults%20alike%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Irish%20Times\" target=\"_blank\">The Giggler Treatment</a>. It’s smelly. It’s squishy. And it sticks to your shoe. But sometimes the Gigglers make a mistake ... Find out if Robbie, Kayla, Jimmy and Rover the dog come to Mr Mack’s rescue on time.","type":"text"},{"_id":"GMBXPZJGKBGT3ORZJITE6377II","additional_properties":{"_id":"LEBSDY4JKJEIPGM4MIDXKK7BGY"},"content":"Fionn Foley on adapting Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment: ‘I did what no person would ever advise you to do’","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"5HUPQ3FCAFHEVFLR44B7DYGBCI","additional_properties":{"_id":"6RDJOAJQWVBLXMACMV3QUXEU5U"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"QNVY5NCWHRHZPELIX5XNYZUPSE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732095789117},"content":"Beauty and the Beast, A Sammy and Buffy Adventure","type":"header"},{"_id":"T5UDRJSRLFATLMZOQIM4CO6DNE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000956},"content":"The National Stadium, Dec 10–Jan 5, various prices, 01-9060111, <a href=\"https://www.panto.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">panto.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"X5NYA5TNCRCPFOJXEPS6QYYPDQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732290350865},"content":"A classic fairy-tale ... with a twist, starring Caoileann Woodcock and Johnny Ward.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SEY763EEEBH3PJ4GIJ2BW6J5PA","additional_properties":{"_id":1733243225909},"content":"The Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas Show","type":"header"},{"_id":"JEYG3KGLDBDU5LVQOCBOWTGWDU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733243225910},"content":"Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Dec 20-Jan 5, €20, family €68, <a href=\"https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/\">paviliontheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"YLVZV3EW5RDPTMZYEKZOPMYZNU","additional_properties":{"_id":1733243225911},"content":"Suitable for all ages, this puppet-based production tells four stories by the author and illustrator Eric Carle: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; 10 Little Rubber Ducks; Dream Snow; and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.","type":"text"},{"_id":"J3MQLXVJQVD37NQCFVYXV24JCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599262},"content":"Galway","type":"header"},{"_id":"6Q67WQ5N45DEHPYQFOUW3UVMKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732095789120},"content":"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs","type":"header"},{"_id":"QDGRMDA5PRH5RB7EVVJ2QYFZUQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000962},"content":"Town Hall Theatre, 29 Dec-Jan 12, €19-€22, 091-569777, <a href=\"http://renmorepantomime.com/\" target=\"_blank\">renmorepantomime.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"3KJC5KGZ4FGFVD2WOZXIJDVX3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000963},"content":"This tale unfolds as wicked witch Carabose plans on marrying the handsome Prince Peter of Pantoland, however the arrival of the beautiful Snow White puts a spanner in the works. Directed by award-winning twins Brian and Seán Power, this panto is sure to provide fun for all the family.","type":"text"},{"_id":"IDVNQXLEENAI5JBZY4HXGI6MTY","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599272},"content":"Kildare","type":"header"},{"_id":"KEM3E3RVKRB5TEP3WI7QCFWXIE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773773},"content":"Little Red Riding Hood","type":"header"},{"_id":"IJRUL7BILJDQXIAAZASPH4JHKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000966},"content":"Moat Theatre, Nov 22 – Dec 14, €18/ €65 family of four deal, 045-883030, <a href=\"http://www.moattheatre.com/\" target=\"_blank\">moattheatre.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"BD2XJT7AOZDUPF4PJUYQFQZQLE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000967},"content":"Little Red’s family have just come into some wealth. However, because of some nasty characters, their happiness and fortune are in danger. Join her gutsy granny, a friendly wolf, and some madcap detectives as they work together to save the day.","type":"text"},{"_id":"DCAQQJIJB5CP7LT73KRYPOF344","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599280},"content":"Limerick","type":"header"},{"_id":"FXTS3ZUM6BE33MXCKZ43FX6EH4","additional_properties":{"_id":"5RHFMFALDRGR5MRXF5GHREQ7NE"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"LGHSMVVRWJAU3EHFIRK4DF5UJY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732095789124},"content":"Mother Goose","type":"header"},{"_id":"W5QNBS2WFBABPMQLVVJDD64ZOI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000970},"content":"University Concert Hall, Dec 16 – Jan 12, €25, 061-331549, <a href=\"http://www.uch.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">uch.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"PAI4DAVFWBHA7OXMXXIMGTL6FA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732282000971},"content":"Faye Shortt makes her panto debut as Fairy Godmother in this year’s Specsavers Limerick Panto. No stranger to the stage, the star of this show currently tours the country with live comedy show “Kunckle down” which she co-wrote and performs with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/health/your-family/2023/05/09/pat-shortt-my-daughter-didnt-recognise-me-at-the-airport-i-got-very-upset/\" target=\"_blank\">her father Pat Shortt</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"253YNX4YKJEHLB6CLI7QNDNCX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599287},"content":"Longford","type":"header"},{"_id":"AGD7G34QQFC7PBCQXDUVWPO6CI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773777},"content":"Rapunzel and Billy","type":"header"},{"_id":"WTX6TWB2WBAWPARE4PWPDMDCGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004883},"content":"St Mel’s College, Dec 18-31, €20-€23, longfordstraditionalpanto@gmail.com, <a href=\"https://www.gr8events.ie/sales/index.php?event=1706\" target=\"_blank\">gr8events.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"AUOCRKCOMRC3BDVH6EKW5NEIHI","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004884},"content":"Starring Damien Douglas as the hilarious Billy Doolittle who, alongside Nanny Nonie, is on a mission to rescue the beautiful Princess Rapunzel from the clutches of the evil witch – before it’s too late!","type":"text"},{"_id":"GSTGAD4CORFQNDAJA3WWUOKS6A","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599291},"content":"Louth","type":"header"},{"_id":"Q7BI7VAXG5DI5B3NVT3AGXI4LY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773779},"content":"Beauty and the Beast","type":"header"},{"_id":"OPXQ5TP7FFARNBVY76KIQJ4YKU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004887},"content":"Tommy Leddy Theatre, Dec 14-Jan 5, €24, 041-9878560, <a href=\"http://thetlt.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">thetlt.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"2HIW27UYBRETBOJRRFEESFBTUM","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004888},"content":"Immerse yourself in the classic fairy-tale at the Tommy Leddy Theatre.","type":"text"},{"_id":"MZ5BMEFXPRCEFHKX4CRCYT3B7Q","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599295},"content":"Sligo","type":"header"},{"_id":"O7NK6E2A5NHHHFEDK2X5MGABHU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773781},"content":"Jack and the Beanstalk","type":"header"},{"_id":"UXVFPOU6IZHKVJPYGZSHVIXG2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004891},"content":"Hawk’s Well Theatre, Dec 8-21, €20, 071 9161518, <a href=\"https://www.hawkswell.com/whats-on/shows/panto\" target=\"_blank\">hawkswell.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"223YYIJRS5EGLNWORNI7J6IBN4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004892},"content":"Coolera Dramatic Society return to Sligo’s Hawk’s Well Theatre this year with the magical story of Jack and the Beanstalk, featuring cast members Bobby Jones, Brian and Stephen Devaney, Kieran O’Doherty and Orla McSharry.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JL4GH6V3LFCE5LUQWRMNE3BPX4","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599299},"content":"Waterford","type":"header"},{"_id":"36ATA5XNRFAV3EZSBCRAPG5X3A","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599303},"content":"Snow White","type":"header"},{"_id":"QENSIFQNEVGQ5FYCYIU7N2THLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004895},"content":"Modeligo Community Theatre, Dungarvan, Nov 28-Dec 1, €15, <a href=\"https://www.gr8events.ie/sales/index.php?event=1779\" target=\"_blank\">gr8events.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"3GZ7C5MJABGKPPVBNOFFJNJCKA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004896},"content":"The much-loved tale of Snow White will be on show in Dungarvan’s Modeligo as we enter the festive season, offering entertainment for all the family.","type":"text"},{"_id":"V6LUBISW5JAR3CJAXT7SAHZZ2U","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599307},"content":"Westmeath","type":"header"},{"_id":"33YHRT4ZG5FIRNVV7XSEBJUEEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732180608179},"content":"Alice in Wonderland","type":"header"},{"_id":"WYU6Q4WHAJA4XBC3C6NTKD7TNA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004899},"content":"Mullingar Arts Centre, Dec 6-29, €15, 044-9347777, <a href=\"https://mullingarartscentre.ie/index.php/reviews-2/3852\" target=\"_blank\">mullingarartscentre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"IZYVC2YAMBD2DIMRFGNX3ZFK74","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004900},"content":"Join Alice on this surreal quest to Wonderland as she follows the white rabbit, encountering crazy tea parties and the Queen of Hearts along the way.","type":"text"},{"_id":"JOHD7J62NZBXLKXGX7QQ2EPW3Y","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599311},"content":"<mark class=\"hl_yellow\">Musicals, circus, dance</mark>","type":"header"},{"_id":"IF4MPW4R5RBM5IRQZCMM7DVJIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599312},"content":"Belfast","type":"header"},{"_id":"AN4K45RFCFBP5CL6DQ63LL33KE","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773787},"content":"Winter Circus","type":"header"},{"_id":"LZRGUT6LLZE2NCFU4W7DOO7EZY","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004904},"content":"Big Top, Writer’s Square, Dec 13-Jan 1, £10-£16, <a href=\"http://tumblecircus.com/\" target=\"_blank\">tumblecircus.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"RFWAVLUOD5EZVOXKQX4UPZAIHQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004905},"content":"Visit Tumble Circus in their heated Big Top to watch a show filled with death-defying aerialists, acrobats, mind-bending jugglers and more.","type":"text"},{"_id":"6PEB5CBVBZDXBLYE4YFZAM6ENA","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599316},"content":"Dublin","type":"header"},{"_id":"M2IY7KOVUVDJ3L7M7NI7ERFPWI","additional_properties":{"_id":"NVNDCUYABJDGNPPZBQ27PUKRPM"},"type":"image"},{"_id":"TP66UHBCNZAJBEXGXEWITKURCA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773789},"content":"Mary Poppins the Musical","type":"header"},{"_id":"OJSI44VFSZFCVOQEIULPE6ZR7M","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004908},"content":"Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dec 11-Jan 11, tickets from €26.50, <a href=\"https://www.bordgaisenergytheatre.ie/show/mary-poppins/\" target=\"_blank\">bordgaisenergytheatre.ie</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"DBCGS2Z5LRG6ZEFZD34QLSLPJ4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004909},"content":"Based on the tales by PL Travers and the <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/disney/\" target=\"_blank\">Walt Disney film</a>, the story of everyone’s favourite nanny will feature exciting choreography, effects and unforgettable songs. The musical’s timeless score includes classic songs such as Jolly Holiday, Step in Time, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Feed the Birds, as well as some new ones to look forward to.","type":"text"},{"_id":"WKQ2JKFVJRDYDOZ6C2T7IHZ7RQ","additional_properties":{"_id":"LNAUN4R55ZAXTMZ4D56JMF2Q6Q"},"content":"Mary Poppins comes to Dublin: Behind the scenes of the all-singing, all-dancing Christmas show","type":"interstitial_link"},{"_id":"C4JGITUQ5FDC5JOMAE5R4TUIWU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773790},"content":"Limerick","type":"header"},{"_id":"OMLUKMRKQVEGJEGBO6XYXGM7LU","additional_properties":{"_id":1732109773791},"content":"Fossett’s Circus","type":"header"},{"_id":"3AIMO5YXBFEUXDAF3P2ZZYUNIQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004912},"content":"Cleeve’s factory site, Limerick city, Dec 12-22 and Dec 27-Jan 5, €18-€23, <a href=\"http://fossettscircus.com/\" target=\"_blank\">fossettscircus.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"LQAAT4PMEBA4VDD7YTC4L54SJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004913},"content":"Enjoy Fosset’s famous circus extravaganza in Limerick city this winter, with ticket prices ranging from €18-€23.","type":"text"},{"_id":"PIGUDNO4TREMLC7GQ46R2OMFVQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1700235599329},"content":"Clare","type":"header"},{"_id":"ADK7UGC2KVA2LB5P6UV3C5MWI4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732101720652},"content":"Ballet Ireland’s Nutcracker Sweeties","type":"header"},{"_id":"YTEELDJJCVBSZMQZT2OEEY6UG4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004916},"content":"Glór, Ennis, Dec 10-11, tickets from €20, <a href=\"https://glor.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173658316\" target=\"_blank\">glor.ticketsolve.com</a>","type":"header"},{"_id":"XF2ZS44CKNBN7BBVZLKLFO34Y4","additional_properties":{"_id":1732286004917},"content":"Choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple, this production of the festive ballet performed by a cast of world-class dancers is sure to enchant audiences of all ages with its fairy-tale magic, costumes and reimagined Tchaikovsky score.","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"metered"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ella Sloane"}},"name":"Ella Sloane"}]},"description":{"basic":"Jack and the Beanstalk, Mary Poppins and an adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment are among the highlights"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T05:22:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 25 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"52QAKPMWLRER7P7IC4NDXVPUHY","auth":{"1":"3a4feee977a53384ad3cbd14eb0a69b46660ceb819cc24b67ff19743667adbc5"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/52QAKPMWLRER7P7IC4NDXVPUHY.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/03/mary-poppins-peter-pan-and-cinderella-25-christmas-pantos-and-shows-to-see-around-ireland-this-festive-season/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}},{"_id":"OYJSLDIIE5DXZE2URFJZ46SGGU","additional_properties":{"audio_duration":393,"audio_url":"https://d22tbkdovk5ea2.cloudfront.net/audio/projects/8948/podcasts/f2704eb0-d6bc-4eef-bfb3-8e48e6ab22d5/versions/1731941503/media/b0a01d389f9ee28b18e32fcb8c139d60_compiled.mp3"},"canonical_url":"/culture/stage/2024/11/23/dreadful-government-lack-of-nightlife-lack-of-cultural-spaces-dublin-writer-thommas-kane-byrne-on-his-home-city/","content_elements":[{"_id":"KNRV2T3LDNF7VDIUH54M6KXDFA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686182},"content":"New York theatre audiences needed a salve the week of the<a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us-election/\" target=\"_blank\"> US presidential election</a> — and in the Hell’s Kitchen district of the city the young Irish theatre company <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/malaprop-theatre/\" target=\"_blank\">Malaprop</a> were offering one. Their production <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/review/2023/09/11/hothouse-review-deadly-serious-and-wildly-funny/\" target=\"_blank\">Hothouse</a>, at the <a href=\"https://irishartscenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Irish Arts Center</a>, was earning serious plaudits. The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/theater/hothouse-in-the-amazon-warehouse-parking-lot.html\" target=\"_blank\">called it</a> an “alluringly strange and splangly” play, “a lament for the present and an elegy for the past that keeps alight a flame of hope for the future”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TYWR2R7ELNE5HFEFNXWCG3OI6U","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686183},"content":"Set on a cruise ship taking wealthy tourists to the North Pole “to say goodbye to the ice”, Carys D Coburn’s play stars Peter Corboy, Maeve O’Mahony, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, Ebby O’Toole Acheampong and, in what Vulture called a “subtly devastating” performance, <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thommas-kane-byrne/\" target=\"_blank\">Thommas Kane Byrne</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LKFOKER7AFBDHMT3Q3JPWP43CQ","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686184},"content":"TKB, as the actor and writer is known in the industry, flipped between roles real and surreal, but it was his performance as Barbara — an Irish housewife and link in a chain of generational trauma in a story that maps the process of extracting herself from an abusive relationship on to the existential climate crisis — that was so restrained, so controlled, so loaded with pathos that it became a wonder in a play full of them.","type":"text"},{"_id":"SMWYPML3HRDLVHO5IW3T2SADGU","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686185},"content":"Now TKB is about to bring the final part of his St Mary’s Mansions trilogy to the stage. It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own, which opens shortly at Project Arts Centre in Dublin, follows Say Nothin’ to No One, from 2017, and Well That’s What I Heard, from 2018.","type":"text"},{"_id":"BMIHHD7K5RCLROCUPQ2E5JHI2E","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686187},"content":"“I never fully intended to be a writer,” TKB says. “I fell into it in a sense. I think I was just quite lucky, in that there was a big space for authentic working-class work.” After all, he asks, who else was doing it “aside from Philly” — the playwright <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/phillip-mcmahon/\" target=\"_blank\">Phillip McMahon</a> (who also runs <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/thisispopbaby/\" target=\"_blank\">Thisispopbaby</a> with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/jennifer-jennings/\" target=\"_blank\">Jennifer Jennings</a>). “Pineapple, Town Is Dead,” he says of two of McMahon’s plays, “those are very authentic glimpses into working-class life”.","type":"text"},{"_id":"62ZM4POJBNEAHBNSTLS2Z2ADJA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686188},"content":"TKB, who grew up in St Mary’s Mansions, on Seán MacDermott Street in Dublin’s north inner city, was a member of <a href=\"https://www.belvedereyouthclub.ie/\" target=\"_blank\">Belvedere Youth Club</a> when he was brought to see <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/roddy-doyle/\" target=\"_blank\">Roddy Doyle</a>’s adaptation of The Playboy of the Western World, starring Hilda Fay, at the Abbey Theatre. He later recalled that it was the first time he had heard his accent represented in such a context.","type":"text"},{"_id":"CAW4GJURU5DHBJPMXVR4CGZDAE","additional_properties":{"_id":1731939014232},"content":"His Dublin 1 postcode, from which tremendous talents frequently emerge, often finds itself the subject of political debate, taskforce reports and top-down conversations. “It further hammers the us-and-them thing home,” TKB says. “Even the distribution of gardaí, they’re never around my area. When there’s a concert on [at Croke Park] they’re everywhere because God forbid something happens to the posh people on their way to a concert.","type":"text"},{"_id":"275MAN7Y55HLLBBZ6WXB4M5EOA","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686189},"content":"“I suppose, in all of my stuff, Dublin is a character in and of itself. I feel like my relationship with Dublin has changed since I wrote Say Nothin’ to No One.” How so? “I just don’t love it as much. It’s a strange feeling to be scared in your own city. I’m more comfortable walking around New York. I think there’s an energy, a nervousness in the air in Dublin. Nowhere is open. Everything feels quiet and ghostly. Dreadful Government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces.” He catches himself. “I feel like I’m making [the play] feel sombre, but it’s good craic as well.” He calls this final instalment of the trilogy a final bop.","type":"text"},{"_id":"LMSB33Y3PBCCPB6A5UTHBUANXE","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686190},"content":"The first time TKB gravitated towards writing was via “Facebook rants years ago”, he says. “I used that as my f**king diary. So embarrassing. Then people said I should write,” he says, almost instantly backtracking. “I’m scarlet I even said that. I literally have no f**king filter. I don’t mean that in a cute way. I meant that in a neurodivergent way.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"XOYCMKJE35GWLA4QW6BTCDKVLY","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686191},"content":"His biggest inspirations are Dublin city and women. “Women are always a huge part of my work. I feel like I owe a lot to women. I feel I’ve been made by them.” As a younger person, he says, he was insufferable. “I was mad into old Hollywood. Anything with Judy Garland, Bette Davis. I was so intense. I got that from my mam’s side of the family. They’d be big into old Hollywood movies. But then, I suppose, in terms of writers that inspired me, [Seán] O’Casey, Tennessee Williams.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"4T22FRMGKJF4JMXEPCSCKXXSBI","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686192},"content":"In the RTÉ crime drama <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2023/05/08/kin-season-2-finale-for-an-often-patchy-show-the-conclusion-is-shocking/\" target=\"_blank\">Kin</a>, TKB played Francis “Fudge” Flynn. He has appeared in Derry Girls, The Gone and The Dry. But it was the Virgin Media series Darklands, in which, vocally and physically transformed, he played Butsy, that his chameleon-like capacity and charisma caught the eye. The sinisterly gruff character, who glowered at bar counters and in balaclavas, was a brilliant turn, a universe away from the high-camp character TKB played in the 2021 film <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/deadly-cuts-a-blast-from-irish-cinema-s-past-1.4691768\" target=\"_blank\">Deadly Cuts</a>.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RQS3NZQP7BAZHDZCO53UQLDRXY","additional_properties":{"_id":1731927686193},"content":"Another project he has on the go is with <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/gemma-dunleavy/\" target=\"_blank\">Gemma Dunleavy</a>: they plan to turn He Sits of a Tuesday, the play they created about a local politician who never appears, into a musical. “I just think we come from a very similar place in our approach,” he says of the singer. “Although our work is a love letter to our home and the people in it, it’s not romanticising it in any way. We still are very much unflinching about it all, but focus on the beauty of it while staying true to the shit that goes on.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"GS7SN2YKRJFXNLJ227RGSZIB6M","additional_properties":{"_id":1731939014238},"content":"<i>It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own is at </i><a href=\"https://projectartscentre.ie/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Project Arts Centre</i></a><i>, Dublin, from Wednesday, December 4th, to Saturday, December 14th, with previews from Monday, December 2nd; the cast will also perform readings of Say Nothin’ to No One and Well That’s What I Heard on the afternoon of Saturday, December 7th</i>","type":"text"}],"content_restrictions":{"content_code":"premium"},"credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Una Mullally"}},"name":"Una Mullally"}]},"description":{"basic":"What’s Next For?: TKB, whose new play, It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own, completes his St Mary’s Mansions trilogy, on the evolution of Ireland’s capital"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘Dreadful government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces’: Dublin writer Thommas Kane Byrne on his home city ","native":""},"label":{"audio_project_id":{"text":"8948"}},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"NGU3C3XLF5BEFL7XZLQUZX2KF4","auth":{"1":"e8fffb29cd15b72204847089ec5f68d89b6e11f371f70b227d7736faaba01378"},"focal_point":{"x":710,"y":700},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NGU3C3XLF5BEFL7XZLQUZX2KF4.jpg"}},"subtype":"feature","taxonomy":{"sections":[{"name":"Stage"},{"name":"Culture"}]},"type":"story","website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/11/23/dreadful-government-lack-of-nightlife-lack-of-cultural-spaces-dublin-writer-thommas-kane-byrne-on-his-home-city/","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Stage"}}}}],"count":4117,"_id":"788d1c7537817605e8ee025603a7780804410500d7f12d13028b5c0f510377a0"},"expires":1740925319124,"lastModified":1740925018584},"{\"excludeSections\":\"\",\"feature\":\"results-list\",\"feedOffset\":15,\"feedSize\":40,\"includeSections\":\"/culture/stage\"}":{"data":{"content_elements":[{"_id":"B73N3OHHBVAMBI3T7JD4FOQ5HQ","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"hugh-linehan","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Hugh Linehan"}},"name":"Hugh Linehan","type":"author","url":"/author/hugh-linehan/"}]},"description":{"basic":"‘As an American taxpayer I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap,’ Donald Trump’s press secretary told reporters"},"display_date":"2025-02-07T05:20:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Irish musical slammed by the White House as an ‘insane’ waste of $70,000 "},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4","auth":{"1":"ce43ae09dc58ff1af90388d17d10ebbee91e1a5150fbab4026afbfffc16154dc"},"focal_point":{"x":4059,"y":1393},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/J3ND26MIKNKNMUBODGN6VKMUH4.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/07/the-insane-irish-musical-slammed-by-the-white-house-as-a-waste-of-70000/"}}},{"_id":"UKBPN4XAXFBDJFWBSWFUROTPCI","credits":{"by":[]},"description":{"basic":"Opera: INO’s staging maintains the light-heartedness the Strauss needs for the two hours its enjoyably ridiculous plot takes to unfold"},"display_date":"2025-02-03T10:55:47.887Z","headlines":{"basic":"Fledermaus review: Irish National Opera’s touring production is a delight from start to finish"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY","auth":{"1":"b5df2d04040a5d4cabe5d48edfb982578e4cb4926bf4c20713e813d4e93c7353"},"focal_point":{"x":1736,"y":809},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/MODANOSJENAEXNVJN3A6ASHJOY.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/02/03/fledermaus-review-irish-national-operas-touring-production-is-a-delight-from-start-to-finish/"}}},{"_id":"JCUBGHCTZVDIDF5UEKB5WOZKRM","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"patrick-freyne","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Patrick Freyne"}},"name":"Patrick Freyne","type":"author","url":"/author/patrick-freyne/"}]},"description":{"basic":"For the Irish-American comedian, lockdown was preceded by his mother’s death. The impact was profound – but it opened the way to a new life"},"display_date":"2025-02-01T05:30:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Des Bishop: ‘I never felt the grief with my dad like I felt with my mother’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ","auth":{"1":"d40553702e377f77026cb1bcd174f9c528b14c3caf51f43dc042946f1f725969"},"focal_point":{"x":2618,"y":1760},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HGUAYHEYANBFPHADDPVUUQ6VIQ.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/02/01/des-bishop-i-never-felt-the-grief-with-my-dad-like-i-felt-with-my-mother/"}}},{"_id":"NYL3AMTKUJAK5GHHMMMXTJ5KAQ","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Jez Butterworth seems intent on showing all his research with a list of Irish counties and reference to banshees"},"display_date":"2025-01-30T12:44:05.565Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Ferryman at the Gaiety review: This British play about the Troubles sounds as if it was written using Wikipedia"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM","auth":{"1":"e7d099af7c5ffd5274cd0756443d9b12685e554ef6ae0ae032c8bdf1198e9b1d"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/FP6J2NU4ANEDRND3WT2JZNA6JM.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/30/the-ferryman-at-the-gaiety-review-this-british-play-about-the-troubles-sounds-as-if-it-was-written-using-wikipedia/"}}},{"_id":"MHRL4BCRR5EVVEVBJ7T7LC3VFE","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"sara-keating","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating","type":"author","url":"/author/sara-keating/"}]},"description":{"basic":"& Juliet creator David West Read’s TV credits include Schitt’s Creek but his passion for theatre propelled him to rewrite a Shakespeare classic featuring the music of one of pop’s top hit makers"},"display_date":"2025-01-26T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Britney Spears meets Shakespeare: How & Juliet puts a pop twist on star-cross’d lovers"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4","auth":{"1":"0100ee4836c4703e0a5542b8b74b09a6a48df503fd4b6e46e5d56f21f4a5670c"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GF2NMUVK7ZDVPA2JX7IHFBGWG4.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/26/britney-spears-meets-shakespeare-how-juliet-puts-a-pop-twist-on-star-crossd-lovers/"}}},{"_id":"HNEQVDM4RZBWXJHBBMOP47RIU4","credits":{"by":[{"name":"Chris Wiegand Stage editor","type":"author"}]},"description":{"basic":"Actor Joan Plowright helped shape British postwar theatre through her performances at the Royal Court, National Theatre and in Lodon's West End"},"display_date":"2025-01-17T14:39:17.54Z","headlines":{"basic":"Joan Plowright, celebrated star of stage and screen, dies aged 95"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q","auth":{"1":"c91e4f8e7c0508fc48b1836e49b8fa96977043097312d6766c153609f4345513"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7ACWTYO66JCMDP57B4MNIDLP5Q.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/17/joan-plowright-celebrated-star-of-stage-and-screen-dies-aged-95/"}}},{"_id":"NQQBKSBVCZAWNDPFKE4AVWSYMY","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"The musician’s death adds a layer of grief to this autobiographical drama, in which Kirwan is an expectant father exploring what it means to be a parent"},"display_date":"2025-01-17T10:43:47.73Z","headlines":{"basic":"Accents review: The late Eoin French’s remarkable music accompanies Emmet Kirwan’s fatherhood search"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI","auth":{"1":"918e31587c685d0bced3de5571c487096c8691f4af9588140e0ad34f7321eb14"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/4G7APV64YNHOJEEG5A6UES6TDI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/17/accents-review-the-late-eoin-frenchs-remarkable-music-accompanies-emmet-kirwans-fatherhood-search/"}}},{"_id":"YZ5J6X2LRJDVFPH4M4G4I3UKRU","credits":{"by":[]},"description":{"basic":"Slattery was a regular on comedy shows Whose Line Is It Anyway? Just A Minute and Have I Got News For You"},"display_date":"2025-01-14T14:28:03.695Z","headlines":{"basic":"Comedian Tony Slattery dies aged 65 after heart attack"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM","auth":{"1":"6550cea46f079be9b8f557d87bddbee2e452460932c18345a7b2fb82a40f2a6a"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ZFQL62YQ2TOVESN3BP532TE3KM.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","name":"TV & Radio"},"website_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2025/01/14/comedian-tony-slattery-dies-aged-65-after-heart-attack/"}}},{"_id":"4WPIXFQH4VEQTORA2XCK66F3QU","credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan","type":"author"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Two pairs of sisters visited by a moment of reflective clarity gain a new understanding of family"},"display_date":"2025-01-13T10:44:02.327Z","headlines":{"basic":"Madeira: Secrets of Sisters review – Four siblings, three actors and a tale that penetrates emotional barriers"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU","auth":{"1":"7777f19931fac85275857c5b81ab599014d82f2c32ee3076d33b3082a909a2c3"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IBB53HXHPRDWBHJL3ZNXTGXAXU.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/13/madeira-secrets-of-sisters-review-four-siblings-three-actors-and-a-tale-that-penetrates-emotional-barriers/"}}},{"_id":"BYLD6USTNJEBZFKTQI42G3RWVA","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"tim-obrien","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Tim O'Brien"}},"name":"Tim O'Brien","type":"author","url":"/author/tim-obrien/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Almost €60 million spread across nationwide arts bodies"},"display_date":"2025-01-09T13:51:59.314Z","headlines":{"basic":"Abbey Theatre gets €9.5m in strategic funding from Arts Council, €1m more than last year"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI","auth":{"1":"96814d1e4ee76298008a890b37c8118deb136aa9f99a5237df4f3907909dfd54"},"focal_point":{"x":3371,"y":504},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/E4BG2HJMGVH5VOUCNUEN5EBAHI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/09/abbey-theatre-gets-95m-in-strategic-funding-from-arts-council-1m-more-than-last-year/"}}},{"_id":"5UQF7KC6UFH7XI4ASVOG34JVS4","credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Tom Lordan","type":"author"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Play is a devastating retelling of the injustice suffered by Armstrong and the Guildford Four"},"display_date":"2025-01-07T13:07:51.095Z","headlines":{"basic":"Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong review – Don Wycherley is incandescent in this journey from disaster to redemption"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI","auth":{"1":"cc87132abf35b13fe7f46cb8a32ce320d566e588c0e60d8c65eadc8b2bf416c7"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/G7KNMDL755FQLBK2UAIKTQ52GI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2025/01/07/paddy-the-life-times-of-paddy-armstrong-review-don-wycherley-is-incandescent-in-this-journey-from-disaster-to-redemption/"}}},{"_id":"IRXBHE2DNBFRPHBRW6BDZHQSPE","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"derek-scally","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Derek Scally"}},"name":"Derek Scally","type":"author","url":"/author/derek-scally/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Queen’s University Belfast academic Richard Schoch says the American composer’s works are high art that explore the human condition with precision, and remain fresh for each new generation"},"display_date":"2025-01-05T06:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Musicals for grown ups: Stephen Sondheim presents ‘life deconstructed and laid bare, in all its confusion and disarray’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A","auth":{"1":"ce093d3a27d5b1c25c4ef7cb2a1cc0188bf942ec72dfa34ea33c41cf37c9d8d2"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HBVMOZYKKFAXFF7A3RK33KAD4A.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/music/2025/01/04/musicals-for-grown-ups-stephen-sondheim-presents-life-deconstructed-and-laid-bare-in-all-its-confusion-and-disarray/"}}},{"_id":"JTO2EPKGCBDK7C6HTIRQY7GX34","credits":{"by":[{"name":"Caroline Davies","type":"author"}]},"description":{"basic":"Five-year project will stage each play in a setting relevant to its theme and in the season it was set"},"display_date":"2025-01-02T11:07:21.44Z","headlines":{"basic":"Brian Friel’s plays to be brought home to cross-Border communities that inspired them"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ","auth":{"1":"1caddb583b9ef0359d08725f47cfb442a8c7c9e951e1a62eb82552f11d912121"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TWYPIEBATBMC7FLEJHBYIQRRTQ.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/brian-friels-plays-to-be-brought-home-to-cross-border-communities-that-inspired-them/"}}},{"_id":"2CJCFHR3DNHHVPNWTJ43CU4OYA","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"sara-keating","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating","type":"author","url":"/author/sara-keating/"}]},"description":{"basic":"A new stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel brings the kinship of boy and beast alive in a triumph of theatrical storytelling"},"display_date":"2025-01-02T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"War Horse: ‘I forget that Joey is being manipulated by people. They’re breathing, making sounds and moving like a horse would’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA","auth":{"1":"fb19ddcba9834d40834b36ead89c489c6856747d243cca1d64f4291a2b757695"},"focal_point":{"x":3199,"y":2375},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ROENNIM4RBGVPEJFSYKG4IORAA.JPG"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2025/01/02/war-horse-i-forget-that-joey-is-being-manipulated-by-people-theyre-breathing-making-sounds-and-moving-like-a-horse-would/"}}},{"_id":"L76YR2W3D5BDVATW56RLA2LDSU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"From King Lear at the Gate to Dr Strangelove starring Steve Coogan, the coming year’s stage line-up includes jukebox musicals, period romcom and a play that probes the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake"},"display_date":"2024-12-29T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"2025 on stage: 21 plays, operas and dance works to see over the next 12 months"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34","auth":{"1":"688b389e90ff8be367a73ca4d16edb9d2431ea5335d5265c0c234293cbf1a706"},"focal_point":{"x":1795,"y":2455},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PRKOOVAWDZGB3ENXMFUEO5YJ34.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/29/2025-on-stage-21-plays-operas-and-dance-works-to-see-over-the-next-12-months/"}}},{"_id":"C4J6KFXQPJGAXBZT3EBQL6EVN4","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Gambling on longer runs of unfamiliar work paid off in a gratifying number of cases. But Irish theatre still isn’t as inclusive as it should be"},"display_date":"2024-12-22T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The best theatre of 2024: Blessed are the risk-takers"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA","auth":{"1":"29bb5d4a01612cce0f442811fbd1b6061e0cb8bd91969c63c6c69dae46549f92"},"focal_point":{"x":3745,"y":2335},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OJ4HCC6TWNBVZLMG5FRISYRRHA.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/22/the-best-theatre-of-2024-blessed-are-the-risk-takers/"}}},{"_id":"FG2AH6TPTVH53ILSH5TEMM6PA4","credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Barry J Whyte","type":"author"}]},"description":{"basic":"The annual pantomime is as popular as ever and keeps smaller theatres going year after year"},"display_date":"2024-12-20T13:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Oh yes it is ... the Christmas panto and how it keeps Ireland’s theatre community going"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4","auth":{"1":"7a6743faa349ac75535eab7282719b6675811567e6af5d9176d31f8d1df194cd"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/63W6ODNIFFBWPNUMVYXESKRAV4.JPG"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","name":"Culture"},"website_url":"/culture/2024/12/21/oh-yes-it-is-the-christmas-panto-and-how-it-keeps-irelands-theatre-community-going/"}}},{"_id":"DSXJWSVPEJEHLAAKJWGXL7TEHI","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"tara-brady","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Tara Brady"}},"name":"Tara Brady","type":"author","url":"/author/tara-brady/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick’s interactive pantomime, directed by Simon Delaney, features the promising Caoileann Woodcock as Belle"},"display_date":"2024-12-16T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Beauty & the Beast review: On the way home, younger audience members re-enact scenes. There’s no higher recommendation"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ","auth":{"1":"9f1bdde6ef90ff6fd721946ecf5924296262bb1170a878d85613e20c48e807ef"},"focal_point":{"x":1425,"y":1475},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RCC53KGWZRBMRE6VNNFFH36DSQ.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/16/beauty-the-beast-review-on-the-way-home-younger-audience-members-re-enact-scenes-theres-no-higher-recommendation/"}}},{"_id":"CFBXH3ECKJFD7FNTKPZRPSJFRA","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"donald-clarke","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke","type":"author","url":"/author/donald-clarke/"}]},"description":{"basic":"The likely triple Oscar nominee, star of Conclave, is in fluent form at the national theatre’s TS Eliot Lecture for 2024"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T21:34:49.149Z","headlines":{"basic":"Ralph Fiennes at the Abbey Theatre: An electrifying, moving reading of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM","auth":{"1":"6bc5626b070f43e2f6bb1b9110db1343634dee75bc65c5b5a930ca1e9b8d1ac4"},"focal_point":{"x":1525,"y":957},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/5JRHH6UQ2VDYVLQ2TRYQER5EVM.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/ralph-fiennes-at-the-abbey-theatre-an-electrifying-moving-reading-of-ts-eliots-four-quartets/"}}},{"_id":"OJREXLKG6VAY5BSYNFCDHW2AAU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"ella-sloane","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ella Sloane"}},"name":"Ella Sloane","type":"author","url":"/author/ella-sloane/"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Belfast native had to rebuild his life, which is now the subject of a stage play, after wrongly spending 15 years in jail for an IRA bomb attack"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T06:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU","auth":{"1":"04741a907bed2db54f3d5be95d23715f3abeb27d012736547b080f528671b8ee"},"focal_point":{"x":3963,"y":2680},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PUKQZSWRBZF23ECVLEZSAZBMFU.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","name":"Culture"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/15/the-guildford-fours-paddy-armstrong-people-thought-i-was-going-to-be-bitter-and-twisted-when-i-came-out-of-prison/"}}},{"_id":"PGORPX3MDJAOBGR45ECUU7UV3Y","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"conor-capplis","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Conor Capplis"}},"name":"Conor Capplis","type":"author","url":"/author/conor-capplis/"}]},"description":{"basic":"With its mix of larger-than-life faux rage in the ring and genuine connection with fans, it’s not hard to understand the huge popularity of WWE – and it means big business, too, for Netflix"},"display_date":"2024-12-15T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Irish WWE star Lyra Valkyria: ‘At its core, we’re storytellers. Everything comes down to good versus evil’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"GGV3MX4X45DG3INFBWPVA4YVUI","auth":{"1":"ecb992dd1c27a696cd40db0feefe9436fa783ae1658eb6678e8c3f8c44919ba1"},"focal_point":{"x":2520,"y":1650},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GGV3MX4X45DG3INFBWPVA4YVUI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/tv-radio","name":"TV & Radio"},"website_url":"/culture/tv-radio/2024/12/15/irish-wwe-star-lyra-valkyria-at-its-core-were-storytellers-everything-comes-down-to-good-versus-evil/"}}},{"_id":"BPCFPM3QB5GEDBZ7QBCJVI6XOU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"sara-keating","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating","type":"author","url":"/author/sara-keating/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: This thrilling Cameron Mackintosh-Disney show capitalises on PL Travers’s original story, which has so much more to offer than the films"},"display_date":"2024-12-14T11:55:54.863Z","headlines":{"basic":"Mary Poppins review: A practically perfect masterclass in storytelling for the stage"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"L6KOA56DRNH3LNV4NFE2L4ILTU","auth":{"1":"fe191cedd976d01b3369a56f474727e919e9e53869069bfa95a425fa5ace6be7"},"focal_point":{"x":545,"y":330},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/L6KOA56DRNH3LNV4NFE2L4ILTU.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/14/mary-poppins-a-practically-perfect-masterclass-in-storytelling-for-the-stage/"}}},{"_id":"RCK5M5U74JFM5N6LZR6HXM2VVI","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"patrick-freyne","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Patrick Freyne"}},"name":"Patrick Freyne","type":"author","url":"/author/patrick-freyne/"}]},"description":{"basic":"The comic actor is playing four parts in the new stage version of Stanley Kubrick’s film, which comes to Ireland in 2025"},"display_date":"2024-12-14T05:30:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘Watch your step’: Steve Coogan takes Patrick Freyne backstage at Dr Strangelove"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"3SH4AQKYH5ADXM3V5WB4TSO5VA","auth":{"1":"d6bfb73d984df5bd2781bc18972eba9b95e2817049f028c33a21910c05208937"},"focal_point":{"x":2208,"y":2358},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/3SH4AQKYH5ADXM3V5WB4TSO5VA.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/14/watch-your-step-steve-coogan-takes-patrick-freyne-backstage-at-dr-strangelove/"}}},{"_id":"SB2Y7KW6IVB55NVC2DWJROF6AU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Cathal Cleary’s lucid production features a pleasingly young cast, including an impressively fluid Eavan Gaffney as Blanche DuBois"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T10:18:28.944Z","headlines":{"basic":"A Streetcar Named Desire review: Hot and bothered in New Orleans"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"LSIEETWZNZFHXO5GUWW6XIXJX4","auth":{"1":"62b1e4277372a06c2afd3e8ad1280bb9070301eaffefe71fbeb1f7686a44b732"},"focal_point":{"x":960,"y":1030},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/LSIEETWZNZFHXO5GUWW6XIXJX4.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/a-streetcar-named-desire-review-hot-and-bothered-in-new-orleans/"}}},{"_id":"5UEIJQKKRJEKFOTTTL5UP6XYAI","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"mary-leland","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland","type":"author","url":"/author/mary-leland/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Grace O’Halloran, the production’s 11-year-old star, has an immediate, unforced rapport with the young audience"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T08:43:28.204Z","headlines":{"basic":"Red Riding Hood: Everyman’s warm-hearted panto sparkles with exuberance"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"M4JAMRQKSBC33GY3MYZ55VEGJM","auth":{"1":"ef5775c091b9092dccab6dd863a788c9078618e4153874805b949941dfc8d735"},"focal_point":{"x":2670,"y":1820},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/M4JAMRQKSBC33GY3MYZ55VEGJM.jpeg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/09/red-riding-hood-everymans-warm-hearted-panto-sparkles-with-exuberance/"}}},{"_id":"F74Q6IIQG5DYFLWHBWKSLZAHZQ","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"una-mullally","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Una Mullally"}},"name":"Una Mullally","type":"author","url":"/author/una-mullally/"}]},"description":{"basic":"The Afro-Brazilian performer and teacher staged one of the hits of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. It’s part of a cultural journey"},"display_date":"2024-12-09T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Terra dance artist Alessandra Azeviche: ‘What I connect with in Ireland is the oppression from the church within our bodies’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"JQIOD4SGLVB3LMVLTRZNY7H4WI","auth":{"1":"1c9c906da28c38d17260aa17d5284e4d91b772ea0c8fb268626417062da08c69"},"focal_point":{"x":2550,"y":1250},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JQIOD4SGLVB3LMVLTRZNY7H4WI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture","name":"Culture"},"website_url":"/culture/2024/12/09/terra-dance-artist-alessandra-azeviche-what-i-connect-with-in-ireland-is-the-oppression-from-the-church-within-our-bodies/"}}},{"_id":"FGYAGUB6AZDU7JQBS6CJQ7W76Y","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"mary-leland","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland","type":"author","url":"/author/mary-leland/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Megan Pottinger brings distinction of style to tile role"},"display_date":"2024-12-05T11:51:04.281Z","headlines":{"basic":"Cinderella: Cork Opera House puts on a spectacular, enchanting pantomime"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"IKY54E5UGNEFXD2UPEBV64LTGI","auth":{"1":"0092c74fd76eecf263cff878c376a7a1623c2f64a3f24d80d4575a938c2e0b33"},"focal_point":{"x":1550,"y":2810},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IKY54E5UGNEFXD2UPEBV64LTGI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/cinderella-cork-opera-house-puts-on-a-spectacular-enchanting-pantomime/"}}},{"_id":"4I4PJDFCXRAO3GZZLJHTOF466U","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Ericka Roe is note perfect in Thommas Kane Byrne’s fabulous version of Dublin’s inner city"},"display_date":"2024-12-05T10:27:50.765Z","headlines":{"basic":"It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own: A swooning comedy for Dublin after the riots"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"JKM7P3K37VE27HMD3LBY23625U","auth":{"1":"d57de764d2e8719b9cc885a55e74dcb6c7f1102cd6fc611f2017847c00b8bda5"},"focal_point":{"x":3885,"y":1555},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JKM7P3K37VE27HMD3LBY23625U.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/05/its-always-your-bleedin-own-a-swooning-comedy-for-dublin-after-the-riots/"}}},{"_id":"ECYAEPSDWNDX7LZQ4AQ23622Z4","credits":{"by":[{"additional_properties":{"original":{}},"name":"Michael Dungan","type":"author"}]},"description":{"basic":"Irish National Opera’s production of Verdi, featuring Michael Chioldi, Soraya Mafi and Bekhzod Davronov, is hampered on opening night"},"display_date":"2024-12-02T12:07:26.605Z","headlines":{"basic":"Rigoletto at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre: Excellent singing undermined by musical lapses and directorial miscalculations"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"RHF2RLQ6R5CSPJRLANLTTJKCOI","auth":{"1":"9a2517a23be64ebe0eb1f843824b0f10d6f007e12337f0b2a105b846a7fbb545"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RHF2RLQ6R5CSPJRLANLTTJKCOI.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/12/02/rigoletto-at-the-bord-gais-energy-theatre-excellent-singing-undermined-by-musical-lapses-and-directorial-miscalculations/"}}},{"_id":"J3WDZKAXCZCEJDZVR3BEQLHEB4","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"donald-clarke","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke","type":"author","url":"/author/donald-clarke/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Toni O’Rourke plays Emma with gusto, and Hannah Mamalis is hilarious as Harriet. Despite some narrative overreaching, you’ll probably leave happy"},"display_date":"2024-11-29T10:01:57.673Z","headlines":{"basic":"Emma review: Agreeably quirky take on Austen shakes the story’s structure a little too vigorously"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"PGASM7TKUZGX7BBCDPQNAHSNUA","auth":{"1":"a5c4b6da10f064f1ece0437d3b8e5cf440c212ff4f0571210c9082a7008bd973"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PGASM7TKUZGX7BBCDPQNAHSNUA.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/29/emma-review-agreeably-quirky-take-on-austen-shakes-the-storys-structure-a-little-too-vigorously/"}}},{"_id":"6WVQT5H55JEKVG7ED6OU4P5XUI","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"sara-keating","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating","type":"author","url":"/author/sara-keating/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: The annual extravaganza, written, choreographed and directed by Daryn Crosbie, features terrific performances from the Billie Barry Kids"},"display_date":"2024-11-28T11:41:04.177Z","headlines":{"basic":"Peter Pan review: Gaiety panto takes off with dizzying ensemble numbers and breathtaking effects"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"7P454C47OJE4DNOKS3LGZ545T4","auth":{"1":"d4e548bdc5cf8e1affd6ce5af70ca1e5ef99dd49bfec936e2b170025acf838df"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7P454C47OJE4DNOKS3LGZ545T4.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/28/peter-pan-review-gaiety-panto-takes-off-with-dizzying-ensemble-numbers-and-breathtaking-effects/"}}},{"_id":"AP5EWFBDG5FBTIN6HUZWDAWL4Y","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"donald-clarke","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke","type":"author","url":"/author/donald-clarke/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Marty Rea and Maeve Fitzgerald star as Gabriel and Gretta Conroy in Louise Lowe’s promenade staging of the beloved Dubliners story"},"display_date":"2024-11-26T23:54:31.348Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Dead review: James Joyce’s tragicomedy wraps around the audience in a hugely engaging, immensely accomplished evening"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"QO7YGZTCHZE45CZ6AW7MFLJDWY","auth":{"1":"00b8518c758171f1fc8c5addce823c9fc38a7464ccc57941b7ebcc865b872a38"},"focal_point":{"x":2495,"y":670},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QO7YGZTCHZE45CZ6AW7MFLJDWY.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/26/the-dead-james-joyces-tragicomedy-wraps-around-the-audience-in-a-hugely-engaging-immensely-accomplished-evening/"}}},{"_id":"DKR45CIFHNFN5LJ5TKGMIHEMJ4","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"sara-keating","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Sara Keating"}},"name":"Sara Keating","type":"author","url":"/author/sara-keating/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: There are no special effects, no grand coup-du-theatre, but there are oodles of old-fashioned charm"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T15:04:37.705Z","headlines":{"basic":"Rapunzel at the Helix, Dublin, review: strong storytelling and effortless inclusivity"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"OXP6AH5XDZDZHHWYJAJE3FS4W4","auth":{"1":"12a267bd6384ae08fb15d2e3018d87beebb53b71d14618e3c0cc9842c5037fb8"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OXP6AH5XDZDZHHWYJAJE3FS4W4.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/25/rapunzel-at-the-helix-dublin-review-strong-storytelling-and-effortless-inclusivity/"}}},{"_id":"FETJTF7IJZEDLIW6XCQPC3I4PE","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"ella-sloane","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Ella Sloane"}},"name":"Ella Sloane","type":"author","url":"/author/ella-sloane/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Jack and the Beanstalk, Mary Poppins and an adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s The Giggler Treatment are among the highlights"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T05:22:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Cinderella: 25 Christmas pantos and shows to see around Ireland this festive season"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"52QAKPMWLRER7P7IC4NDXVPUHY","auth":{"1":"3a4feee977a53384ad3cbd14eb0a69b46660ceb819cc24b67ff19743667adbc5"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/52QAKPMWLRER7P7IC4NDXVPUHY.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/12/03/mary-poppins-peter-pan-and-cinderella-25-christmas-pantos-and-shows-to-see-around-ireland-this-festive-season/"}}},{"_id":"OYJSLDIIE5DXZE2URFJZ46SGGU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"una-mullally","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Una Mullally"}},"name":"Una Mullally","type":"author","url":"/author/una-mullally/"}]},"description":{"basic":"What’s Next For?: TKB, whose new play, It’s Always Your Bleedin’ Own, completes his St Mary’s Mansions trilogy, on the evolution of Ireland’s capital"},"display_date":"2024-11-25T05:00:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"‘Dreadful government, lack of nightlife, lack of cultural spaces’: Dublin writer Thommas Kane Byrne on his home city "},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"NGU3C3XLF5BEFL7XZLQUZX2KF4","auth":{"1":"e8fffb29cd15b72204847089ec5f68d89b6e11f371f70b227d7736faaba01378"},"focal_point":{"x":710,"y":700},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NGU3C3XLF5BEFL7XZLQUZX2KF4.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/11/23/dreadful-government-lack-of-nightlife-lack-of-cultural-spaces-dublin-writer-thommas-kane-byrne-on-his-home-city/"}}},{"_id":"QB4PMHKCYRGOHDGOFI2V7ZOQQU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"jane-coyle","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Jane Coyle"}},"name":"Jane Coyle","type":"author","url":"/author/jane-coyle/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Staged in a vintage Ulsterbus, Raphaël Amahl Khouri’s high-concept play chronicles Creith’s difficult transition as she found her true self"},"display_date":"2024-11-22T09:25:58.01Z","headlines":{"basic":"Suspect Device: The poignant story of Irish trans bus driver Wilma Creith"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"QSGPXBRPMBDVPJKRGAIP25NDUY","auth":{"1":"637af8c1fef2e865cde706159a08ed24c16366007762911d9d690f1293a57c08"},"focal_point":{"x":3950,"y":1785},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QSGPXBRPMBDVPJKRGAIP25NDUY.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/22/suspect-device-the-poignant-story-of-irish-trans-bus-driver-wilma-creith/"}}},{"_id":"VR6XQG2BL5DKLB67CVPBMBVJCU","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"chris-mccormack","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Chris McCormack"}},"name":"Chris McCormack","type":"author","url":"/author/chris-mccormack/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Theatre: Shaun Dunne and Brokentalkers’ collaboration portrays the challenges of looking after a partner with a long-term illness"},"display_date":"2024-11-20T14:43:11.907Z","headlines":{"basic":"Everything Falls review: Family care presented as a wearying, compassionate dance"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"6L4RRYRHINGCZJ2O7HV6RS6JAY","auth":{"1":"7676463f93782bdd9055396711428fdac13966fd77076b1126ba7908ba49eb93"},"focal_point":{"x":1490,"y":640},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6L4RRYRHINGCZJ2O7HV6RS6JAY.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/20/everything-falls-review-family-care-presented-as-a-wearying-compassionate-dance/"}}},{"_id":"XA37EMDQEZFDJJY645SUNSESYI","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"mary-leland","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Mary Leland"}},"name":"Mary Leland","type":"author","url":"/author/mary-leland/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Michael Patric’s play misses the opportunity to pull the drama of the end of Ireland’s sugar industry into the story of its craic-loving factory worker"},"display_date":"2024-11-20T14:05:11.632Z","headlines":{"basic":"Sugar review: Amiable amble through a factory worker’s life could do with more theatrical spice"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"D3JAX7OHKZGFXJBLMJRNK6DVQU","auth":{"1":"329d21f6a87172993db8f34f5ab0ab5dd1faed3a38e370469c2f160c1a818ec7"},"focal_point":{"x":1050,"y":460},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/D3JAX7OHKZGFXJBLMJRNK6DVQU.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/20/sugar-review-amiable-amble-through-a-factory-workers-life-could-do-with-more-theatrical-spice/"}}},{"_id":"44H24JHOERESTI4G5SQEAR4F34","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"deirdre-falvey","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Deirdre Falvey"}},"name":"Deirdre Falvey","type":"author","url":"/author/deirdre-falvey/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Kate Hamill’s adaptation, starring Toni O’Rourke, explores the psychology of what drives the much-loved protagonist, says director Claire O’Reilly"},"display_date":"2024-11-20T05:15:00Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Abbey has fun with Jane Austen’s Emma: ‘Our production is curious about her libido’"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"CKEY2VHO5JG47FLXH7OXJGH22Q","auth":{"1":"5b7bba15f19d1c4d627ce75bea8c4c4a40d56eaba26d4be501eb22c108c6baa0"},"focal_point":{"x":2119,"y":3285},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/CKEY2VHO5JG47FLXH7OXJGH22Q.jpg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/2024/11/20/the-abbey-has-fun-with-jane-austens-emma-our-production-is-curious-about-her-libido/"}}},{"_id":"MC7NPN65HRF4LKJ56V2ILCKGVA","credits":{"by":[{"_id":"donald-clarke","additional_properties":{"original":{"byline":"Donald Clarke"}},"name":"Donald Clarke","type":"author","url":"/author/donald-clarke/"}]},"description":{"basic":"Mary Norton’s story will entertain children while adults can convince themselves of its literary status"},"display_date":"2024-11-18T09:21:40.303Z","headlines":{"basic":"The Borrowers review: Gate’s Irish-set adaptation is solid good fun for the whole family"},"label":{},"owner":{"sponsored":false},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"I3KGBMPYDBESBFQ7L7O32OWJKI","auth":{"1":"79c6752475682639304e12ef1bfee799fbd30202301bed8c5de035c15d3a9a3f"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/I3KGBMPYDBESBFQ7L7O32OWJKI.jpeg"}},"type":"story","websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_section":{"_id":"/culture/stage","name":"Stage"},"website_url":"/culture/stage/review/2024/11/18/the-borrowers-review-irish-set-adaptation-is-solid-good-fun-for-the-whole-family/"}}}],"count":4117,"next":55,"_id":"9a81ea922b0495cc82b3d5cf77844ee4e4b72881c2413f880ccfe03caf5c99c0"},"expires":1740925319026,"lastModified":1740925018532}},"most-popular":{"{\"feature\":\"numbered-list\",\"section\":\"\",\"size\":5}":{"data":{"content_elements":[{"_id":"P4H4P55SSFBVDOCEDVD2Z663Y4","headlines":{"basic":"Plans to base combat jets at Shannon airport at annual cost of €100m"},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"NXEJYC3XQNHUFMSG2CKAY7FWY4","auth":{"1":"c176f51c88afcf89f069bf4f0069f8631972dae40b7a66b718031719eeaa8e83"},"focal_point":{"x":430,"y":287},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NXEJYC3XQNHUFMSG2CKAY7FWY4.jpg"}},"websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_url":"/ireland/2025/03/01/plans-to-base-combat-jets-at-shannon-airport-at-annual-cost-of-100m/"}}},{"_id":"3IN33HFIKVF7NK3TW55YBKCWO4","headlines":{"basic":"Garda driver who turned 70 must stop turning up for work, court rules"},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"SUFYSL77ZBK3XL6NBCYREA5JQM","auth":{"1":"506201d1f27a6e4cb279805e897158fde9b8e3ba0eb93395fcc242d03e4f4cf9"},"focal_point":{"x":691,"y":308},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SUFYSL77ZBK3XL6NBCYREA5JQM.jpg"}},"websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_url":"/crime-law/courts/2025/02/28/garda-driver-who-turned-70-must-stop-turning-up-for-work-court-rules/"}}},{"_id":"RBCIO6K2PZCW7AREKQF5A5WBO4","headlines":{"basic":"Róisín Ingle puts a Thermomix to the test: ‘I am a convert but there’s one enormous catch’"},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"QM3MQIZR2BDIZGQMQAY4KCTKZU","auth":{"1":"bf9f14963f9b1f1648e24eb5e13802386651278e567055ddac5535a1ffbc8a52"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QM3MQIZR2BDIZGQMQAY4KCTKZU.JPG"}},"websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_url":"/property/interiors/2025/03/02/roisin-ingle-puts-a-thermomix-to-the-test-i-am-a-convert-but-theres-one-enormous-catch/"}}},{"_id":"EW6D6DVTLRAXBMCDPPLE4HI4QQ","headlines":{"basic":"Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere in a spot of bother with his Dublin tenants"},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"CYEPMY6U3UUDWIIMDPRW2HCXF4","auth":{"1":"f4902c6904d37f5a232dabd944e704deec9378d805d2297d395ca233725e45e0"},"focal_point":{"x":2260,"y":1568},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/CYEPMY6U3UUDWIIMDPRW2HCXF4.jpg"}},"websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_url":"/ireland/2025/03/02/overheard-daily-mail-owner-lord-rothermere-in-a-spot-of-bother-with-his-dublin-tenants/"}}},{"_id":"6QIPMWIXO5EZXP2BULP7UOIQUM","headlines":{"basic":"Derelict Victorian houses ‘crumbling’ six years after €700,000 purchase by Dublin City Council"},"promo_items":{"basic":{"_id":"D5Y6XU7H6RCP3ILXNFKEFYPQGI","auth":{"1":"f098e62b9977ba917243d37bbc7cce447da8eea852400b1af247773c68e994e6"},"type":"image","url":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/D5Y6XU7H6RCP3ILXNFKEFYPQGI.jpg"}},"websites":{"irishtimes":{"website_url":"/ireland/dublin/2025/02/27/derelict-victorian-houses-crumbling-six-years-after-purchase-by-dublin-city-council/"}}}],"_id":"9dd15209fd853cb55466898ed628022458a21ee23bd97beb6b7c402224eb8ed5"},"expires":1740925081203,"lastModified":1740924780592}}};Fusion.layout="right-rail-advanced";Fusion.metas={"page-type":{"value":"section","html":true},"paywall-status":{"value":"{{content.Paywall['paywall-status']}}","html":true},"description":{"value":"{{site.site_description}}","html":true}};Fusion.outputType="default";Fusion.template="template/section";Fusion.tree={"collection":"layouts","type":"right-rail-advanced","props":{"collection":"layouts","type":"right-rail-advanced","id":"right-rail-advanced","childProps":[{"collection":"sections","id":0},{"collection":"sections","id":1},{"collection":"sections","id":2},{"collection":"sections","id":3},{"collection":"sections","id":4},{"collection":"sections","id":5},{"collection":"sections","id":6},{"collection":"sections","id":7},{"collection":"sections","id":8}]},"children":[{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":0},"children":[{"collection":"chains","type":"@wpmedia/header-nav-chain-block/header-nav-chain-block","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"@wpmedia/header-nav-chain-block/header-nav-chain-block","id":"0fu1W2iPcTnE3JJ","customFields":{"hierarchy":"hamburger-menu","logoAlignment":"center","showHorizontalSeperatorDots":true,"leftComponentMobile1":"menu","rightComponentMobile1":"custom","rightComponentCustomIndexMobile1":3,"menuComponentMobile1":"custom","menuComponentCustomIndexMobile1":2,"menuComponentMobile2":"queryly","leftComponentDesktop1":"queryly","leftComponentDesktop2":"menu","rightComponentDesktop1":"custom","rightComponentCustomIndexDesktop1":1,"rightComponentDesktop2":"custom","rightComponentCustomIndexDesktop2":3,"menuComponentDesktop1":"none","menuComponentDesktop2":"none"},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0f1j0n1myTR7B9-0-0-0","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<iframe scrolling=\"no\" id=\"fw-desktop\" data-src=\"https://lw.foreca.com/v3/en/site/irishtimes/widget/?name=Dublin&id=102964574\" style=\"width: 85px; height: 40px; border:0; margin: 0; display: flex; align-items: center;\"></iframe>","pbInternal_cloneId":"f0f1j0n1myTR7B9"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"subscribe-button/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"subscribe-button/default","id":"f0fcuF3rugfL8OV-0-0-1","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"customTopHtml":"<iframe scrolling=\"no\" id=\"fw-mobile\" data-src=\"https://lw.foreca.com/v3/en/site/irishtimes/widget/?name=Dublin&id=102964574\" style=\"width: 85px; height: 40px; border:0; margin: 0;\"></iframe>"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"signin-subscribe/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"signin-subscribe/default","id":"f0fe6HNJvtOK8J1-0-0-2","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"loggedInNavigationTitle":"Logged-in-navigation"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/alert-bar-block/alert-bar","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/alert-bar-block/alert-bar","id":"0f3cgxIlVJiE3G5","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":1},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","props":{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","id":"f0fJKL80l2wX2PY","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"adType":"970x250|970x90|728x90|320x50","lazyLoad":false,"displayAdLabel":true,"reserveSpace":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/section-title-block/section-title","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/section-title-block/section-title","id":"0fZCnGrQSrD","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":false},"customFields":{"inheritGlobalContent":false,"sectionContentConfig":{"contentService":"site-service-hierarchy-it","contentConfigValues":{"hierarchy":"section-page-subnavs","sectionId":"/culture/stage"}}},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{"items":{}},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","id":"f0flPkKVsYu170e","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"pbInternal_cloneId":"f0flPkKVsYu170e"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","id":"c0fzzqpBFw6Drt","customFields":{"layout":"[[4,4,4],[12,12,12],[]]","column1":1,"column2":1,"column3":2,"column4":0,"column5":0,"showDividersDesktop":true,"showDividersTablet":true,"pbInternal_cloneId":"c0fzzqpBFw6Drt"},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","id":"f0f7FRsnFw6DzV","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"itemContentConfig":{"contentService":"story-feed-sections","contentConfigValues":{"includeSections":"/culture/stage","excludeSections":"","feedSize":50,"feedOffset":0}},"allowSpeechKit":false,"overlineAlignment":"Left","showCloseButton":false,"fontSize":"Medium","headlineWeight":"Bold","headlineTextAlignment":"text-align_left","showHeadline":true,"showOverline":false,"showByline":true,"showDateTime":true,"showImageDesktop":true,"imageRatioDesktop":"16:9","imagePositionDesktop":"top","showImageMobile":true,"imageRatioMobile":"3:2","imagePositionMobile":"top","paywallStatus":"premium","offsetOverride":0,"showDescription":true,"bottomDividerDesktop":false,"bottomDividerMobile":true,"bottomDividerTablet":true,"sizeOverride":1,"lastBottomDividerTablet":true,"lastBottomDividerMobile":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","id":"f0fYiRouFw6DEp","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"itemContentConfig":{"contentService":"story-feed-sections","contentConfigValues":{"includeSections":"/culture/stage","excludeSections":"","feedSize":50,"feedOffset":0}},"allowSpeechKit":false,"overlineAlignment":"Left","showCloseButton":false,"fontSize":"Medium Small","headlineWeight":"Bold","headlineTextAlignment":"text-align_left","showHeadline":true,"showOverline":false,"showByline":false,"showDateTime":false,"showImageDesktop":false,"imageRatioDesktop":"3:2","imagePositionDesktop":"left","showImageMobile":true,"imageRatioMobile":"1:1","imagePositionMobile":"right","paywallStatus":"premium","offsetOverride":1,"showDescription":false,"bottomDividerDesktop":true,"bottomDividerMobile":true,"bottomDividerTablet":true,"lastBottomDividerDesktop":false,"lastBottomDividerTablet":true,"lastBottomDividerMobile":true,"sizeOverride":5},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"Newsletter-Signup/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"Newsletter-Signup/default","id":"f0fadP2k91rddRO","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"inheritGlobalContent":false,"imagePos":"top","alwaysExpanded":false,"lazyLoad":false,"pbInternal_cloneId":"f0fadP2k91rddRO","customVisibility":true,"customHeadline":"News Digests","customDescription":"Stay on top of the latest news with our daily newsletters each morning, lunchtime and evening","customImage":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sandbox.irishtimes/2RXL6SYZVZCZFBDMDTNTNY33HA.png","customNewsletterPrompt":"","customNewsletterList":{"15":"Morning Briefing","23":"Lunchtime Latest","213":"Evening Update"},"bottomDividerMobile":true,"bottomDividerTablet":true,"bottomDividerDesktop":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"Newsletter-Signup/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"Newsletter-Signup/default","id":"f0fn3yk5HL6F80K","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"inheritGlobalContent":true,"customHeadline":"Newsletter Title","customDescription":"Newsletter Description","imagePos":"top","lazyLoad":true,"bottomDividerMobile":true,"bottomDividerTablet":true,"bottomDividerDesktop":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","id":"f0fBJHxFZaPicAJ","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":2},"children":[]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":3},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","props":{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","id":"f0fDE4OavSwT7Jf","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"adType":"728x90|300x250","lazyLoad":true,"displayAdLabel":true,"reserveSpace":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","id":"f0fennBzfs2a13A","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":4},"children":[]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":5},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","id":"f0f3vYGmEDaeavO","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"itemContentConfig":{"contentService":"story-feed-sections","contentConfigValues":{"includeSections":"/culture/stage","feedSize":50,"feedOffset":0}},"offsetOverride":6,"sizeOverride":4,"allowSpeechKit":false,"overlineAlignment":"Left","showCloseButton":true,"fontSize":"Medium","headlineWeight":"Bold","headlineTextAlignment":"text-align_left","showHeadline":true,"showOverline":false,"showByline":false,"showDateTime":false,"showLiveStoryTimeline":false,"liveStoryEntriesCount":4,"showImageDesktop":true,"imageRatioDesktop":"16:9","imagePositionDesktop":"left","showImageMobile":true,"imageRatioMobile":"16:9","imagePositionMobile":"right","paywallStatus":"premium","lastBottomDividerDesktop":true,"lastBottomDividerTablet":true,"lastBottomDividerMobile":true,"bottomDividerDesktop":true,"bottomDividerTablet":true,"bottomDividerMobile":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","props":{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","id":"f0fCeqL9kCfDdvL","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"adType":"Fluid","lazyLoad":true,"displayAdLabel":false,"reserveSpace":false,"pbInternal_cloneId":"f0fCeqL9kCfDdvL"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0fI87yIAwkvcqS","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<hr class>"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","id":"f0febw07dbajbeO","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"itemContentConfig":{"contentService":"story-feed-sections","contentConfigValues":{"includeSections":"/culture/stage","feedSize":50,"feedOffset":0}},"offsetOverride":10,"sizeOverride":5,"allowSpeechKit":false,"overlineAlignment":"Left","showCloseButton":true,"fontSize":"Medium","headlineWeight":"Bold","headlineTextAlignment":"text-align_left","showHeadline":true,"showOverline":false,"showByline":false,"showDateTime":false,"showLiveStoryTimeline":false,"liveStoryEntriesCount":4,"showImageDesktop":true,"imageRatioDesktop":"16:9","imagePositionDesktop":"left","showImageMobile":true,"imageRatioMobile":"16:9","imagePositionMobile":"right","paywallStatus":"premium","lastBottomDividerDesktop":true,"lastBottomDividerTablet":true,"lastBottomDividerMobile":true,"bottomDividerDesktop":true,"bottomDividerTablet":true,"bottomDividerMobile":true,"pbInternal_cloneId":"f0febw07dbajbeO"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","props":{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","id":"f0frlqC2ElKCdb9","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"adType":"Fluid","lazyLoad":true,"displayAdLabel":false,"reserveSpace":false},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/divider-block/divider","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/divider-block/divider","id":"f0fDsOoVGPTo4I7","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","id":"c0fXQcyLhDp981r","customFields":{"layout":"[[12],[12],[]]","column1":1,"column2":0,"column3":0,"column4":0,"column5":0,"lazyLoadApp":true,"lazyLoad":false},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/results-list-block/results-list","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/results-list-block/results-list","id":"0fNTNwoRQr0","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":false},"customFields":{"listContentConfig":{"contentService":"story-feed-sections","contentConfigValues":{"includeSections":"/culture/stage","excludeSections":"","feedSize":20,"feedOffset":15}},"showItemOverline":false,"showHeadline":true,"showImage":true,"showDescription":false,"showByline":false,"showDate":false,"lazyLoad":false},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{"items":{}},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"flex-promo/default","id":"f0fS0hQCH4Id7Pv","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"itemContentConfig":{"contentService":"story-feed-sections","contentConfigValues":{"includeSections":"/culture/stage","feedSize":50,"feedOffset":0}},"sizeOverride":null,"allowSpeechKit":true,"overlineAlignment":"Left","showCloseButton":true,"fontSize":"Large","headlineWeight":"Bold","headlineTextAlignment":"text-align_left","showHeadline":true,"showOverline":true,"showByline":true,"showDateTime":true,"showLiveStoryTimeline":true,"liveStoryEntriesCount":4,"showImageDesktop":true,"imageRatioDesktop":"1:1","imagePositionDesktop":"left","showImageMobile":true,"imageRatioMobile":"1:1","imagePositionMobile":"left","paywallStatus":"free","lastBottomDividerDesktop":true,"lastBottomDividerTablet":true,"lastBottomDividerMobile":true,"itemsPerPage":50},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":6},"children":[{"collection":"chains","type":"sticky-chain","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"sticky-chain","id":"c0fOjZLSKFv95rE","customFields":{"stickyItem":3},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"header/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"header/default","id":"f0fdtA37suth74f-6-0-0","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"text":"MOST READ","link":"/most-read/","size":"Small","lightFontWeight":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/numbered-list-block/numbered-list","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/numbered-list-block/numbered-list","id":"f0fT6eSZkVlD6qv-6-0-1","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"listContentConfig":{"contentService":"most-popular","contentConfigValues":{"size":5,"section":""}},"showHeadline":true,"showImage":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","props":{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","id":"f0fvYtLWRYJ38bq-6-0-2","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"adType":"300x250|300x600","lazyLoad":true,"displayAdLabel":true,"reserveSpace":false},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]}]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":7},"children":[{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","id":"c0fBwwA5tAkzcEy","customFields":{"layout":"[[12],[12],[]]","column1":2,"column2":0,"column3":0,"column4":0,"column5":0},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","id":"f0fJRcvZHCYp5hP-7-0-0","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"header/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"header/default","id":"f0fo9BQ2IF9q5vY-7-0-1","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"size":"Small","text":"YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...","lightFontWeight":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","id":"c0fQjWNCG2Nzchf","customFields":{"lazyLoad":false,"lazyLoadApp":false,"layout":"[[4,4,4],[12,12,12],[]]","column1":2,"column2":2,"column3":3,"column4":0,"column5":0,"showDividersDesktop":true},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","id":"f0fMbpQfLXzMah0-7-1-0","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"headline":"Crosswords & Puzzles","description":"Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained","imageURL":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QF3X7Z2CJNEZHPDUSBJU7N52M4.png","linkURL":"/crosswords-puzzles/","showHeadline":true,"showImage":true,"showDescription":true,"imageRatio":"3:2"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0fD0fkQ5DvG2Oj-7-1-1","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<div align=\"center\">\n <iframe src=\"https://www.recruitireland.com/embed/search/jobs \"\n width=\"100%\"\n height=\"380px\"\n frameBorder=\"0\"\n loading=\"lazy\"\n style=\"min-width: 300px; max-width: 450px; display: block\">\n </iframe>\n</div>"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0fYXt8xLXzMaAS-7-1-2","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<b><center>The Irish Times ePaper</center></b>"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0fOERSALXzMa3N-7-1-3","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<style>\n a.epaper-link {\n text-decoration: none;\n }\n\n .epaper-bg {\n background-color: #f1f1f1;\n width: 100%;\n margin: auto;\n padding: 2px;\n }\n\n .epaper {\n width: 100%;\n height: 530px;\n margin: 20px auto;\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/WoiCg-HuQT0vbRYhs9ZZLxsEyBc=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/SFHQMXWUAJB6THFBFIMLCTEGPE.png\");\n background-position: center;\n background-repeat: no-repeat;\n background-size: contain;\n animation: epaper--animation 30s ease forwards 5;\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n @keyframes epaper--animation {\n 0% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 3% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 7.5% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/WoiCg-HuQT0vbRYhs9ZZLxsEyBc=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/SFHQMXWUAJB6THFBFIMLCTEGPE.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 7.6% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/o1nhqi_gxGQqIGONiXa2Gh5bgQs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/H2CCKPCMV5HI3DMOFUHTAUMTLE.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 12% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 25% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 30.5% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/o1nhqi_gxGQqIGONiXa2Gh5bgQs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/H2CCKPCMV5HI3DMOFUHTAUMTLE.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 30.6% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/uXAw0csJa4oy9GEtudqVFYJz7xs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/3HMM3WSTX5EGJDLXI7DC67ANCQ.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 35% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 55% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 60.5% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/uXAw0csJa4oy9GEtudqVFYJz7xs=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/3HMM3WSTX5EGJDLXI7DC67ANCQ.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 60.6% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/pY4nBgIYPKMSvjqcnzXqjMk52Gg=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/WYQ7LHQVD5AYXKU3CEQADTD44Y.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 65% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 85% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 90.5% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/pY4nBgIYPKMSvjqcnzXqjMk52Gg=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/WYQ7LHQVD5AYXKU3CEQADTD44Y.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 90.6% {\n background-image: url(\"https://irishtimes-irishtimes-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/WoiCg-HuQT0vbRYhs9ZZLxsEyBc=/arc-photo-irishtimes/eu-central-1-prod/public/SFHQMXWUAJB6THFBFIMLCTEGPE.png\");\n opacity: 0;\n }\n\n 95% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n\n 100% {\n opacity: 1;\n }\n }\n</style>\n\n<div class=\"epaper-bg\">\n <a href=\"https://www.irishtimes.com/epaper\"\n class=\"epaper-link\" target=\"_blank\">\n <div class=\"epaper\"></div>\n </a>\n</div>","pbInternal_cloneId":"f0ffBDyzX4Hz4Oo"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","id":"f0ffKRbNKxrw1m0-7-1-4","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"headline":"Six Nations 2025","description":"Get the latest news, analysis and match reports from the M6N and W6N championships","imageURL":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/D7OCW2KAF5EALFNQISC7AQ6XL4.jpg","linkURL":"/sport/six-nations/","showHeadline":true,"showImage":true,"showDescription":true,"imageRatio":"3:2"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","id":"f0f5sy0ELXzMakt-7-1-5","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"headline":"Common Ground","description":"How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands","imageURL":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TKVFY64P25HALODOK466CJOPKA.png","linkURL":"/common-ground/","showHeadline":true,"showImage":true,"showDescription":true,"imageRatio":"3:2"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/medium-manual-promo-block/medium-manual-promo","id":"f0fimOFZUNzQ205-7-1-6","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"headline":"Family Notices","description":"Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices","imageURL":"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6RIXRYTX4RC4FOGBX6TGGNZHDU.jpg","linkURL":"https://notices.irishtimes.com/","showHeadline":true,"showImage":true,"showDescription":true,"imageRatio":"3:2"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","id":"f0fz2DilXlcX8gp","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","props":{"collection":"features","type":"global/ads-block","id":"f0fyXzPP4qoVb5N","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"adType":"970x250|970x90|728x90|300x250","lazyLoad":true,"displayAdLabel":true,"reserveSpace":true},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","props":{"collection":"features","type":"divider/default","id":"f0fmydUBIEVbcHi","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"pbInternal_cloneId":"f0fmydUBIEVbcHi"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]},{"collection":"sections","props":{"collection":"sections","id":8},"children":[{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","props":{"collection":"chains","type":"flex-chain","id":"c0fXqv8QNAF07cC","customFields":{"layout":"[[12],[12],[]]","column1":4,"column2":1,"column3":1,"column4":1,"column5":1,"showDividersTablet":null,"showDividersMobile":null,"lazyLoad":null,"lazyLoadApp":null,"linkText":null,"linkUrl":null,"showDividersDesktop":null},"displayProperties":{}},"children":[{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0fbv2KMxkeL6rG-8-0-0","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<style>\n/*Override copyright*/\n.copyright-column p,\n.copyright,\n/*Footer*/\nfooter .footer-header,\nfooter .footer-section ul,\n[aria-label=\"our-partners\"],\n[aria-label=\"our-partners\"] span,\n.b-links-bar span,\nfooter span {\n font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;\n color: #575757;\n}\n\n/* Change the order in the footer*/\nfooter .legacy-footer-row {\n position: relative;\n}\n\n/*Hide the logo from the footer*/\nfooter .primaryLogo,\nfooter hr {\n display: none!important;\n}\n\n/* Hide the top border in the footer*/\nfooter .section-separator {\n border-top: none;\n}\n\nfooter .socialBtn-container,\nfooter .socialBtn-container a {\n border: none;\n}\n\n/*Copyright*/\n.copyright-column {\n width: 82%!important;\n}\n\n.copyright-column p {\n text-align: right!important;\n}\n\n.copyright {\n font-size: small;\n padding: 0;\n}\n\n/* Style our partners*/\n[aria-label=\"our-partners\"] {\n background-color: #f1f1f1;\n padding-top: 0.75rem;\n padding-bottom: 0.75rem;\n margin-bottom: 1rem;\n}\n\n[aria-label=\"our-partners\"] hr,\n {\n display: none;\n}\n\n[aria-label=\"our-partners\"]:before {\n font-size: small;\n content: 'Our partners: ';\n font-weight: bold;\n color: #575757;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n}\n\n\n/*Mobile styles*/\n@media screen and (max-width: 767px) {\n footer {\n margin-bottom: 0 !important;\n }\n\n footer .layout-section>* {\n margin-bottom: 0;\n }\n\n .legacy-footer-row {\n display:flex;\n flex-direction: row;\n /*background-color:#f1f1f1;*/\n width: 100vw;\n position: relative;\n left: -20px;\n padding-top: 2rem;\n }\n\n .footer-header {\n text-align: center;\n }\n\n .footer-item {\n text-align: center;\n font-size: 14px;\n }\n\n [aria-label=\"our-partners\"] {\n display: block;\n text-align: center;\n color: #000;\n margin-bottom: 0;\n }\n\n [aria-label=\"our-partners\"]:before {\n text-align: center;\n display: block;\n }\n\n [aria-label=\"our-partners\"] .b-links-menu {\n display: flex;\n flex-direction: column;\n text-align: center;\n visibility: hidden;\n height: 40px;\n }\n\n\n [aria-label=\"our-partners\"] .b-links-menu a {\n visibility: visible;\n }\n\n .apps {\n padding-top: 0.75rem;\n border-top: 2px solid #000;\n border-bottom: 2px solid #000;\n padding-bottom: 1rem;\n }\n[aria-label=\"our-partners\"] .c-separator\n {\n --separator-content: var(--c-separator-content, none);\n display: block;\n margin-bottom: 0.2rem;\n}\n .static-footer-links {\n background-color: #333;\n padding: 1rem;\n display: block !important;\n margin-bottom: 0 !important;\n }\n\n .static-footer-links .static-footer-links-item {\n border-right: none;\n }\n\n .static-footer-links a {\n color: #fff !important;\n border-right: none;\n padding: 0.5rem;\n }\n\n}\n\n</style>"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/footer-block/footer","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/footer-block/footer","id":"f0flUJg92ynm6Pm-8-0-1","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"navigationConfig":{"contentService":"site-service-hierarchy","contentConfigValues":{"hierarchy":"footer"}},"lazyLoad":false},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/htmlbox-block/htmlbox","id":"f0fcSRSNS9zi6b4-8-0-2","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"HTML":"<div class=\"apps text-align_center\" style=\"margin:0 auto;text-align:center;\">\n <span class=\"font_bold\" style=\"display:block;\"><b>Download the app</b></span>\n <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://apps.apple.com/ie/developer/the-irish-times-ltd/id365544597\">\n <img alt=\"Download on the App Store\" src=\"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/BJJKNJJHDJDGDDODHEER7FDH44.png\" width=\"108\" height=\"34\" loading=\"lazy\"></a>\n \n <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=The+Irish+Times+Ltd\">\n <img alt=\"Download on Google Play\" src=\"https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/T2XGUGDSUZCOZAYIQEKG2TWML4.png\" width=\"108\" height=\"34\" loading=\"lazy\"></a>\n</div>\n<style>\n.apps img{\nmargin-top:0.55rem;\n}\n.apps span{position:relative;display:block;margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:0;color:#575757;font-size:1rem; }\n</style>"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}},{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/links-bar-block/links-bar","props":{"collection":"features","type":"@wpmedia/links-bar-block/links-bar","id":"f0fUmIxk2ynm6t2-8-0-3","contentConfig":{"contentService":"","contentConfigValues":{},"inherit":true},"customFields":{"navigationConfig":{"contentService":"site-service-hierarchy-it","contentConfigValues":{"hierarchy":"our-partners","sectionId":""}},"ariaLabel":"our-partners"},"displayProperties":{},"localEdits":{},"variants":{}}}]}]}]};Fusion.spa=false;Fusion.spaEnabled=false;</script><script type="application/javascript"> setTimeout(function () { var permutiveSdk = permutive || window.permutive; if (permutiveSdk) { var cookieArr = document.cookie.split(';'); for (var i = 0; i < cookieArr.length; i++) { var cookiePair = cookieArr[i].split('='); if ('blaize_tracking_id' === cookiePair[0].trim()) { var blaizeTrackingIdCookie = decodeURIComponent(cookiePair[1]); permutiveSdk.identify(blaizeTrackingIdCookie); break; } } } }, 100); setTimeout(function () { var permutiveSdk = permutive || window.permutive; if (permutiveSdk) { permutiveSdk.segments(function (segments) { var retrieveSegmentsXhr = new (XMLHttpRequest || ActiveXObject)('MSXML2.XMLHTTP.3.0'); retrieveSegmentsXhr.open('POST', '/plugins/public/permutive/update-segments', true); retrieveSegmentsXhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json'); retrieveSegmentsXhr.withCredentials = true; retrieveSegmentsXhr.send(JSON.stringify(segments)); }); } }, 1000); </script></body></html>